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