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As a reward for cooking healthier at home, four Gregory Lincoln Education Center students received laptops for participating in a Nutrition Services department healthy recipe contest. Culinary arts students were challenged to bake the Nutrition Services’ sweet potato muffin recipe, which utilizes whole grain flour and real sweet potatoes.

Nutrition Services Education Dietitian Jennifer Lengyel and Gregory Lincoln’s Culinary Arts Teacher Kelly Karavias encouraged the students to integrate nutritious ingredients into a recipe that the whole family will enjoy. “Everybody likes a delicious, warm muffin,” Karavias said. “Parents like it, little kids like it.”

The goal was for the students to practice healthy cooking at home, and to share their culinary and nutrition knowledge with their families. “We reached out beyond the cafeteria,” Lengyel said. “The aim of this challenge was to take Nutrition Services food into the classroom and into homes to make the recipes a family affair.”

Students who participated in the baking challenge made the sweet potato muffins at home, took photos of their final product before sharing with their families, and submitted the photos to Karavias for judging.

Sixth graders Kamri English and Elijah Walker each won a laptop. “It wasn’t difficult to cook,” English said. “The only difficult part was to keep my little sister away from the muffins.”