What's in Tuesday's Lunch - 6/1

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend. If you're thinking about lunch for Tuesday, here's what we're having:

Cheese Pizza Slice
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Tuna salad plate/sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Tossed Vegetable Salad
Sliced apples with cinnamon
raisins

The pizza is just frozen pizza from a big manufacturer - about 23 ingredients including 540 mg of sodium. Tossed Vegetable Salad might overstate things a bit but these are some fresh, raw vegetables in a little plastic cup. Sliced apples with cinnamon - are exactly as they sound - fresh fruit! Raisins are regular Sun-maid raisins.

Sara

Locavore Season Begins!

When the farms start producing berries, my mood instantly elevates. These next few weeks our CSA (community supported agriculture) Golden Earthworm, is opening the strawberry fields for members to pick their own.  Last summer our family filled our freezer with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries which only supplied us with berries till Christmas, this year I'm dedicated to learning how to extend the freshness of the season by pickling, canning and preserving. Eating locally sourced food is good for you and the planet, it offers fuller flavor, higher nutrition and a smaller carbon footprint.  

Last night our family had a barbecue with our close friends on their Brooklyn rooftop where their little urban container garden is already yielding kale, collards, herbs and copious nasturtium with bright red edible flowers.  Adriana is a food activist and writer, deeply involved with food reform in the city schools and an amazing resource for a locavore like me.  She made corn tortillas on her hand press, refried black beans with coconut oil instead of lard (yumm), amazing salsa and grilled some grass fed beef for her family.  While we don't eat beef, Adriana has done some real thinking, writing, researching and cooking with various small farm grass fed beef and makes a compelling case for the practice.  I made a warm spinach and baby kale salad with pine nuts, figs and garlic from my favorite North fork biodynamic farm, KK's (who is supplying our fledgling Sustainable Sea Cliff Co-op).  

Nassau county only boasts a couple of farms, and none to my knowledge are organic, but we are lucky to be so close to all the artisanal products in NYC and the green pastures of the North Fork.  

Do you have childhood memories of putting food up for the winter?  Did your grandmother make jam, or stewed tomatoes, or Kim Chi?  

Have a great holiday weekend!

-Luisa

Weekend Reading

Looking to catch up on some reading over the holiday weekend? How about:

Free for All - Fixing School Food in America by Janet Poppendieck. It's a great description of the state of the school lunch program and how we got to where we are. Plus, she makes a strong argument for universal free breakfasts in school -- more about breakfast next week!

And, if you like her book, she is speaking on June 17th at the Huntington Cinema Arts theater after a showing of Two Angry Moms at 7:30 (so if you missed our screening- here's your chance!)

The Center for Science in the Public Interest came out with their Xtreme Eating Awards this week at www.cspinet.org/nah/articles/xtremeeating2010.html -- you'll be astonished at the fat and calories packed into these meals at well-known restaurants.

If you've been following the debate over the soda tax (background - www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/business/economy/19leonhardt.html?scp=1&sq=the%20battle%20over%20taxing%20soda&st=cse) you may be interested in a new study linking soda and pancreatic cancer. Read about it at:
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/178470.php

And if you finish all this, you deserve to read whatever you like at the beach this weekend.

Sara

What's in Friday's Lunch - 5/28

It's Chicken Nuggets Day -

WG Chicken Nuggets
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Veggie Cheese Plate / Wrap
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Warm Carrot Coins
Chilled Applesauce
Chilled Pears

It's time to talk about the chicken nuggets. The USDA gives us some commodity chicken which we send to a food processor. We then pay the food processor to turn it into frozen chicken nuggets. These are made by Tyson. The breading does contain whole grains. However, for most of the year, the menu indicated these were baked. In fact, while we do heat them in the oven before serving, Tyson does fry them. The nuggets contain 42 different ingredients. Please read them yourself at http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/Foodserviceinfo/nutritionlabels.htm if you are considering buying them. They also have 490 mg of sodium.

The nutrition committee asked for an alternative and you can now also get the Veggie Cheese Wrap. It's a tortilla (not whole wheat but maybe next year) with part-skim mozzarella, lettuce, carrots, peppers and cucumbers.

The good news: next year the district is planning on making this dish in house. They will buy chicken and central prepare it in the high school kitchen, bread it and bake it to make a significantly healthier version than what we have now.

On to the sides -- the carrots are a commodity. They are boiled in the can at a processor and contain salt and calcium chloride - 370 mg of salt. With the nuggets, the salt is really adding up. The applesauce is canned with both corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and erythorbic acid. Now we have 18g of sugar. The pears have 14g of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. These fruits are also courtesy of the USDA.

It will be hard to avoid added salt and sugar today.

What do your kids think about the chicken nuggets? Let us know. Excited about next year's version? Please post a comment.

Sara

When to Buy Organic

With the release of a new study last week linking ADHD and pesticide consumption, we wanted to talk about buying organic. At Friday night’s nutrition event, natural chef Bhavani Jaroff brought along a handout from the Environmental Working Group at www.FoodNews.org detailing when you really need to buy organic and when it is less important. Here are the details:

SHOPPERS GUIDE TO PESTICIDES

Dirty Dozen

Buy These Organic

1. Celery (worst)

2. Peaches

3. Strawberries

4. Apples

5. Blueberries

6. Nectarines

7. Bell Peppers

8. Spinach

9. Kale

10. Cherries

11. Potatoes

12. Grapes (imported)

Clean 15

Lowest in Pesticides

1. Onions (best)

2. Avocado

3. Sweet Corn

4. Pineapple

5. Mangoes

6. Sweet Peas

7. Asparagus

8. Kiwi

9. Cabbage

10. Eggplant

11. Cantaloupe

12. Watermelon

13. Grapefruit

14. Sweet Potato

15. Honeydew Melon

The handout continued, “The data used to create these lists is based on produce tested as it is typically eaten (meaning washed, rinsed or peeled, depending on the type of produce). “ The data came from 96,000 USDA and FDA tests for pesticide residues between 2000 and 2008.

There are lots of reasons to buy local and organic whenever you can, but I thought this list was really helpful when you need to make choices. At the corner near my house, the non-organic blueberries were on sale 3 for $5 this morning and at one point I would have bought them but my kids eat a lot of blueberries and the pesticides can really add up.

It’s not too late to start your own garden as a budget conscious-alternative!

Sara

What's in Thursday's Lunch - 5/27

On Thursday, we're having:

Meat or Veggie Taco
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Ham and Cheese Plate / Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Lettuce, Tomato and Cheese
Black Beans
Chilled Peaches

The meat tacos are made with various things but I believe right now they are made with USDA government turkey ground and processed by a large manufacturer. Call the food services office if you need to be sure it is turkey. The ingredients include turkey, onion, salt, spices, chili pepper, garlic powder, potato flour, cocoa, citric acid, autolyzed yeast extract, glucono delta lactone (a new one for me and the spell check!), torula yeast, soybeans, maltodextrin, wheat, natural flavor, water, food starch, salt. The salt adds up to 420 mg. So, not just ground turkey.

There's an alternative. We now have a veggie taco. It's made with our USDA canned corn you've heard about, canned black beans (beans, salt ferrous gluconate - 430mg of sodium) and salsa. The veggie choice is a new idea that came from the district nutrition committee. I think it's a better choice but it does taste a little sweet if you're not used to a lot of sugar. The taste test made me look at the canned corn label and this is where we found out the manufacturer had actually added sugar to corn of all things. This is permissable for USDA supplied foods.

About the sides- by all means have some lettuce and tomato. Cheese is a commodity. Black beans we have described above. Peaches -- canned USDA commodity food -- with added corn syrup and sugar - 16g total sugar. Processed in California but the label we have does not say the origin of peaches.

Lunch reviews, please! And we still need healthy and easy lunch ideas when you're packing your own.

Sara

What's in Wednesday's Lunch - 5/26

and on Wednesday, we have:

WG Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Bagel w. butter or cream cheese
Tuna Salad Plate / Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Fresh Garden Salad
WW Italian Bread
Sliced Apples with Cinnamon

The Mac n Cheese is made with whole grain noodles, USDA cheese and olive oil instead of butter -- the result of recent improvements. The garden salad does have fresh vegetables, the bread is whole grain (although with the noodles it's doubling the starch) and the apples are fresh! The cinnamon is a recent addition we're excited about.

Your reviews needed! Or, did you send a healthy lunch in with your kid? Tell us about it!

Sara

Healthy Cooking Class Update

What a great event on Friday! Over 40 kids showed up plus parents in tow to watch a great documentary about where school food comes from and then learn to make their own healthy snacks. Chef Bhavani Jaroff (See www.IEatGreen.com) did a great job of walking us through three different snacks - and we all got to witness several known picky eaters trying and liking everything!


First, we all got to get a little sticky making our own nori rolls (please see the previous post with the recipes if you are interested.) We mushed brown rice on our seaweed and added our choice of sauteed carrots and onions, tofu, cucumbers, tamari and toasted sesame seeds before rolling it up and slicing them. Bhavani made a great point -- you can roll anything you like into the seaweed (buy the pre-toasted kind!) - whatever you would normally put in a wrap or a sandwich - tuna fish, for example. It's a great change of pace and really good for you.

Then, it was on to the hummus pinwheels. We spooned out the fresh, homemade hummus onto Turkish whole wheat flatbread, added tomatoes and lettuce, rolled it up - added toothpicks and sliced into pinwheels. Again, you can use whatever ingredients you like.


Delicious! Watch for these foods in a lunchbox near you.

Finally, we all tried sesame noodles. Don't miss the recipe below! We took ours to go and my daughter had inhaled hers by the time we got to the car.

Should we do this again sometime? Let us know.

Sara

What's in Tuesday's Lunch - 5/25

It's Chili Contest Winner Day!

The winning recipe from the Oswald family from our Chili Cook-off will be prepared at our schools for Tuesday! The recipe is posted a few weeks back. Here's the entire menu:

Oswald Family Chili!!!!
Bagel with butter or cream cheese
Sliced Turkey Plate/ Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Corn Niblets
Brown Rice
Fresh Orange Smiles

Try the chili! The winner beat 6 other recipes in a taste off where our students where the judges.

You could skip the corn - a canned, USDA product with both added salt and . . . sugar. It's strange and the meal has plenty of starch without it Brown rice is just that and the "smiles" are oranges freshly sliced - it's hard to go wrong with fresh whole fruits.

Please -- tell us what your kids eat for lunch and what they thought!

Sara

Recipes from the Healthy Snack Demo

In case you missed it, Friday’s event was a big hit with over 60 kids and adults making – and eating – their own healthy snacks. But you don’t have to miss out on the snacks. We have the recipes courtesy of chef Bhavani Jaroff. Visit her at www.IEatGreen.com.

*** Hummus ***

1 can chick peas
6 T. water
½ c. tahini
4 t. lemon juice
1 T chopped garlic
1 T cumin
½ t. salt
Parsley or cilantro (optional)

In a food processor, pulse chick peas until blended. Add water, and puree until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Adjust seasonings for taste. Garnish with olive oil, pine nuts and parsley.


*** Nori Rolls with Sauteed Veggies and Brown Rice ***

1 package of pre-toasted Nori (seaweed sheets)
2 c. organic, short grain brown rice cooked w/ ¼ t. salt
1 onion, cut in half and sliced thin
2 carrots, grated
3 cloves garlic
1” piece of fresh ginger, grated
Organic Tamari or Shoyu
Aji Mirin (sweet rice wine)
Dark sesame oil
Extra firm tofu, cut into thin strips
Tahini and toasted sesame seeds (optional)

To make the Rolls: Saute onion in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add carrots, garlic (pressed through a garlic press) and grated ginger. Saute for 5 minutes longer. Add tamari and aji mirin. Add dark sesame oil. Simmer until soft. Spread one cup of cooked rice out evenly over three-quarters of the sheet of nori. Be sure to spread the rice all the way out to the edge of the nori. Add sautéed veggies in the center of the rice. Add a thin strip of tofu along top of veggies. Begin to roll from front edge. Use water, tamari or tahini to seal nori. Cut into eight even pieces.

To make Dip: Combine equal parts water and tamari in small dipping bowl.


*** Cold Sesame Noodles with Sesame Sauce ***

1 8-oz. package of noodles – udon, soba or rice

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the noodles. Cook according to directions. When done, drain and run under cold water.

1/4 c. tahini
2 cloves garlic
1 T. aji mirin (rice cooking wine)
1/4 t. hot sesame oil (optional)
1 slice ginger, size of a quarter
1/2 c. water
1 T. tamari
1 t. dark sesame oil
4 sprigs parsley

Process the above ingredients in a food processor or hand mill. Pour over noodles. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Weekend Reading

If you'd like to read more about the things we've been blogging about - try these sites:

We have lots of information about our school's nutrition committee, what we've done, what we're trying to do and how you can help along with background information on the school lunch program at: http://www.seacliffpca.org/index.php?pr=Nutrition_Committee (just highlight, copy and paste these links)

Other bloggers are also trying to fix school lunch:
www.fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com -- a teacher is eating her school's lunch every day and blogging about it photos and all

www.betterdcschoolfood.blogspot.com - a chef chronicles his daughter's lunch at a DC Public School. Great background information including ingredients and photos of the food.

These blogs are relevant because we're all subject to the same USDA regulations and commodity foods.

Some new reports came out this week.
A new study on the journal Pediatrics links ADHD and pesticides - particularly those on the food we eat. Read more at www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989564,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

The White House released its plan to combat childhood obesity. You can read it at: www.letsmove.gov/tfo_fullreport_may2010.pdf


What have you been reading? Let us know.

Sara

What's in Monday's Lunch - 5/24

Here it is:

WW Pizza Bagel
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Tuna Salad Plate / Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Green Bean Salad
Raisins
Chilled Mixed Fruit

The WW Pizza Bagel is a whole grain bagel with government commodity tomato sauce (contains corn syrup and a high level of sodium) and commodity part skim mozzarella (not truly low fat but better than not part skim). It's a better alternative than the frozen pizzas we get from large manufacturers chock full of additives. We've talked about the alternate entrees in previous posts, if you are interested.

The green bean salad is made from USDA commodity green beans (boiled in the can by a large processor, 380 mg of sodium - we do rinse the beans which can eliminate up to 40% of the salt) mixed with onion, celery, low fat Italian dressing, pepper, basil, oregano, and garlic.

The raisins are Sun-Maid California raisins. The chilled mixed fruit.....is a canned commodity product with peaches, pears, grapes, corn syrup and sugar - 15g of sugar in all. The origin of the fruit appears to be California.

As always, the full labels are posted on the district's website.

Coming in Sept.: The District's nutrition committee is working on a way to bring in fresh, local pizza with wholesome ingredients. Keep your fingers crossed!

Please post your lunch reviews in the comments section OR share your healthy lunch ideas if you packed a lunch for your child today.

Sara

What's in Tomorrow's Lunch - Fri., 5/21

Here's the menu:

Cheesy Brown Rice and Broccoli
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Tuna Salad Plate/Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Celery/Carrot/Pepper sticks
Wheat Bread
Sliced Apples w/ Cinnamon

Consider trying the Cheesy Brown Rice and Broccoli - it's made from brown rice, USDA commodity American cheese and frozen broccoli. You really don't need the wheat bread that comes as a side - but the USDA school lunch guidelines are such there's often more starch in a meal than you need (one more reason to call Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act to improve the school lunch guidelines). The good news: the other sides are fresh, raw fruits and vegetables - enjoy!

Can't wait to hear everyone's feedback on the lunch. Please post your comments!

Sara

Call Congress TODAY

We received this email from Healthy School Food -- go to http://www.healthyschoolfood.org/takeactionnow.htm for all the details on what to say and who to call (the links in the email below are not active). Then, use the Comments section to tell us what kind of response you received!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A PERSON'S A PERSON, NO MATTER HOW SMALL"

OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS CAN'T HEAR US

SO WE MUST CALL

Will the "WHO's" of New York State

Make the elected officials care what's on our children's plate?

Dear Friends,

With apologies to Dr. Seuss, right now those of us who care about child nutrition are like the "Who's" in "Who-ville". We have been advocating for positive changes to school meal programs, and other food available in schools, yet our elected officials say they can't hear us!

They are hearing from lobbyists who want soda in schools, they are hearing from processed food manufacturers, and yes, they are even hearing from non-profit organizations like New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. But they tell us they are not hearing from their constituents, and therefore they don't feel that this issue really matters to "the people out there."

We know they are wrong and that you do care. But we all have to call at the same time so that they'll hear us. That's why today is:

New York State's "CALL IN DAY."

Right now we have an opportunity to make a difference in the life of virtually every child in the country. We can make a difference by advocating for more funding for healthy school food, as well as for regulations which would result in healthier food being served. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act will be voted on soon. But right now the Senate Ag Committee only wants to commit 6 cents more per lunch. That's not enough! You can learn what to say when you call on our Take Action page and how to say it at the "Contacting and Speaking to Your Representative" on the NYC for CNR page.

Phone your elected officials to let them know that kids matter. You do not need to live in NYS to phone your elected officials - this is a federal bill and will impact children all across the United States.

We must make our voices heard, unless we want to be boiled in ''Beezelnut Oil''. You just might be the very tiny shirker like "Jojo" who ends up making the difference. Just click here to learn what to say on the phone call. Decisions are being made soon, so please, call today!

Best wishes,

Amie Hamlin

Executive Director
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sara

Join the Nutrition Committee

The nutrition committee here at Sea Cliff School has been working very hard this year to improve our school's lunch and nutrition education. If you'd like to help - we'd love to have you. Email our chair, Denise Rieger at rieger@optonline.net.

Sara

What's in Tomorrow's Lunch - Thurs., 5/20

Here's some background information on tomorrow's lunch consisting of:

Open Faced Turkey Sandwich
Bagel with butter or cream cheese
Turkey Salad Plate/Sandwich
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

Sides:
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Hot Gravy
Fresh Watermelon Slice
Asst. Juice
Milk

The Open Faced Turkey Sandwich is just that -- the turkey is a commodity provided by the government that we pay a manufacturer to process. The label on our turkey breast lists the following ingredients: turkey breast meat, turkey broth, salt, modified food starch, sugar, sodium phosphates, flavoring. The gravy comes from a can - Campbell's Brown Gravy. It is made from beef stock. Here's the ingredient list: beef stock, wheat flour, vegetable oil, modified food starch, contains less than 2% of: salt, yeast extract, tomato paste, high fructose corn syrup, caramel coloring, flavoring (lactic acid), monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed soy protein, flavoring, hydrolyzed wheat gluten.

For the ingredients in the peanut butter, please see the Wed 5/19 lunch section. I should mention that this is grape jelly with this ingredient listing: corn syrup (1st ingredient), grape juice (water and grape juice concentrate), fruit pectin, citric acid and sodium citrate.

The watermelon slice is fresh and something to look forward to since we don't get it often. Surprisingly, the mashed sweet potatoes are from a can. We do not have the actual label on these but a USDA fact sheet that indicates they should be low-sodium. You don't have a lot of choice though since one fo the sides is gravy.

Please post your lunch reviews in the comments section!

Sara

What's in Tomorrow's Lunch - Wed. 5/19

If you're thinking about what to do for your child's lunch tomorrow, here's the menu:

Whole Grain Spaghetti w/ Meat & Marinara
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Ham & Cheese Plate/Sandwich
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

Choice of Sides:
Fresh Garden Salad
Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Slice
Chilled Cherries
Asst. Juice
Milk

The good news is that the spaghetti is whole grain which means complex rather than simple carbohydrates - definitely better for you. The marinara sauce is a canned government commodity food that contains corn syrup and various additives -- and a lot of salt - 870 mg in 1/2 cup. The meat is also government commodity beef. The alternatives aren't great - the ham, also from the government, has 600 mg of salt, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrate. The peanut butter is another free commodity - the ingredients are peanuts, dextrose, hydrogenated vegetable oil and/or partially hydrogenated palm oil, salt, and molasses.

For the sides- the fresh garden salad is a source of raw, fresh vegetables but not necessarily what the kids think of as "salad." WW Garlic Bread is just what it sounds like. The chilled cherries come from a can which is unfortunate but don't seem to have added sugars. The district may be able to get frozen cherries at times.

Hope this helps everyone make informed choices. Please - come back and let us know which foods your child selected and how they rate.

Sara

VOTE ! ! ! The Polls are Open!

Please don't forget to vote for the school budget today!

The polls are open from 7am - 10pm. You can vote at the High School gym. It should take all of five minutes.

If the school budget fails to pass and we have to use a contingency budget, there will be teacher layoffs and we will lose all our extracurricular activities and athletics. The district's website is full of details about the budget - see the home page at http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/ or the very informative budget Q&A at http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/10jan/q-a.html.

Last year, Sea Cliff had the WORST turnout of any of the towns in our district. So, go vote Sea Cliffians!

The school board election is also contested this year, and your vote is very important. I am voting for our current board members - Genovesi, Pombar and Sharkey (remember - GPS). After attending board meetings and budget talks, I am very impressed with the way this budget was put together and the tremendous amount of hard work they've put in here and in Albany to try to change the laws that make this budget year so difficult.

Vote!

Sara

What's in Today's Lunch - Tuesday

I know everyone has a school lunch menu (Really? You don't? They are posted at http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/sea-cliff/lunch-menus.htm) but with the nutritional labels and ingredients available for most foods (http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/Foodserviceinfo/nutritionlabels.htm), we want to post daily to give you the information you need when deciding what your child should buy. Here's today's menu:

Tuesday - May 18

Sliders or Veggie Burgers
Bagel with butter or cream cheese
Sliced Turkey Plate /Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Choice of Sides:
Pickle Chips
Broccoli
Chilled Applesauce
Asst Juice
Choice of Milk

Don't miss the option for a Veggie Burger. These are Dr. Praeger's brand and they are quite good. The sliders contain commodity beef from the USDA and a number of other ingredients including textured vegetable protein and various additives. Please check the label. Although our district does use a lot of whole grains, these buns are not whole wheat.

About the side items - well, pickle chips aren't much of a side but we rarely get broccoli. The broccoli is frozen - better for you than our usual canned vegetables - but is grown in China. The applesauce is a free government provided commodity food and what we get can vary. The label we currently have says the applesauce contains apples, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and erythorbic acid. That's right - two kinds of added sugar totaling 18g. Plus, as a canned food, the apples have lost nutritional value. The district will get unsweetened when it is available.

Let us know if you have questions -- and tell us what your child ate today and what he or she thought about it! Post a comment now - and don't spare us any details.

Sara

The Blog is Growing!

I am very pleased to inform you that this blog is growing! It has been a great pleasure developing a little bit of content, infrastructure and inertia but it's time to welcome posts from other members of the committee.  Expect posts from Sara Jones and Denise Rieger sharing inspiration from their family kitchens, information on the school lunch program at Sea Cliff School, broader dialog around national initiatives and even posts from the Sea Cliff School students themselves. 

Please welcome Denise and Sara and check the blog frequently to enjoy new posts.  

I'm exhausted and inspired after a day spent with friends at a biodynamic farm in Southhold.  If you get a chance to drive out east to fill your hatchback with little plants, baskets of eggs and coolers of asian greens, seize the opportunity.  I'm feeling nestled between the greatest city on earth and the bountiful organic farms of the North Fork.  Life truly is good!  Enjoy!

Sara's Tips

Sara Jones has the following Menu tips for families who have children enjoying hot lunch at Sea Cliff School--

Look for these new options on the May Lunch Menu!

May 5 & 26 - Our Macaroni and Cheese is now made with whole grain noodles and less saturated fat served with ALL FRESH SIDES!

May 7 – New Item as an alternative to the chicken nuggets: Baked Potato with Cheese and Broccoli

May 10 - Don't overlook the English Muffin pizza. These are made here and contain far fewer artificial ingredients than the cheese pizza slices which arrive frozen from a large manufacturer

May 12 - Whole Grain Rotini with Broccoli in Garlic and Olive Oil

May 14 – If you want to skip the fried mozzarella sticks, try the new Veggie Cheese Wrap instead with part skim mozzarella and fresh vegetables.

May 18 - On Sliders day, you also have a choice of a Veggie burger (These are Dr. Praeger's brand)

May 21 – New April Item Returns: Cheesy Brown Rice and Broccoli with ALL FRESH SIDES!

May 24 - The pizza bagels are made here and contain far fewer artificial ingredients than the cheese pizza slices which arrive frozen from a large manufacturer

MAY 25 – THE OSWALD’S WINNING CHILI RECIPE!!! DON’T MISS IT!!!

May 27 - On Taco Day, you can now choose a Veggie taco option with beans, corn and salsa if you'd like to avoid the commodity meats in the tacos.

Please make sure you check out the labels and nutritional information or yourself when helping your child make choices about lunch. All labels are available at: http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/Foodserviceinfo/nutritionlabels.htm

If you need a copy of the menu, please see:

http://www.northshore.k12.ny.us/sea-cliff/lunch-menus.htm

More changes to come in Sept!

Want to know more? Please visit the Nutrition Committee's websites at:

www.scsfood.blogspot.com

and

http://www.seacliffpca.org/index.php?pr=Nutrition_Committee

It's Time to Call Congress! Help us improve school lunch across the country by reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act - more information on our websites.

It's not your Mother's Brown Bag Lunch

I've been thinking a lot about lunch boxes, about how my sons lunch box is sort of a love letter. I tuck little bits of last nights crumble into a metal tin, or include a postcard from an exhibit we have visited, or his favorite cloth napkin. It is an act of tenderness and devotion that I deeply enjoy. I feel I am doing something to soften his day and keep him nourished when he is away from home. But I must admit, it really stings when his food comes back rejected or the soup unopened.

Lately his lunch and snack sacks are coming home devoured. As any parent knows, appetites wax and wane, but I credit the cute new reusable bags I have been using. The stacking metal tiffin and the interesting stainless water bottle. I think his meal is more appealing. I enjoy preparing it a lot more as well and it is good for the environment and less expensive in the long run. My favorite source is, reusablebags.com, they have many stylish, useful and eco products to check out.