Garden-Grown Pasta Salad

What you need:

• one package macaroni (16 oz)
• two cucumbers, peeled and diced
• four small or medium tomatoes, chopped four carrots, diced
• one head iceberg lettuce
• two tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (oregano or basil works best)
• one cup mayonnaise
• small bowls
• large serving bowl

What to do:

1. Ask your child help you find some of the necessary ingredients in your garden or at a farmers market. Explain how you know when items are ripe.
2. Take time to touch and smell the different vegetables and herbs and note their differences and or similarities. Talk about how each is grown — tomatoes grow on a vine, carrots grow beneath the soil, etc.
3. Back in your kitchen, prepare the ingredients as described above. Place each in a separate small bowl.
4. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta, rinse under cold water, and drain. Add to a large serving bowl.
5. Invite your child to combine the diced cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, diced carrots, herbs, and mayonnaise with the pasta. Mix well!
6. Place the salad in the refrigerator to chill for at least a half hour. In the meantime encourage your child to select large, crisp leaves of lettuce to place in the center of salad plates.
7. Once the pasta mixture has chilled, scoop and serve on top of the lettuce.

Learning benefits: 

• strengthens observation skills
• introduces basic cooking
• builds understanding of where vegetables come from