Healthy Schools Campaign

Snow Stories: Going Above and Beyond for our Schools

By Mark Bishop, Vice President of Policy & Communications

A few weeks ago, Chicago had the mother of all blizzards: the Blizzard of 2011. Our offices shut down, I shoveled all day long with my neighbors and for the first time in nearly 12 years, CPS closed school due to snow -- get this -- for two days! That doesn’t happen in Chicago.

As challenging as the snow was, it also brought out some great stories like this one, about Dwayne Lones, the school engineer from Ashburn Elementary School:

“On Wednesday, February 2, Mr. Lones arrived at the school at 4:00 a.m. to begin the task of clearing the snow from the school.  Of course, I was very happy he arrived so early, but I was shocked when he informed me that the side streets were impassable and he had to WALK from his home in order to make it to the school!  I could not believe it!  He lives quite a distance from the school.  On Thursday, he did the same thing again…walked all the way to the school to ensure it was clear and safe for students and staff.”

Another great story is about Vincent Zagotta, the substitute engineer from Daniel S Wentworth Elementary School:

“Mr. Zagotta showed up and shoveled out during the storm. He left at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, only to return at 6:00 p.m. that same night! He spent the night to make sure that the heat was working properly and that the walkways were plowed.  On Wednesday, none of his custodians came in, but when I arrived early Thursday morning, the walkways were plowed around the entire block-long building. The parking lot was also ready to receive the full staff!”

Yet another great story is about the principal from Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences:

“Principal Hook spent the night at his school, having packed an air mattress and sleeping bag, knowing that had he gone home on Tuesday, getting to school on Wednesday would have been a major struggle. With the help of his engineers, Principal Hook made sure the parking lots were plowed regularly during the snow storm. But Chicago Ag isn´t your regular CPS high school — Principal Hook had to make sure that the livestock was fed as well…”

So, a huge thank you to all the unsung heroes who go above and beyond to make sure our schools are safe, clean and working for all students and teachers. While the Blizzard of 2011 gave us the opportunity to give special recognition, let’s not forget that these are the individuals whose work every day makes our schools better places to learn.

Green Jobs and Green, Clean Schools: Re-thinking the Role of School Custodians



by Mark Bishop, Vice President of Policy and Communications

Kudos to the Blue Green Alliance for running their fourth annual Good Jobs Green Jobs conference! I was honored to be a presenter this year. For those who aren’t familiar with BGA, it’s a coalition of leading national labor unions and environmental groups working together to promote job growth through the expansion of green jobs and better environmental policy.

Since its inception, BGA has worked on promoting green jobs, but primarily in terms of large construction projects: building wind turbines, solar panels, efficient transportation. This is all good and important work, but in the work we do, we look at it a bit differently. We think of green jobs as custodial services, environmental education, environmental justice, and in changing the day to day ways we think about our schools. I was heartened to see that their focus is expanding into service delivery and education.

In my session, we discussed how custodial services that focus on environmental issues (partly through green cleaning programs) can promote health, improve the environment while delivering value to building owners and the service industry as a whole.

What does this mean? Well, in our schools, the only people who look at the entire facility on a daily basis are custodians -– let’s make sure we treat our custodians as a resource to green our facilities and to save money at the same time. It all starts with improving the training we provide to our custodial staff. Here are a few things that could help take us in that direction:

1. Training staff on green cleaning programs to improve health and save money. Green cleaning programs can reduce the amount of chemicals that we use (and buy), and modern equipment can make existing staff more efficient with their cleaning.
2. Training staff to identify energy hogs (plugged-in unused appliances, unauthorized electronic equipment, faulty equipment that is still draining electricity) to reduce energy use.
3. Training staff to identify water problems (leaky faucets, inoperable toilets, wet tiles) and empowering them to initiate fixes to these issues.
4. Training staff to clean areas that would lead to greater energy efficiency (such as refrigeration equipment) and identifying areas where inefficiencies are being created (such as build-up in ventilation paths).

None of these items listed above are particularly complicated, but all of them do require a rethinking of how we train and how we value our custodial workers.

And this isn’t pie in the sky. It’s happening. SEIU 32BJ is doing a program such as this right now. And our friends at the Ashkin Group are leading the charge at changing the way building owners think about custodial services. (You go, Steve!)

This also highlights the importance of the policy work we do to expand the adoption of green cleaning programs. We need to improve the environments in which students learn and staff work. But we also have to help support the cleaning service industry by recognizing the value that it brings to our schools.

Ultimately, it’s only through a well-trained workforce that we’ll be able to provide a healthy and safe environment for our kids. Maybe one way to do this is by truly treating our custodians as the care takers of our schools and people who can make a difference for healthy, sustainable spaces. They take care of our buildings, ensure efficient resource use and make sure we have safe environments for all occupants.

Our custodial workers can be an important part of the green economy. We just need to recognize the key role they play in providing healthy, sustainable learning spaces.

Plus: To learn more about green cleaning in schools, check out HSC's Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools!

School Buildings Matter: For Education, For Health, For Communities

by Mark Bishop, Vice President of Policy and Communications

Every once in a while I like to remind myself to skim through The Third Teacher. It’s a wonderful collection of bite-sized ideas that focus on the importance of the school building in teaching and learning. The idea is that environment where students spend their days -- the classrooms, the hallways, the schoolyards -- plays a key role in shaping their education. Each idea is little more than a short sentence in length, but each is rich in how it highlights the need to ensure that physical spaces support rather than hinder quality education. The ideas range from health and sustainability to play and nutrition.

Cherish Children’s Spaces - It's a natural impulse to nurture our young - let that impulse extend to the places where young people learn.

What we know is that not all schools are cherished. It’s not uncommon for financial constraints to put pressure on schools to postpone maintenance and cut back on maintenance that would normally be considered essential. Need an example? Check out some of the poignant photos submitted by students in last year’s Through Your Lens contest. (The 2011 contest is now open -- more about that later.)

Think Small - When identifying hazards in the learning environment, remember that children are more physically vulnerable than adults.

This is true for everything from furniture to chemical exposures: children are affected more significantly than adults. Not only are they smaller, but they also eat, drink and breathe more in proportion to their body size. They also have habits (like playing on the floor or putting their heads down on the desk) that increase their close contact with the physical environment. That’s why it’s even more important that the environment support their health and learning.

Form Follows Function - It seems obvious but is often forgotten: Teaching and learning should shape the building, not vice versa.

A recent EPA publication highlighted that a healthy school environment goes beyond health and safety, but can actually improve academic performance.

School buildings really matter. I’ve had the opportunity to visit many schools, both beautiful and challenged. Again, if you need examples of either, take a moment to look at the photos from Through Your Lens. You’ll see buildings that support learning in beautiful and creative ways; you’ll also see photos of buildings that put health -- and learning -- at risk.

Take a moment to think about the school you -- or your children, or your students, or the children in your city’s different communities -- attend. What do you see? Does the space support health? Is it conducive to learning? Does it promote community and engagement? Does it pose risks to health or have features that detract from education? What unmet needs can be addressed?

Take a moment to share what you see. As I mentioned, we’re now hosting our second Through Your Lens photo contest with our partners at Critical Exposure and the 21st Century School Fund. Through Your Lens shows the world what students, teachers and many others see at school every day: the inspiring elements and the elements that need to change.

Learn more and share your photos at www.ThroughYourLens.org.

By sharing photos and stories of what they see every day at school, students, teachers and community members will provide us all with an honest window into today’s school buildings and help us move closer to ensuring that all our nation’s students have the chance to learn every day in spaces that truly support their education.

What Will New Nutrition Standards Mean for School Food?

by Mark Bishop, Vice President of Policy and Communications

The past few months have seen big news in the world of school food. In December, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act passed, reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act for the first time in more than five years. At the signing of the bill, President Obama said, “We've seen the connection between what kids eat and how well they perform in school.” And two weeks ago, the USDA took steps to implement the law by proposing new nutrition standards for the first time in nearly 15 years.

This is a good step forward and USDA’s quick movement in proposing these new standards is to be applauded.

However, we need to be realistic in recognizing that it will take months if not years before these rules are actually implemented in schools. Improving school food doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it happen with the passage of a single bill. The new standards are very important and will go a long way in moving change along -- but bringing healthy school food to schools across the country will only happen with the day-to-day creativity, hard work and dedication of school food service staff, parents and administrators in thousands of schools across the country.

As important as these new standards will be, we can’t take our eyes off the long-range goal of providing healthy food at the school level, for all children.

A few thoughts:

We need to stay engaged during the process of finalizing the new nutrition standards. While school food standards have been introduced, this is only the beginning. The new legislation requires the USDA to implement new standards for school food within 18 months. This means there will be months of meetings, public discussion, comment periods and many conversations about what school food should look like. These standards are closely based on the report issued by the Institute of Medicine in October 2009, but that doesn’t mean that the USDA will accept the IOM recommendations in their entirety. Importantly, this means we all need to stay engaged to ensure that healthful standards are set.  

And remember that six-cent increase in the school lunch reimbursement? Well, schools only receive it after the new standards are set and after they comply with those standards. In a time when most schools are already losing more than 35 cents per meal (and double that in large urban districts), this extra money will be welcomed -- but it’s not going to provide a level of resources to allow schools to suddenly provide higher quality meals.

We need to make sure schools provide an environment that supports healthy eating and wellness.  The reality is that food in the cafeteria is only one piece of the larger puzzle of a healthy school food environment. As the USDA determines new nutrition standards, we need to make sure the other pieces are also as healthful as possible. Teachers can incorporate health and wellness into classroom activities; principals need to employ strategies to incorporate wellness throughout the day; school nurses need to promote prevention and wellness in their practices; parents need to stay engaged with supporting healthy behaviors: we all have a role to play.

It’s encouraging to see examples of this kind of change bubbling up across the country. In Chicago, we’ve launched Go for the Gold, a citywide campaign to engage parents, teachers, principals, chefs, corporations and community leaders in meeting the high standards for school food, nutrition education and physical activity set by the HealthierUS School Challenge. We’re seeing how important it is to tap into the resources in our community and help schools connect with resources to succeed. Since Go for the Gold launched about six months ago, 15 schools have achieved these standards and submitted their applications, while dozens more are making changes. We’ve seen the community step forward to support schools in achieving these impressive goals: 65 chefs sharing healthy eating lessons on Chef in the Classroom day, corporations providing support through the Civic & Business Advisory Committee, and partner organizations working with schools to provide nutrition education and physical activity opportunities.

The USDA started with the easy stuff.  The USDA proposed standards for school lunch which are based on the work done by the Institute of Medicine. This work has been discussed for well over a year already. However, more work is ahead in developing and proposing new standards for other parts of the school food environment. It will likely be much more controversial when the USDA proposes the standards for all other foods sold in schools: fundraisers, pizza parties, vending machines. . . that will likely generate a more heated debate. And this is where the USDA has a real opportunity to make change.

In all the news that we’ve seen around these new standards, there has been lots of hyperbole. Coverage has ranged from “A Giant Step for Children’s Health” to “New School Food Standards Fail Civil Rights Test.”

But I think Ed Bruske got the tone right on when he wrote, “serving real food in school takes radical changes on the local level, not merely tinkering with standards originating in Washington. That means an attitude change and a commitment on the part of local school officials, parents, and elected leaders.”

My hope is that the new standards originating in Washington are going to make the necessary changes in our schools look a little less radical.

Stephen Colbert on Really Green Cleaning & Raw Milk

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

Shortly on the heels of taking on farm workers rights, Stephen Colbert takes on an issue close to our hearts -- green cleaning. The state of New York announced in September that it is going to begin enforcing a 40-year-old law that would require manufacturers to reveal their products' contents. Transparency is important, and this could be a good move in the continued push for greater adoption of greener cleaning. However, there is one interesting note to the NY law: It requires disclosure of product ingredients greater than 5 percent. When this law was passed in 1971, technology made it difficult to determine ingredient levels below that threshold. Today, we can and need to understand ingredients at levels that are a mere faction of a percentage. The New York law does not address that need.

In the same clip, Stephen takes on raw milk. I’ve never had it, but I’m curious to try it -- I've been told it's delicious. I just don’t understand the lionizing and demonizing of raw milk. It seems that in a world where we can have a half billion eggs recalled for salmonella, the relative risks for raw milk shouldn’t take up so much space in the public debate. But if you want raw milk, to reduce your risks, make sure you know your farmer.

In the meantime, enjoy this clip.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Rawesome Foods Raid
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Recess Before Lunch Helps Make Kids Healthier, Ready to Learn

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

We’ve been saying for years that recess before lunch is a great strategy to reduce plate waste, but it’s nice to see that a recent New York Times article identifies even more benefits:

"Kids are calmer after they’ve had recess first,” said Janet Sinkewicz, principal of Sharon Elementary School in Robbinsville, N.J., which made the change last fall. “They feel like they have more time to eat and they don’t have to rush."

It’s almost as if switching to recess before lunch is an answer to a question that people don’t even know to ask. Some of the benefits identified include:

• Teachers reported that students got their ‘wiggles’ out

• Students ate more of their lunches

• Students were less likely to become hungry or feel sick later in the day

• Students drank more milk and water

• The eating environment had a more relaxed atmosphere

• School nurse visits dropped

• It saved 10-15 minutes of classroom time; the lunch after recess became the ‘cool-down period’ before returning to the classroom and students were then more ready to start their class work immediately.

Not to say that a schedule switch such as this isn’t without logistical challenges, but the benefits are obvious.

At a time when schools are strapped for cash, we can’t forget that so many of the things we can do to improve the school food/wellness environment don’t require money -- just a little creativity.

And I need to give a shout-out to all the school nurses out there. I learned something new in this article... that a school nurse started the entire idea of doing this! Nice work!

"One of the earliest schools to adopt the idea was North Ranch Elementary in Scottsdale, Ariz. About nine years ago, the school nurse suggested the change, and the school conducted a pilot study, tracking food waste and visits to the nurse along with anecdotal reports on student behavior.

"By the end of the year, nurse visits had dropped 40 percent, with fewer headaches and stomachaches. One child told school workers that he was happy he didn’t throw up anymore at recess."

At HSC, we salute simple solutions that make kids healthier and more ready to learn.

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Have you tried this in your school? Let us know!

For more of our blogs on recess, click here.

I Want to Play with My Food! Inventing New Ways to Make Healthy Food Fun

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

I want to play with my food.

I try to make eating and cooking with my son more fun. We cook together; taste; try new things... but maybe we don’t play with our food enough. There’s a man out there trying to change all that.

According to the Oklahoman, inventor Lee Bayless created Veggie Bots, which turns vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumbers and radishes into building blocks. His invention has been patented but is not yet available to the public.

Forget the Happy Meals, Tinkertoys and Magna-Tiles (my son loves these). How about playing with your carrots and then eating the final product?

My one request to Lee: Bring this product to market. You have at least one guaranteed sale here in Chicago.

Grass Fed Beef in NYC Schools: Building the Foundation for School Food Change One Success at a Time

by Mark Bishop, deputy director

Sometimes a piece of information comes across your inbox and you can’t help but get excited. The other day I received an email discussing a recent success in the New York City public schools’ food program and I needed to share it.

First, a bit of background. School Food Focus is a great organization (HSC is a member) that works with the largest school districts in the US to improve their school food. One discussion that took place over at School Food Focus honed in on how to get better beef into schools, and how to do so cost effectively. Well, on October 14, this goal came to fruition in one school district: New York City Public Schools. To quote from Chef Jorge Collazo, the head of the NYC school food program:

I just wanted to share that on October 14, we offered a delicious Grass Fed Bolognese Sauce over whole grain pasta in 18 of our schools city wide. We rounded out the menu with roasted Capri vegetable blend with chick peas, cumin, garlic and sautéed onions and peppers. I was in PS 83 in Manhattan and we served over 700 kids and they loved it. Ken Jaffe, the owner of Slope Farms in Meredith, NY, was present and he was besieged with autograph requests from the kids ("the farmer...the farmer!!”).

These are the successes that frequently fall below the radar screen of our media. But these are also the successes that build the foundation of real school food change. Improving school food isn’t easy; but with creative thinkers, better funding, and the help of some autograph-signing farmers, perhaps we can make Grass Fed Bolognese Sauce the norm.

Fun Fall Snack: Don't Forget the Pumpkin Seeds

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

I beg you, when you carve your pumpkins, don't forget your pumpkin seeds! Not only is pumpkin carving a really fun, creative activity with your kids, it can turn into a culinary activity, too.

Everyone knows that you need to remove your pumpkin seeds when you carve your pumpkin, but in my informal poll of friends, neighbors and family, too many (most in fact) simply throw away the seeds. Little do they realize the deliciousness they are not experiencing.

When you remove the seeds, set them aside and rinse them with water to remove the gunk. Then heat up a pan with a small amount of olive oil, add the seeds, and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Keep it over high heat and stir occasionally until the seeds get toasty brown with a few black spots. 

They are delicious and crunchy. They're full of nutrition. And your kids will be so proud that they made food from their jack o' lantern.

National School Lunch Week: Presidential Proclamation, Great Resources & Personal Action

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

 

Did you know that this week is National School Lunch Week? Last Friday, President Obama issued a proclamation stating that he is committed to making sure that the National School Lunch Program serves “meals that will contribute to the health and well-being of a new generation.” This is a lofty goal and of course one that we enthusiastically support. President Obama and Congress: please help us reach this goal by getting a strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act passed.

 

With that goal in mind, this is a great week to check out some of the great resources that support healthy school food.

 

The School Nutrition Association has put together a fun new site for kids to engage them in healthy food and active lifestyles. Students who visit www.WhatsOnYourTray.org can take a personality quiz to reveal which of the site’s cartoon characters fits their personality the best. Each character comes paired with healthy eating tips, emphasizing the components of well-balanced school meals.

 

If you haven’t checked out Let's Move! in awhile, take a moment to do so. The site has expanded in the past months and it has great resources for parents, chefs, political leaders and kids -- it’s all there.

 

The HealthierUS School Challenge is the USDA’s program to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. It’s a great program to involve a school’s whole community in the discussion of obesity and wellness. There are even grants available to schools who qualify. When talking about this program, we can’t neglect to mention Go for the Gold, HSC’s partnership with Chicago Public Schools to support schools in meeting the high standards for food, physical activity and nutrition education set by the HealthierUS School Challenge.

 

These resources will be of the most value when parents, teachers, school food service professionals, students and everyone else in the school community speaks up about what’s for lunch.

 

So on this week, what are your kids eating for lunch in school? Are they prepared to choose healthy options? What kind of changes are going on in your community to support healthy meals at school?

 

We’d love to hear what’s going on at your school, and encourage you to stay involved in the effort to make sure that school food truly contributes, in words of this week’s proclamation, to “the health and well-being of a new generation.”

HSC In the News: Tilden Student & Lunch Line Filmmakers Featured on Chicago's WGN News

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

The new documentary Lunch Line gives an interesting and accessible perspective on a surprisingly policy-heavy topic: school food. The film features the 2009 winners of HSC's Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest as they travel to Capitol Hill to speak up for healthy school food.  We were excited to see the filmmakers with Tilden Career Academy student Cari Smith on WGN discussing the movie, school lunches and the winning meal at Cooking up Change:

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Jamie Oliver Said it Right: The Fight for a Strong, Well-Funded Child Nutrition Act Isn't Over Yet

By Mark Bishop, deputy director

I’ve spoken to many people who felt deflated when the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization didn’t pass last week. I understand. We’ve been working hard, and at times it’s hard to understand why our political leaders just can’t seem to find the way to prioritize children’s health.

But Jamie Oliver said it well yesterday in an editorial on CNN. In short, he said that the fight isn’t over and we need to keep the momentum alive -- in our schools and in the national political scene.

When Congress returns, members should not only support these new standards but also give people the necessary dollars to get on the path to fresh food. Parents deserve to know what their kids are being fed at school. If Congress won't put the regulations in place, then Americans are going to have to take things into their own hands.

And what should we do? As Oliver says in his editorial:

• Drop into school and eat lunch with your child. See for yourself what is being served on the breakfast and lunch trays. If you don't like what you see, find other parents in your school who are as frustrated and disgusted as you are. Band together and go to your school board and demand change.
• Love your lunch ladies. Go visit them and thank them. Let them know you appreciate that they take care of your kids and that you want to help them get better equipment, training and information to make their jobs easier.
• Make noise. Send e-mails, meet your school nutrition director, go to PTA meetings, and get your kids involved. Take every opportunity to keep school food change front and center.

These points are right on. We need to be informed, we need to understand what’s going into our children’s bodies at school and we need to make our voices heard. At your school, in your state -- and let’s not forget, we need to let our national leaders know that we need them to prioritize children’s health.

To speak up at the national level, visit HSC's child nutrition action center, where you can send a letter to your representatives letting them know that child nutrition must be a priority.

School Lunch: Now It’s Personal

by Mark Bishop, HSC deputy director

Big changes are taking place in my household this week: my son is starting pre-K! We made the decision about which school he’d attend months ago, but now another decision looms: my wife and I now have to decide if he will bring a lunch from home or eat the standard school lunch.

What to do, what to do.

At first, I has assumed that the school lunch option wouldn’t be available for the pre-K kids and I’d have no choice but to pack lunches for Henry. I’d go out and purchase a bento box, get creative, and start visiting Weelicious even more frequently than I already do for lunch ideas. However, last week we learned that 4-year-olds in pre-K at Henry’s school do go through the lunch line.

We were comforted to learn that the kids his age get to use the cafeteria before the bigger kids get there, but we don’t yet know many other details such as how much choice he will have or how in the heck he’s going to carry his lunch tray back to his classroom where the little kids dine. (He has a hard enough time wandering around the house with a cup of dry cereal without most of it ending up on the floor!)

Professionally, we’ve been working with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for years, and this year brought a major milestone in that work: CPS adopted new nutrition guidelines for school food. The meals meet the Gold standard of the HealthierUS School Challenge and move the district closer to meeting the Institute of Medicine standards. This means more produce, more whole grains, and other healthy changes. CPS is increasing the purchases of regional fruits and vegetables. They are eliminating sugary cereal for breakfast and got rid of the infamous breakfast donut. They’ve been conducting training for food service staff so they are ready to prepare fresh food and veggies! They are even expanding salad bars throughout the system.

I’ve tasted samples from the new menus on several occasions over the past few months. In every case, the meals were really good. Good enough that I’d be happy for my son to eat them daily. (I’d be happy to eat them daily myself.) But we all know that there is a difference between preparing a meal for 50-100 people and serving a meal to a school full of students. CPS has more than 400,000 students and serves more than 60 million meals per year. Is the food going to be what we want it to be, what I want it to be?

Suddenly, school lunch is no longer just a professional passion: now it’s personal.

Of course we’ve been mulling over the pros and cons. On one hand, packing a lunch would mean that I get to control what food is put in front of Henry for lunch (though I still wouldn’t control what he actually eats). I love to cook, especially for Henry, and I have to say that I’m excited about the prospect of filling a little bento box with healthy food every day! I don’t know exactly what the school food would look like. And I don’t want Henry to have the option of chocolate milk every day.

And on the other hand, I really believe that the food will be good. Ideologically, I want to participate in the school lunch program. I believe that participating is part of making positive change. To be a good member of my school wellness team, I should experience the program and let Henry experience it as well.

After talking through these (and plenty of other) pros and cons, we’ve decided to participate in the school lunch program. Participating is important to me. And my gut is that the school lunches will be significantly better this year.

I’m excited to visit the school and check on Henry during lunch time. I want to see what he’s eating and what he’s not eating, what he and his classmates like and what they leave on the tray.

Professionally, I’ve seen the new nutrition standards and tried samples of the food; now I’m looking forward to seeing the new menus in action where they really matter: on lunch trays in front of kids.

I know this will give me a new perspective on the issue: as we think of kids across the city and across the country in our work to improve school food, I’ll be thinking of my own child at lunch time as well.

Meatless Monday Dinner: Quick Bruschetta (Or, Um, Mini Pizzas!)

By Mark Bishop, deputy director

Last week my family went to a restaurant and had bruschetta as an appetizer. There were endless options  with different types of cheeses, meats, veggies -- if there is a traditional bruschetta, it wasn’t found here. The permutations were endless, and with all the tomatoes growing in my garden, I thought it would be a perfect excuse to prevent my tomatoes from going bad. My question, as my four year old gets pickier: Would he eat this meal?

I didn’t have any loaves of french bread, but I did have my favorite whole wheat sandwich bread. Quickly, I scoured for other ingredients. Here’s what I made:

Ingredients:

1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 medium-sized onion diced

1/2 head of garlic, minced

1 large tomato, diced

Splash of white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Buffalo mozzarella

Ricotta cheese

4 pieces of bread

Herbs from the garden

Olive oil

First I grilled the peppers in a pan with olive oil until they were soft and slightly caramelized -- about 12 minutes on high heat -- and placed them in a bowl. In the same pan I added more olive oil, most of the garlic and the onion. I let these slightly, and then I added a splash of white wine to deglaze: the pan -- meaning to dissolve the tasty caramelized solids on the pan. I added this to the peppers. Then to the peppers, I added the tomato, salt and pepper to taste and some diced herbs -- we had sage and basil that Henry picked.

Next I pan grilled the bread with olive oil until crispy and golden. I love pan frying bread. It makes it so much more substantial. The assembly began -- which is a very kid-friendly activity...

• Cut the bread in quarters
• Spoon a teaspoon of ricotta on each bread quarter
• Spoon a teaspoon of peper/tomato mix on top of the ricotta
• Lay a small slice of mozzeraella
• Sprinkle with fresh herbs

Nothing like fresh herbs and tomatoes from the garden. And while the idea of bruschetta didn’t necessarily appeal to Henry, when we described it as mini pizzas he started to go to town. It was delicious for everyone. It was a really yummy and satisfying meatless meal. In the end, a little coaching for Henry, and a little re-marketing, and we had a delicious and healthy meal.

It reminded me of a study that came out last year proving that, in a nutshell, kids eat more vegetables if you give the vegetables silly names. (You can check out the original article here.) Sometimes all it takes is a little re-framing. This worked for me at home and I can imagine all the ways it might work in a school cafeteria or a classroom. Have you had experiences -- or successes -- with this phenomenon?

Healthy, Kid-Friendly Recipe: Peanut Butter Rice Balls, a.k.a. How to Use All the Leftover Chinese Food Rice

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

Hot summer day, leftover Chinese-food rice... what to do, what to do. Henry and I decided to experiment a bit by creating a no-bake cookie recipe. It turned out to be fun -- and a huge hit with both Henry and my wife.

First things first: As I've said before, please -- Mr. and Mrs. Chinese-Food-Restaurant-Owners, give us the option of brown rice on your menu. Please!

Back to the story. This is the type of simple recipe that can be easily modified with what you have at hand. And it’s a get-your-hands-dirty, mess-up-the-counter-and-floor kind of activity. Perfect for a precocious four-year-old.

Ingredients (approximate):

2 small containers of leftover rice
3 tablespoons of favorite peanut butter
3 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon of brown sugar (Henry insisted)
1 pinch of sea salt
2 big pinches of cinnamon

Optional:

Raisins
Nuts
Chocolate chips

Mix all the ingredients together in a glass bowl. Henry helped me by adding the items. Place the bowl into a microwave for 2 minutes to soften the mixture. Then mix thoroughly with a spoon. Here’s where Henry’s help really shined: taste the mixture to see if it needs anything -- more sugar, more raisins, more nuts... Henry insisted on adding some brown sugar.

This is the fun part: Take the mixture into your hands and roll into balls. Kids love helping with this, although in my experience more mixture ended up in my son’s mouth rather than in the cookies -- all part of the process.

Refrigerate the balls for about an hour. In the end, you’ll have slightly sweet, chewy, tasty cookies great for a dessert or snack. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you. It was a huge hit in my household. I love the chewy rice with the crunch of peanuts in it, but add or mix it up as you see fit. It’s easy, tasty, and it didn’t heat up my summer kitchen.

More ways to use leftover rice:

Part 1: Fruit Rice

Part 2: Veggie Fried Rice

Healthy, Kid-Friendly Meal: Quick Chicken Salad Boats

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

In my experiences with kids (and adults), cutting food up small for a salad makes it more fun and interesting to eat. This meal was a crazy success for my 4 year old -- in part because of the food, but probably even more because of the delivery.

When I got home the other evening, we didn’t anything prepared. So I rummaged through my refrigerator and found the following:

3 grilled chicken legs (left over from the previous evening) 
1 fresh zucchini 
1 carrot 
1 handful of grape tomatoes 
1/2 purple onion 
Romaine lettuce

In just a few minutes, I washed and diced all but the lettuce. I then tossed it with a little barbecue  sauce, a teaspoon of sugar, a splash of balsamic vinegar, a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and a sprinkle of garlic powder. It’s a tasty little salad, with the barbecue flavor that my son loves. And using prepared sauces makes food prep so much easier. Really, this can be made with any fresh veggies -- I try to keep veggies on hand and experiment. 

But the winning moment here wasn’t the salad, it was the delivery.

We occasionally make lettuce wraps with turkey or other items. I decided to do that with this chicken salad. We called them chicken boats -- filling individual leaves of lettuce with a big tablespoon of the salad and then sailing the boats into our mouths. It made for a fun evening for Henry, and the joy of watching your kid gobble down a healthy meal never gets old.

Healthy, Kid-Friendly Recipe: Banana Bites

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

We all know that kids love pancakes. But how about a pancake with a surprise inside? That makes it even better. I got this recipe from Weelicious, and it’s a winner for big and small alike.

The basic recipe is this: Mix up your favorite pancake batter (I use Trader Joe’s multi-grain pancake mix), dip slices of banana in it, and cook up. Banana Bites make great finger food. And the sweetness from the banana means you don’t even need to add syrup -- though of course, we do.

Ingredients:

2 bananas
1 cup of your favorite pancake batter

And from Weelicious:

1. Cut the bananas into 1/4 inch slices (I like to make slices on a diagonal bias so they’re a little bit longer than circles).

2. One at a time, dip the banana slices into the batter, coating all over, shaking off the excess batter into the bowl and place on a buttered griddle or skillet over medium heat.

3. Cook for 1 minute on each side or until golden.

4. Serve.

Easy to make, fun to eat, loved by kids and adults for breakfast. Give it a try.

 

 

 

Child Nutrition Act - A Game Changer?

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

Yesterday the Senate unanimously passed the Child Nutrition Act. The bill would partially fulfill President Obama’s request for $10 billion in additional funding for child nutrition program by providing $4.5 billion over the next decade. The bill will now move on to the House where it will need to pass by September 30, before the current program expires.

According to The New York Times:

The legislation will expand the number of low-income children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, largely by streamlining the paperwork required to receive the meals. And it will expand a program to provide after-school meals to at-risk children.

Foods sold in schools will be required to meet new nutrition guidelines, whether sold in the school lunch line or in vending machines. Schools may still be allowed to sell pizza and other favorites, though schools may have to substitute healthier ingredients to qualify.

School vending machines and a la carte lines, however, may be prohibited from selling candy bars and high-sugar sodas that have long provided revenue for extracurricular programs.

These are all positive and important changes. And all in all, this will allow for greater access to healthier food for our children. 

But let’s not lose perspective. This bill is good, but not a game changer. The low level of funding will mean that schools will continue to struggle with limited resources and will face an ongoing challenge as they work to provide healthier and higher quality options for schoolchildren.

With all the focus on addressing childhood obesity at the federal, state and local levels, we are disappointed that the Senate didn’t come up with more money to improve school food.

The increase in funding included in this bill is only six cents per meal -- and that's in an environment where schools, on average, are already losing about 35 cents per meal. (Schools in large urban settings are losing about double that amount.) This additional revenue, while welcome, will not open the flood gates to fresh fruits and vegetables. Rather, it will place a small plug in school food budgets already in crisis.

So as the bill goes to the House, we still need to ask our legislators to prioritize our children’s health and pass the bill with a greater level of funding. Because if we really want to address childhood obesity and improve school food, we need to invest real resources into how we feed our children.

Update: Ughhh... It seems that most of the offsets that were identified to pay for this funding increase were taken from SNAP funding. Not pretty. Read Ezra Klein for more information.

Friday Recipe: Watermelon & Corn Summer Salsa With Fresh (Kid-Picked) Herbs

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

This was so delicious that my wife and I couldn’t stop eating it. I had to share. It’s a little sweet; a little spicy; a little creamy; a little crunchy. It was just delicious.

I decided to use up the leftover corn from my fridge by making a small salad/salsa. First, I sent Henry into the garden to grab some herbs. He loves herbs -- and he especially loves picking them. So he picked me a handful of chives, tarragon and one big leaf of basil. I love getting him involved in any aspect of my cooking. Henry didn’t love this recipe, but when he saw his herbs combined with corn and watermelon, he at least tried it. I think my problem was that I left the remaining watermelon on the counter so he focused on the fruit in front of him rather than on the salsa. (Not the worst problem to have -- and hey, more salsa for me!)

Ingredients

2 ears of corn with the kernels removed
1/2 cup diced watermelon
1 avocado
1 diced red bell pepper
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 small slice of a jalapeno pepper, diced
Sea salt to taste
Fresh herbs to taste, chopped

I diced all the ingredients finely and combined them. The mixture of sweet, savory and creamy made this so yummy.

Even though Henry didn’t chow down on this salsa, he was proud of his contributions. Learning to cook isn’t always about eating. It’s about knowing your food and taking pride in your creation. I’ll call this a win for all of us today.

Healthy, Kid-Friendly Treat: Summer Sorbet

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

Summertime is such a great time for fruit, but sometimes we go overboard in our purchases and can’t eat what we buy. The other day I had some peaches that weren’t going to last much longer so I wanted to use them. Sometimes I freeze my fruit for smoothies, or even dehydrate it; but today I decided to try to make some peach sorbet for dessert.

My issue with making sorbet is that most recipes require special equipment. I don’t want another appliance in my kitchen, nor do I want to boil a sugar solution on a hot summer afternoon. So I decided to try out my own recipe. I put my trusty immersion blender to the test.

Here’s what I did for four servings:

Ingredients

• 3 peaches 
• 1 tablespoon sweetener (honey, sugar, agave)
• 1/4 cup water
•  Lemon juice (optional)

I added all ingredients to a container and blended until it was super smooth. Add less sweetener if your peaches are super sweet, more if not. Taste it to make sure the sweetness works for you. Then put it in the freezer for four hours. But the key here is that every hour, you’ll need to blend it with your immersion blender. This will ensure that the ice crystals are small and makes a really smooth sorbet.

It was delicious, super kid friendly and fun to make. Henry added the fruit and sugar. He was proud to be part of the process. And yes, Henry was wearing a super hero costume during dessert the other night.

The ideas are endless for sorbet. You can use so many fruits -- strawberries, melons, plums. And how about this: I’m going to try to toss in a basil leaf next time for basil peach. Or how about strawberry tarragon sorbet? Or watermelon lime? I can’t wait to keep experimenting!