Turkey tacos: 'This might just be the best dish we’ve made'

For once, the kids were not grimacing about what we were making at the after-school cooking class. They were actually excited about our supper: We were making tacos!

Yet, after reading through the recipe and seeing things they weren't used to having in their tacos -- ground turkey, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes -- the trepidation set in, not only at the Neighborhood Center in Camden, where I was teaching, but at many of the three dozen other urban schools throughout the region where the healthy-cooking classes are being taught as part of the My Daughter's Kitchen program.

And the questions and comments began:

"Do we have to put the mushrooms in?"

"I don't like onions."

"Will they taste as good as the ones from Taco Bell?"

"I can't eat tomatoes."

"Why are we making them with turkey? Why aren't we making them with beef?"

One of the goals of this cooking program is to teach children how it's possible to make  healthier versions of popular fast foods that still taste great. By subbing lower-in-fat ground turkey, and adding mushrooms and vegetables loaded with vitamins and minerals, we can produce a tasty but more nutrition-packed version.

Of course, each taco can be made to one's liking, but another mission of these cooking classes is to explore new foods.

"You might be missing out on something you like if you're not willing to try," I told the children.

Though  most children in the program had tasted tacos before, few had made them from scratch. Many were familiar with the flavor packet from the grocery store, which is often high in salt and preservatives. This recipe recreates the flavor packet with just a few spices, and it can be adjusted to personal taste.

In addition to the tacos, we were making Parmesan-crusted zucchini fries -- strips of zucchini coated with cornmeal to give them crunch, and cheese to give them flavor.

And in this, the sixth of eight weeks of cooking class, the volunteers reported that students had made great progress with basic kitchen skills.

"It is obvious that the children's chopping and dicing skills have gotten so much better," wrote Maureen Barrett, reflecting comments from many volunteers.

For many students, including the kids at Wiggins School in Camden, this was their first exposure to mushrooms. While the mushrooms were being sauteed, teacher Edith Bobb reported that one student thought the aroma was quite familiar: "This smells like someone is flat-ironing their hair."

Thankfully, that turned into, "This is delicious!" by the time they were tasting the tacos, Bobb said.

"When I heard the name, I was like, ick," said Gabbi Dove, a student at the Chester Eastside Community Center. "But the turkey tacos were amazing, crispy and delicious and healthy. Five stars!" Her classmate Rashara Kelly agreed: "This might just be the best dish we've made."

It was a comment echoed at many schools, including from the med students taking the class at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

"This is probably one of my favorite foods we have prepared," said med student Navneet Goraya. "The turkey and mushrooms tasted very good together. I would definitely make this dish again."

At Community Partnership School, the students liked the tacos so much they said they would be making them for their final meal for their families and friends. Without the mushrooms.

Two children at Prince Hall School had never had tacos before, and the whole group cheered them on as they tried their first. They joined their classmates in taco love, volunteer Stephanie Lawrence said.

The zucchini fries got decidedly mixed reviews, but the students at William Hunter School thought they were just as good as regular fries and appreciated that they were more healthful.

At the Neighborhood Center in Camden, Ajane Cates, 14, and Asiyah Miller, 10, the only students able to stay for the entire class, loved the tacos, though both pulled out the mushrooms. (Asiyah was brave enough to try a bite with mushrooms, but it was not to her liking.)

Neither student was too excited about the zucchini fries, but Ajane's grandmother, Valerie Cooke, who works at the center, was more than happy to have them and to take home the leftovers. She even took home the raw zucchini to make more.

At Visitation School, Maria Brown said that there had been much anticipation about the meal, but that when they finally sat down to eat, all conversation stopped: "Only moans of satisfaction could be heard."

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