Recipe: Strawberry Spinach Salad

It's strawberry season in Massachusetts! Yum!

Strawberry field at a local farm.

Strawberry plant with a beautiful, ripe berry!

Let's celebrate but making a delicious and nutritious salad. This simple salad requires two main ingredients plus a dressing.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Salad ingredients:
1/2 lb baby spinach or large leaf spinach cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup strawberries, sliced
optional: 1/3 cup walnuts or almonds, rough chopped
optional: 2 ounces feta cheese or goat cheese crumbles
optional: substitute half or all of the spinach with lettuce

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss with your favorite vinaigrette dressing or make one from scratch using the recipe below.

Dressing ingredients:
1/2 cup Olive oil
1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey (can substitute honey with sugar or agave)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Dash of salt and pepper

Combine all dressing ingredients in a mason jar. Secure with a lid and shake until all ingredients are combined. Add the dressing to the salad just before serving.

Strawberry spinach salad from a taste test at the Winter Hill School.

Here's a tip for encouraging your child to try new foods:

Kids are often more open minded about new foods if they are involved in preparing the meal or snack. You can start by finding a local farm that allows you to pick your own berries. Alternatively, you can take them to the farmers' market or grocery store and let them choose the ingredients. At home, invite them into the kitchen. Show them the recipe. Ask them to help you measure out the ingredients. Help them shake the dressing jar and dress the salad. Encourage them to try a bite. Praise them when they try something new! Even the very young can help with all of these steps.

Content and photos provided by Karyn Novakowski, Farm to School Project Director, SPS FNS

Comments

Mindful Eating: Part 1

In order to digest your food properly, your body must be in parasympathetic mode, or in a state of non-stress. Kindergartners know this. Well, they might not know the scientific term yet, but during lunch they participate in 6 minutes of silence; a period they call "Mindful Eating". When asked why they like mindful eating, the children replied, because "it’s quiet”, “I can enjoy my food better”, “I get peace and quiet”, and "it’s calmly”. Kindergartener teacher Ms. Scrima, and other Kennedy School teachers have been implementing mindfulness in the cafeteria and their classrooms since last year. They are proud to have a lunch period that looks and sounds quite different from the chaotic cafeteria rush other classes often experience. While the students sit silently at the lunch table checking in with their emotions, their digestive systems are also benefitting. Physiologically, only when our bodies are in rest mode can the brain trigger the release of digestive ...

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)

Students at Argenziano, East Somerville Community School and Winter Hill Community Innovation School tasted ripe, fresh picked strawberries, organic oranges, crunchy celery as well as many other fresh fruits and vegetables this school year as part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). All students at the three schools were offered a fresh fruit or vegetable as a midmorning snack Monday through Friday. Students gushed with enthusiasm about the program and voraciously consumed the fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis! We are excited to announce that the FFVP will be continued at Argenziano, ESCS and WHCIS during the 2014-2015 school year! The goals of the FFVP are to establish lifelong healthy eating habits and to fight childhood obesity since it promotes healthy eating habits among students by introducing a variety of produce on a regular basis, giving students an opportunity to try fruit...

Put your best FORK forward during National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month! Each year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics develops new topics to celebrate National Nutrition Month. This year's theme, Put your best fork forward, encourages us to consider that every bite counts. Even "small shifts in our food choices, can add up over time." Here in Somerville we are celebrating National Nutrition Month in a few ways. ~ We are releasing Veggie of the Month kits in each school's library! The kits contain books, taste testing supplies, and a binder with lesson materials for each month! ~ We are visiting a few PreK-2nd grade classes to "taste-test" the veggie of the month: leafy greens! In the classroom, we are reading Sylvia's Spinach and making a simple salad dressing to drizzle over spinach! (Be sure to check back later for the results of our visits!) ~ Our Wellness Champions and Farm to School Staff are posting bulletin boards and fliers around the schools! ...

Somerville Farm to School Project

Search This Blog