Somerville Farm to School Project

As our National Nutrition Month Event, we held kale chip taste tests in all our K-8 school cafeterias. For the full story visit the post . If you would like to try the kale chips at home, use this yummy recipe. Bunches of curly kale Ingredients 8 cups kale, ripped into 3 inch pieces (~1 bunch) 1 tbsp   vegetable oil 1/8 – 1/4 tsp salt Preparation 1.   Preheat oven to 350 o 2.   Wash and pat dry kale. For best results, kale must be very dry. 3.   Remove kale from center stem and rip into 3 inch pieces. 4.   Add oil and salt. Massage the oil and salt into the kale until the kale pieces are evenly coated. 5.   Lay kale pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet; ideally the pieces are not touching. 6. Bake for 3-5 minutes. Checking regularly to make sure chips aren't burning. Make sure to dry your kale well! Gentle massage the oil and salt into the kale.   Do not overlap your kale pieces. Check them regular...

If you are anything like me, you associate cranberries with winter holidays - think cranberry sauce and turkey!  But after meeting with Cindy Rhodes, owner of Cape Cod Select with her husband Matt,  I learned that cranberries can be used in all seasons! And for both sweet and savory dishes! The cranberry harvesting season begins in a few short weeks. Grab the fresh ones while you can! For a year round treat, you can find Cape Cod Select berries in the freezer section of your grocery store. Naturally tart berries are a perfect pairing for sweeter meats such as pork and turkey. Coupled with fruit such as mangoes and bananas they make a delicious smoothie. After a recent visit to Cape Cod Select cranberry bog as part of my Boston Local Food Festival guest blogger stint, I challenged myself to develop a few savory recipes using cranberries. For the first recipe I paired cranberries with thyme to create a topping for focaccia tiles.   Using this recipe ...

During our National Nutrition Month celebrations we are featuring a savory Veggie Yogurt Dip (recipe adapted from Shared Appetite ). The dip itself contains carrots, spinach, kale and red pepper. Paired with red, green and yellow peppers it is definitely a "Go Snack"! Remember "Go Snacks and Salads" are snacks or salads that contain red, yellow and green (colors in a traffic light). When you see these three colors together on your plate, you know that you have created a healthy, nutrient packed meal.  Veggie Yogurt Dip   We paired our dip with tri-colored peppers but you can use cucumbers, carrots, or celery. We hope you try this recipe with your family! Veggie Yogurt Dip Recipe Ingredients 1 17 oz container Greek yogurt 3 tbsp. mayonnaise 1 tbsp. agave nectar (or honey) 1/2 cup kale, chopped 1/2 cup baby spinach, chopped 4 scallions, thinly sliced 1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely diced 1/2 cup carrot, grated 3 garlic...

This week we begin a series of National Nutrition Month celebrations with an event at each of our bronze award winning  HealthierUS Schools Challenge  schools: Arthur D. Healey School Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School East Somerville Community School John F. Kennedy Elementary School West Somerville Neighborhood School Winter Hill Community Innovation School National Nutrition Month, celebrated annually in March, is a campaign brought to us by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics . The theme for 2015 is "Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle," which encourages students and families to make informed choices about food choices and daily exercise. Here in Somerville, our schools are celebrating with a cafeteria taste test! We will be sampling a "Go Snack & Salad." "Go Snacks and Salads" are snacks or salads that contain red, yellow and green (colors in a traffic light). When you see these three colors together on your plate, you know that you have...

Have you heard of hyper-local food? It's a trendy food movement where restaurants, supermarkets or other food businesses cultivate their own food on site. By definition, doesn't that mean a school garden could be considered hyper-local? We think so! Tomorrow students from the 4th grade classrooms at the East Somerville Community School will be eating hyper-local eggplant and garlic grown just down the hall from their classrooms. Both items came from the East Somerville Community School's garden. You can see the garlic in the photos below. The eggplant had just been transplanted and are too small to see. The garlic was harvested in July and the eggplant was picked yesterday! Garlic growing in the front right beds, June 2014. Garlic plant with scape (the little curly q at the top of the plant), June 2014 The students will be tasting baba ganoush, made from eggplant and garlic, with green bell pepper and zucchini slices. For this recipe we used ...

Cooking with kids can seem daunting. Will they make a  mess? YES! Will it be time commitment? YES! Will it be fun? YES! Don't let the mess stop you! Cooking and baking are one part chemistry experiment and one part art project. When making vegetable soup, teach your children safe knife skills ( the claw and the tunnel) but let them choose the shapes to cut. When making homemade pizza dough explain how yeast works but let them shape the dough and arrange the toppings.    Don't let the time commitment stop you! Pick one day a week to cook with your kids - a Friday night pizza and salad or Saturday morning pancakes. Here are some of my favorite cookbooks to get you cooking with your kids! It might seem silly to start with an alphabet board book but why not challenge your kids (and yourself) to eat each of the fruits and veggies found in Eating the Alphabet . I love every Mollie Katzen cookbook and this one is no exception, Pretend ...

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...