In the forward of the cookbook, Grow-Cook-Share, Michelle Yezbick, Director, Sherwood Montessori states:
There is something very beautiful about children in the garden. One hundred years ago, Rome’s first female physician, Dr. Maria Montessori, noticed the same thing. Her work with children was leading her away from the path of medicine and she was becoming one of the world’s most innovative educators of all time. All that she accomplished, she did so by first carefully observing and being open to what the children had to teach her. In her training as a doctor, she had studied human development. It was the young children of the slums of Rome that brought her education to life and inspired her to dedicate her life to developing the Montessori Method of education. An education to free the human potential and create a peaceful future was her ambition, and, yes, gardening and cooking were a part of it. The recipes collected here are artifacts of the work we do in our school to honor the need to cultivate an authentic connection to the Earth enjoyed by well-balanced, healthy young people. It has been a joy and an honor to work with Chef Richie to bring these experiences to the students and families of the Sherwood community. It is our hope that this book will inspire this work beyond Sherwood and Chico to children everywhere, because all children deserve this kind of education, and because we need more gardens and kitchens with happy, capable, and healthy kids learning how wonderful it is to be a person in this amazing world.
Watermelon “Pizza”
Directions
Cut one-inch thick slices of Watermelon. Be careful that your cuts are straight and the thickness is the same all around.
Make a fruit salad by dicing mixed fruits like apples, strawberries, kiwis, bananas, grapes, cantaloupe and any other seasonal fruits you like. You’ll need about 1 cup of the fruit mix for each slice of the watermelon. Squeeze the juice from half a lime into each cup of your fruit mix and stir. Top the slice of watermelon with the fruit, cut into 8 or more equal-sized wedges and serve.
Eggplant Michelle
This is a classic collaboration between school director Michelle and Chef Richie
Ingredients
1 large globe eggplant
2 oz. olive oil
2 tsp salt
Curry powder
Directions
Preheat oven to 500. Slice the eggplant in ½ -1 inch think rounds. You can either sauté or bake. Pat dry. Heat oil to very hot in a large sauté pan. Put the eggplant in slowly/carefully then sprinkle salt evenly. If you are using a sheet pan in the oven, drizzle the oil evenly over the slices on the pan, salt evenly over all and put in the oven. In the sauté pan, when brown on one side (very brown), turn over and brown the other side. On the sheet pan, just cook to very brown on the top side. No need to turn over. When done, sprinkle 1TB curry powder evenly over all. Eat, but be careful to not burn your mouth. Because of the oil, the eggplant is very hot. Optional: use only 1 tsp of salt and add 2 TB of tamari (or other soy sauce) drizzle after cooking.
Essential Oil Lemonade
Lemon essential oil is an energizing oil best known for its cleansing properties and for providing circulatory support. Not to mention it tastes delicious. In a ½ oz bottle, which can be found in health food stores or online and normally costs between $7-11, there are 250-275 drops made from about 75 lemons. This is another inexpensive and healthy alternative to soda. Cost is about 30 cents per 12 oz serving.
Ingredients
(For 1 gallon of lemonade)
120 oz water (1 gallon minus 8 ounces)
8 oz of freshly squeezed lemon juice
35 drops of essential oil
¾ cup of organic sugar
Directions
Mix all ingredients well to dissolve sugar.
**Cookbooks are for sale for $10 (or $5 for free/reduced lunch eligible families). To find out where you can pick up your cookbook please call 530-828-8890 or go to www.sherwoodmontessori.org.
