My favorite recipes

Tammy Mendoza of Tekoa is the daughter of Harry and Connie Brandt, and her family lives across the street from her grandparents, Roy and Edith St. John.

Born and raised in Tekoa, Tammy returned home after 10 years of teaching in Sunnyside. At Tekoa, she is completing her 10th year teaching sixth grade and is very happy there.

At one time she thought she’d like teaching younger children, but she loves teaching middle school students. She finds they are more open and receptive than older students, and they have so many skills.

She is also teaching fourth and fifth grade science classes when her sixth graders rotate to other classes. Next year her class will be self-contained, as more integration is needed between subjects, and it is far easier to do so in a self-contained classroom.

This year her class of 11 allows her to do lots of different projects with them. Last year she had 20 students, and that took more time.

After graduating from Eastern Washington University with a bachelor’s degree, Tammy earned a master’s degree with emphasis in bilingual and child development education from Heritage College.

At Sunnyside, she taught five years in the seventh grade, one year in fifth grade and four years teaching 4-5-6 English as a second language for four years. Tammy is also a 4H leader and a former Campfire leader. Her volunteer activities shift as her children grow.

When she was single Tammy began assisting an adult English as a second language night class in Sunnyside. She used her high school Spanish, a language that had gone unused in college while she studied Japanese, to get acquainted with students.

There she met Ignacio. She saw him buying baby food at the supermarket and thought he might be married, but he was shopping for his nephew and niece. When she started dating Ignacio, they used English/Spanish dictionaries for quite a while. After a year and a half, they married.

They returned to her home town, which was easier for him than for her. Ignacio grew up in a smaller town in Mexico, and she had become used to a bigger town. Ignacio was born and grew up in Jalisco Province, two and a half hours south of Guadalajara. The family grew corn and sugar cane on their farm. His family immigrated to the US when he was a young adult. He has three siblings living in Sunnyside, and they see each other frequently. His parents have returned to Mexico to care for an ailing parent.

When the Mendozas visited family in Mexico, Tammy was very impressed with how welcoming and generous everyone was.

Ignacio is the Tekoa High School custodian and does gardening and lawn mowing around town as well. He grew up doing hard, physical labor, and he likes it.

Their daughters are involved in 4H and FFA. Cassandra is 16, and Tatiana is 13. Their activities keep their parents very busy. Cassandra plays high school and club volleyball and is involved in FFA. Tatiana plays volleyball and basketball and is active in 4H. Their local grandparents and great-grandparents attend their events and help out when things get hectic.

One of Tammy’s favorite science activities is taking her class to the Olympic Park Institute on Lake Crescent in western Washington. The Institute teaches hands-on scientific lessons in the outdoors, and their classes last five days.

Last year, the class went canoeing, did water quality studies, hiked Mt. Storm King and studied different living things that are in tidal pools.

This year, they did fish-testing, netting areas of the water to look for different sizes and species of fish. They used touch tanks so they could experience touchable sea life. They studied the geology of the Pacific coastline, marine science, forest animals, and the ecosystems there. The emphasis of the Institute was teaching leadership, stewardship, building awareness of reducing waste, teamwork and the use of math and science together. So much of the classwork is focused on careful observation as scientists, looking at fossils, signs of animal life, minerals, soil types, and so on.

Since school funds are not available for such a trip, the class must raise funds. This year they sold cinnamon rolls and wrote letters to family members and to businesses frequented by Tekoa residents in the nearby towns. The trip cost $5,500 for the five days. Tammy, a parent, and another adult accompanied the class.

The Mendozas are doing more recycling and composting due to these trips. Tammy hopes that her classes inspire her students to go into science fields and to be more thoughtful of the environment.

She hopes that she can take her class to the Olympic Park Institute again next spring for more great experiences.

Recipes:

Frozen Fruit Cups

3 bananas mashed

1 16oz. can of peaches

1 16 oz. can of apricots

2 10 oz. containers of frozen strawberries

red food coloring

cup of sugar

cup cake liners and cup cake pan

As you drain your fruit, keep c. of the peach juice and set aside. Cut up the peaches and apricots into small pieces.

Mix all of your fruit together in a bowl and set aside. Boil your cup of peach juice with cup of water and cup of sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Let this mixture cool, and add a few drops of red food coloring.Pour the liquid mixture over the fruit while stirring. Place cup cake liners into a cup cake pan, then fill the liners and freeze. A great summer snack for the kids!

Summertime Angel Food Lemonade Cake

gallon of vanilla ice cream

1 6 oz. can of lemonade

10 inch angel food cake or loaf angel food cake

Soften ice cream, add can of lemonade and stir in until well mixed. Slice the cake in 2 or 3 layers. Spread ice cream between layers. Ice with remainder of ice cream mixture. Serve immediately topped with berries or return to freezer. Let set out 10-15 min. before serving, if frozen.

Chicken Enchiladas

8 6-inch flour tortillas

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic minced- or garlic powder to taste

1 tsp. of pepper

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

8 ounce of sour cream

2 cups of chicken broth

1 cup of juice off of a can of jalapeno chili peppers (or 1-2 small cans of jalapeno chili peppers, rinsed, seeded, and chopped)

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese- 4 oz.

1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese- 4 oz.

2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey

optional toppings when served:

shredded lettuce

sliced pitted olives

chopped tomatoes

sliced green onions Boil chicken and shred. I usually do this a day ahead, so that it isn’t so time consuming at once.

For sauce, in a saucepan cook onion, garlic, and pepper in margarine or butter until the onion is tender. Add the flour to the container of sour cream; add to the onion mixture. Stir in chicken broth and chili juice at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.

Remove 1 cup of the sauce to place on top of the enchiladas. Add shredded chicken to the remainder of the sauce. Prepare a baking dish by spraying with Pam or slightly greasing. Warm your tortillas 2-3 at a time before adding the chicken/sauce mixture by placing them in a damp cloth and warming them for 20 seconds in the microwave. Add a spoonful of the chicken mixture to each tortilla, roll up, then place in the baking dish. Once you’ve rolled all of your enchiladas, add the remaining sauce that you had set aside. Try to cover all of the tortilla so that they don’t dry out when baking.

Bake covered in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Let cool, then add toppings of lettuce, olives and tomatoes.