Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program

We have now been in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program for over a year.  To celebrate all we have achieved we submitted applications for their 2025 Kitchen Garden Awards.  Below is our application for the category "Beyond the School Gate."  There is a 200 word limit, we could have written so much more to explain the joy, the learning and the partnerships that have developed but we hope the below application catches the judges eyes.  We will share our other applications in the coming weeks.  The winners will be announced in the last week of term.

Kitchen Garden Awards - Creative Recipes

We made Lettuce & Potato Soup with Potato Farls.  We picked leeks, lettuce and coriander.  The lettuce had self-sown and we had received lots of potatoes from the food bank. We challenged ourselves to find a different way to use lettuce.  It’s important to not waste excess vegetables.  Coriander and leeks were growing well. We researched if lettuce could be used in soup and discovered any leafy green can be added to enrich soup. We found a recipe and adjusted it by using vegetable stock keeping it vegetarian and halal. We doubled the recipe as we had plenty of vege.  Before we cook we explore the herb garden to see what we can pick.  The students bring in the herbs, wash them and take them to the table.  The younger students use scissors, while older students, with knife training, use the knives and chopping boards.  Students are learning to identify herbs and recognise their flavours.  To add to the lunch we decided to find another way to use up the potatoes and found a recipe for Potato Farls.  Students enjoy experimenting with flavours so we added Rosemary and thyme to the Potato Farls recipe. Students came back for seconds!