Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

SAKGP Garden and Kitchen Programme

News - from the kitchen & garden with Chris and Eve

Our cooking and gardening classes are each Tuesday

We would love to have more volunteers in both the garden and kitchen classes.

No garden or kitchen skills required, enthusiasm to support the students as they learn is all you need.

If you would like to know more, come into the office and see Chris (Principal)

gardening with Eve

This week in gardening class the P/1 class spent their session planting out native grasses and everlastings in the garden beds we have made near their cubbies in the outdoor investigations area. I showed them how to gently remove the plants from their pots and plant them using organic fertiliser to give them all of the nutrients they they’ll need to get established. Making these gardens has been a student-led project and it’s nice to see them coming into fruition. We also hung our nesting material mobiles in the ‘Cheeky Tree’ in the hope that birds will make use of the coir and fleece to build their nests.

The 2/3 class made terrariums using recycled pickle jars (Thank you to Rai and Josh for collecting these over many weeks from Donkey restaurant in Kyneton!). Each student made their own terrarium and decorated it with glass gems, some mushrooms made from salt dough that I had left over from another project, moss and pebbles. It was so much fun!

The 5/6 class spent their final session for the term chitting potatoes for planting out in October and working on their garden spinners. I’m hoping to mount these on posts around the garden ready for next term so keep an eye out.

cooking with Chris

Due to illness, we had a very small Grade 4 and 5 cooking class this week. But we still created the menu that was planned and the 7 students cooked and enjoyed the delicious Mexican feast.

For our Mexican Feast, we made Mexican Pumpkin and Eggplant Chilli Non- Carne, Pumpamole (Pumpkin Guacamole), Corn Salsa and Soft Tacos.

From the garden we used pumpkin (from Chris), celery, spring onions, parsley, coriander, Romanesco broccoli, chives, lemons and corn, pumpkin and eggplant (from the freezer).

To make the Mexican Feast we divided into 3 groups.

Harper, Thea. Clem, Lexi and Grace cooked Mexican Pumpkin and Eggplant Chilli Non- Carne. Clem chopped the onions and garlic first and Harper started by cooking them in olive oil and added the celery and chilli that Grace and diced finely. She then stirred in the pumpkin that Thea had cut into small pieces. Harper then mixed in the cooked thawed eggplant. Clem and Lexi cut the carrots and Romanesco Broccoli into small pieces and stirred them into the pumpkin mixture. They then added the spices, chopped tomatoes (tinned) and stock to create the sauce. Harper stirred and checked the mixture as it was cooking.

While the Mexican Pumpkin and Eggplant Chilli Non- Carne was cooking we cleaned up and prepared the ingredients for the Pumpamole, our version of Guacamole but with Pumpkin instead of Avocado! Lexie and Clem mashed the cooked pumpkin (we froze from last lesson) and chopped the red chilli, spring onions and coriander to fold in to the pumpkin. Clem and Lexi grated the limes and lemons and squeezed the juice and mixed the zest and juice into the pumpkin mixture. They seasoned and tasted it and added salt and pepper until they were happy it tasted delicious. Lexi loves lemons and nibbled on the lemons after they were juiced!

Grace prepared the amazing coriander (that’s been grown in the poly tunnel) and because all the group like it we added it to all the dishes.

Henry and Alfie prepared the Corn Salsa by carefully cutting the corn kernels off the corn cobs we grew in summer and froze. They then chopped the tomatoes, celery and spring onions finely and added them to the corn that

Alfie had cooked. They then added the spices to the frypan and let the flavours cook through before stirring in the coriander.

After recess, we divided the Soft Taco dough into 20 pieces and everyone kneaded the dough until it was smooth and rolled it into a small ball. We rolled out the dough into thin rounds and Henry and Alfie started cooking them as the rest of us rolled out the rest of the dough. Everyone did a great job of making sure their tacos were thin and round. Henry and Thea were very proud of how well they rolled theirs out! The Soft Tacos cooked quickly and Henry and Alfie made sure they watched as the dough puffed up and them turned the over when they had browned and cooked them quickly on the other side. Everyone had a turn cooking the tacos and we kept them warm and soft by putting them on a plate in a plastic bag, to hold in the heat and moisture – it worked really well

Though it was a very small group, everyone worked well together to clean down the tables and benches, stack the dishes and set the tables ready to share the delicious food we cooked. Everyone had a job to plate up the food and the soft tacos and the Mexican Feast looked very colourful and delicious.

We invited David and Eve in to share our Mexican Feast with us. James came in as we were finishing and was excited to taste what we had cooked.

Everyone loved the Mexican Feast and we had enough left over to share it with the staff. We did eat all 20 Soft Taco though! Try making them, they’re easy, quick to cook and delicious. Recipes attached.

Great cooking Clem, Lexi. Harper, Grace, Thea, Henry and Alfie – you are all amazing cooks! Well done!

This is what they said about their cooking this week.

I browned the onions and garlic and stirred in the veggies for the Mexican Pumpkin and Eggplant Chilli Non- Carne. Harper

I made the Corn Salsa with Henry. I ate the Corn Salsa with the tomato and it’s the first time I didn’t hate tomato. Alfie

We worked well together. I worked with Clem to make the Pumpamole. Lexi

I Helped cut everything up and cut the corn off the cobs with Alfie. Henry

I cut the celery, chillies and coriander for the Mexican Pumpkin and Eggplant Chilli Non- Carne. Grace

I chopped the pumpkin and helped cut up the other veggies. The Mexican Feast was really good. Thea

It was all very good. They made the corn taste delicious. James

I don’t usually eat corn, but I tried the Corn Salsa and it was delicious and a great wat to enjoy corn! Chris C

We added 2 limes and a lemon to the Corn Salsa. James said it was quite sour, but delicious. Clem

recipes and photos below