Experts on Gardening
Ms. Ratje's Class, Valley View Elementary
Our school
Our school is located in the center of Las Cruces. We have had an outdoor laboratory in our school for several years and have worked with parents and community members to landscape our school and add more laboratory spaces. Our school is about 90% Hispanic. The students in Room 18 studied the harvests of New Mexico and created their own recipes and stories of the valley. More...
Our area of expertise is New Mexico harvests
We made a recipe book after we studied the harvests of New Mexico. We used pecans and chili in our recipes because these are part of the local harvest. Before we went to the festival we went online to the Digital Desert Library and learned about harvests in New Mexico. A week before the harvest festival we had a tasting party with all the recipes in this book. Here are two of our sample recipes. You can write us for more:
SalsaGather 2 dozen jalapenos, 7 tomatoes, and 2 onions. Snap off the tops of jalapenos. Wash. Quarter tomatoes and onions and put in a pot with just enough water to cover the vegetables. Boil until you can stick a fork through. Blend up jalapenos and veggies. You can add water for thinner salsa. You can add salt and garlic to taste it up. C.J. Garcia |
Pico de GalloChili, tomate, cebolla, cilantro, y limon. Se pica el chili, el tomate y la cebolla en cuadritos chicos y serevuelve todo se pica el cilangro y se agrega junto con el limon. My mom's pico de gallo has been used for lots of special occasions. We have used if for holidays. She puts 5 or 6 jalapenos in it. We eat it with chips and homemade tortillas. Daniel Aran |
Questions you can ask us:
- What did you learn about New Mexico harvests?
- What are the main food products grown in Southern New Mexico?
- What other foods did you make recipes for?
- How can students make their own books?
Send your questions to Mary Helen Ratje.