HARVESTED ARUGULA PESTO RECIPE

By SPEC School Gardens -
In order to make room for new plants at Thunderbird, the kids and I harvested a bunch of arugula from one of the plots. At that point, it was still fairly small. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make arugula pesto for the first time! To add more volume (and flavour) to the pesto, I also collected some carrot greens which would've been composted. Carrot greens are edible, and have a mild flavour; you will hardly notice a handful blended in to the pesto.

Harvesting arugula at Thunderbird




ARUGULA PESTO

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups arugula leaves 
1/2 cup pecans (can also use walnuts or pine nuts) 
3 Tbs nutritional yeast (can also use Parmesan cheese) 
2 cloves garlic 
1 Tbs lemon juice 
1/2 cup olive oil 
salt and pepper to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Put arugula, pecans, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper into food processor or blender (I used the Magic Bullet) and blend. At this point, it may be a bit difficult to blend. 

2. Slowly add the olive oil while blending the mixture, allowing the oil to become incorporated. 

3. Enjoy! I like to put mine on pasta, salads, crackers and chips. 

Yum! Harvested arugula pesto. 





Popular posts from this blog

John Norquay Elementary Transplanting Session

By SPEC School Gardens -
Image
May 3rd What a beautiful, sunny day to be outside! Today, students transplanted their leafy greens into the garden boxes. We were very impressed with how well the boc choy grew. Unfortunately, the lettuce seeds struggled to grow, but that happens sometimes. The grade four class spent the hour adding compost to their garden box and planting new lettuce seeds. Check out the photos! 
Read more

January Garlic Planting

By Allison -
Image
A lot of the garlic planted in the fall at QE failed, or was eaten or damaged, so Green School replanted it one during lunchbreak last week.  First Catriona gave a lesson on the lifecycle of garlic, and how to plant it, then  the kids grabbed tools and got to work.  Finally the bed was covered in straw to protect the emerging shoots from the elements.  Half the sidewalk was covered too, so Catriona and Allison stayed behind to clean up!.  The garlic planted now won't be as big as that planted in the fall, but replanting ensures there will be plenty to go around at the June harvest festival.
Read more

The Story of John Norquay: The School Garden Buzzzzing with Excitement

By SPEC School Gardens -
Image
At the Farm to School BC Spring Celebration, one of the schools SPEC works with, John Norquay Elementary, was awarded the highest award for a school garden. The Farm to School BC Pollinator Award recognizes Farm to School programs and school teams that act as pollinators within their community: buzzing around their gardens, kitchens and classrooms to build healthy food systems, transferring and sharing knowledge, fostering thriving learning environments, and supporting the development of young healthy “seeds”, who will grow up to one day offer the fruits of their labour back to the environment and community. 1 This esteemed award went specifically to John Norquay’s school garden committee, which includes Valeria Kao (parent volunteer), Linda De Jardin (grade 6/7 teacher), and Ivy Chang (K/1 teacher) as well as the involvement of many others at the school, such as Gary Loong (grade 5/6 teacher), the school librarian/resident garden carpenter, Mark  Warkentin , a very supportiv...
Read more