What's for Lunch - Wed., 5/4

White Meat Chicken Chunks
Oven-Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”
Salad Bar Veggie Sides
Apple Cherry Crisp

These are fried Tyson chicken products. The fries arrive frozen and we bake them. Kids get to pick their own sides from the salad bar.


As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey

What's for Lunch - Tues., 5/3

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese
Barilla Plus Pasta & Wisconsin Cheddar
Sauteed Broccoli w/Garlic
Sliced pears
 
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 Wisconsin Cheddar.

Fresh broccoli!!  But I am pretty sure the pears are not.
 
As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays , the wrap tuna.  Plus, we have the salad bar.

What's for Lunch - Mon., 5/2

Pita Pizza (Plain or w/Meatballs)
Salad Bar Veggie Sides
Chilled Pineapple Chunks
 
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 from the USDA.
 
Sides from the salad bar - kids can pick the fruits and vegetables they like.  Pineapple chunks are canned.
 
As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.  The fruit salad, however, has been retired.

Weekend Reading

Read

La Vida Locavore has a photo tour of a school garden and it's great composting program.


I recently passed a Wendy's with a big sign out for their new natural cut french fries with sea salt - clearly a claim that they had a healthy(ER?) french fry. HHmm...I thought. Well, Fooducate has the real story. (Think anti-foaming chemicals?)

 Nutrition for the Future is running lots of gardening tips - particularly on gardening with kids and starting out small.


Pesticide exposure in the womb can lower a child's IQ. Read more.


Watch - Tonight!

Film- Co-presented by Slow Food Huntington and Whole Foods Market 
Urban Roots  
Thursday, April 28, 7:30pm at the Cinema Arts Centre 
A small group of dedicated citizens, allied with environmental and academic groups, have started an urban environmental movement with the potential to transform not just a city after its collapse, but also a country after the end of its industrial age. Urban Roots is the story of a group of dedicated Detroiters working tirelessly to fulfill their vision for locally-grown, sustainably farmed food in a city where people -- as in much of the county -- have found themselves cut off from real food and limited to the lifeless offerings of fast food chains, mini-marts, and grocery stores stocked with processed food from thousands of miles away. The people of Detroit have taken on the enormous task of changing this for themselves, and to under-stand their story is to understand how we can change it for us all.

Donate 



Make a donation to the Environmental Working Group and get a free wallet guide to shopping for skin care products -- and avoid hormone-disrupting chemicals and other nasty ingredients.


Local Fun


It's a big weekend!


The Planting Fields has a terrific Arbor Day Celebration Sat. and Sun.


The Huntington Historical Society has a Sheep-to-Shawl festival this weekend. And while you're in Huntington, you can also see the tulip festival.


Sea Cliff's own Arbor celebration is on Friday in Central Park at 2pm with thanks to SC's Beautification Committee.

It's CSA Season!

Community Supported Agriculture
Find your local CSA or farmers' market at Local Harvest:
www.localharvest.orgwww.localharvest.org

What's for Lunch - Fri., 4/29

Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Bolognese or Marinara
Fresh Garlic Bread
Celery Sticks w/Dipping Sauce
Pineapple Chunks

This is a whole grain spaghetti with or with meat which is a USDA commodity beef but 100% 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).

Pineapple is canned. Celery sticks are fresh and come with organic ranch dressing.

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.The fruit salad is also available.

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 4/28

Chicken Burrito
Warm Flour Tortilla
Seasoned Chicken
Brown Rice/Black Beans/Cheddar Cheese
Fresh Fruit


The salad bar is always available or - as an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays , the wrap tuna.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 4/27

White Meat Chicken Chunks
Sweet Corn
Chilled Applesauce
SALAD BAR sides only


Fried Tyson chicken. Canned Corn. Govt applesauce.

But - salad bars sides.

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

weekend Reading

Reading

Apparently, at least one school in Chicago has banned students from bringing their lunch to school. Students are required to eat the 'healthy' lunch their school serves. Find out why.

The NY Coalition for Healthy School Food had a great response to the USDA's requests for comment on the new regulations which will govern school lunch. Read their argument here on eliminating fried foods from school lunch (yes, we serve fried foods at our school), chocolate milk, artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives and corn syrup. Plus - requiring things that are good for you like actual whole grains. We don't have to wait for the government - we can our our district to do these things now.

Thew new guidelines are also targeting potatoes in a effort to get more nutritious vegetables into lunch-- but the potato industry is fighting back (just like the milk industry over chocolate milk.)

Or, or, or...we could opt out of the school lunch program and serve really healthy meals at cost- or for a profit.

Apps

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has a new app for your phone on food additives. Check ingredients while you're shopping - and find out why you should avoid "caramel coloring".  You can also look up high fructose corn syrup to find out why our brunch for lunch isn't a good idea.

Watching

Jamie Oliver is taking on school lunch in LA. Watch this clip on the stunning amount of sugar kids are eating and why we need to get rid of chocolate milk. 

Then, you can read this post from DC school activists on the war against sugar in school lunch in DC and neighboring counties.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 4/15

Monterey Jack Quesadilla
Salsa & Chips
Celery Sticks w/Dipping Sauce
Chilled Pineapple Chunks
SALAD BAR sides only

I think this sounds good. They use Monterey Jack cheese (which is mild) and a flour tortilla.  The salsa is organic. You can have fresh celery or canned pineapple. Sides from the salad bar.

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.The fruit salad is also available.

Please look for your Breakfast Survey!

At our PCA meeting on Wednesday, Principal Adam Frankel announced that the annual Breakfast Survey would be sent home soon.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU COMPLETE YOUR BREAKFAST SURVEY.

Recently, USA Today reported on a survey showing that 2/3rds of students come to school hungry.  Most schools in our country participate not just in the school lunch program but the breakfast program as well and there are a number of ways to implement the program.  The USDA provides a great survey to use in class to find out if our kids come to school without breakfast for whatever reason,

In our school, the students who currently qualify for a free lunch are also entitled to a free breakfast -- if our school implements a program.  If there is no response to the survey, we will not get breakfast in our school.

We have a lot more information here on the school breakfast program and the importance of breakfast.

Or check out the posts from the week of June 5 for healthy, quick breakfast ideas you can make at home.

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 4/14

Freshly Breaded Chicken Cutlet
Baked Idaho Potato
Carrot Crunchers
Fresh Melon

Our wonderful food service staff is making the chicken cutlets from scratch in house with fresh chicken!  They are marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

Plus - fresh baked potato, carrot and melon - terrific.

The salad bar is always available or - as an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays , the wrap tuna.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 4/13

Beef Tacos Seasoned 100 % Ground Beef w/ Lettuce, Salsa & Cheese
Tortilla Shells -Hard & Soft
Petite Banana

The tacos are 100% ground chuck with lettuce and a low-far govt cheddar 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.  Tacos shells are hard, yellow corn shells but I have not gotten the ingredients yet.

Plus a fresh banana.  "Petite", by the way, usually means "half".

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Tues., 4/12

Herb-Marinated Roast Chicken
Smashed Red Potatoes
Salad Bar Greens
Fresh Fruit of the Day

This is actual chicken that arrives frozen that we will marinate and roast our selves with fresh potatoes and salad greens - plus a fresh fruit. Definitely worth trying.

Plus, we now have the salad bar every day!  Kids can choose sides from the salad bar or a complete meal.

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays , the wrap tuna.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Mon 4/11

All Beef Burger, Cheeseburger
Lettuce & Tomato Fixin’s
or
Boar’s Head Turkey on a Bun
Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”
Orange Rounds

The burgers are made from 100% ground chuck - USDA government commodity beef.  They are served on whole wheat HFCS-free buns. The "Fries" are actually baked and accompanied by fresh orange slices.

Try out our new and really terrific salad bars.  On the back of the menu or on page two of this pdf - you can see a description and suggestions for making the salad bar a complete meal.

Or -
As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily. 

Weekend Reading

Reading


Genetically-modified milk? What will they think of next. Read more here. For some more background on how GM foods are both dangerous and pervasive, check out this post on La Vida Locavore.

The Jenny-0 Turkey Store announced a recall of certain turkey burgers sold in retail outlets after confirming they were responsible for a salmonella outbreak. Jenny-O also process USDA commodity ground turkey for the school lunch program - although there are no reports that turkey sent to shcools was affected.

I've actually run across a recipe for Broccoli and Cheetos in not one but two magazines touting 'gourmet' junk food.  The backlash against the real food movement shouldn't start quite this early.  Don't interpret the link as a recommendation. More like watching a train wreck.

More school gardens are on their way via USDA pilot projects.  Our school has plans to add a hoop house to the "kindergarden" this year.

The WSJ ran an article this week on "the new power lunch" - brown bagging it executive style.

Shopping

The Environmental Working Group has great tips on choosing personal care products and how to avoid ingredients are bad for you.

Things to Do

You can still submit comments on the new rules for nutritional standards for school lunches under the re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act - see http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FNS-2007-0038-0001. OR - the Center for Science in the Public Interest makes it even easier to comment - they have drafted a letter for you to help you ask that school lunches includes more fruits and vegetables in greater variety and more whole grains among other things.  For more background on the fight over the new regs, read Education Week's latest.


Long Island Small Farm Summit is next Friday, April 15 including workshops on school and community gardens, field to table and other farming and sustainable agriculture initiatives here on Long Island.

The new Live Island Cafe in Huntington is running raw cooking classes.

Old Bethpage Restoration Village has "History Alive" Sunday this weekend with hands-on demonstrations. The village is also the site of a sustainable agriculture project.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 4/8

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese
(Barilla Plus Pasta & Wisconsin Cheddar)
Sauteed Broccoli w/Garlic
Orange Rounds

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 Wisconsin Cheddar.

Plus, FRESH broccoli sauteed with garlic AND fresh orange slices.

You can also try out our new and really terrific salad bars.  On the back of the menu or on page two of this pdf - you can see a description and suggestions for making the salad bar a complete meal.

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 4/7

White Meat Chicken Patty on Whole Wheat Bun
Sandwich Fixin’s
Cucumber Sticks
Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

This is a fried Tyson chicken product. See previous post. 

There are fresh cucumber sticks - kid-friendly although not particularly nutritious as far as vegetables go. You can see the ingredients for the smoothie here.


Bring your lunch or try out our new and really terrific salad bars.  On the back of the menu or on page two of this pdf - you can see a description and suggestions for making the salad bar a complete meal.

Or - As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays , the wrap tuna.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 4/6

Homemade Challah French Toast
w/Orange Rounds
Applegate Farms® Turkey Bacon
Raisin Box

Skip this one. See previous post.

Bring your lunch or try out our new and really terrific salad bars.  On the back of the menu or on page two of this pdf - you can see a description and suggestions for making the salad bar a complete meal.

Or -
As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Tues., 4/5

Applegate Hotdog
Whole Wheat Bun
Mini Corn Cobs
Apple-Cherry Crisp


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 corn is fresh and the crisp is a dessert.

Plus, we now have the salad bar every day!Kids can choose sides from the salad bar or a complete meal.


As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays , the wrap tuna.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

What's for Lunch - Mon., 4/4

Pita Pizza (Plain or w/Meatballs)
Celery Sticks w/Dipping Sauce
Chilled Pineapple Chunks

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 from the USDA.

Celery sticks come with organic ranch dressing as the dip. Follow link for ingredients.

The pineapple is canned,, government commodity fruit.

Plus, we now have the salad bar every day!


As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides. Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.  The fruit salad and the peanut butter sandwich are also available daily.

Weekend Reading

Reading

I think the food story of this week is definitely the FDA's decision to review food dyes and behavioral issues in kids and a long campaign by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.  Their research on which dyes to avoid is clearly laid out here.

You can find the WSJ's coverage of the FDA hearings here or the Times here.

The Spoonfed blog also covered the issue.

The Obama administration has proposed new rules covering food vendors and labeling calories, etc.

The School Nutrition Assoc apparently has some issues with the Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act (i.e. school lunch program) but I'm still kinda excited about it. You decide.

Sea Cliffians Sarah Ellis and Kristen Henderson have a new book out this week - Times Two. It has nothing to do with nutrition but it does end in Sea Cliff.

Listening

WNYC's Brian Lehrer interviewed Marion Nestle on the food dye issue. They also happened to mention that she has a book out on healthy eating -- for your pet.

Fun

Have Breakfast on Sunday with Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley at Coe Hall at the Planting Fields.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 4/1

Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese (Plain or w/Ham)
Cucumber Sticks
Fresh Tangerine

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.

Plus, fresh cucumber and tangerine!

As an alternate entree, you can get a wrap and salad bar sides.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

What's for Lunch - Thurs. 3/31

Beef Tacos w/Lettuce, Salsa & Cheese
Tortilla Shells
Petite Banana

The tacos are 100% ground chuck with lettuce and a low-far govt cheddar 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.  Tacos shells are hard, yellow corn shells but I have not gotten the ingredients yet.

Plus a fresh banana.

It's the last day of March, so if you haven't tried the special alternates, this may be your last chance (and the fruit salad has been very popular!)

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 3/30

Freshly Breaded Chicken Cutlet
Baked Idaho Potato
Carrot Crunchers
Fresh Melon

Our wonderful food service staff is making the chicken cutlets from scratch in house with fresh chicken!  They are marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal. Plus,  a fresh baked potato, fresh, raw carrots and fresh melon are also included. 

Soup is available every day - on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

Weekend Reading

Reading

I find this hilarious. Food Manufacturers have gone so far in producing processed food-like stuff that many Americans no longer believe potato chips have potatoes in them. Read more about the chip industry's efforts to go "all natural". 

Mark Bittman writes for the NYT about Six Things to feel good about regarding food- and two of them reference school lunch. 

Chef Ann's blog had a great guest post describing the factors that help some school districts get school lunch right. What's interesting is that ours has gotten a lot better without help from these particular factors.

Listening 


Bhavani Jaroff whom you met at our hands on healthy cooking class interviewed a guest about the Farm to School program this week on her radio show. Find the archives here.

Watching

You may like Robyn O'Brien's - founder of Allergy Kids - TEDx talk.

Activism

Slow Food is asking for your help to support farmers i the continuing budget resolutions. Findout how here.

Feeding America has mapped food insecurity in our country county by county. Take a look here and find out what you can do about hungry in your community.

Fun

It's still Maple Weekend. Click here for a list of farms holding events.

What's for Lunch - Fri, 3/25

Barilla Plus Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Sauteed Broccoli w/Garlic
Watermelon!

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.

Plus, FRESH broccoli sauteed with garlic. The fruit is fresh watermelon.

Soup is available every day- on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 3/24

Applegate Hot Dog on Whole Wheat Bun
Baked Shoestring “Fries”
Veggie Sticks
Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

It's Kid's Menu week  - nuggets, grilled cheese, hot dogs, mac n cheese.....

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 fries are baked USDA commodity potatoes that arrive frozen. The veggie sticks should be fresh and based on what's available. 

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.

Or, you can encourage your kid to eat off the kid's menu and instead try an alternate entree.  

You can always get an egg salad plate or tuna in a pita.  Both of these look very good.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 3/23

BRUNCH FOR LUNCH
Homemade Challah French Toast
w/Orange Rounds
Applegate Farms® Turkey Bacon
Apple Crisp

Join me in saying "No" to meal declared to be "cake" for lunch by our committee's nutritionist.  Plus, the liberal allocation of syrup is basically HFCS.  Look  back to the posts on the fruit salad alternate. Good day to try it.

Nonetheless, here are the details: You do get fresh orange slices. We make the apple crisp - it is a treat - and there are too many treats in this meal.

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.)





This is a popular meal and we serve it because people buy it and it supports the lunch program.  I don't believe it is a meal worth supporting.



Today, please try an alternate entree - we have some really terrific choices:

Soup is available every day - on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Tues., 3/22

Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese Plain or with Ham
(get sides from the salad bar)
or
SALAD BAR LUNCH!

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.

The salad bar typically 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.

Unfortunately there is a report that last week the salad bar was not yet ready for all the lunches.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Mon., 3/21

White Meat Chicken Nuggets
BBQ Dipping Sauce
Herb & Garlic Potato Wedges
Cucumber Rounds
Fresh Fruit

These are better chicken nuggets than last year -- but they are still fried, frozen Tyson "quality" chicken nuggets.  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 sauce, however, is organic. The kids will be given 1 tablespoon.

We add herbs and garlic to frozen commodity potato wedges. We will also have fresh cucumber and  fresh fruit depending on what is available.

Soup is available every day - on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.  

Weekend Reading

Reading

Thinking of getting an air purifier? Houseplants might be a better option according to the WSJ.

The Journal also reported this week on new research on gluten sensitivity.

The Well blog at the NYT is running hearty vegan recipes for those giving up meat for Lent.

Grist has a lot to say about energy: Japan's Wind Farms have held up nicely - nuclear, not so much.  Natural gas is not a great alternative either - read more about hydro-fracking.

They're also tracking the dramatic increase in food prices.

Petitions

You can sign a petition to allow a few chickens to be raised as pets (but for the purpose of laying eggs) in the Town of North Hempstead. You should be able to grow your own eggs, I say.

Fun

It's Maple Weekend. Click here for a list of farms holding events.

What's for Lunch - Fri. 3/18

Pita Pizza (Plain or w/Meatballs)
Celery Sticks w/Dipping Sauce
Chilled Pineapple Chunks

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 from the USDA.

Celery sticks come with organic ranch dressing as the dip. Follow link for ingredients.

The pineapple is canned,, government commodity fruit.

Soup is available every day- on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides. 

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 3/17

White Meat Chicken Patty on Whole Wheat Bun
Sandwich Fixin’s
Cucumber Sticks
Fresh Melon

"Chicken patty" means a fried, frozen Tyson "quality" 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.

Plus, a fresh fruit and vegetable.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides. 

Recipes Wanted!

There's no school tomorrow, so instead of a menu we have an announcement:

Have a favorite healthy dinner recipe? Share it with the school!

The Nutrition Committee is in the beginning stages of creating a SC School Cookbook. We're first looking for nutritious, homemade dinner recipes (main courses and sides) to consider including in the book. If you have recipes to share, please email them to Lisa Ledden ( laledden@optonline.net) or Liz Winchester ( eswinchester@verizon.net). Please include your name and contact information with your recipe. Also, please note that due to space limitations we may not be able to include all submissions. Thank you!

What's for Lunch - Tues., 3/15

Monterey Jack Cheese Quesadilla
Salsa & Chips
Mini Corn Cobs
Red Delicious Apple

I think this sounds good. They use Monterey Jack cheese (which is mild) and a flour tortilla.  The salsa is organic.

The corn and the apple are fresh!

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides. 

What's for Lunch - Mon. 3/14

All Beef Burger, Cheeseburger
Lettuce & Tomato Fixin’s
or
Boar’s Head Turkey on a Bun
Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”
Orange Rounds

The burgers are made from 100% ground chuck - USDA government commodity beef.  They are served on whole wheat HFCS-free buns. The "Fries" are actually baked and accompanied by fresh orange slices.

Soup is available every day - on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides. 

Weekend Reading

Reading

Spoonfed has a great post on calling kids "picky eaters." Which reminds me, please discuss the fruits and vegetables on the lunch menu and help our kids decide which ones to try.

Even frat houses want better food. The WSJ chronicles the end of tater tot casseroles.

Andy Bellatti joins me in being horrified at food manufacturers' tricks in his blog post lampooning the new "touch of fruit" Frosted Mini-Wheats. Read it for yourself or take my word for it and do not buy them.

There's a lot of new chatter about cooking with coconut oil - here and in this overview of various cooking oils.

Read up about the benefits of maple syrup and why you should avoid the imitators here -- to get ready for next weekend's Maple Syrup events.

Watching

The Times City Critic visits the new and improved NYC school lunch program. Take a look.

Fun

Interested in healthy cooking classes? Covering everything from healthy kids snacks to vegan cooking to raw, The Natural Gourmet Institute runs weekday classes and weekend seminars along with more extensive retreats.

You can sign up anytime for your 2011 CSA farm share -- get organic vegetables from the Golden Earthworm farm on Long Island this summer. Picking up your box each week is fun.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 3/11

Barilla Plus Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Sauteed Broccoli w/Garlic
Watermelon!

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.

Plus, FRESH broccoli sauteed with garlic. The fruit is fresh watermelon.

Soup is available every day- on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 3/10

Freshly Breaded Chicken Cutlet
Baked Idaho Potato
Carrot Crunchers
Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Our wonderful food service staff is making the chicken cutlets from scratch in house with fresh chicken!  They are marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal. Plus,  A fresh baked potato and raw carrots.

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.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 3/9

Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese
Plain or with Ham
(get sides from the salad bar)
or
SALAD BAR LUNCH
Orange Rounds

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.

The salad bar typically 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.

Plus, fresh orange slices.

Soup is available every day - on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Tues., 3/8

Beef Tacos Seasoned 100 % Ground Beef
Lettuce, Salsa & Cheese
Tortilla Shells
Fresh Fruit

* Gluten-free without the shell

The tacos are 100% ground chuck with lettuce and a low-far govt cheddar 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.  Tacos shells are hard, yellow corn shells but I have not gotten the ingredients yet.

Plus fresh fruit - depending on what they can get.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the wrap is tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

What's for Lunch - Mon. 3/7

Pita Pizza (Plain or w/Meatballs)
Celery Sticks w/Dipping Sauce
Chilled Pineapple Chunks

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.

Celery sticks come with organic ranch dressing as the dip. Follow link for ingredients.

The pineapple is canned,, government commodity fruit.

Soup is available every day - on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, the wrap is Boarshead Turkey.


The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

Weekend Reading

Reading

USA Today reports on a new survey revealing that 2/3rds of teachers have students who regularly come to school hungry.

More sugar than a Snickers bar? McDonald's 'healthy' oatmeal. Read more.

Really Shouldn't we get to know if we are eating something that has been genetically modified. Mark Bittman thinks so.

The WSJ reported on how to pick your fish -- which you are supposed to be eating a lot of -- covering issues of health and sustainability.

Horizon's new DHA-fortified organic milk might not be so organic as reported by Food Safety News.

Industrially farmed chickens are fed arsenic. Read more.

Apps

The Good Guide has an app for your iphone that gives you a "green score" on the products you're considering buying. Use at the store this weeken dor to check the Tyson chicken nuggets they serve at school. You can also use their website if you're anti-app.

Action

Action for Healthy Kids is promoting a campaign with Kelloggs - upload or text a picture of your breakfast and they will help provide breakfast in schools to kids who need it.

From Slow Food USA:

Spring's going to be a lot quieter this year. Something is killing off almost 40% of North American honeybees each year, and it's threatening our entire food chain. Mounting scientific evidence suggests agricultural pesticides are one of the culprits.

The Environmental Protection Agency has the power to investigate and ban the pesticides thought to be responsible but, despite their own scientists' advice and under pressure from pesticides companies, they're dragging their feet.

Much of the plant-life we depend on for food exists thanks to honeybees. Now the bees are depending on us to return the favor. Click here to sign our petition calling on the EPA to solve the mystery that's killing our buzz:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5833

From the Environmental Working Group:

In case you missed it: The budget legislation passed by the House of Representatives would slash $747 million -- about 10 percent -- from the 2011 budget for the Special Supplemental Feeding Program for Women, Infants and Children. It's commonly known as "WIC."

WIC was created in 1974 to provide a very modest but crucial measure of food assistance to low-income moms and little kids who are at "nutrition risk." To qualify for this modest assistance, recipients must be poor -- very poor. Some 68 percent of WIC beneficiaries live at, or below, the poverty line. That's about $22,000 for a family of four.

Congress was quick to slash a food program for poor kids during the worst economy in 80 years, but it cut not one penny from the country's farm subsidy programs -- at a time when the farmers who receive the subsidies are enjoying record-high crop prices and incomes.

By cutting just a fraction of what we spend on farm subsidies, the House could have held WIC harmless and continued to give a little help to deserving poor little kids at serious "nutrition risk."

I wrote a Huffington Post column on the cut to WIC and how it symbolizes an unacceptably lopsided and wrong-headed approach to food and agriculture policy. Please read the column (it's below) and then stand with EWG Action Fund and let your representative know that you want a fair, equitable food system that begins to help the country heal its dietary and environmental woes.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 3/4

Try the Veggie Burger! Actual Dr. Praeger's Veggie Burger pictured here!

The menu includes --
All Beef Burger, Cheeseburger
or
Veggie Burger
Lettuce & Tomato Fixin’s
Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”
Orange Rounds

It looks like the Veggie Burger is back!  Beef isn't all that good for you or the planet. Plus, while we serve government commodity beef, we actually serve very high-quality Veggie Burgers. They are worth a try. Here are the ingredients:

Filtered water, textured vegetable protein (soy protein concentrate, carmel color), onions, expeller pressed canola oil, textured wheat protein (wheat gluten, wheat starch, phosphate, soybean oil, titanium dioxide, antioxidants), arrowroot, egg whites, soy protein concentrate, garlic, vegetarian natural meat flavor (yeast extract, maltodextrin, salt, natural flavoring), salt, black pepper.

Try it or the 100% ground chunk - USDA commodity beef burger.  We do use whole wheat buns.  The fries arrive as frozen raw sweet potatoes that we bake. Plus, fresh orange slices.

Soup is available every day- on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Friday's wrap is freshly breaded chicken cutlet that we make in house -- marinated in yogurt, spices, panko and corn meal.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

Food Manufacturer Tricks

General Mills, maker of Fiber One junk, also uses their Honey Nut Cheerios line to convince you that food that is good for you tastes awful. Really, truly awful -- or it would except General Mills is there to rescue you.

In their commercials, a parade of adults lament needing to eat whole grains to lower their cholesterol. Honey Nut Cheerios to the rescue.

Ingredients: Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Oat Bran, Modified Corn Starch, Honey, Brown Sugar Syrup, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Tripotassium Phosphate, Canola and/or Rice Bran Oil, Zinc and Iron (Mineral Nutrients), Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), a B Vitamin (Niacinamide), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Mononitrate), Vitamin A (Palmitate), a B Vitamin (Folic Acid), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Natural Almond Flavor, Wheat Flour, Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.

They do have whole grains -- oats to be specific. And 9g of sugar and various artificial additives.

You could have oatmeal. It also has, um, oats.  Check out our recipes here and here.  But the whole idea that the whole grains taste bad is ridiculous. Whole wheat bread? Brown rice? Quinoa? Barley? Soba noodles? Don't fall for it.  Check out the handout on grains from the guest speaker we had earlier this year.  Or the Well blog from the Times recently on great recipes with interesting whole grains.  The Whole Grains Council also has recipes - although I suspect they exist to serve the food manufacturer industry with their "whole grain stamp".

But if you're looking for a breakfast cereal in particular, take a look at this checklist by our committee's nutritionist.

I think I'm going to avoid General Mills for awhile. A long while. This isn't right.

What's for Lunch - Thurs,, 3/3

White Meat Chicken Patty Parmigiana
Barilla Plus Penne w/ Garlic & Oil
Cucumber Sticks
Petite Banana

"Chicken patty" means a fried, frozen Tyson "quality" 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.

For the penne, we use 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.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla. Thursday's wrap is Tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

Grow Your Own Food - The Mushrooms Arrive

As I've mentioned, you can grow your own mushrooms -- like shitakes, in case you're wondering - indoors any time of year. Thinking this would be fun to show the kids, I ordered a mushroom kit. A month ago. Of course, it arrived while I was away but it seems to be ok.  Here's what I got:

They have put the shitake spores onto a blog of sawdust. The first step is apparently to put them in the refrigerator for 3 days. I'll let you know what happens next.

What's for Lunch - Wed., 3/2

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

Join me in saying "No" to meal declared to be "cake" for lunch by our committee's nutritionist.  Plus, the liberal allocation of syrup is basically HFCS.  Look  back to the posts on the fruit salad alternate. Good day to try it.

Nonetheless, here are the details: You do get fresh orange slices. The applesauce is a USDA commodity product to which we add cinnamon.

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.)

Today, please try an alternate entree:

Soup is available every day- on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays,  it is homemade Chicken Noodle with Vegetables.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Wednesday's wrap is Boarshead Turkey.


The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

Food Manufacturer Tricks

Fiber does taste good.

But apparently the big food manufacturers are desperate to convince you that healthy, nutritious foods with wholesome ingredients are basically inedible. And, Big Food has come to the rescue with processed, packaged food-like things you can stand to eat.

Lots of companies do this so it may be unfair to pick on the Fiber One line first, but I just saw their commercials on TV this morning.

In each commercial, stunned, female shoppers accost a man in a supermarket demanding to know how there could possibly be fiber in a product that was sooo delicious! This morning they were eating:

The Ingredients are:
Chicory Root Extract , Semisweet Chocolate Chips , (Sugar , Chocolate Liquor , Cocoa Butter , Soy Lecithin , Natural Flavor) , Whole Grain Oats , High Maltose Corn Syrup , Rice Flour , Barley Flakes , Sugar , Canola Oil , Glycerin , Maltodextrin , Honey , Tricalcium Phosphate , Palm Kernel Oil , Soy Lecithin , Salt , Nonfat Milk , Fructose , Malt Extract , Cocoa , Baking Soda , Caramel Color , Natural Flavor , Mixed Tocopherols

You do get 9g of fiber.  But really? A pear doesn't taste good? It has 7g. What about a cup of chickpeas -- 13g. An apple has 5 and, by the way, you need to eat fruits and vegetables every day -- not palm kernel oil and four different kinds of sugar.

We don't need this constant drum beat of things that are good for you can't taste good.

What's for Lunch - Tues., 3/1

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Meatballs
Fresh Garlic Bread
(get sides from the salad bar)
or
SALAD BAR LUNCH!
Fresh Fruit

This is a whole grain spaghetti with meatballs - USDA commodity beef but 100% 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 salad bar typically 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 fresh fruit will depend on what is available.

Soup is available every day- on Tuesday and Thursdays it is homemade Tomato Rice.  As an alternate entree, you can get a 1/2 wrap and the soup.  Wraps have romaine lettuce and a white flour tortilla.  Tuesday's wrap is Tuna.

The special entree for March is Abraham Lincoln's Fruit Plate -- carried over from February by popular demand. It includes:  APPLES, ORANGES, GRAPES & FRESH STRAWBERRIES
served with 100% Whole Wheat Carr’s Crackers & Mozzarella Strips plus your choice of sides.

A really good day for school lunch.