Cafeteria Trends for New School Year

It's time again to wrap those textbooks in brightly-patterned spandex book covers, sharpen some pencils and pop some fresh batteries in that calculator. Before we send kids out the door with some lunch money, take a look at some of the new trends in school cafeterias across America. This is from an article from one of my favorite blogs on school food policy.

• Syrup-infused pancakes, waffles, etc. in plastic packages that you can "safely" put in the oven.


• Mini burgers, hot dogs, cereals and the like.


• Cheese-covered bread in various forms (think pizza, quesadillas, pizza quesadillas, cheesy bread-sticks, and chili cheese wraps).


• Salty snacks such as buffalo wing, chipotle cheddar, honey mustard pretzels, stuffed churros, super pretzels and soft pretzels.


• Sugary milks in new flavors such as extreme chocolate, rootbeer, mocha, hot fudge, and mint chocoloate.

Maybe they'd be better off packing a turkey sandwich with veggie sticks...

Every summer, the School Nutrition Association’s hosts a food expo, showcasing all sorts of new products to use those commodity dollars on. Here are some particularly disgusting new "foods":

• Clodhoppers, cocoa-covered graham wafer clusters, which does count as one USDA serving of a bread or grain. It’s “great for breakfast, lunch or after school!”


• Giorgio Foods' new Cheese Stikcs, which asks you to “pledge allegiance to breaded American cheese." I'm not even joking. And guess what? They are breaded American cheese. Again, I'm not even joking. Not a little bit.


• The Crazy Apple! A company has developed apples that taste like bubble gum, cotton candy and tropical blast. I wasn't aware that apples tasted that bad... especially if you're picking GOOD apples.


• If you like the idea of sweetened, colored fruit, the United Commodity Group will process those apples and turn them into flavored applesauce. The neon-green “Super Sour Apple” is made of apples, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavor, FD&C Yellow #5 and Blue #1, and Vitamin C. And sadly, that counts as one serving of fruit for school lunches.


• Polish Water Ice (see image above) claims that its product has no fat, no dairy, no cholesterol, no peanut oil and fewer than 140 calories. It does contain: water, apple juice concentrate, cane sugar, corn syrup, natural and artificial flavor, guar gum, carbohydrate gum, locust bean gum, citric acid and FD&C Red #40. Yep, you guessed it- that counts as half of the required fruit and vegetables for meals. Do you see that thing?


• And last but not least, why bother making pancakes and eggs as separate breakfast dishes? No need! Schools can now buy heat-and-serve “Maple PanEggCakes,” which is an egg patty that is nestled inside a maple-flavored, whole-grain pancake. Seriously? Whole grain? Who are you kidding?

Ate my Way through Chicago

I'm back from the Windy City and had an absolute blast. Kendall and I had such a good visit with Mary, Jonathan, Chris, Sarah, Al and all the new faces along the way! Chicago's weather was beautiful so we spent as much time outside as possible. And we also took advantage of the many tastes of the city.

Our flight landed on Saturday and after dropping our bags, we were on our way to meet my cousin, Jonathan and his husband, Chris, downtown. Once there, we decided to try Hot Woks Cool Sushi, almost right across from the Art Institute of Chicago. Now, Chicago's pride in Barack Obama is unquestioned and only in this city could you find a sushi roll dedicated to our current president! Chris and Mary showed their support and ordered the 10-piece plate. A mound of red spangled sushi topped with the sweetest little American flag arrived. I tried one of Mary's rolls, which was a lovely combonation of flavors and textures- smooth, creamy, salty, crispy. I ordered the Panang Noodles which were smothered in a sweet, savory and velvety sauce, with just the right amount of spice.

After filling our bellies, we headed into the Art Institute to check out their new Modern Art wing. Every year, we make a pilgrimage to the institute and I am always floored by the variety and quality of the art they bring in. The new wing is beautiful, makes a great use of natural light. The space feels very open so your mind can wander amongst the abstract techniques and ideas. As always, I was impressed by the number and variety of great works they were able to bring in.

That night, we stumbled upon Twist Tapas. We shared sangria, calamari, cheese, bread, asparagus, scallops, mushrooms, shrimp, ahi tuna and more. We also shared memories, stories and a lot of laughs. It was time for Chris and Jonathan to go home, so after a sad goodbye, we hit up the store for a few bottles of good French wine to be enjoyed at home. We went with a 2005 Bordeaux (always a good bet) and a Boujelais (2006 I think?).

Sunday, we headed out for the Garfield Park Conservatory. As we switched trains, we caught a quick bite at Wow Bao. Mary and Kendall had the hot buns, which I tasted, and I had dumplings and rice, and we all left happy. The buns are soft and filled with a moist filling of your choice, from edamame to chicken to pork.

The conservatory was beautiful. It's hard to believe that it's FREE. It is filled with so many varieties of flowers, trees, and fauna. We had a great time taking photos, enjoying some kids wandering around, and walking amongst the greenery. I witnessed a careless patron groping and then plucking a banana off a tree... after the Conservatory had made such an effort to hang cute and witty little cards all over the place!

On the way home, we stopped by the grocery store and picked up some cheese for homemade pizza, some salad fixings, and some berries and yogurt for dessert. Yum! We made guacamole and margaritas while the dough rose and enjoyed wine and pizza later. The pizza was from the recipe I posted previously and the guacamole was a collaborative effort. Many cooks tasted and re-tasted to tweak the lime and salt. Mary seriously impressed with her fine herb chopping skills-- the cilantro evenly flecked the whole bowl of dip.

On Monday, we walked around Mary's new neighborhood. It is filled with lots of cute shops, handy banks and dry cleaners, and many little restaurants and bistros. We ducked into Paper Boy to check out their hip cards, stationery and gifts. Imagine my delight when they were having a "Stuff This Bag for $10" sale! I bought lots and lots of holiday cards, which I am frighteningly excited about. I have issues about holiday cards... I want something cute and non-religous, but cannot justify paying a lot for something that will become part of a tangled mass and thrown out (or RECYCLED) within weeks. Now I have the best of both worlds! Start checking your mailboxes in early Decemeber, y'all!

After that, it was time for our much-anticipated trip to Tre Kronor, a little Swedish kitchen. Mary introduced us in January and we fell in love with their French Onion soup. It is by far the best I've ever tasted. The soupcrock is sealed with creamy cheese, revealing a rich broth, finely chopped onions and a mix of wheat and rye bread croutons. I truly believe I could eat a bowl with every meal and never get tired of it. We also enjoyed the spinach salad and chicken salad sandwich. I'm hoping to check out the dinner menu on our next visit. It's going to be featured on the Food Network in September, so tune in to see lots of shots of their yummy food.

After lunch, we took a stroll along the shores of Lake Michigan. We sat on a bench by the marina and watched boats and ducks bob in the water. The park started to enjoy heavier use as we headed back to our bus stop. It was great to see so many people out and actively enjoying the weather and park! Runners, dogwalkers, bikers and rollerbladers all shared the trail. We tried to keep out of their way as we made our way to happy hour.

We stopped by another neighborhood stop, Joey's Brickhouse. We ordered some deep-fried appetizers while enjoying half-price beers. The patio was lovely and allowed for people watching. The fries had a sweet and savory seasoning and the calamari had what I'm guessing is a flour-and-spice coating, as opposed to a batter coating.

After that, we headed home to enjoy some more margaritas, guac, leftover pizza, wine and cards. Don't mean to brag, but it turns out I am a card-shark. Just sayin'.

I always have so much fun in Chicago and with Mary. The city boasts some seriously great food and I look forward to returning and trying some more great grub.

Chicago!

It's only a few days until Kendall and I fly out for our annual trip to Chicago. We go to visit one my dearest friends, Mary, and try to squeeze in some time with my cousin Jonathan and his husband Chris. We are so excited to see all of them!

We're also stoked to get out of this triple digit heat and into weather with a forecasted high in the mid-70s... Heaven! We haven't been to the Windy City in the summer, and I am looking forward to strolling around in the sun, taking in some sites, but mostly, visiting with some of my favorite people. We always have a blast with Mary and her always-cool-forever-hipper-than-us friends. I've never met a single one I haven't liked!

Chicago is also home to some great chow. Deep-dish pizza, of course, is a Chicago classic, and is so deeply hearty and satisfying. But Mary's also taken us to some great little spots, including an unbelievable Lebanese restaurant and a better-than-Grandma's Swedish kitchen with some of the best French Onion soup I've ever had.

After a wretched dinner this past winter, there's now an unfortunate legend of my off-the-cuff homemade broccoli cheese disaster. It was 17 degrees below zero, and after freezing our way to the Shedd Aquarium, we decided some hearty soup was in order. I decided that making broccoli cheese soup would be simple enough. I figured you'd make a white sauce, add some cheese, thin it with a bit of milk, add the broccoli and presto. But my plan went awry...

After successfully making a white sauce, I slowly started to add some shredded Cheddar. It didn't melt slowly into the sauce, but rather curdled. Panicked, I added milk and turned the heat down. No luck. Turned the heat up. No luck. I added the broccoli. Nada. After 20 minutes of trying to tame this thing down, and no other options, I threw it in the blender. It was... not good. It was pretty much tasteless, had a horrid texture, and felt spongy between your teeth. But my loving friends still ate it. My husband gave me grief.

This time, I feel compelled to take along a few recipes in my suitcase to try to wow them again... Any suggestions?

Kick It Up A Notch!

In the past decade, food shows have risen in popularity, warranting their own TV station. With all of these chefs having fun and dishing out some amazing-looking grub, one would assume we'd all be heading for the kitchen, ready to add some "gahlic" to whatever Emeril dish we're concocting, adding some "bam! bam!s" of spices, and making it "happy, happy, happy" with some butter or bacon.

But strangely, sadly, we're not. Instead of being inspired to cook, we're glued to our couches, strapped in to be entertained some more by something out of a diner in Arizona as some punk with bleach-blonde hair visit every greasy spoon in America.

In Pollan's article, "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch," he reveals the scary reality that we are not cooking any more than we were ten years ago, that we are relying more and more on pre-packaged convenience foods, and that we are watching more and more people cook food that we aren't eating.

My first hint at this was seeing the "Joy of Cooking" brand of frozen TV dinners at my local grocery store. "But isn't this..." my husband peered. I nodded. "A total contradiction." The fact that these dinner exist proves that we have entered an era of wanting to experience the same great flavors that we see on our favorite primetime food show (braised beef tips with noodles, roasted herb chicken with potatoes and vegetables) but without the hassle of actually cooking it.

When we aren't eating out, we are staying in, throwing a frozen tray into the microwage, and nestling in to watch two top chefs go head-to-head as they cook up several courses from the mystery ingredient... fiddlehead ferns! Salads, risottos, gelees, fern-squid soup, panna cotta with ferns and berries, all fly from the kitchens to judges who deconstruct every nuance of every bite... then, Ding! Microwave brownies are done and we are ready for watching people make towering cakes that look like the Grand Canyon for someone 50th birthday!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp

Pizza Fridays Forever

It's become a tradition in our house to have pizza on Friday nights. For me, it signals that the weekend is finally here, and that it's time to relax and find solace with some casual and comfort fare. We used to buy a frozen pie and throw it in the oven for 20 minutes when we got home, but once I ventured out and made my own dough from scratch, we haven't looked back.

Homemade pizza yields something so delicious, you could never find it in a box. The dough is hearty, using whole-wheat flour, the sauce tangy and a bit spicy, the veggies a bit undercooked to maintain their crispness and the cheese plentiful and gooey. It pairs beautifully with both red wine and beer. Many of my favorite memories with Kendall focus around watching David Brooks and Mark Shields row over the past week in politics, nodding or wincing, sipping heartily and eating pizza.

I found the dough recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook, and the sauce, I tweek every time, depending on what I have on hand. But here's a rough idea...

Laura's Pizza Sauce
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1/4-1/2 C fresh basil, oregano, sage if you have it, or dried herbs (I use Herbes de Provence frequently)(1-2 tsp or Tbsp depending on your taste)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Pass the Milk Cooler and Grab your Dino Chicken Nuggets

A fascinating and frightening post on the School Food Policy blog today. Here are some of the highlights:

"Thanks to a provision known as commodity processing, cafeterias can divert their government-donated foods to commercial processors and receive table-ready items instead of raw products. Today, schools divert about half of their commodities to processors.

According to the USDA, the goal of commodity processing was twofold: it was supposed to allow schools to maximize the use of commodities, while also opening up the school market for the food industry. By those standards, it has been an amazing success. Schools now turn commodity meat, flour, cheese and fruit into a wide variety of (unhealthy) foods kids love. And companies rake in the money from turning raw chicken into nuggets, strips and breaded patties. Today, over 150 companies — from Tyson to Jennie-O Turkey — process commodity items for school cafeterias.

...The USDA’s list of the most frequently processed commodity items includes pork (sausage patties and links, pizza topping), beef (charbroiled patties, crumbles, meat balls), chicken (nuggets, patties, breaded chicken), turkey (turkey ham, bologna, deli slices), frozen fruit (popsicles and turnovers) and flour, mozzarella and tomato paste (pizza)."

Yum, yum. While I understand that it would be very, very expensive for a school to use those funds to buy commodities such as flour, eggs, yeast, tomato paste, raw chicken, etc. and then cook meals for thousands of kids from scratch, there has to be a better way. I wonder if some of there are vendors out there who produce less-processed, more natural foods. Maybe turn the fruit into a fruit cup instead of a popsicle or pastry? Maybe the chicken doesn't have to ground down, injected with a host of preservatives, shaped into dinosaurs, breaded and fried? Anyone?

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.schoolfoodpolicy.com/2009/07/30/how-the-usda-helped-bring-processed-food-to-school-lunch/

Don't Touch the Stove

After receiving a frighteningly high electric bill last month, my husband and I decided to look for ways to use less. This summer, our A/C unit has been competing with record heat daily, month after month. We turn it up when we're gone, letting the temperature rise to about 83 degrees and slowly work it down to about 76 degrees at night. We noticed that our A/C works very, very hard when the stove or oven is on, filling the kitchen and living room with heat. So we stopped using it, and since then, we've found some new ways of thinking "What's for dinner?"...

Make a big batch of gazpacho is the blender or food processor and chill. It serves as a new way of getting your veggies, some precious liquids, and cooling down, all in one dish. Serve with sandwiches, usually stuffed with veggies. You can also make big salads with everything but the kitchen sink, which are really satisfying and filling. Sometimes we can't finish everything I've thrown in the large mixing bowl.

We've been using our indoor grill to cook anything that has to be cooked. It doesn't heat much more than an inch or two around it. We grill chicken, salmon, shrimp, asparagus, you name it. I even tried potatoes once, to mediocre results. Pressed sandwiches are always delicious and feel really decadent, like we're eating at a restaurant.

The only things I've baked recently have been pizza (which I make from entirely from scratch and refuse to order out or and we won't give up pizza) and blueberry muffins (because the most delicious berries were on sale last weekend and they made a great Sunday breakfast).

Here's an open-faced sandwich we had the other night, which earned rave reviews:
Whole Wheat bread (I used leftover hamburger buns)
Hummus (homemade spread recipe below)
Spinach
Tomato
Avocado
Green Bell Pepper
Green Onion
Cheese

Toast bread if desired. Spread with hummus. Add cheese and veggies. Eat open-faced.

Homemade Hummus Spread:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 Tb lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 C olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Put it all in a blender or food processor.

Bon Appetit!

This One's for the Men in my Life

Last week, my father and husband and I were sitting around the living room and they both started talking about how much they like my writing and miss my blog. So I decided to give it another try.

Since my last post, I've gotten hitched, started taking classes to earn some credits that I need before pursuing my Master's in Nutrition. We've been spiffing up the house and this summer, spending a lot of time indoors to escape the scorching Texas heat.

In the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to wrapping up a chemistry class, and taking off for our annual trip to Chicago. After surviving subzero temps in one of the coldest Chicago January's on record, my friend Mary and Kendall and I figured that we should switch seasons; Mary will come in the winter, and we will go in the summer, instead of the other way around. So off we will go to visit with Mary, my cousin Jonathan and his husband, to see some sites and take in some deep-dish. Sometimes, the thought of this trip is my saving grace to get through a daunting chemistry final and an incredibly frustrating lab.

The other thing that has helped is, of course, good food. Allow me to be specific. When I say "good food," I am referring to food that is simple, ripe, in season, healthy, filling, and not processed. I've become increasingly interested in food policy and specifically, school food policy. What are we feeding our kids? What are the politics behind the cafeteria tray? Who really thinks that giving a choice of a previously-frozen corn dog or chicken nuggets with some sort of potato product that's been deep-fried is giving students healthy options? Who are we kidding by thinking a few pieces of iceberg lettuce with some grated carrots, swimming in dressing, is a health food? And more importantly, why is this happening?

The blog below is a good one for exploring some of these questions, reading some statistics, etc.: http://www.schoolfoodpolicy.com/

I've seen my nephew's school menu and it's sad. Here's just a sampling of a few days off his lunch menu:

• Beefy Mac & Cheese; Hot Dog; Cheese Quesadilla; Green Peas; Orange Smiles; Jell-O
• Baked Steakfingers; Bean Soft Taco; Fresh Garden Salad; Green Beans; Orange Smiles; Apple Sauce; Chocolate Chip cookie
• Mozzerella Sticks; Lasagna; Cheese Quesadilla; Green Beans; Chilled Pears; Applesauce Cake
• Cheese Pizza; Fresh Garden Salad; Ham Deli on Wheat; Mixed Veggies; Strawberries; Vanilla Pudding

To add insult to injury, the school system has devised a color-coding system of red, yellow, and green dots that they put by each food item that is about as informative as our current homeland security color system. Red is for the unhealthiest, yellow for the somewhat unhealthy, and the green for the healthiest options.

I'm not even going to begin on how accurate this color-coding is...other than to point out that "baked steakfingers," (likely frozen and reheated processed beef that's been breaded and deep-fried, frozen, wrapped in plastic and shipped to schools nationwide, then warmed or "baked" in an oven) is designated as yellow, the somewhat unhealthy option, not red. But more irritating is that the first three options don't offer a "green" or healthy entree. (The last offering does with a ham sandwich. But seriously, what's a kid going to pick-- the cheese pizza or the sandwich?) The only healthy things offered are the side dishes, some lousy salad or perhaps some overcooked peas, maybe some applesauce.

I understand that schools have a budget that they have to stick to and that school cafeterias have become more like restaurants, insofar as they have to offer food that kids will actually want to buy so that it sells, not food that kids should eat.

And parents aren't exempt from responsibility. Parents who pay for their kids' school lunch should have a discussion with their children about which option on today's menu would be best... and then hope they don't pull a fast one on you and order the pizza or hot dog or steakfingers or mozzerella sticks or mac & cheese or bean burrito or...

Right around the Corner

The weather is warming up and the sun is shining. That can only mean one thing: Spring is on its way! The nurseries are starting to stock more flowers and vines for planting. I've had my eyes on many bulbs (elephant ears, caladiums, amaryllis, and onions), as well as other pretty flowers and tasty foods. I'm considering trying my hand at strawberries and possibly asparagus this spring.

With all these reminders of spring, Kendall and I are thinking of how to get our yards ready for planting. I think I might flip through some landscaping books and sketch an outline for our backyard. We have lots of "wants" when it comes to furniture, grills, etc., but might have to wait for an after-season sale!

Looking Forward

In the past few months, so many things have happened from holidays to weddings to vacations. During the winter, Kendall and I visited his grandparents in Ohio and our good friend Mary in Chicago. The cold weather and snow definitely put us in the holiday spirit. Walking around snowy downtown Chicago, in front of the Art Institute, with my good friend, boyfriend and cousin definitely went down as one of "My Favorite Vacation Memories."




We then enjoyed some very happy holidays and got to host our three good friends from Egypt, the Korras. We had such a good time showing them around Texas and catching up!





Most recently, Kendall and I made some news ourselves: we got engaged! Now we are busy planning the wedding and having fun celebrating with family and friends.





Throughout all of this, there has been a theme of "looking forward." Whether to the holidays, the new year, or a lifetime together.





To round things out, it's February in Texas, and that means that we are walking that fine line between seasons. It was warm and sunny this weekend, and so Kendall and I headed out to Driftwood Vineyards for a little wine tasting and relaxation. With beautiful views of the vineyard and hill country, we certainly found it. We came back and used the last few hours of daylight to trim some branches in our front yard and talk about spring planting. We are definitely looking forward to that.



With warmer weather coming around, I can't help but feel excited. I was discussing this on the phone with my friend Bethany this week. I'm ready to wear sandals and shorts, sit out on the porch, and feel that general laziness that accompanies summer. I've had just enough of snuggling up in sweaters, and now I'm ready for the breeziness of spring. Certainly, a stifling heat will hit us again, and we'll be clamoring for the days when we can put on our stocking caps. But for now, I'm perfectly content, with my pink toenails and flip-flops and short sleeve shirt. I'm looking forward. Bring it on.