The most rewarding recipes yet

For the past 21⁄2 months I have been working at the Boys & Girls Club running a cooking class for the kids. It has been exciting, uplifting, exhausting, sometimes frustrating and more rewarding than I ever thought possible.

I work with some very dedicated individuals who inspire me everyday. I traded a two-hour commute every four days going to Kennedy Meadows, for a four-block commute working in town. I knew the window of opportunity to teach a cooking class at the club had to happen at their current location before the move into their new digs.

The cooking room is in one of the "cottages" that was the former home of Hispanic Services. I share the space with the snack bar and the teen club. It's a good fit. I also help serve and count the free breakfast and lunches that are sent over already prepared by the school district, but that policy needs to be addressed in another column.

If there is one thing I've learned working with the kids is that most all of them want to participate, especially when there is food involved. I try and do age- appropriate cooking but sometimes the older kids want to come to the classes geared for the younger ones and the younger ones always want to come to the classes for the older kids.

There is always knocking on my door, with kids wanting to help and others asking, "When is cooking class?" I find there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done.

To say I'm tired when I get home is an understatement. I under estimated how much time and energy this job required. The kids are funny, energizing, sometimes maddening, and they always keep you on your toes.

We've been on three field trips, one to Trader Joe's and two to the farmers market at the Pony Express Pavilion. I try to introduce the kids to something they might not have tried before. I want them to at least try something before they make their minds up that they like or don't like it.

On our field trip to Trader Joe's, Michele Palmer gave them an "ice cream sandwich" and after they ate it and said how good it was she told them it was really tofu.

We make or bake something each class, try and fix a healthy drink and always have some fresh fruit. We have made an abundance of strawberry smoothies and shakes. I have been getting lots of flats of strawberries donated from the Saturday morning market each week.

They also had peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches for their lunch at their fundraising car wash. We made notches-up peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches on the griddle.

I also want to thank the AM/PM Arco Station next to the Ormsby House. They donate ice to the club and it's a considerable amount.

Our most successful class was homemade pizza on the grill. My friend Donna Teixeira came and helped me the whole day. We used Charlie's recipe from Adele's. I confess I had never attempted it but Donna had many times so she volunteered to give us all a lesson in the art of pizza on the grill. We made the dough in the morning and after lunch each class of 12 kids came in, rolled out their dough, took the dough outside to Donna and she grilled it and they brought it back inside the kitchen where we spread the pizza with a little of Ralph's sauce, some pepperoni and topped it with cheese and put it under the broiler for a minute or two. It was delicious and 79 kids later we were out of ingredients, time and energy.

I can't believe the summer has gone by so fast and after this week and a week off to move, the kids will be in their brand new club thanks to a generous and supportive community. Trust me: Your money has been well spent. These kids are worth every cent.

The recipes I'm going to share with you today won't be the pizza because Charlie already put that in the paper. Here's a drink called a purple cow and a zucchini recipe because everyone seems to have an abundance of them.

• Linda Marrone has been a Carson City resident since 1973 and together with her husband, Ralph, formerly operated Marrone's Restaurant in Carson City and Somethin's Cookin' Catering.