East Stroudsburg school district's Slow Foods healthy lunch menu catching on fast
A pilot program that introduces local farm foods and healthier eating to students in the East Stroudsburg Area School District is growing.
When locally acclaimed chef Dan Rothman, a long-time proponent of healthful food diets, introduced the movement of "slow foods" to East Stroudsburg schools last spring, he imagined local chefs adopting schools within the district and working directly with students to instill better eating habits.
School district Director of Food Services Paul Schmid said he liked the idea. They enlisted the help of Alisa Tongg Weiler, a freelance grant writer and "foodie" columnist, to procure grants to offset future costs. The program began last spring in Smithfield and Resica elementary schools. This year, it's been expanded to Middle Smithfield Elementary.
During the past two weeks, Rothman again visited fourth- and fifth-grade classes at both Smithfield and Middle Smithfield; Resica is on tap for next week.
"How many of you like to go out and eat fast food?" Rothman asked fifth graders at Middle Smithfield. "It's OK to raise your hands (and most did). My favorite meal that I used to like to eat as a kid was a Whopper with cheese, medium fries and medium chocolate shake.
"A Whopper with cheese has 47 grams of fat. The fries have 20 grams of fat, and the shake has 18 grams of fat. That's 85 grams of fat in just one meal."
As a visual example, Rothman showed the students a plate stacked with 21 balls of shortening — the same amount of fat as in one fast food meal. "We're going to make a healthy snack that will feed the entire fifth grade with the same amount of fat as in that one meal," he said.
Each student received a packet with 10 healthy recipes to try at home, including one they made as a group, a fat-free yogurt parfait with blueberries and granola or sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
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We're not saying that you shouldn't sip some tea and stock up on herbs and spices for your kitchen, but while you're there, stay and have a healthy, flavor-packed lunch or dinner. They serve more than run-of-the-mill salads and wraps, and they don't
a fat-free yogurt parfait with blueberries and granola or sunflower and pumpkin seeds. "What I'm hoping for is for you to become ambassadors of healthy eating," Rothman told the students. "Maybe the next time your brother or sister wants to get
I especailly love the plentiful sunflower seeds in the mix that add a sublte nutty flavor. None of their granola includes unpronounceable ingredients that look like they belong in science experiments. I've heard so much contradictory news about whether
Crunch: "We underestimate how fun and interesting and really flavorful and textural seeds and nuts can be," she says, from sunflower, pumpkin, poppy and sesame seeds to all sorts of nuts. Dairy: "There's a reason why we work with butter and not oil in
Flavors include flaxseed, cocoa,strawberries and blueberries; flaxseed, almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts and Q10; flaxseed and goji berries; and flaxseed, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame seed and goji berries. Blend yogurt fortified with plant sterols,