Turkey and Tetrazzini (NOT offered) OR
Chef Salad w/ Crackers (offered) OR
*WG Pepperoni Pizza (offered)
*Fresh Garden Salad w/ light dressing (offered)
Seasoned Broccoli (offered)
WG Dinner Roll (NOT offered)
*Variety of Fresh Fruit (oranges, apples, strawberries)
Peaches and Apricots (canned)
I'm unsure of what kind of meat was in the salad, could have been Turkey, but looked more like ham. Everything tasted very fresh. The salad was made of iceberg lettuce. Today they provided the light dressing, with a green triangle noting it was one of the healthy balance items. It tasted like Italian dressing.
An asterisk(*) denotes components of Balanced Choices meals that meet strict nutrient parameters for calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber,sodium, and other key nutrients. All Balanced Choices meals include a choice of 1% or less milk.
For the healthy balance choices today, the triangles were with the pizza, the side salad, the fresh fruit and the light dressing.
The broccoli today tasted like it had Parmesan cheese sprinkled on it. Again it was mostly stems, but the "seasoning" really added a nice touch (and flavor) to the broccoli.
The orange was very good. I understand that I missed out on the strawberries. I arrived later than usual today and they were all gone. Certainly my loss. And a loss for the younger kids who come later in the lunch rotation.
I think I could eat this meal for lunch for 180 days. It's the first time I felt I could say this. I was however hungrier than usual towards the end of the school day.
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I had the Turkey Tetrazzini and it was good. Most of the students also took the Tetrazzini and Broccoli. A few weeks ago I noticed the students were not taking the pizza so I asked the kids and they said they didn't like the crust. The lady serving the lunches told me the kids do not like the whole grain (or wheat)crust. Finally you ate something you liked besides the fresh fruit, but to be honest I'm very surprised that you didn't complain about the amount of cheese on the chef salad.
ReplyDeleteI am curious, Trina, if you see the children selecting the fresh fruit more than the canned. I salute you for tackling this project -- just a couple more days left!
ReplyDeleteJust anecdotally, Meredith always brings her lunch on Pizza Day: the sauce is good, she reports, but the cheese is not tasty, the pepperoni is in chunks and not slices, and the crust is flat. I don't think this is a function of the whole grain content, since she didn't like the pizza before it became a shade more nutritious. She also doesn't like the fact that it's square, perhaps because there's no crispy crust portion (that she would normally dunk in marinara, given the chance!).
Otherwise, she opts to eat the school lunch every day. She normally likes it!
Laura did you bother to look up all those big words that you got off the package of turkey gravy? For the most part they are flavor enhancers so if you add seasonings to your food at home you probably are using those ingredients. One of them is a milk protein that is used in a variety of foods even in baby food, beverages and some medicines.
ReplyDeleteMs. Tree you wanted to know if we used recipes. Yes we have a recipe for everything made in the kitchen. That is another federal requirement.You also said it was the first time that your school had the turkey and vegetables over rice.Hmm...Probably because it was a new item on the menu. Yes they do try new things without all this complaining. They are trying to fix things the children will eat.
Sharlene you crack me up. Have you tried the turkey spaghetti I thought that was a good also. I totally agree with you about the children taking salads. If children hear an adult talking negative about the food then they are going to go by what they say. Then it makes it that much harder to get the children to try new items on the menus.
I applaud you Ms. Tree for not just talking about an issue but actually researching it (or in this case eating it). Sometimes we spend so much time bemoaning or defending an issue that we forget at the end of the day that we are all in this together. Parents who are concerned over the food their children eat (or don't eat) during the day and cafeteria workers (many of whom are parents themselves) really have a common cause...providing healthy, good tasting, quality food for the children of the OCPS district. Parents need to feel they can voice their opinions to those in charge of providing the food, and cafeteria workers need to feel supported by their school and their administration when changes are being made. If this means parents need to take the next step and work on issues of providing more support (through classes and pay raises) for those who work in our cafeterias then that goes hand in hand with making real change in our current school lunch program. Kudos also to Child Nutrition Services for doing such good work to bring us to where we are today with healthier food choices. It would be nice if by the end of this those who comment everyday could find one or two things they can agree on with Ms. Tree and those parents like her and really work together on a common issue. It is easy to talk, and so once again thank you Ms. Tree for not just sitting on the outside of an issue but actually looking at it from the inside.
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