For our second class "cooking" endeavor using ingredients from our class garden, the students learned to prepare guacamole (a Mexican avocado dip.)  After reviewing the recipe, we had a discussion about which ingredients could be sourced locally (i.e. from our garden,) and which ingredients had to be imported.  With our list in hand, we headed out to the garden where the students worked in three groups to harvest the necessary garden ingredients: cilantro, tomatoes, and onions.  Pulling the red onions out of the ground was fairly magical as the dirt-covered purplish globes emerged from the soil.  

Back in the classroom, we thoroughly washed the garden ingredients. The adults cut open the avocados. Then the students worked in teams of five chefs to follow the recipe and prepare the guacamole entirely on their own. They clearly had a lot of fun, refined their teamwork, and honed their skills reading and using a procedural text. The different teams took different approaches to dividing the work and had different cooking styles, but the end results were fabulous from all of the groups.

Photos from "Project Guacamole" are posted in this photo gallery.

The recipe we used for guacamole is posted at the bottom of this page.

Garden Journal Entries for October 7, 2010

“Today I went to our class private garden.  We were each picking vegetables to make this special dish.  It was guacamole.  We had to use some onions and tomatoes and a little bit of cilantro.  Cilantro is a small leaf.  I picked some of the onions.  It was dirty and cool at the same time.”
--Benjamin

“Today in class we made guacamole.  It’s something that you dip chips into.  Guacamole is from Mexico, that’s why we dip tortilla chips.  First, Camtu cut our avocado in half and took out the seed.  Keo tried to hold the seed but it slipped and fell on the floor! Then we put in a pinch of salt and squeezed in the lime juice and smushed it about.  Then we chopped down the cilantro, cherry tomatoes, and onions.  Then we put the chopped vegetables into the mixture and smushed it about.  Then we ate it.  It was delicious!”
--Catherine

“I learned guacamole can be green.  When I tasted the avocado, tomato, and onion all together, it tasted so delicious.”
--Alijah

“When I picked the onions, I picked the little one.  I found a pumpkin flower and we explored the inside.  There was a pattern.  It has a brown dot in the middle and there was white on the outside.  There were some brown lines.  I learned that the male pumpkin flower has pollen and the female doesn’t have pollen because it has eggs and it’s too complicated to hold two things as a flower.”
--Leo