Chef Saw from Tallula's Makes Quesadillas with Ms. Palo's 4th Graders

Yesterday Chef Saw Naing from Tallula's made quesadillas with Ms. Palo's 4th graders. He brought blue and white organic masa that he'd made at the restaurant.  He explained how the masa is made from corn. Most students chose to make their quesadillas from the blue masa.

Each child rolled a piece of masa into a golf ball sized ball and then put it in the tortilla press. After that, the flattened dough was quickly cooked on a griddle and cheese was added.

The children also made guacamole and cut vegetables that were sauteed.

Cooking in Ms. Chaides' 4th Grade Class

Laurel Gallucci of Sweet Laurel Cooks with Ms. Chaides' 4th Graders

This week Laurel Gallucci of Sweet Laurel made pumpkin muffins with Ms. Chaides' 4th graders.  Sweet Laurel is one of the new businesses in Pacific Palisades.   Laurel volunteered as part of Marquez Charter's Visiting Chef Program. She explained about each ingredient and where it comes from.  She also talked about whole foods and processed foods. Students helped make the muffins which were then cooked in toaster ovens. Each student went home with a muffin.

The muffins were delicious!


Pumpkin Muffins

3/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamon
3/4 cup 100% maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
6 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin

*Pepitas for optional sprinkle

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare a muffin pan by lining with muffin tins. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together coconut flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cardamon. Set bowl aside.

In another bowl, whisk eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup and pumpkin. Slowly add in dry ingredients, then using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter into prepared muffin tins. Fill batter to nearly the top of each muffin liner, as muffins will rise.

Sprinkle optional pepitas on top of each muffin and bake for about 24 minutes.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

This recipe is by Laurel Gallucci Sweet Laurel and is paleo, and completely gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free, dairy free and nut free!

Ms. Newman's Kindergarteners Plant in their Raised Bed

Today Ms, Newman's students planted in their raised bed on the main patio. They planted seedlings and seeds.

The center of the bed has sensory plants: rosemary, lambs' ear and marigolds. The children dug holes and planted these seedlings. They learned that marigolds have edible flowers and that lambs' ear leaves are soft like a lambs ear.

They then planted carrot and lettuce seeds around the border of the bed.

After planting they ate carrots for a snack!

Ms. Hain's Kindergarteners Plant a Sensory Garden

Ms. Hain's kindergarteners planted herbs, sage and flowers in their raised bed on Friday. They planted lemon verbena, white sage, scented geraniums and lambs ear.  They got to smell and touch the verbena, sage and geraniums before they planted them.

Ms. Yoshida's 2nd graders plant in their raised bed

Last week Ms. Yoshida's 2nd graders planted in their raised bed and started the worm bin.

We're going to add shredded paper to the worm bin

We're adding veggie scraps such as this kale

Tearing newspaper (browns) into pieces

Planting seeds with edible marigolds for decoration.

They planted lettuce, radishes and carrots in their raised bed after mixing in the Worm Grow compost. (Thanks to Kellogg's for donating the Worm Grow to our school). Thanks to Seed Savers  for donating the seeds. These crops are cool season veggies.

The children tore strips of paper to add to the worm bin for bedding and covering for the red wriggler worms.  They also added some veggie scraps and coffee grounds from Ms. Marie's kitchen for the worms to eat.  We added some worms to the worm bin and a couple to the bed for the kids to watch.

Ms. Bazan's Kindergarteners Make Bruschetta and Plant a Sensory Bed

Recently Ms. Bazan's kindergarteners made bruschetta with tomatoes donated by Gean Farm in Oxnard. Several parents, including Winter Armm and QZ Chen, showed the children the ingredients, including basil and tomatoes. Then each child cut some cherry tomatoes, tore some basil and added the food to the group bowl. The children put the tomato-basil mixture on a baguette.

Another day, the students planted their sensory bed with scented geraniums and lambs' ear.  They used soil donated by Kellogg's Garden Products in the bed.

Ms. Creed's 1st Graders Dig for Worms and Plant Seeds

Yesterday Ms. Creed's 1st graders worked in small groups in their raised bed with Mr. Jay and Ms. Sheri. They first dug for worms which was lots of fun! They saw the arugula which had already sprouted from last year. Next they chose some beet, radish and carrot seeds and planted them. They also had a snack of fresh organic veggies. They loved the carrots!

Looking for worms

Planting seeds

An Amazing Kickoff Week for Farm to School Month at Marquez

Marquez Charter is celebrating National Farm to School Month for the first time.

This week students were greeted before school on Monday and Tuesday with tastes of plums, peaches, apples, watermelon, carrots, cucumber, strawberry guavas and grapes.

Wednesday before school we celebrated National Kale Day by passing out kale smoothies and kale chips.

Thursday and Friday students ate tomatoes donated by the Gean Farm aka Harry's Berries. Some classes made lettuce wraps with the tomatoes, others made salad or bruschetta and still others just ate them!

Thank you to Frecker Farm, G-Farms and John Givens Farm from the Pacific Palisades Farmers Market and to Gean Farm from the Santa Monica Farmers Market for donating the produce and helping to get our students excited about fruits and veggies!!!

Thanks also to the parents and students that passed out the food before school and to the parents who cooked with their classes! Special thanks to Julie Swift and Winter Armm.

Mrs. Fein's Students Make Lettuce Wraps with Donated Veggies

Yesterday Ms. Fein's 2nd graders made lettuce wraps for snack. The lettuce was donated by John Givens Farm in Goleta, the cucumbers were donated by Frecker Farms and the Sungold and red cherry tomatoes were donated by Gean Farm from Oxnard aka Harry's Berries.

The children loved their snack! They also wrote thank you notes to the farmers.

Ms. Soo's 1st Graders Dig for Worms and Plant Seeds

Today Ms. Soo's 1st graders planted in their shared garden bed.  They enjoyed digging for worms in the soil that had been amended with compost.  They learned that they were digging with trowels, not shovels! Many kids enjoyed holding the worms!

Planting: We first looked at the size of the seeds and discussed how deep to plant them.  They planted radish, beets, lettuce and carrot seeds.  We discussed that the soil needs to be kept moist and the definition of moist.

Arugula from last year is already starting to come up so we'll need to thin that out. Maybe we'll keep a small bit of it.

Thanks to Susanna for helping!

Digging for worms!