November was Pumpkin Month!

The featured vegetable for the month of November was Pumpkin. Through our sponsor, The Hudson Highlands Land Trust, HVFS received 50 pumpkins donated from a family farm in Garrison, NY. Our chefs at Haldane and the Garrison School used these pumpkins in our Chef in the Classroom program teaching kids how to cook with local, seasonal produce.

At Haldane, Chefs Sarah Garcia and Matt Sporer, students from the Culinary Institute of America and Slow Food members worked with the 3rd and 4th graders teaching them how to make pumpkin bread.

From mashing to mixing, the kids did all the work.

Chef Sarah is a pastry chef in training and explained to the students the importance of accurate measurements of all the ingredients. Instead of using cups and teaspoons, in a professional bakery, they use a digital scale to measure in grams and ounces. (This was a great lesson in math and chemistry!)

At the Garrison School, Chef Laurie taught the 7th graders how to make pumpkin muffins. She  divided the students into groups and handed them recipes with step by step instructions.

The groups worked independently with only guidance and tips from the chef.

Both the Haldane School and the Garrison School students will get to sample these recipes in the cafeteria this month.










Many thanks to the family farm in Garrison for donating the pumpkins used in the cooking classes and in the school-wide taste tests in the cafeterias.

Kids will eat more apples if they are offered in bite-sized pieces.

There are various tactics one can use to persuade a child to eat a fruit or vegetable. For example, the convenience of fruits and vegetables has led to greater consumption of these items. Children are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when they are offered in bite-sized pieces.

A study conducted by Cornell University, with the assistance of Wayne County Cornell Cooperative Extension and six middle schools in Wayne County, New York, showed an increase of 32% in the number of all students who took apples when they were sliced.  Further analysis showed that children who took apples wasted 30% less when the apples were sliced.  The school districts that were part of the research project were Gananda, North Rose-Wolcott, Red Creek, Sodus, Wayne and Williamson.

The USDA’s work with stakeholders combined with behavioral economists’ research to develop innovative ways to encourage students to make healthier choices offers a new strategy for change. The Cornell Food and Brand Lab has already started working on a “Smarter Lunchroom Initiative” under Dr. Brian Wansink to encourage healthier eating in the lunchroom. The lab has made a new tray design with special compartments to fit milk instead of soda, and smaller portions of sides to avoid easy placement of foods like pizza or French fries. The researchers have also encouraged elementary school cafeteria workers to use an apple slicer rather than providing whole apples to students because studies have shown that kids are more likely to eat “apple fries” rather than whole apples. Making children feel like savvy consumers rather than obedient children is a simple strategy to help them make better decisions.

Culinary Institute of America's Chef Interns Visit Haldane Elementary School

This week Haldane Elementary School had the pleasure to invite two budding young chefs and Slow Food members from the Culinary Institute of America to teach a cooking class with the 3rd and 4th graders.

As part of Haldane's Farm to School, Chef in the Classroom program, Chef Matt and Chef Sarah visited Mr. Dudar's 3rd grade class and Mrs. Hartford's 4th grade class. The featured vegetable: Butternut Squash. And the recipe they were learning how to prepare was a Butternut Squash Gratin.

After washing hands, the students set to work. They all gathered around the tables and broke into different groups. While Chef Sarah worked with one group chopping onions and dicing squash, 

Chef Matt had the others smashing garlic, grating cheese and cutting up herbs.

Chef Sarah taught her group the safe and proper way to handle a knife. The kids couldn't get enough of chopping. Even the tears from the onions didn't stop them!

All of the students got a chance to work with Chef Matt sautéing the squash with onions, garlic and herbs.

When the preparation of the dish was finished, it was poured into a baking dish, and with "Kitchen Show Magic" and a little help from food service director Cindy Miozzi, the students got to try their culinary creation.

With a lot of enthusiasm, the students named their dish: Butternut Squash-a-Lishious! 

A local farm in Garrison, NY donated 50 pounds of organic butternut squash to the school, and the Haldane Cafeteria served the Butternut Squash-a-Lishious! on October 24th, National Food Day. All the students had the opportunity to sample the dish in a school-wide taste test. 

Parent volunteers served up the samples and students took a survey and kept tally. What was the outcome? A big thumbs up!

Thank you Chefs Matt and Sarah, the Culinary Institute of America, and Cindy Miozzi for a great job  influencing positive change in our students' health by encouraging them to try new foods.

Next Chef in the Classroom featured vegetable: Pumpkin.

Stay tuned to find out more...

http://www.ciachef.edu

Photos from my visit to the White House Gardens

View my first set of photos from my White House visit on Facebook

My Day at the White House

I was very fortunate to have been chosen from 1,000's of applicants to attend the second ever White House Social: Garden Tour.

I met dozens of exceptional people from all over the United States who shared my passion for getting kids in the garden, teaching them to cook, while encouraging schools to offer more local, fresh farm produce as part of the hot lunch program.

We started out at 7 am, waiting in the pouring rain to get the security clearance to enter the White House grounds. Once we passed through two levels of security, we were in.

First stop: The Rose Garden:

As I stood there, I couldn't help but think about all the important speeches and press conferences presidents have made there over the years.

Putting politics aside, it is an exquisite garden. And very intimate.

It seemed like a good place for contemplation. And it's right outside of the Oval Office – what a great walk to work every morning!












Second stop: The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden.

Not sure how to describe it other than dreamy.

And saving best for last: Michelle's Kitchen Garden

While up in NY we lost a lot of our crops due to last week's frost, down in the White House Kitchen Garden all the vegetables were in full vigor.

Red bell peppers, japanese eggplant, kale, bok choy, cherry tomatoes, herbs and artichoke. 

The list goes on to include even tropical papaya (they over winter it indoors).
 The vegetables are grown following organic practices and used by the White House chefs to serve at State dinners and for the First Family's private dinners as well.

What they don't use is donated to a local soup kitchen.

Opposite the Kitchen Garden is the White House Bee Hive. (Have you read about the honey beer they are brewing at the White House?) This year they collected 175 pounds of honey!

After the garden tour, we had to exit the White House and go through security again to enter the Old Executive Building for the second half of our tour: Social media connections.

Bill Yosses, the White House Pastry Chef talked about leading a healthy lifestyle and eating desserts at the same time. Sounds like and oxymoron, right? He talked about cooking with whole, fresh foods and, of course, small portions and eating in moderation. What's important is that food be delicious so kids will want to eat it and that it is well made and comes from a good source. He gave us one chef's tip: Add a small amount of honey to any baked good recipe to make it stay moist. Asked what some of his favorite desserts he makes are: Sweet potato pie and huckleberry pie.


All in all it was a great day. I made a few new friends and felt quite privileged to be invited to view the gardens up close.

Garrison School 5th Graders Harvest and Cook at Glynwood

The Garrison School 5th grade got to see first hand where their food comes from and how it get's on their plates today.

Upon arrival, the two classes split into two groups: One group toured the farm with Carolyn Llewellyn, Glynwood's farm educator, and the other group headed to the kitchen with Chef Laurie Gershgorn.

The featured vegetable of the month: Kale (with some Beets on the side).

Garrison 5th grader pulls up a bunch of scallions in the demo garden.

The first group in the kitchen cutting up beets.

and turnips for a roasted root veggie side dish.

They separated the beet and turnip greens for the next group's dish.

Chef Laurie teaches the group good knife skills.

All the students learned the proper way to safely use a knife.

Meanwhile, the first group collected eggs from the hen house for the kale and beet green frittata they will make.

Then the groups switched and the second group went into the kitchen and made a frittata with the eggs and greens they collected.

And finally the two groups got together and feasted on their culinary creations:

Roasted Beets and Turnips, and Kale and Beet Greens Frittata.

Mark your calendars: These dishes will be served at the Garrison School on Tuesday, November 13th by the PTA lunch team The Macho Nachos for all students to try!

Follow me on Twitter: @HVFarmToSchool

Hudson Valley Farm to School has entered the 21st Century and now has a Twitter Account. Those so inclined may follow me at @HVFarmToSchool.

Democratizing Good Food

This week's NY Times Magazine is devoted to food. Yummy!

In it, Michael Pollan asks, "Is this the year that the food movement finally enters politics?" He notes the tremendous recent successes of Community Supported Agriculture, Farmers Markets, and sustainable farming. But then he adds:

Not everyone can afford to participate in the new food economy. If the food movement doesn’t move to democratize the benefits of good food, it will be — and will deserve to be — branded as elitist.

It got me thinking: fundamentally, Farm to School is democratizing good food.

I'm going to the White House Garden! #WHGarden

I can't believe it!... I'm going to the White House this Friday to visit their gardens!

I received an email from Let's Move to apply to attend the White House Fall Garden Tour. And much to my surprise, I was selected! I'll be touring the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, Rose Garden, and South Lawn, and most importantly the White House Kitchen Garden.

...the first [vegetable] garden on White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during World War II. This new garden was planted in the Spring of 2009 with the help of local elementary school children and has yielded a constant supply fresh produce for the First Family and White House events.

I'll be posting photos on Friday, so stay tuned!

The Glynwood View

Glynwood Farm has been a strong supporter of Hudson Valley Farm to School since our humble beginnings three years ago. They have now invited me to guest blog on The Glynwood View. My first guest post is up today, you can read it here.

Haldane 3rd Graders visit Glynwood Farm and cook up a Veggie Feast in the Barn!

Haldane 3rd graders get to experience first-hand where their food comes from and how it gets on their plates.
Mrs. Moeller's 3rd grade class had a special treat yesterday: They visited Glynwood Farm and had their Chef in the Classroom in the Barn!

Upon arriving at the farm, they were greeted by farm educator Carolyn Llewellyn and lead on a tour.

They learned about plant parts,

picked veggies in the garden,

and collected eggs from the hen house.

Passing goats and horses, they wound their way up to the barn

where Chef Laurie Gershgorn and CIA chef intern Matt Sporer waited with their mobile kitchen set-up and ready to cook.

Chef Laurie taught the 3rd graders knife skills.

One group chopped leeks, another group chopped potatoes and turnips, while another group chopped garlic and herbs.

Students took turns tearing up kale, turnip greens and cabbage leaves.

Everyone got to crack an egg into a big bowl and whisk it up

 to make a giant egg scramble with leeks and herbs.

And while that was cooking, the kids gathered the rest of the ingredients into a big pot and stirred it all up into a giant harvest vegetable soup!

Yum Yummmm!

(and let's not forget the pigs.. they got the scraps)

All in all, it was an unforgettable day!