removing kernels from cobs

Just in time for their trip to Sturbridge Village next week, the second 5th grade class at school tried their hand at grinding corn and making baked corn pudding. This time we also created a vegan version, substituting tofu for eggs and soy milk for cow’s milk. It CAN be done! Nutmeg and molasses have become new friends of the fifth graders. I wish I had taken some photos of the kids enjoying their pudding. I was too busy dishing out thirds and fourths!

 Click Here: Corn Pudding Recipe

grinding corn kernels

adding milk to eggs

adding corn meal to milk

flint corn before grinding

Last spring the fourth graders planted a Three Sisters’ Garden. (See June entries from 2013). In the fall as fifth graders, they harvested their crop of flint corn, a variety of corn with a hard kernel that you’ve seen sold as hanging ornaments. They tied the corn and hung it in their classrooms to dry over the winter. Flint  corn was one of the few early crops that native Americans could process into food during the long winter. It took a lot of hard work to grow, harvest, dry and finally grind their corn into meal.  These fifth graders learned that survival wasn’t easy in our country 200 years ago.

milling corn

regrinding

sifting meal

Final sift

I found a grain mill through Amazon manufactured by the Great Northern Popcorn Company. It’s durable enough to handle grinding hard flinty corn. The moveable parts have value as a  tool for teaching physics concepts. Students can see how the auger sends the corn through to be ground while they’re using the mill. They compared it to other time they’d seen augers (for instance, ice fishing). They observed the plates grinding against each other and they tightened and loosened them as the they passed the ground corn through a few times to create a finer meal. What provided the energy for grinding this corn? The breakfast they ate earlier in the morning!

reading recipe lining up ingredients

stirring cornmeal into hot milk

After regrinding the corn, we sifted it and saved the coarser meal for another project. Then we followed an old New England recipe for baked corn pudding. It worked! I introduced the class to the aromas and tastes of nutmeg and molasses before we began  baking. This prepared them to enjoy those ingredients later in the pudding.

CLICK HERE: 2 quick  bread recipes

Where in the world is foccacia made? Just before April vacation, these students tracked down the origin of two flat bread recipes and then followed recipes to recreate them in their classroom. As they followed the recipe for foccacia, which takes time to rise, their teacher started an outdoor fire pit for the chapati they would also be baking.

kneading dough

taking turns kneading

Students learned a lot about the process of creating one of the most universal of dietary staples. While reading  and adding ingredients, they worked together to interpret the recipes they were following. It turned out that kneading bread required much more muscle work than they had anticipated. Chapati, made without yeast can be prepared in just a few minutes once there are coals on the fire. This bread is common throughout central Asian countries. The focaccia recipe doesn’t take much more time to create. Both breads were baked and eaten in the 2 hours we had to learn about them.

forming chapatis

outdoor cooking- Chapatis

real pocket bread!

kneading- it’s hard work

baked focaccia

pouring out the batter

My daughter sent me this recipe for easy cleanup banana muffins. She had recently made them with her daughter. My toddler grand daughter, Avery,  is featured in the banana bread recipe posted on January 28. This banana muffin recipe is a lot easier on the ‘dishpan hands.’ All ingredients are added to a quart sized zip-lock bag! Then children can have fun mashing them together. (Warning: parental guidance necessary :-))

RECIPE (adapted from Yammie’s Noshery):

No Bowl Banana Muffins

peeling bananas

measuring and adding ingredients

mixing ingredients

This little one remembered that earlier in the day he had learned 8 plus 4 equal 12. It was such fun to hear  him make the math  connection!

counting on muffin tins

enjoying banana muffins

All in all, a recipe that makes everyone happy!

This is one of the tastier soups we’ve turned out at Westminster School. The ‘yum’ factor may be the addition of a cup of nutritional yeast. It’s not only good for you as the name implies; it adds a creamy buttery dimension to this hearty recipe. This was my first introduction to nutritional yeast in soup; it’s surprisingly good! The boys who prepared it each ate three bowlfuls. The rest went to teachers, drawn to our kitchen by the aromas permeating the school hallways.

dicing potatoes

adding potatoes

Recipe:

Creamy Potato Kale Soup

We used kale from our garden. Last fall, children had  had torn it into bite sized pieces after de-ribbing it. The pieces were sealed into quart zip-lock bags with the air pressed out of them Many months later the kale retains it’s emerald green color as well as its vitamin and fiber content. Our potato crop has been stored at temperatures that have kept it intact right through March. With the addition of some veggies from the store and a bit of chicken broth (you can substitute vegetable broth) kale potato soup is a nutritious and comforting soup for a cold rainy March day! Serves it with crusty bread or toasted grilled cheese sandwiches.

stirring the yeast into the soup

Stirring spinach potato soup

RECIPE: Spinach Potato Soup

cutting potatoes

cutting potatoes

We hope to extend the growing season of our school garden next year. If we do, we may be able to grown our own spinach for this hearty delicious soup. It was made by the youngest children in the After School Program with a little help from older students. Children at any school age LOVE the responsibility of using a sharp knife. It really helps them to keep focused on their job. These youngsters are cutting up our school garden potatoes from last summer.

They’re adding them to some ‘sweated’ onions. Then, with the magic of heat and a bit of chicken broth to cover, the potatoes soften in no time.

While the soup boiled, children wrote their own stories about how the soup was made…the beginnings of labeled drawings are emerging as you can see. Each child has his/her own way of expressing the magical transformation from potatoes, spinach and chicken broth to soup. (Click on any photo to enlarge.) We blended the ingredients with a wand. Next, just a touch of heavy cream and….yum! Students slurped up their nutritious snack. Full recipe above!

labeled drawing

Isabel was stirring the pot

labeled diagram (note the word ‘steam’ at the top)

Third Graders planted a flat of basil seeds to send to our  farmer, Paul Harlow’s greenhouse. That flat will soon join the marigold seedlings that After School Program brought to the greenhouse last week (see above). Extended periods of warmth and sunlight aren’t really the order of the day right now in a typical Vermont environment. We’re grateful for the space provided at Harlow Farm. The third graders are about to test out their theories of where seedlings will grow best. Basil seedlings are so tiny they’re almost the size of a typed period. Students got a closer look at them with magnifying glasses. Planted seeds will spend the weekend germinating in a dark place in the classroom. Then on Monday, the experiment will begin. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Planting basil seeds

Predicting with a variable

writing predictions

With their teacher, Dena, students chose a few places in their classroom to care for seedlings. One group put theirs in a drawer, another on the window sill and another on the book shelf. They will monitor and care for the growth of their basil seedlings daily. Students worked hard at writing predictions for how each seedling group will fare. Labeled diagrams were exceptional in their detail.

labeled drawing grade 3

labeled drawing and prediction

I will keep the class  posted on the progress of the flat that goes to the greenhouse via emailed photos.

These basil seedlings will be big enough to be transplanted within a month. Students will plant them into small recycled school milk cartons. Some will be sold. Others will grow in our garden. We use basil for making pesto and for cooking projects….especially pizza sauce!