What's for Lunch - Thurs., 1/19

PITA PIZZA With Meatballs or Plain
Salad Bar Veggie Sides
Strawberry-Yogurt Smoothie

The pita pizza does not indicate that it is whole wheat but I believe we have switched. But go with the plain  -- the meatballs are are processed, cooked and frozen by Tyson.  Ingredients are: Ground beef (not more than 20% fat), water, bread crumbs (bleached wheat flour, salt, yeast, dextrose, and soybean oil), seasoning (salt, dehydrated onion, dehydrated celery, garlic powder, spices, soybean oil), tomato puree (tomatoes and citric acid), grated parmesan cheese [(cultured part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), cellulose powder, potassium sorbate], grated romano cheese made from cow's milk [(cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), cellulose powder, potassium sorbate].   They have 9g of fat (3 are saturated) and 450 mg of sodium.  Tyson recently had another ground beef recall due to e. coli contamination although this one did not affect the school lunch market.

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 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 - Wed.., 1/18

Whole Wheat Penne w/Tomato, Broccoli & Mozzarella
Toasted Garlic Bread
Salad Bar Veggie Sides
Fresh Fruit

Nice day for lunch. This is a whole grain pasta with vegetables and part skim mozzarella. We make the garlic bread. Plus fresh fruit and choice of salad bar sides.

What's for Lunch - Tues., 1/17

Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese with Ham or Plain
Carrot Crunchers
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.

Plus unsweetened applesauce to which we add cinnamon and fresh carrots.

Weekend Reading

Reading

The maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread files for bankruptcy. Read more.

The WSJ will give you low-down on all the fake sugars being rushed to market here.

Wired's Science blog reports on the FDA's recent action to curb the use of at least one class of antibiotics in farm animals.

Listening

NPR ran a piece on Monday on a study showing kids who eat school lunch are more likely to be obese. Listen to the show here.

What's for Lunch - Fri., 1/13

Freshly-Breaded Chicken Cutlet Strips
Brown Rice Pilaf
(Rice with Peppers & Onion)
Salad Bar Veggie Sides
Fresh Apple Slices Dusted with Cinnamon

Our staff will bread the chicken with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and make rice pilaf. Plus fresh apples slices.

What's for Lunch - Thurs., 1/12

Applegate Hot Dog on Whole Wheat Bun
Baked Shoestring “Fries”
Cole Slaw
Strawberry-Yogurt Smoothie


The hot dogs are from Applegate Farms - so they are far better than many hot dogs but are hot dogs nonetheless. 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. They promote it as nitrate-free but this NYT article indicates the nitrate issue is tricky - and cites the company saying their bacon has the same level (naturally) of cancer-causing nitrates as conventional brands.  You may also not want your kids growing up thinking hot dogs are a good lunch given the potential link between processed meats and cancer. The bun is whole wheat.

I have not seen the ingredients on the french fries.

We make the smoothie  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 - Wed., 1/11

Macaroni & Cheese
Barilla Plus Pasta & Wisconsin Cheddar
Caesar Salad at the Salad Bar
Pears in Fruit Juice

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.

Pears are canned.