Food Camp- Day 4

Thursday was a great day at Food Camp!

Garden kitchen snacks were delicious. Campers started by cutting tortillas into strips. Then they cut the strips into smaller pieces to make tortilla chips for tortilla soup.

In the afternoon, the pepper groups tried the soup they prepared in the morning. They added cheese, avocado, and their home made tortilla chips. Where is tortilla soup a common meal?Campers also prepared rice pudding in the morning to eat for morning snack. Where is rice typically grown? What additional ingredients did your camper enjoy adding to their pudding?

Here are the recipes:

Morning: Rice Pudding

3 cups rice milk or milk of choice
1 cup white or brown rice, uncooked
Pure maple syrup or banana to taste
1 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon to taste
Raisins (optional)

Combine 2 cups of rice milk, rice, and vanilla extract in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add maple syrup and remaining cup of milk. Continue to simmer on medium-low heat and stir until thick, about 8-10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let sit for 3 minutes. Add raisins, sprinkle with cinnamon and serve (can also refrigerate and eat cold).

Afternoon: Tortilla Soup

8-9 medium tomatoes
½ sweet onion
2 garlic cloves
Small handful of cilantro
A few leaves of epazote (Mexican aromatic herb)
2 tbsp olive oil
Toasted corn tortilla strips *

Optional toppings:
Queso Fresco (Mexican cheese), diced
Avocado, diced

Heat water in a pot and cook the tomatoes in it until the skin peels- about 15 minutes. Puree the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and a small cup of water (can take from the pot of water for cooking the tomatoes) in a blender. Heat oil on a stovetop and add the puree to it. Stir in the cilantro and epazote, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and allow to cook for about 20 minutes. To serve, add toasted corn tortilla strips, Queso Fresco, and avocado.

*To toast corn tortilla, cut them into strips and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Why is the sun necessary to sustain human life on Earth? How is it beneficial for plants? We used a solar oven today to harness the sun’s energy to cook s’mores.

Why did our chocolate not melt in the oven today? A few hours later, the marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker were still separate ingredients. The sun was not strong enough to cook the s’mores through the clouds. The campers enjoyed the sweet treat!Campers also enjoyed games today. The yellow peppers enjoyed blob tag. The orange peppers enjoyed owls and mice. This is a camp favorite in the children’s garden. These girls found a frog in hiding under a lily pad. Why is the frog green? How does this help the frog survive in nature?
The yellow peppers picked kale from the educational garden, washed it, and tore it into bite size pieces.Then they spun the kale in the salad spinner to dry.The blue peppers made blue bread dough. They learned about making bread from the bread book. The orange peppers picked broccoli in the garden. Then they cut the tops into bite sizes pieces for broccoli salad.The green peppers picked apples in the orchard.Then they peeled and cut apples to make applesauce. The red peppers will make salsa tomorrow so that is fresh. These campers made seed tape. They dipped their hands in water mixed with flour.This acts like a glue to hold the seeds to the paper towel and a food source when the seed is planted in the ground.The campers selected different types of seeds and glued them onto a paper towel using the flour paste.The sticky tape will be ready to plant after the water evaporates. The paper towel will break down in the soil. Campers looked at different types of corn. What types of corn are here? This multi-colored corn is used for decoration.This field corn and is fed to animals in the winter.The campers enjoyed the popcorn at the end of the discussion. What makes popcorn different from the other types of corn? Why does it “pop?”

Here are additional photos from today:
https://goo.gl/photos/bigB6BRcAtwDxqvm7

See you tomorrow for the last day of camp!

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