Yucky Lunch at School

Dear Spatulatta,

My best friend is a HUGH fan of your webshows and I just learned about it. I look forward to seeing this very much.

But the reason I am sending you this is because me and my friends are all 13-year old girls and we have a big problem.

At our school we don't have a well balanced diet. Its all greasy pizza and taco salads. Everything that the school says is healthy, no kid wants to eat because its not delectable.

And it's not just our school it's all the schools in our town. Many of our schools have bad lunch menus. So I want to ask you if you would possibly tell us some fun tips to make lunch fun and
healthy.

Thanks!

adrienne, dorie, and val

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Dear Adrienne, Dorie and Val,

When I read your letter I felt so bad. Greasy pizza day after day for lunch is really depressing.

Bringing your lunch to school is the easiest way to get a healthy, nutritious lunch. You can start by packing a salad or a sandwich on whole wheat bread. Look around our Recipe Box to get some great ideas.

If you want your food to stay cool and you don't have lunch pack with a cooler insert, you can experiment with putting ice in one zipper freezer bag and then putting that bag inside another. That way if the ice melts and the water leaks it, won't get too far. Just don't put the ice directly on top of your lettuce.

If you have a Thermos, you can take soup or stew to school. We like to make soup on Sunday while we're all hanging around the house. Then we freeze small containers for later use. Pop one into the microwave, heat it up and there's lunch. Add an apple, banana or orange.

The great thing about making your own lunch is that you can control how much fat, salt and sugar goes into each meal.

If you young women would want to make sure other kids get a healthy lunch, you might enlist the help of one of your teachers to put a presentation together for your PTA or PTO. Most parents don't ever see the kind of food their children are served in school. It might be an even bigger shock to them to taste it.

Also let your parents know what's going on in your cafeteria. Three families are a good start. If each family can recruit another family you have the beginning of a movement. You could be champions for all the younger kids who hate lunch just as much as you do but don't feel they can speak out about it.

Healthy Schools Campaign and Common Threads are both organizations that are working to help kids eat healthier lunches at schools.

Keep us updated on how your quest for a healthy lunch is going.

Team Spatulatta

Email from Yun in China

Our friend, Yun, from China writes:

Happy new year! We will have three days off , and then we will have the final exam.
By the way, there maybe are some troubles with my Christmas card.

Yun

Spatulatta Replies:

Happy New Year Yun!

We were not able to view your Christmas card. It is so nice of you to think of us!

Enjoy your three days off from school and best wishes on your exams.

Here is a simple recipe you can make on your days off to prepare you for exams.

It's called, "Baked Apples in a Snap" which you can see at:
http://www.spatulatta.com/week29_fathers_day/baked_apple.html

You'll need:

4 red apples (Red Delicious, Fuji or other red apples
4 to 6 teaspoons of brown sugar
Raisins or other dried fruit
2 tablespoons of butter
Aluminum foil
A little adult help

Equipment:

Potato peeler (the kind with the pointy end)
Melon ball maker
Butter knife
Small baking pan or pie pan
Long handled fork
Oven mitts

Directions:

1. Wash and dry the apples.

2. If you're using the oven, set it to heat to 375 degrees.

3. Take the potato peeler and pierce the top of the apple about 3/4 of an inch from the stem. Push the potato peeler in slowly. You don't want to go too deep because you don't want to go through the bottom of the apple. Go all the way around and then pop this center out. This way you'll make a cup to hold the good stuff in the apple!

4. Use the melon baller to dig out the apple seeds.

5. Fill the center of the apple with raisins or other dried fruit.

6. Put about a tablespoon of brown sugar on top.

7. Add a pat of butter. A pat is about 1/2 a tablespoon.

8. Wrap the apple up in foil by lapping one side then the other over the top of the apple.

9. Set the apples top-side up on the pan so they don't leak when the butter and the sugar start to melt.

10. These can be easily slid into the coals of your Father's Day barbecue, or placed on a grill. We did them in the oven at 375 degrees 18-22 minutes.

11. When you can easily pierce the fruit with a fork (you can test it right through the foil) the apples are finished. They taste just like apple pie!

Hope you enjoy this recipe. Let us know how it turns out!

Very Berry Special Spinach Christmas Salad Recipe from Gael

Ingredients:

• 2 T raspberry vinegar

• 1 c fresh raspberries

• 2 T raspberry jam

• 2 large kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced thin

• 1/2 c vegetable oil

• 1 small can mandarin oranges, drained juice from drained mandarin oranges
• 3/4 lb. fresh spinach leaves
• 3/4 c whole toasted pecan halves
  

Directions:

1. Whisk or blend vinegar and jam.
   
2. Add oil and orange juice; blend well. Set aside.
3. Combine spinach, half of nuts, raspberries, oranges, and all of the dressing in a large bowl.
4. Toss and then top the salad with kiwi and the remaining nuts.
   
5. Chill about an hour.
   

Serves 4-6

Optional: add about 1/2 c blueberries and and 1/2 c purple seedless grapes for additional color.

Spatulatta says:

Wow, now this is a salad everyone's sure to enjoy over the holiday. Definitely a healthy
and easy recipe to make. :)

Thanks for sharing, Gael! 
-Team Spatulatta

Briah's Macaroni Noodle Recipe

Thanks for sending us your delicious recipe, Briah!
- Team Spatulatta

Macaroni Noodles

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef or turkey
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
5 cups of tomato sauce
5 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. boil your macaroni noodles until soft.
2. brown ground beef in a skillet.
4. add garlic powder,onion powder,salt,and pepper.
5. take the browned meat of of heat.
6. drain macaroni noodles in shrainer and put back in the pot.
7. turn heat up to hi add the browned meat to the macaroni.
8. then add tomato sauce and let it come to a boil.
9. final add cheddar cheese let the cheese melt in and serve.