The Garden School Gets Cooking from the Edible Garden

Our on-site preschool is called the Garden School for a reason: the children spend time out on the grounds almost every day, exploring and discovering the natural world. This fall, they have been helping with the harvest in the Edible Garden, and helping others as well.

In September, the preschool students trekked over to the garden where they spied a Tromboncino squash. This variety of summer squash is a wacky, wonderful shape and can be swapped in for zucchini in pretty much any recipe. The children washed and grated their find to make delicious Crumb Cake and Morning Glory muffins, and they share a recipe below for you to try at home. As October rolled around, the children returned to the Edible Garden and harvested basil and cherry tomatoes to make pesto sauce and a lasagna. While, as one child observed, they usually eat the food they cook at school, this time they gave the lasagna to a family in need through the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Zucchini or Tromboncino Crumb Cake

Crumb Topping:

  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ cup melted butter

Cake:

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 overflowing cup of shredded zucchini
  • Powdered sugar – sifted (optional for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8 or 9-inch square pan (we used a 9” x 13” pan, which made the crumb cake thinner).
Line with parchment paper.

Make the crumb topping:
With a fork, mix the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon together. Mix in the melted butter. Set aside.

Make the cake:
Add the dry ingredients into a 2-cup measuring cup. Mix gently.

In a large bowl, whisk the butter, both sugars, egg, & vanilla. Add zucchini. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined. The batter will be thick.

Pour/Spread into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the crumb topping evenly on top.
Bake for 35-38 minutes (less if you used a 9”x13” pan) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out mostly clean with no wet batter. A few moist crumbs are ok! If you find the top of the cake is browning too quickly, loosely cover with aluminum foil. Remove the cake from the oven and onto a wire rack.

Allow to cool slightly before slicing.
Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar, if desired.

More to explore

IRS Guidelines for Gifts from Donor Advised Funds to Support MAGC Events

Thank you for your interest in giving to the Marin Art & Garden Center events from your Donor Advised Fund (DAF) or Family Foundation.

We sincerely appreciate your generosity and support!

To ensure your gift follows the current IRS guidelines for DAF/Family Foundation support of an event, we would like to share the below guidelines with you.

  • Raffle tickets, tickets to galas and other special events, auction items, and benefits conferred in connection with a DAF/foundation grant are not permitted.
    • IRS has specifically ruled that fair market value associated with fundraising events cannot be separated, a practice known as “bifurcation.”
      • For example, with Edible Garden, if the price of the ticket is $200 and the FMV fair market value (non-tax-deductible amount) is designated to be $50, the donor must pay from sources other than her DAF/foundation for the full value of the ticket ($200) and not just for the non-tax-deductible amount ($50).
    • We recommend you confer with your financial advisor to confirm if any of these examples of how donors may still use their DAF to support an event would work for you:
      • A donor could sponsor the event, and not attend, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event using DAF/foundation funds and attend by purchasing an individual ticket through non-DAF/foundation funds.
      • A donor could sponsor the event, join the event as a guest of another donor/table guest, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event and host the afforded number of people at their chosen level as long as they pay for the seats at the lowest ticket price ($200 for Edible Garden) outside of their DAF.
        • As an example, a $1,500 sponsor that covers 2 guests, could pay for their sponsorship with $400 from a different source of funds, and then give an additional gift of $1,100 out of their DAF.

 

Please email Tod Thorpe, Director of Development at tod.thorpe@maringarden.org to discuss your gift to Marin Art and Garden Center