SAKG NEWS

We have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen this fortnight. For our main dish we have made cannelloni with zucchini ribbons, essentially a pasta filling with a healthy gluten free pasta replacement, served with passata and grated cheese. This is a very healthy and also delicious dish and many kids have pleasantly surprised at how good zucchini can taste when cooked that way. We served our main dish with a Waldorf salad and a Fetta and Greens pull apart bread, then finishing off with peach cupcakes using peaches from our garden. Our garden is bursting with fruit, leafy greens and herbs, and mint, kale, spring onions, chives and zucchini are the heroes of this weeks cooking. 

All recipes can be found below:

Peach Cupcakes

Ingredients:

120g butter, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon 

½ cup milk

3 peaches chopped into small pieces

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Line a muffin tray with cupcake moulds.
3. In a medium bowl mix the butter and sugar with an electric beater or whisk until light and fluffy, Add in eggs and vanilla and mix.
4. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. 
5. Alternate folding the flour mixture and the milk into the wet mixture until everything comes together. Do not over mix.   Add the peaches.
6. Using a spoon to ¾ fill each patty pan. Tap the muffin tray on the kitchen counter to even out the cupcake batter's surface. 
7. Bake for 12 minutes, until the tops of the cupcakes are golden brown. Allow cupcakes to cool before eating.

Waldorf Salad

Ingredients:

4 red apples

2 pears or green apples

4 sticks celery

Mint leaves

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

4 TBS mayonnaise

Method:

1. Wash apples, pears, celery and mint
2. Dry them with a clean tea towel and make the apples shin
3. Leave the skin on for colour, chop the apples, pears and celery into bite size piece
4. Chop mint into little pieces without bruising, scissors are useful for this
5. Dry toast the walnuts in a pan (if using) until they are just toasted and you can smell them
6. Mix all the ingredients together and combine with mayonnaise
7. Serve straight away

Spinach, Fetta and Rosemary Twist

Ingredients:

Handful of spinach leaves, washed and chopped

1 spring onion/half an onion chopped

Various herbs including rosemary

2 cups SR flour

60g cold butter, diced

150g fetta cheese, crumbled

½ cup buttermilk

Egg/milk wash

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Sauté the spinach and onion with herbs in olive oil with salt and pepper, leave to cool
3. Sift flour and salt into large mixing bowl, add the butter and using fingertips rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
4. Add chopped rosemary, spinach mixture and fetta
5. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add buttermilk, stirring with a flat bladed knife until a shaggy dough forms
6. Turn out onto the bench and knead, divide into 2 portions and roll each into a 4cm thick log.  Plait the 3 logs and place on a baking tray
7. Using a pastry brush glaze the loaf with the egg or milk wash and bake for 15 – 20 mins
8. You can tell when it is ready as the bottom sounds hollow when you tap on it 

In the garden there has been a hype of activity.  Starting with the animals, the chicken nesting boxes have been cleaned, eggs collected and dated and the chickens themselves have been let out in the garden to explore and have a scratch around. Likewise with the guinea pigs, their cages have been cleaned and their food and water checked and refilled after the weekend. For the harvest group they have been collecting herbs for the kitchen, thinning out the carrots, along with the never-ending watering, which is needed at this time of year, particularly given the lack of rain. The grow group are busy planting seedling, including spinach and brassica’s and lastly the maintenance group have been doing a lot of miscellaneous jobs like emptying garden tubs into the big bin, weeding all the garden paths, helping with watering, sorting the garden gloves and sweeping the paths. These are all tasks that keep our garden tidy and organised.

And lastly, we would like to thank all the families who came out to visit Mrs O’Brien in the garden during our “Open House” session last night. There were so many visitors and I know the animals greatly appreciated all the cuddles. As you would have realised the garden and kitchen are one of the favourite learning spaces in the school and we are always looking out for helpers. If you didn’t collect a volunteer pack on the night but are keen to get involved in either the kitchen or garden program, please don’t hesitate to contact either Mrs O’Brien, Wendy, Kate or see one of the girls in the office.

Mrs O’Brien, Kate & Wendy (Mrs. Ruddick)