Little Chefs, Big Flavors: Elementary Schoolers Master the Art of Zucchini Bread Baking

Our elementary students made zucchini bread this summer and it was a big hit! Several months later, parents are still asking for the recipe, so here it is, along with some photos of the process. Cooking and baking with children is a great way to connect them with their food, practice practical math, and teach important life skills!

The recipe, based on one from Mama Knows Gluten Free makes about 12 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated zucchini (1 medium zucchini)

• 2 large eggs (we used fresh quail eggs from the garden and had to use five because they're so small!)

• 1 stick vegan butter

• ¾ cup granulated sugar

• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

• ½ teaspoon dried lemon peel/zest (optional)

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

• 1 ½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour

• ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum (leave out if your flour already has it in it.)

• chocolate chips (optional, but strongly recommended by our students!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Grease a 4 x 8 loaf pan.

3. Shred one medium-sized zucchini (about 1 cup shredded zucchini)

4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together with the oil, sugar, brown sugar, and pure vanilla extract.

5. Stir in the salt, baking soda, baking powder, dried lemon peel, cinnamon, gluten-free all-purpose flour, and xanthan gum (leave out if your flour already has it in it)

6. Stir in the shredded zucchini

7. Pour the zucchini bread batter into the greased loaf pan

8. Bake on the center rack for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check it regularly because all ovens are different.

Kindergarten Woodworkers

Students in our combined TK/kindergarten class are learning about the properties and uses of wood in science class. Teacher Chloe Gilmore explains what they were doing in our maintenance workshop last Thursday:

“We know that wood is a material—something you can see and touch—that comes from trees. John Murphy and Dick Clark were kind enough to plan a visit to the workshop to help us learn about ‘changing wood.’ We can change wood by sawing, sanding, hammering, and building with it.

“Each child was given four different kinds of wood, three softwoods and one hardwood. We discussed how the grain on the wood suggests how long the tree was alive. The students sanded the pieces down and attach them together using wooden dowels.”

This week they’re learning about how water and wood interact.

Swap a Big Success—Thank You!

Thank you to all the families who helped make our fall Toy, Book & Clothing Swap a huge hit! And a special thanks to the five moms who came during the week to help sort donations and to the 20 parents and children who came the Sunday before the event to do final sorting and help set up displays.

Swap organizer Adrienne Wallace said, “I can't fully express my gratitude for all the parents who helped with the swap. The swap is an important community- and sustainability-building event that really can't be held without community support."

We gave everything that wasn’t taken at the swap to the nanny of one of our families, who donated it to a nonprofit in Eritrea.