What's for lunch 3/1/13

Homemade
Mac N' Cheese
Zucchini and Carrot Sticks with Ranch dip
Fresh Fruit 


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.

The zucchini and carrot sticks are fresh. The ranch dip is organic. The fruit is fresh as well.  Here are some ideas for some yummy smoothies. Try them !

What's for lunch 2/28/13

FARM FRESH BURGERS Hamburger or Cheeseburger

Burger Trimmings

Homemade Cole Slaw Oven-Baked “Fries” Fresh Fruit

GF when taken without bun

After much work, discussion and research, our district has discontinued the use of most USDA commodity beef for a variety of health reasons and contracted with a New York State farm to provide beef raised without antibiotics and hormones. It is more expensive and there is less beef on the menu as a result but it is a huge improvement in the quality of our lunches. So, enjoy your hamburger on a whole grain bun.

The fries come from McCains. The cole slaw is homemade but I do not have full ingredients on that.  The fruit is fresh. 

Load up your burger with these fresh veggies !! 

                                       

What's for lunch 2/27/13

BETTER THAN A PIZZERIA... Pita “Margherita” Pizza

Fresh Tomato Sauce, Basil and Local Fresh Mozzarella

Caesar Salad 

Fresh Fruit 

The pizza sauce (from Red Pack) ingredients are: Tomato concentrate (water, tomato paste), salt, citric acid, basil.

For the crust, the ingredients are: enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, barley malt, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, soybean oil,, dextrose, salt, calcium propionate, fumaric acid, dough conditioner (wheat flour, salt, soybean oil, l-gyssteine, ascorbic acid, enzyme) potassium sorbate.

 The caesar salad is pretty clear - romaine is a traditional choice for caesar but also more nutritious than iceberg. The Caesar salad dressing is organic by Chelten. Here are the ingredients: filtered water, organic soybean oil, organic white vinegar, organic Parmesan cheese (pasteurized organic cow's milk, salt, cheese cultures, microbial enzymes, organic potato starch), pasteurized organic frozen whole egg yolks, salt, organic sugar, organic ground mustard seed, organic garlic powder organic onion powder, organic black pepper, xanthan gum.  (in 2 tbsp - 8 g fat, 160 mg sodium).

The fruit is fresh.  

This is what I made for dinner tonight. It is simmering on the stove right now. Another meat free recipe. Enjoy ! 

Spicy Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew With Chipotles

The sweetness of the sweet potatoes infuses this Mexican-inspired lentil dish along with the heat of the chipotles, which also have a certain sweetness as well because of the adobo sauce they are packed in. The combination, with the savory lentils, is a winner.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground

2 medium carrots, diced

1 1/2 cups brown or green lentils, rinsed

6 cups water

2 medium-size sweet potatoes (aka yams, with dark orange flesh, 1 to 1 1/4 pounds), peeled and cut in large dice

1 to 2 chipotles in adobo, seeded and chopped (to taste)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley (to taste)

Lime wedges for serving

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until it softens, about 5 minutes, and add the garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until the garlic smells fragrant, about 30 seconds, and add the ground cumin seeds and carrots. Stir together for a minute, then add the lentils, water, sweet potatoes, chipotles, tomato paste, salt to taste and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 40 to 45 minutes, until the lentils and sweet potatoes are tender and the broth fragrant. Taste and adjust seasoning. Stir in the cilantro or parsley, simmer for another minute, and serve, passing lime wedges so diners can season their lentils with a squeeze of lime juice if desired.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Advance preparation: This will be good for three or four days but it will thicken as the lentils continue to swell. If you want to thin it out, add water or stock.

What's for lunch 2/26/13

Applegate®
The Great Organic Beef Hotdog

Baked “Sweet Potato Fries” Sauerkraut ~

 Baby Carrots

Fresh Fruit 

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.

You might also skip the fries. The sweet potato fries are processed frozen  fries we buy from McCains's, a big food service vendor. They contain: Sweet potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: canola oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil), potato starch modified, rice flower, dextrin, sugar, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate), salt malt powder (malted barley, wheat flower, dextrose), natural flavor, dehydrated sweet potatoes, maltodextrin, molasses, spice and coloring, xanthan gum, corn starch-modified, triglycerides, annatto (color), sodium acid pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color. The label indicates they have 6g of fat and 170mg of sodium. 

The baby carrots and fruit are fresh. Go directly to the salad bar and load up on your veggies. This, as you all know is one of my least favorite meals on the menu. 

On another note...... I made these yummy blueberry quinoa muffins over the break. Yes, they are a snack or dessert not a breakfast replacement but they are healthier and delicious ! Try them. 



Blueberry Quinoa Muffins

Ingredients

Makes 10 muffins.

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup rice flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup rice milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and lightly grease 10 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together cornmeal, rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together cooked quinoa, maple syrup, rice milk, applesauce, lemon juice, and oil.

3. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries, spoon batter into prepared tins, and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

Did You Know? Quinoa is actually a seed rather than a grain, and it's packed with protein. You can buy it in white, black, and red varieties. It adds an unexpectedly moist texture and slightly nutty flavor to these gluten-free muffins.

What's for lunch 2/25/12

Oven-Baked Breaded Chicken “Tenders”

Whole Wheat Dinner Roll

Potato Puffs 

Fresh Fruit 

The chicken is a Tyson "fully cooked chicken breast nugget fritter with rib meat" with 10g of fat and 420mg of sodium.  The ingredients are: Boneless, skinless chicken breast nuggets with rib meat, water, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, salt. PREDUSTED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), wheat gluten, salt. BATTERED WITH: Water, enriched bleached wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), modified corn starch, salt, dextrose, spices, garlic powder, xanthan gum, oleoresin paprika and annatto. BREADED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, spices, garlic powder, extractives of paprika, natural flavors (spice extractives). Breading set in vegetable oil.


The commodity potatoes processed by McCain's into tater tots -- although they are labeled "frozen pre-formed potato rounds."  They have 7g of fat (one of which is saturated) and 190mg of sodium. Ingredients are: potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn). Contains 2% or less of dextrose, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate added to maintain natural color.

The fruit is fresh. I am not a fan of this lunch. Bring your own or go for the salad bar. 

What's for lunch 2/15/13

Homemade Mac n Cheese
Carrot and Zucchini Stick with Ranch Dressing
Fresh Fruit 

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

The carrot and zucchini sticks are fresh. The ranch dressing is a full-fat organic ranch dressing for the dip. We serve a lot of these two vegetables because they are kid-friendly but they are also notoriously high in pesticide residue. The Environmental Working Group recommends you buy organic for these vegetables in particular - but we can't do that with a $3.50 lunch.   

Does your child love art ?? Are they interested in promoting healthy eating ?? Then the poster contest for national nutrition month is right up their alley !! See details below. Have a great vacation !! 

What's for lunch 2/14/13

Tacos
All Natural Beef
Lettuce, Cheese, Salsa & Sour Cream
Brown Rice and Black Beans
Sauteed Broccoli
Fresh Fruit
Gluten Free if taken without the shell 

The tacos are 100% ground chuck with lettuce and a low-far govt cheddar cheese. The salsa is actually organic by Green Mountain and the ingredients are: tomatoes, fire-roasted chiles, onions, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, pasilla peppers, apple cider vinegar, cilantro, parsley, garlic, sea salt, spices.  The hard taco shells from Mission foodservice contain: whole grain corn, water, vegetable oil (one or more of the following: cottonseed oil, corn oil or palm oil), contains 2% or less of niacin, reduced iron, thiamine, mononitrate, riboflavin lime. No sodium - 6g of fat (2 of which are saturated).

The brown rice is a whole grain but as previously discussed cannot be cooked in a way that minimizes the arsenic content. The black beans are canned adn the ingredients are "BLACK BEANS, WATER, SALT, AND CALCIUM CHLORIDE" with 140mg of sodium. The southwest-style chicken is a processed USDA commodity food from Tyson and described as "fully cooked boneless skinless chicken dark meat chicken fajita strips -smoke flavor added." Here are the ingredients: "Chicken dark meat, water, seasoning [salt, spices, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, sugar, chili powder (chili pepper, cumin, oregano, salt, garlic powder), lemon juice powder (corn syrup solids, lemon juice, lemon oil), modified corn starch, natural mesquite smoke flavor (maltodextrin, natural smoke flavor), natural flavor (from partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil)], modified food starch and sodium phosphates."  The "partially hydrogenated" oil is a source of trans fat.  Chicken has 7g of fat (2 of which are saturated) and 490 mg of sodium. The broccoli is fresh and sauteed in oil and garlic. The fruit is fresh. 

Anyone who buys Coke should read this.

Coke Blinks

By MARK BITTMAN

Mark Bittman on food and all things related.

TAGS:

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING, COCA-COLA COMPANY, OBESITY, SOFT DRINKS, SUGAR

Once again, Coke has blinked. It famously did so in 1985, when it introduced “new” Coke, replacing its original formula with one it thought would have greater appeal with its audience. It was wrong then.

This time it might be right, but it isn’t going to do the world’s best-known brand any good. It’s hurting from decreased domestic salesand smarting from the piles of evidence that soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are not only our biggest source of calories, but also among our most harmful. So it has struck back with a two-minute video whose ostensible message is that too many calories will make you fat (true), that those in Coke are no worse than any others (false), and that we’re all in this together (ridiculous).

The video is brilliantly executed. Its honeyed, heart-rending voice-over and stirring images — as American as a Chevy commercial — nearly caused me to go out and buy a case myself, as I recalled those innocent days of the ’50s and ’60s when Coke and cigarettes and Our Country and I were all (it seemed) young together, happy and happening and eating burgers and fries like there was no tomorrow. It took me back to when Coke was the real thing, it was “it,” we wereteaching the world to sing together, and even Mean Joe Greene was just a cutie. There’s always been Coca-Cola.

Well, there were always Marlboros, too, and as diseases related to metabolic syndrome surpass those from smoking, Coke is becoming a dinosaur, one that should not be replaced by aspartame-laced drinks (which have problems of their own, including, possibly, depression) but by water. Even the not-exactly-radical American Heart Association recognizes that the amount of sugar in a Coke is probably the most added sugar people can safely tolerate daily, and our average intake is two to three times that.

Here’s how the video starts: “For over 125 years, we’ve been bringing people together. Today we’d like people to come together on something that concerns all of us: obesity. The long-term health of our families and the country is at stake.” In short, Coke wants to be part of the solution. Which is too bad for them, because one of the keys to avoiding diseases caused by metabolic syndrome (a syndrome that anyone — not only obese people — can develop[1] ) is to avoid sugar-sweetened beverages.

This explains why the reaction to the commercial was immediate and derogatory, even in the advertising community. “Critics Jeer Coke’s Entrance Into Obesity Discussion” read a headline in a MediaPost blog. “The soda giant makes an awkward first stab at addressing obesity,” said AdWeek, which called the video  “shameless.” Among food and health writers, the response was mocking, perhaps best represented by Marion Nestle’s “Coca-Cola Fights Obesity? Oh, Please.”

One might want to revisit the last soda video to go viral, the brilliant Real Bears animation of this past fall, which summed up the consequences of consuming excess sugar as well as anything I’ve ever seen or read. (What’s sadder than a cartoon bear losing a foot? Theroughly 80,000 toe, foot and leg amputations a year undergone by diabetics.)

Then there’s the “honest Coca-Cola obesity ad,” a remix of the original Coke video. It seemed to appear within hours of “the real thing,” posted by someone calling himself John Pemberton (the name of Coke’s inventor), and included the line “Imagine if cigarette companies said they were doing something responsible to protect you. How would you react to that?” Exactly.

The word “chutzpah” comes to mind, but that implies some kind of sincere arrogance. This video is sheer manipulation, calculated to confuse, obscure and deny. (It’s not just Coke, of course, but the entire sugar industry that’s involved in a campaign of lies, described in detail in this splendid piece by Gary Taubes and Cristin Kearns Couzens.)

There is virtual consensus that drinking too much soda is bad for you, and it’s not hard to understand the evidence. I asked Rob Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and the author of “Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease,” if he’d sum it up for me. His response: “A calorie is NOT a calorie. Different calories have different metabolic fates in the body. 
Those from fructose overwhelm the liver, forcing the pancreas to make more insulin and driving more energy into fat cells. And soda is nothing but a fructose delivery system.”[2]

Soda is a fructose delivery system as tobacco is a nicotine delivery system. (And if it’s not “truly” addictive but only habit forming, so much the better; it’ll be that much easier to get people to cut back.) That’s why added sugar, especially in liquid form, is rapidly becoming the focus of savvy public health officials, scientists, physicians, journalists, parents and even politicians. And the ridiculous notion that government has no role in public health — the blind “nanny-statism” argument, which ignores everything from seat belts to tobacco to guns — is being overwhelmed by the tide of evidence, as demonstrated by a recent poll by The New England Journal of Medicine, in which 68 percent of nearly 1,300 respondents worldwide “favored government regulation of sugar-sweetened beverages.”[3]

The beverage companies see the writing on the wall and will lobby, cajole, beg, plead, propagandize, lie, spend and do anything else they have to do to prevent that regulation, just as the tobacco companies did. And chances are, in time, they’ll also accept regulation in the United States while aggressively increasing their marketing efforts overseas. But that won’t work either, because the word is out: Coke is not part of the solution. It’s a big part of the problem.

What's for lunch 2/13/13

Oven Baked Breaded Chicken
Whole Grain Garlic Bread
Sweet Corn Cobbettes
Roasted Long Island Potatoes
Fresh Fruit

The chicken is a Tyson "fully cooked chicken breast nugget fritter with rib meat" with 10g of fat and 420mg of sodium.  The ingredients are: Boneless, skinless chicken breast nuggets with rib meat, water, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, salt. PREDUSTED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), wheat gluten, salt. BATTERED WITH: Water, enriched bleached wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), modified corn starch, salt, dextrose, spices, garlic powder, xanthan gum, oleoresin paprika and annatto. BREADED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, spices, garlic powder, extractives of paprika, natural flavors (spice extractives). Breading set in vegetable oil.

The bread is whole grain, potatoes local, and the corn is frozen. The fruit is always fresh hit the salad bar and skip the Tyson chicken. 

Valentine's Day is coming up. Try these delicious gluten free, dye free cookies from yumuniverse.com. 

Gluten-Free Valentine’s Sweetheart Sugar Cookies

February 4, 2013 5:00 am
By Heather Crosby

3

Riffing off of my Holiday Shortbread Cookie developments, I have created a lovely dairy-free, gluten-free sugar cookie recipe for YU for Valentine’s Day. These delicious cookies are definitely kiddo approved (see pic below), and you can feel good about them since they are dyed with natural, fresh beet juice. I’ve also created some free labels you can print out and use for gifting, too—so show some love this Valentine’s Day.

Tools:
Juicer (or visit your local juice shop and bring them a beet to juice for you, or blend the beet with a bit of water and strain with cheesecloth)
Sifter
Large glass bowl
1-2 medium glass bowls
Rolling pin or large, smooth, sturdy glass
Unbleached parchment paper
Baking sheet
Cookie cutters in multiple heart shapes (optional, and you can stick with one size, too)

Ingredients:
Try to buy everything organic. Here’s why.
Powdered Sugar Version
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp oat flour
1 tsp arrowroot
1/8 tsp fine ground sea salt
1/8 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
2 tbsp unrefined, virgin coconut oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegan powdered sugar (or sucanat processed in coffee grinder)
2 tbsp beet juice

Download and print the purty Gifting Labels I made for YU…

*If you are using sucanat instead of powdered sugar and you have a coffee grinder, run your sucanat through the grinder until you get a powder for a smooth texture. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, your cookies will have some crunch, but they are still scrumptious (my tastebuds actually prefer the sucanat version). Use 1/3 cup powdered sucanat in place of powdered sugar and prepare the recipe as you see above.

 
This is Elise, daughter of my talented friend Kathy Beymer, and unofficial YU Sugar Cookie Monster… more of her adorableness in a few weeks [hint, hint].

Let’s get started.
Juice your beet. If you don’t have a juicer, you can blend your beet in a high powered blender and squeeze the pulp through a cheesecloth to get some fresh juice. If you live near a shop that sells fresh juices and smoothies, call and see if they have beet juice, or if they will juice a beet for you if you bring one in. Set juice aside.

Sift together almost all of the dry ingredients—everything except 2 tbsp of oat flour, vanilla extract and coconut oil.

Like fluffy piles of snow [smile].

Now, in a small bowl, cream together coconut oil and vanilla extract.

Add coconut oil mixture to dry ingredients and get in there with your hands and work the dough together until you form a ball. Split dough in half and place one half in a bowl and set aside.

In your remaining half, place 2 tbsp beet juice and 2 tbsp oat flour.

With your hands, work the dough together until well mixed.

At first it may be sticky, but keep working, the flour will soak up the juice. Roll into a ball and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Lay out a baking sheet-sized piece of parchment paper. Place a ball of dough on top. Then place another piece of baking sheet-sized parchment on top of your dough and roll it out. The parchment not only minimizes cleanup (no red, sticky rolling pin), it makes dough rolling a breeze. And you can use the parchment to line the baking sheets for your cookies.

Peel back top piece of parchment, grab your cookie cutters and go to town.

Repeat these steps with your white dough as well.

Love that tiny guy.

If it’s too warm in your kitchen, it may be difficult to take a butter knife or an offset spatula to lift out cookie shapes onto the baking sheet. Warm kitchens make for stickier dough. My favorite trick is to slide the parchment with pre-cut shapes onto a baking sheet and pop it in the freezer for about 1-2 minutes (no longer). Then you can easily separate the dough scraps from shapes. Those scraps will soften when you work them into a ball again with your hands, and the cookie shapes lift out easily without sticking to, or pulling from, your tools.

Fill your cookie sheet with loveliness.

Bake for 8 minutes, no longer or they will brown too much.

Be creative with your assembly. Use letterforms to spell out “I Love YU”…

Layer and cut out shapes…

… inset shapes…

… layer it up high…

… or just mash the colors together for a marbled effect.

To gift these cookies, find some cupcake liners and cut out some squares or parchment (about the size of your cookies).

Place a piece of parchment on the bottom of your cupcake liner and between a few cookies—this keeps the coconut oil from leaving any spots on your packaging.

Load up a nice bakery box.

Now, if you haven’t already, download and print the purty Gifting Labels I made for YU. Print ingredients labels on regular letterhead stock and labels for boxes (like the one below) on sticker paper.

What's for lunch 2/12/13

BRUNCH FOR LUNCH

Cinnamon Challah French Toast

Applegate® Sunday Bacon 

Sweet Potato Wedges

Apple Crisp 

Say "No" to meal declared to be "cake" for lunch by our committee's nutritionist - basically white flour bread.  The syrup is basically HFCS.  They are looking for an affordable maple syrup but do not have one yet - but they will be limiting the serving size this year in the meantime.  Actual lunch from our schools above. This meal has a lot of sugar, simple carbohydrates -- no whole grains.

The turkey bacon is by Applegate.  Here are the ingredients: Turkey (Turkey Used Never Administered Antibiotics, Growth Promotants or Animal By-products), Water, Sea Salt, Maple Sugar, Celery Juice, Onion Powder, Spices, Lactic Acid Starter Culture (not From Milk.)  They promote it as nitrate-free but this NYT article indicates otherwise - and cites the company saying their products have the same level (naturally) of cancer-causing nitrates as conventional brands. Readmore about nitrates here.

The sweet potato wedges are from McCain. The ingredients are: Sweet Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following Oils: Canola, Soybean, Cottonseed, Sunflower, Corn), Corn Starch - Modified. Contains 2% or less of Annatto (color), Beta Carotene (color), Caramel Color, Corn Starch, Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Natural Flavor (Contains Wheat), Rice Flour, Salt, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate Added To Maintain Natural Color, Sugar, Tapioca Dextrin, Xanthan Gum.

Salad bar is best option if you are buying lunch at the school. 

What's for lunch 2/11/13

French Bread “Ziti” Pizza

or

French Bread Plain Pizza 

Caesar Salad

Fresh Fruit 

For the pizza, 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.   It is made on white-flour bread so it is not whole grain.

The ziti on the pizza is a white flour pasta with some protein by 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.

Salad bar is available as well as sandwich bar with Boars Head cold cuts. 

What's for lunch 2/8/13

Trattoria Friday 

Baked Ziti
or
Chicken Tenders with Marinara Dipping Sauce

Sauteed Spinach with Garlic Fresh Fruit 

The ziti is a white flour pasta with some protein by 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 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 chicken is a Tyson "fully cooked chicken breast nugget fritter with rib meat" with 10g of fat and 420mg of sodium.  The ingredients are: Boneless, skinless chicken breast nuggets with rib meat, water, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, salt. PREDUSTED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), wheat gluten, salt. BATTERED WITH: Water, enriched bleached wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), modified corn starch, salt, dextrose, spices, garlic powder, xanthan gum, oleoresin paprika and annatto. BREADED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, spices, garlic powder, extractives of paprika, natural flavors (spice extractives). Breading set in vegetable oil.

Again, the salad bar is always a great option along with one of the soups that are the same soups served at Panera Bread.  Getting details on ingredients. 

Stay warm and safe this weather !

What's for lunch 2/7/13

BETTER THAN A PIZZERIA... Flatbread“Margherita” Pizza
Fresh Tomato Sauce, Basil and Local Fresh Mozzarella

Caesar Salad Fresh Fruit


We make these ourselves - we do not serve highly processed frozen pizzas. For our various pizzas, we use  the 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 -  we use 2 ounces. 

The cheese is fresh , along with caesar salad and fruit. Salad bar and sandwich bar are available. 

What's for lunch 2/6/13

GRILLED CHEESE 2 WAYS!

Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese With Ham or Plain

Caesar Salad with Chickpeas & Grape Tomatoes
Fresh Fruit 

The grilled cheese sandwich is made with cheddar on whole wheat bread.  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.  The ham is Boars head. 

The salad is fresh with canned chickpeas. The fruit is fresh 

What's for lunch 2/5/13

Applegate®
The Great Organic Beef Hotdog

Long Island Roasted Potatoes Sauerkraut ~

 Baby Carrots 

Fresh Fruit 

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. 

The potatoes are local. Still not sure about sauerkraut ingredients.  Carrots and fruit are fresh.  

I would opt for the salad bar or soup and half a wrap.  All veggies are fresh and the cold cuts are Boars Head.