Weekend Reading

Reading

In the re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the issue of the cost of a school lunch was addressed.  right now, if a child qualifies for a free lunch (family of four household income of less than about $30k/annually), the federal govt pays the school $2.72 for that lunch.  On the other hand, most schools charge "full price" kids far less. The result is that money intended for a hungry child's lunch may be subsidizing the lunch of kids who can afford to pay. On the other hand, there are lots of kids on Long Island whose families make more than $30,000 a year but might have trouble making ends meet. The law requires schools charging less than the federal reimbursement rate to very gradually increase the cost of lunch.  The blog Better DC School Food did a great job reporting  on the issue in Tax Breaks for Billionaires, Higher Lunch Prices for Kids.

To my mind, it brings up the whole issue of Janet Poppendeick;s book, Free for All.

The issue of PCBs in schools in the city has been heating up - read the WSJ's reporting here or get more background information here.

Watching

Check out An Apple a Day is Not Enough - A Poem by Taylor Mali in YouTube.

Fun

Happy Holidays. Enjoy the break.

Sara

Ways to Support Childhood Nutrition this Holiday Season

If you're thinking of making some year end charitable gifts, we've got some suggestions. We've discussed Long Island's two foods banks beforebut I'd like to mention these groups if you're looking to make a tax-deductible contribution before year-end and want to help nutrition advocates.

The New York Coalition for Healthy School Food 
These folks were instrumental in passing a robust Child Ntrutiion Act, are working to fix school food throughout New York, provide nturition education and healthy school unch recipes all on a shoestring. Help them out at their website.


Center for Science in the Public Interest
Also hard at work on the legislation behnd the school lunch program, this group also shines a bright light on the egregious beahvoir of fast food restaurants, works on food safety legislation and published most of the research  we used behind the additives that used to be in our school's food.  Visit their website. A donation also gets you their Nutrition Action newsletter.


Environmental Working Group
These nice people publish the "dirty dozen" lists of which conventional  fruits and vegetables to  avoid due to pesticide exposure as well as guides to safe suncreens and other products. Visit their websitefor more information or to make a gift. can For a substantial donation, you get a whole gift bag - dirty dozen bag tag, shopping guide on sunscreen, cookbook, reuseable shopping bags and water bottle, etc. Oh and CHOCOLATE.

I'm sure there are many other worthy groups. Use the comments section to make your recommendations.

Sara

What's for lunch - Thurs., 12/23

White Meat Chicken Patty on Whole Wheat Bun
Sandwich Fixin’s
Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”

Not so excited today.  This is Tyson fried chicken product. The ingredients are: Boneless chicken breast with rib meat, water, salt, and natural flavor. BREADED WITH: Wheat flour, water, wheat starch, white whole wheat flour, salt, yellow corn flour, corn starch, dried onion, dried garlic, dried yeast, brown sugar, extractives of paprika, and spices. Breading set in vegetable oil.

Sounds like you'll also get some lettuce and tomatoes. The sweet potatoes should be plain baked sweet potatoes that we season ourselves.

Enjoy the break.

Sara

People Still Asking What YOU Want for Christmas?

I want a composter. A really nice indoor one that does everything for me, and I can put anything in like the Nature Mill ones. Apparently, about 12% of the waste in this country is from food - the vast majority of which ends up in landfills according to this NYT article.

I'd like to see our school start composting, too, now that we're serving real food. The food services dept. is interested in trying a pilot program.

Please click comments below and add your ideas.

I'd also like to see Tyson fried chicken nuggets off the school lunch menu.

Sara

What's for Lunch - Wed., 12/22

Barilla Plus Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Fresh Garlic Bread
Broccoli Bites w/Dipping Sauce
Fresh Grapes

I'm excited about this lunch.  The noodles we're using for the Mac n cheese are Barilla Plus. The ingredients are:  Semolina, Grain and Legume Flour, Blend (Lentils, Chickpeas, Egg Whites, Spelt, Barley, Flaxseed, Oat Fiber, Oats), Durum Flour, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid.  The sauce is made from Cabot Vermont Cheddar.

The broccoli is fresh! As are the grapes.

The dipping sauce is probably the organic ranch we normally use.

Sara

What's for Lunch - Tues. 12/21

BRUNCH FOR LUNCH
Homemade Challah French
Toast w/Orange Rounds
Applegate Turkey Bacon
Carrot Crunchers
Cinnamon Applesauce

It's hard to recommend what our committee's nutritionist has called "cake for lunch" but it is popular. At least it comes with fresh fruit and vegetables plus govt commodity applesauce. 

At Sea Cliff, the french toast last month was served with a large portion of syrup. Clearly, the school lunch program cannot afford really maple syrup and pretty much all artificial syrups are made with high fructose corn syrup - which we have talked about extensively here.  Our school has made great strides in getting HFCS out of a lot of foods but it is in this one.

The turkey bacon is by Applegate. It is nitrate-free. Here are the ingredients: Turkey (Turkey Used Never Administered Antibiotics, Growth Promotants or Animal By-products), Water, Sea Salt, Maple Sugar, Celery Juice, Onion Powder, Spices, Lactic Acid Starter Culture (not From Milk.)

Sara

Lunch Participation Rates - The Kids Need Time to Eat

As we discussed here, we should all support our much improved school lunch program in two ways:


1. Buy lunch - you can review the menus online and check here for more information on ingredients. I think you can easily find lunches this year you can feel good about.


2. Talk to your kids about taking - and at least trying if not eating - the fruits and vegetables served with each meal.  The school receives a small amount of federal money for each complete meal they serve. Plus, your kids will get a much healthier meal that will last them much longer.

All in all, our students get a healthy lunch and the lunch program has additional funds so that we can make even more improvements in the quality of the  ingredients and the number of foods we can make from scratch in our schools.


But I think there is one big barrier to having more kids buy lunch -- they need time to eat it.  Kids complain very consistently that by the time they are able to get their lunch and sit down, they don't have enough time to eat it. Better facilities might be a necessary long-term plan but for right now, I think we need the school to focus on what they can do to get lunch to kids a little faster.  I think we could start with just some simple time studies of how long it takes to get through the line and how long they have left to eat.

Sara

What's for Lunch - Mon., 12/20

All Beef Burger, Cheeseburger
or
Veggie Burger
Shoestring Baked “Fries”
Sweet Corn
Fresh Fruit

The burgers are made from 100% ground chuck - except the veggie burger which is Dr. Praeger's.   The are served on whole wheat HFCS-free buns.

The "Fries" are actually baked.
 
Plus, corn and fresh fruit

Weekend Reading

Reading

The White House published a fact sheet on the changes in the school nutrition program we'll see from the re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act which governs the national school lunch program. We've talked about a number of provisions here before, but this list also references minimum requirements for our school's wellness policy and making it easier for parents to get nutritional information on our school's lunch.

The Times Well blog covered the stress of the holidays on our kids.  They also covered the claim that honey really is good for a cough.

Grist has a great Mythbusting post.  Guess what? Cheap food doesn't improve our quality of life.

Listening

Bhavani Jaroff of our healthy-cooking demonstration of last year interviewed Amie Hamlin, the director of The New York Coalition for Healthy School Food.  Here's her description:

The New York Coalition is a statewide nonprofit that works to improve the health and well-being of New York's students by advocating for healthy plant-based foods, including local and organic where possible. They are responsible for starting the farm to school program in Harlem and advocate for the elimination of unhealthy competitive foods in all areas of the school (not just the cafeteria). They support a comprehensive nutrition policy and educate to create food- and health-literate students. I am very excited to talk with Amie to hear her suggestions on more ways we can introduce healthy food programs into the public schools.

Just go to the PRN website, http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/eating-green/ and choose which show you want to listen to. Then press “download”. The show will come on, or you can download it to your iPod and listen in the car or whenever!

Fun

You could head out to the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Oyster Bay:

Saturday December 18 from 1pm-4pm: Sanctuary Traditions
Join us for this open-house style event, featuring storytelling; a caroling choir; crafting of ornaments and gifts; activities to help wildlife; and home-made baked goods, lovingly made by Sanctuary staff and volunteers! Suggested donation of $5 for individuals or $20 per family. Please call 516-922-3200 or email for more information and to register. The first 30 families to register will receive a free gift!

Or, the Nassau County Museum of Art has Family Sundays this month with docent-lead tours and activities at 1pm.

Coming January 2011 Winter Farmers’ Market 
 
A new LI winter market is starting in our area. It will be open every Saturday morning January to April 9 am–1 pm alternating between 2 locations: Huntington and Northport. There will be something for everyone. Vendors include but are not limited to Mostly Mrytles, Horman’s Best Pickles, Divine Brine Food Inc., Little Lexi’s Barkery, Lorna’s Naturals and more. There will be live entertainment, such as local author Selene Castrorilla and singer/songwriter  Alex Bodnar. There will be crafts for kids, too. This market is supporting your local growers and fresh, locally grown whole foods, produce and products.
Northport Farmer’s Market
Jan-April, Saturdays 9am-1pm
St. Paul’s Methodist Church
270 Main St, Northport, NY 11768

Huntington Farmer’s Market
Jan-April, Saturdays 9am-1pm
Sweet Hollow Hall, West Hills County Park, Melville, NY
(Off of Old Country Rd)
For more information or to become a vendor, contact Lona at liwintermarket@optonline.net.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 12/17

Pita Pizza (Plain or w/Meatballs)
Make Your Own Caesar Salad
Fresh Melon!

The pita pizza is made with  a HFCS-free, minimal ingredient pita from Kronos or Athena. It is not whole grain until they can find one that is tasty. The sauce is a Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate).  The cheese is a USDA commodity part skim mozzarella.  Ingredients are cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes. The sodium is 240mg/oz - I think we use 2 ounces.  Meatballs are 100% ground chuck.

Make your own caesar salad is pictured above - I think it looks great. The dressing is organic. Click here for ingredients.

And, fresh melon.

Even More Details on the Child Nutrition Act

The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act also contained a lengthy section on local school wellness policies.  You can read our current policy here.  We've talked before about whether our school should have a more robust food policy.  The new law should provide model policies to help local schools improve their own.  Our policy currently doesn't say much compared to Cold Spring Harbor's as a local example or compared to some national models.

Read for yourself:

6 SEC. 204. LOCAL SCHOOL WELLNESS POLICY IMPLEMENTA

7 TION.
8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Richard B. Russell National
9 School Lunch Act is amended by inserting after section
10 9 (42 U.S.C. 1758) the following:
11 ‘‘SEC. 9A. LOCAL SCHOOL WELLNESS POLICY.
12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational agency
13 participating in a program authorized by this Act or the
14 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) shall
15 establish a local school wellness policy for all schools under
16 the jurisdiction of the local educational agency.
17 ‘‘(b) GUIDELINES.—The Secretary shall promulgate
18 regulations that provide the framework and guidelines for
19 local educational agencies to establish local school wellness
20 policies, including, at a minimum,—
21 ‘‘(1) goals for nutrition education, physical ac

22 tivity, and other school-based activities that promote
23 student wellness;
24 ‘‘(2) for all foods available on each school cam

25 pus under the jurisdiction of the local educational
1 agency during the school day, nutrition guidelines
2 that—
3 ‘‘(A) are consistent with sections 9 and 17
4 of this Act, and sections 4 and 10 of the Child
5 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773, 1779);
6 and
7 ‘‘(B) promote student health and reduce
8 childhood obesity;
9 ‘‘(3) a requirement that the local educational
10 agency permit parents, students, representatives of
11 the school food authority, the school board, school
12 administrators, and the general public to participate
13 in the development and periodic review and update
14 of the local school wellness policy;
15 ‘‘(4) a requirement that the local educational
16 agency inform and update the public (including par

17 ents, students, and others in the community) about
18 the content and implementation of the local school
19 wellness policy; and
20 ‘‘(5) a requirement that the local educational
21 agency—
22 ‘‘(A) periodically measure and report on
23 implementation of the local school wellness pol

24 icy, including—

1 ‘‘(i) the extent to which schools under
2 the jurisdiction of the local educational
3 agency are in compliance with the local
4 school wellness policy;
5 ‘‘(ii) the extent to which the local
6 school wellness policy of the local edu

7 cational agency compares to model local
8 school wellness policies; and
9 ‘‘(iii) a description of the progress
10 made in attaining the goals of the local
11 school wellness policy; and
12 ‘‘(B) designate 1 or more local educational
13 agency officials or school officials, as appro

14 priate, to ensure that each school complies with
15 the local school wellness policy.
16 ‘‘(c) LOCAL DISCRETION.—The local educational
17 agency shall use the guidelines promulgated by the Sec

18 retary under subsection (b) to determine specific policies
19 appropriate for the schools under the jurisdiction of the
20 local educational agency.
21 ‘‘(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND BEST PRAC

22 TICES.—
23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta

24 tion with the Secretary of Education and the Sec

25 retary of Health and Human Services, acting

1 through the Centers for Disease Control and Preven

2 tion, shall provide, on request, information and tech

3 nical assistance to local educational agencies, school
4 food authorities, and State educational agencies for
5 use in establishing healthy school nutrition environ

6 ments that are intended to reduce childhood obesity
7 and prevent chronic diet-related diseases.
8 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—The Secretary shall provide
9 technical assistance that—
10 ‘‘(A) includes resources and training on de

11 signing, implementing, promoting, dissemi

12 nating, and evaluating local school wellness
13 policies and overcoming barriers to the adoption
14 of local school wellness policies;
15 ‘‘(B) includes model local school wellness
16 policies and best practices recommended by
17 Federal agencies, State agencies, and non

18 governmental organizations;
19 ‘‘(C) includes such other technical assist

20 ance as is required to promote sound nutrition
21 and establish healthy school nutrition environ

22 ments; and
23 ‘‘(D) is consistent with the specific needs
24 and requirements of local educational agencies.
25 ‘‘(3) STUDY AND REPORT.—

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the avail

2 ability of appropriations, the Secretary, in con

3 junction with the Director of the Centers for
4 Disease Control and Prevention, shall prepare a
5 report on the implementation, strength, and ef

 6 fectiveness of the local school wellness policies
7 carried out in accordance with this section.
8 ‘‘(B) STUDY OF LOCAL SCHOOL WELLNESS
9 POLICIES.—The study described in subpara

10 graph (A) shall include——
11 ‘‘(i) an analysis of the strength and
12 weaknesses of local school wellness policies
13 and how the policies compare with model
14 local wellness policies recommended under
15 paragraph (2)(B); and
16 ‘‘(ii) an assessment of the impact of
17 the local school wellness policies in ad

18 dressing the requirements of subsection
19 (b).
20 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than January 1,
21 2014, the Secretary shall submit to the Com

22 mittee on Education and Labor of the House of
23 Representatives and the Committee on Agri

24 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate
1 a report that describes the findings of the
2 study.
3 ‘‘(D) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA4
TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro5
priated to carry out this paragraph $3,000,000
6 for fiscal year 2011, to remain available until
7 expended.’’.

Sara

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 12/16

White Meat Chicken Nuggets
BBQ Dipping Sauce
Herb & Garlic Potato Wedges
get more sides from the ...
Salad Bar Lunch!

These are better chicken nuggets than last year -- but they are still fried, frozen Tyson "quality" chicken nuggets.  They are served with a fresh fruit and a fresh vegetables - huge improvements over last year (see all "additives" labels for more details) but this lunch still trains kids to think they should eat fast food, junk food and kids' meals instead of more nutritious whole foods.  Here are the ingredients for the chicken nuggets so you can decide for yourself:  Chicken, water, salt, and natural flavor. BREADED WITH: Wheat flour, water, wheat starch, white whole wheat flour, salt, yellow corn flour, corn starch, dried onion, dried garlic, dried yeast, brown sugar, extractives of paprika, and spices. Breading set in vegetable oil.   The BBQ dipping sauce is organic.

But there is another choice - students can choose the salad bar as lunch.  Here's what they can probably expect:  The bar will have two kinds of cheese, chic peas, romaine lettuce, and raw vegetables among other things - including croutons. At Sea Cliff at least, the salad is put together by the cafeteria workers to order for the kids.  The dressings are Balsamic Vinegar, Ranch and Caesar. Click each one to be linked back to ingredient lists. Read about Balsamic Vinegar here: filtered water, organic soybean oil, organic balsamic vinegar, organic sugar, salt, organic white vinegar, organic minced garlic, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, organic black pepper, organic red bell pepper granules, xantham gum.


The potato wedges are plain, frozen potatoes quarters - a USDA commodity food. We seaason and bake them.

More Details on the Child Nutrition Act

We've got some more details on the re-authorization of hte Child Nutrition Act now known as the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act.

Here are two excerpts from the bill that seem interesting:

WATER

 

22 SEC. 203. WATER.
1 ‘‘(5) WATER.—Schools participating in the
2 school lunch program under this Act shall make
3 available to children free of charge, as nutritionally
4 appropriate, potable water for consumption in the
5 place where meals are served during meal service.’’.

 

(Note: School lunch programs currently only have to provide milk as part of the meal. Water is sold in bottles a la carte at our schools.)

 

REPORTING ON NUTRITIONAL VALUE

 

10 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.— (1), the Secretary
13 shall—
14 ‘‘(A) include information pertaining to food
15 safety inspections, local wellness policies, meal
16 program participation, the nutritional quality of
17 program meals, and other information as deter

18 mined by the Secretary; and
19 ‘‘(B) ensure that information is made
20 available to the public by local educational
21 agencies in an accessible, easily understood
22 manner in accordance with guidelines estab

23 lished by the Secretary.

 

(Note: Our school previously posted ingredients and nutritional labels for all foods served at lunch but no longer do so. We should be able to see a lot more information soon.)

Sara

What's for Lunch - Wed., 12/15

Barilla Plus Rotini with Meatballs or Marinara
Fresh Garlic Bread
Zucchini Sticks
Strawberry/Yogurt Smoothie

The rotini is a white flour pasta with some protein by Barilla Plus. The ingredients are:  Semolina, Grain and Legume Flour, Blend (Lentils, Chickpeas, Egg Whites, Spelt, Barley, Flaxseed, Oat Fiber, Oats), Durum Flour, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid.

Meatballs are ground chuck.

The sauce is a Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate).

The zucchini is fresh.

The smoothie will be made with either plain yogurt to which we add  honey or vanilla yogurt (no honey) if we can't get plain plus 1% milk and frozen strawberries.

What's for Lunch - Tues. 12/14

Open-Faced Fresh Turkey Breast Sandwich w/Gravy
Whole Wheat Hero Roll
Sauteed Broccoli
Apple Crisp

The turkey is unprocessed govt turkey.  We make our own gravy (remember last year's MSG-laden variety?)

The broccoli is fresh.  Remember last year - broccoli was a rare event and when served was a frozen variety from China.  I do think we should still try to get more green vegetables and fewer potatoes on the menu.

The apple crisp is tasty - it is a dessert made from canned apples.

What's for Lunch - Mon., 12/13

Applegate Hot Dog on Whole Wheat Bun
Herb-Baked Potato Wedge
Cole Slaw
Pineapple Chunks

The hot dogs are from Applegate Farms. The ingredients are just: beef, water, sea salt, less than 2% of the following: celery juice, sodium lactate (from beets), lactic acid starter culture (not from milk), onion powder, spices, garlic powder, paprika. They have 6g of fat(2.5g saturated) and 380 mg of sodium. They are dairy-, casein- and gluten-free.

The potatoes arrive as plain, frozen potatoes that we season and bake.   The pineapple is canned.

Weekend Reading

Reading

Botox Apples were big news this week -- catch up with this AP story.

There was controversy this week over salad bars in schools.

The Wall Street Journal was interesting htis week featuring these articles:
 - New Rules for Food Allergies
- Group Sports May Not Be enough Exercise for Kids
- Can Vitamin D Prevent the Flu
and....stop scrolling through this on your phone .....
- Mommy Thumb Syndrome

The Phys Ed blog at the NYT ran a post covering the latest research on whether energy drinks help athletic performance -- or not.


Listening

The Leonard Lopate show on NPR will be talking about food waste. Meanwhile, check out the winners of their holiday cookie swap.

Fun

I know shopping this time of year does not count as fun - but your kids can have fun while you do it at the Teddy Roosevelt Nature Sanctuary. Their website reads:

Sunday December 5 & 12 from 12pm-3pm: Drop & Shop!
Drop off the kids for fun nature activities, while you take care of holiday shopping! Sanctuary staff will lead your children in nature games, wildlife viewing, and holiday crafts while you take time for yourself during this busy season. Registration is required for children ages 5-12. $20 per child. Please call 516-922-3200 or email for registration.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 12/10

Something new --

Chicken Fajita Quesadilla
Chicken Strips with Black
Beans/ Monterey Jack Cheese
Baked in a Flour Tortilla
Romaine Lettuce & Salsa
Sliced Oranges


The chicken is govt chicken that arrives plain and frozen.  We marinate it in house with herbs and spices.  The beans are Pride of NY canned beans with nothing added. They use Monterrey Jack Cheese, a flour tortilla, Romaine letter (more nutrition than iceberg!) and organic salsa.

 

Plus, fresh, sliced oranges.

 

Let us know what your kids think! Click "comments" below to leave your thoughts.

Sara

What's for Lunch - Wed., 12/8

French Bread Pizza
Salad Bar
Fresh Apple


So, you can have sides from the salad bar with your pizza or get the salad bar for lunch.

For the pizza,  the sauce is a Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate).  The cheese is a USDA commodity part skim mozzarella.  Ingredients are cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes. The sodium is 240mg/oz - I think we use 2 ounces. 

The bar will have two kinds of cheese, chic peas, romaine lettuce, and raw vegetables among other things - including croutons. At Sea Cliff at least, the salad is put together by the cafeteria workers to order for the kids.  The dressings are Balsamic Vinegar, Ranch and Caesar. Click each one to be linked back to ingredient lists. Read about Balsamic Vinegar here: filtered water, organic soybean oil, organic balsamic vinegar, organic sugar, salt, organic white vinegar, organic minced garlic, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, organic black pepper, organic red bell pepper granules, xantham gum.

Can't beat a fresh apple.

What's for Lunch - Tues. 12/7

Lunch will consist of:

All beef burger, cheeseburger or veggie burger
Shoestring "fries"
Strawberry yogurt smoothie

The burgers are made from 100% ground chuck - except the veggie burger which is Dr. Praeger's.   The are served on whole wheat HFCS-free buns.

The "Fries" are actually baked.

The smoothie  will be made with either plain yogurt to which we add  honey or vanilla yogurt (no honey) if we can't get plain plus 1% milk and frozen strawberries. 

Sara

Don't Miss: November's Alternate Entree

Each month, in the upper left corner of your menu, is a new "alternate entree". These change to encourage kids to eat as wide a variety of foods as possible.

Last month we had a bean burrito - and it was really good (I had it myself.)

I think this month's alternate will also be popular -- so make sure your children know about it!

Soup and Half a Sandwich!
Chicken and Rice soup with fresh vegetables -- homemade!
Half a Boar's Head Turkey Sandwich on Whole Wheat (or with rice cakes)
Plus choice of sides from daily menu

What's for Lunch - Mon., 12/6

Our school will be serving:

Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese Sandwich - Plain or with Ham
Mini Corn Cobs
Cinnamon Applesauce

The sandwich is made with Cabot cheddar on whole wheat bread.  The optional ham is Boar's Head brand.  We use Nature's Own Whole Wheat Bread for these. The ingredients are: STONE GROUND WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, BROWN SUGAR, YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SALT, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN OIL OR CANOLA OIL), DOUGH, CONDITIONERS (SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM, STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, MONOGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM IODATE, ETHOXYLATED MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, DATEM), CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, VINEGAR, CALCIUM SULFATE, MONOCALCIUM, PHOSPHATE, YEAST FOOD (AMMONIUM SULFATE), SOY LECITHIN.

Served with fresh mini corn cobs -which sound fun and are no doubt part of the effort to serve kids fruits and vegetables in the appropriate size.  - and cinnamon applesauce.

Sara

Weekend Reading

Reading

Our district's resident food services consultant and lunch reformer, Julia van Loon, send in this link for the Top 10 Food Additives to Avoid. Better yet, she's actually helping our school's lunch avoid them!

La Vida Locavore is following the ugly politics behind the fight to get the Child Nutrition Act passed and with it better nutritional standards and more money for the national school lunch children which feeds 30 million kids a day. You can read this post but check the whole blog for updates by the time you get this.

Bittman's blog also covers the debate arguing we should tax soda rather than cut food stamps of all tings to pay for school lunch.

School lunch can be fixed - not just in Berkeley or Sea Cliff. Its vastly better in DC this year  thanks in part to legislation passed last year and now under attack and now thanks to Ann Cooper's lastest job - Boulder, CO.  It seems mainly to be about a desire to change on the part of the community and a lot of hard work by the folks running your lunch program.

Watching

Food Network and other cooking show devotees might want to see The Kings of Pastry at the Cinema Arts Theater in Huntington this weekend.

Are Cows the New Nukes? If you prefer to watch Mark Bittman rather than read his blog, click here.  He also covers his three basic rules of eating.

Fun

The Sea Cliff School has its craft fair is Saturday from 10-2.

Sara

Child Nutrition Act Passes- What Do We Get?

From the flurry of emails and blog posts that have gone out since yesterday's passage of hte Health Hunger-Free Kids Act - here's what it looks like the new legislation will bring us:

(from the NYCHSFs) The CNR will now:

• make it easier for more children to participate in the meal programs
• make it easier for schools to administer the program (saving them funds)
• regulate junk food in schools (previously it only regulated the meals and other food programs in schools, but not vending or a la carte sales)
• provide some funding for Farm to School programs
• provide an increase in reimbursement - 6 cents, the first in 30 years (all other increases were for inflation)
• address the fact that monies intended for children receiving free and reduced price meals are subsidizing the meals of the children who are paying full price

(from Chef Ann Cooper's blog)

• Requires the Agriculture Department to develop science-based nutrition standards for all foods sold on a school campus during the school day – which will lead to significantly reducing the availability of high calorie junk foods and sugary beverages on school campuses.
• Strengthens local wellness policies to help schools, communities and parents identify and implement strategies to make a real difference in helping children to develop healthy behaviors when they’re away from home.
• Improves food safety requirements for school meals by improving recall procedures and extending existing food safety requirements to all places where school meals are prepared or served.

I'm sure there's more details to come!

Sara

What's for Lunch - Fri., 12/3

Happy Chanukah!

Menu says:

BBQ Chicken
Baked Potato Wedges
Make Your Own Caesar Salad (pictured above)
Sliced Apples

This is frozen chicken to which we add BBQ sauce. The potato wedges also arrive frozen but otherwise plain.  The caesar salad and apples are fresh vegetables and a fruit.

Sara

Child Nutrition Act Down to the Wire

From the NY Coalition for Healthy School Food:

CNR - Update & PLEASE make one more call!

Thanks to Kristen Mancinelli, MS, RD from NYC FOR CNR, of which New York Coalition for Healthy School Food is a member, for this update: 

I wanted to share the latest update on CNR. There was an hour debate in the House on 3307 (the Child Nutrition Reauthorization) this afternoon. Republicans generally criticized the bill for increasing government spending, and Democrats generally supported it for improving nutrition and programs for kids. There were mentions of the SNAP (food stamp program) offset from both sides: Representative McGovern said he'd work with the Administration to replace the funds, and there was criticism from the Republican side that the SNAP extension itself, and thus the portion of it used in 3307, was "borrowed money". A number of members spoke of specific provisions in the bill. You can watch the debate in archive video at this link http://houselive.gov/.

Republicans were allowed one amendment, and Representative Kline proposed a change to the section on the Child and Adult Care Food Program requiring background checks for child care workers providing meals. Because any change to the bill would require it go back to the Senate, this move was intended to prevent the bill from passage. (This is technically called a "Motion to Recommit", or MTR, meaning 'recommit' the bill to committee.)

As a result of the MTR, Leadership postponed the vote on 3307 until tomorrow (Thursday), with a plan described in House Majority Leader Hoyer's statement: "We will complete action on the Child Nutrition bill tomorrow. We will bring up the Republican motion to recommit as a stand alone suspension bill. After that vote, we will return to the Child Nutrition bill where we left off, voting on the motion to recommit and final passage. This will allow a good, bipartisan bill to reach the President's desk without delay."

There remains no "plan" to restore SNAP funds in the lame duck session, as many groups are calling for. The SNAP offset is the major reason that, as of voting time, Representative Clarke and many members of the NY delegation were undecided. (Note from NYCHSF - please let your Representative know that we want the bill to pass, but also want the funding restored to SNAP). You can find their contact info here. 

I left off Kristen's closing which was directed to the member groups of NYC for CNR. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Thanks for making the very important last minute calls!

Amie Hamlin

Executive Director

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 12/2

The kids will be having:

Beef Tacos
w/ Lettuce, Salsa & Cheese
w/ Tortilla Shells or w/ Tortilla Chips

Honeydew Melon

The tacos are 100% ground chuck with lettuce and cheese. The salsa is actually organic by Green Mountain and the ingredients are: tomatoes, fire-roasted chiles, onions, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, pasilla peppers, apple cider vinegar, cilantro, parsley, garlic, sea salt, spices.  The previous iteration of twin tacos used turkey - kind of - turkey plus a lot of other fillers. Tacos shells are hard, yellow corn shells but I have not gotten the ingredients yet.

The tortilla chips are a gluten free option and the melon is fresh.

Sara