Local food, something to sing about

I just stumbled across this amazing video out of Missoula. Sometimes, kids say it the best.

Bye Bye Food Pyramid, Hello My Plate

Michele Obama unveiled a new guideline for eating today, my food plate.  The act made the long criticized food pyramid obsolete. This news is a welcome announcement to our nutrition classroom.  For years, educators have struggled to make sense of the food pyramid with kids.  My plate offers a simple and easy to understand guide for parents and families. 

The basic guidelines provided by the USDA:

“Balancing Calories

  ● Enjoy your food, but eat less.  

 ● Avoid oversized portions.  

  Foods to Increase  

 ● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.  

● Make at least half your grains whole grains.  

 ● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.    

Foods to Reduce  

● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.  

● Drink water instead of sugary drinks"

For more information, check out the My Plate website:http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

Watch My Plate in the news

Avocado Dressing and Guacamole Bowls

Avocados are the June Harvest of the Month

Avocados are the Harvest of the Month in June.  In the Nutrition classroom, we used the avocados in a creamy salad dressing for 2^nd-4^th grades.  5^th graders made their own guacamole bowls with the avocados.  Avocados are rich in protein, in vitamins and a great source of monounsaturated fat (the healthy fat).  You can find locally grown avocados at any of the Santa Cruz farmer’s markets.  

Lettuce Salad with Avocado Dressing:

Makes salad for 4+ people

Ingredients:

*2 heads of lettuce washed and ripped

*1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

*2 tablespoons finely chopped basil

*3 small to medium avocados

*1 shallot

*1 lemon

*4 tablespoons red vine vinegar

*3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

*3/4 teaspoon salt

*4 tablespoons cream

*3/4 cup croutons (homemade or store bought)

Preparation:

*Chop herbs and avocado.

*Peel and finely dice the shallots.  Place the shallots in a small mixing bowl.

*Cut and juice the lemon into the mixing bowl.  Add the vinegar, the salt and the black pepper into bowl.

*Add the avocados and mash into the vinegar mixture. 

*Add the herbs, the olive oil and the cream.  Whisk the dressing slowly.  Taste the dressing and add more slat, lemon juice or oil as needed.

*In a large bowl, toss the lettuce, add the croutons and mix the dressing.  

*Serve salad and enjoy.

Student harvesting lettuce from the garden.

The bowl of mixed greens.  Students had a great time washing the lettuce with the garden hose.

The finished product.

Guacamole in a Bowl
 Makes 1 small serving of guacamole. Increase recipe for a bigger serving size.
Ingredients:

*1 large avocado
*1/2 lime
*1 tablespoon chopped garlic. Add more garlic to taste.
*2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
*Salt to taste
*5 large blue corn chips.

Preparation:

*Slice the avocado in half. Remove the avocado pit. Remove the fruit from the peel with a spoon. Place the avocado in a small bowl.
*Dice the cilantro and add to the bowl.
*Peel and dice the garlic clove. Add the garlic to the bowl.
*Squeeze lime into the bowl to taste.
*Add sprinkle of salt into the bowl to taste.
*Mash the ingredients together with a fork until creamy. Add more lime, garlic or salt if desired.
*Eat with blue corn chips.

Student removing avocado from peel.

Student chopping cilantro

Student adding diced garlic

Student squeezing lime.

Student sprinkling salt and mashing with a fork.

The finished guacamole in a bowl.

Lettuce Wraps and Smoothies

Nutrition table at carnival

School carnivals are synonymous with sweets and treats.  This year, Bay View nutrition programs and parent groups were delighted to offer some healthy alternatives at the carnival.  At the nutrition booth, we celebrated the lettuce Harvest of the Month by sharing free Thai lettuce wraps. Students loved the lettuce wraps.  Many students came back for more and the Bay View playground was full of kids munching on lettuce.  

Parents from the Student Nutrition Advisory Committee and Home and School Club provided a bike-powered blender.  Students enjoyed peach and strawberry smoothies.

See below for my recipe for Thai lettuce wraps and for my favorite strawberry guava smoothie (served at bike to school day).

Thai lettuce wraps

 Thai Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

*1 box of buckwheat soba noodles

*2 grated carrots

*3/4 cups thinly sliced cabbage

*3/4 cups peanut butter

*1/2 cup soy sauce

*1/4 cup orange juice

*2 tablespoons agave nectar

*1 garlic clove peeled and diced

*1 teaspoon grated ginger

*2 heads butter lettuce

Preparation:

*Boil water and cook soba noodles until tender  (Roughly 5-7 minutes).

*Drain and rinse noodles.

*Bring noodles back to pan.  On low heat add noodles to peanut butter, soy sauce, orange juice, agave, ginger and garlic.  Stir until sauce thickens.

*Once noodles have cooled, add carrots and cabbage.

*Rinse lettuce and peel leafs from head.

*Place a noodles on leafs, roll and enjoy fresh.

Bike-powered blender

Strawberry Guava Smoothies at Bike to School Day

Strawberry Guava Smoothies

Ingredients:

*2 cups of frozen strawberries

*1 cup of vanilla yogurt

*1 ½ cups of guava juice

Preparation:

*Add all ingredients to a blender.  Blend and serve fresh.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

 

Growing up in Minnesota, my late spring/early summers were marked by the fresh taste of rhubarb sauce.  I’d never miss the opportunity to have a bowl of rhubarb sauce for breakfast, for an after school snack or for desert.  Given my fixation with rhubarb sauce, you can imagine my dismay when few Bay View students had ever heard of the treat or even tried rhubarb.  This week we made rhubarb sauce with a special twist, fresh garden strawberries.  Students harvested strawberries, peeled rhubarb and helped stir the fruit until it formed into a sauce.  We enjoyed the sauce with whole-wheat graham crackers. We even had time to plant bush beans for the summer while the sauce was cooking.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

Ingredients:

*8 large stalks of rhubarb peeled and diced into small pieces

*2 cups strawberries cut into small pieces

*Juice of 2 lemons

*1/2 cup of water

*4 Tablespoons agave nectar

Preparation

Add all ingredients into a pot and stir over medium heat.  Keep stirring until all the fruit has cooked and the sauce is an even consistency (10-15 minutes).  Serve the sauce plain, with crackers, over ice cream, on waffles or as a jam.

Harvesting strawberries

Yummy

Chopping strawberries

Peeling the rhubarb

Adding the ingredients

Squeezing the lemon

Sauce cooked down and ready to serve

A perfect garden treat

Planting beans

Our finished bed

Asparagus with Lemon and Parmesan

This weeks lessons focused on edible stems of spring.  Asparagus was our featured stem.  Asparagus is a perennial plant in the Lily family that can live up to 15 years.  The stem or spear of the asparagus plant is full of nutrition including fiber, folic acid potassium, vitamins B6, vitamin C and vitamin A.   Prior to the lesson, most students had never tried or liked asparagus. After peeling, stir -frying, adding cheese and drizzling with lemon, nearly everyone was a fan of asparagus.

Asparagus with Lemon and Parmesan

Ingredients:

*25 Asparagus spears (or 1 bunch)

*2 lemons

*1 Tablespoon olive oil

*1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

*Peel the asparagus spears.

*Cut or break spears into pieces.

*Heat olive oil in a pan.

*Add asparagus and cook for 3-5 minutes until tender.

*Turn off heat and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the spears.

*Drizzle with fresh lemon and enjoy!

Peeling the asparagus

Snapping the asparagus into pieces

Asparagus being cooked in the wok

Melting the Parmesan cheese

Drizzling with lemon

Friday Fog

This morning marked the first foggy morning of the summer.  The clouds provided a brief respite from the sun and heat rampant throughout May.  Even under grey skies, the garden was brightly lit with flowers.  My favorites included columbine, lilies, irises, penstemons and violas.

Pineapple Guava flowers.  They are edible and a great garnish to a salad!

Viola flowers.  They are also edible.

Columbine flowers

Iris buds ready to blossom.

Snap Dragon flower. 

Penstemon flowers near the gazebo.