Good Food from December Harvests

Following last week's test we enjoyed a day to cook! Each class selected and prepared their own recipe. (As time goes by, I help less and less.) 1st period made Broccoli Nacho Dip, 2nd period made Broccoli and Beef Pasta (thanks to Ryan Thompson and his mom who sent delicious stir-fry beef and more!), 3rd period and 5th period made Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli, 6th period made Cheesy Rice with Greens, and 7th period made Cajun Beans and Greens. I rated all of them a 10!

We will have recipes available soon. All that is left in our garden now is Savoy and Dutch Cabbage. We'll watch it carefully, but I expect to harvest it in January. Then on to plans for our spring gardens...

Now THAT'S Nasty.

We had a severe problem with cabbage aphids. Perhaps it was our warm fall that kept them going strong, but for whatever reason, we couldn't get rid of them in garden #4. Unfortunately, to save our broccoli, we pulled up garden #4's cabbage and mustard and composted them (a mistake too, no doubt?). YUK.

Washing the Cress, Assembly Line Style

Brook was the cress-spinner to dry it.
Michael and Justin handled the second wash.

Dustin, Anthony, and Liam did the first wash and sort.

November Harvests

Picking mustard...
Our November radish harvest...

Fried Rice with Mustard Greens

Start with chopped onions, carrots, and spring onion tops

Saute them together for 3 minutes

Mix in the spices

Add cooked rice

And the chopped mustard greens...

Fried Rice with Mustard Greens!

Everyone gets a taste!

Compost Greens Needed

Our compost bin is in need of lots of greens to balance the brown leaves that are abundant and decompose slowly when our composting recipe is "unbalanced." If you have some clean apple peels or other non-smelly greens that are going in your trash can, put them in a Kroger bag (we can recycle it) and send them to school. We'll put them in our compost bin to make great soil for our garden.

Today's Blind-Taste-Test Experiment

Question: Which radish top soup, chicken or vegetarian garlic, will taste the best?

Hypothesis: The majority of Mrs. Sellers' seventh period science students believe the vegetarian garlic radish top soup will taste the best.

Materials: See Radish Top Soup Recipe, also small cups and permanent markers, and nine radish soup-loving participants

Procedure:

• See Recipe
• Put each finished soup in identical jars and label with identifying numbers #1 and #2
• Label small cups #1 and #2
• Pour a small amount of each soup into the labeled cup
• Taste each cup to see which one tastes better

Results:

• 8 students selected soup #1 as the best tasting soup. Observations included, "It tasted more salty, it tasted more buttery, and it tasted like garlic."
• 1 student selected soup #2 as the best tasting soup. Observation was, "this soup tasted sweeter."

Conclusion:

The vegetarian garlic radish top soup tasted the best. Although one participant thought the chicken radish top soup tasted better, stating it tasted sweeter, eight participants chose the vegetarian soup, saying it tasted more salty and buttery and that it also had a garlic taste. The hypothesis, that the vegetarian soup would taste better, was correct.