Back to School Food Revolution

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

It’s already Labor Day and back to school time is here. With late summer’s quickly passing days comes an end to relaxed routines and carefree days. Not only is it time for our kids to go back to school and hit the books, it is also time to get serious about healthy eating. If your family’s nutritional habits have slipped by the wayside during the summer—and whose don’t with all those delicious summertime treats around—then September is a good time to start heading in the right direction.

One way to get back on the healthy eating track is to start your own School Lunch Revolution. Just like TV chef Jamie Oliver’s series that started earlier this year, in which he went to a school in West Virginia and began to teach the children there about healthier eating, you can do the same with your own kids. In the show, Jamie brought his message of healthier eating and choosing fresh foods over processed to a whole community and truly changed the way they looked at food. Take a revolutionary new approach to healthy eating in your home, and in the long run, your kids will thank you for it.

You can begin the challenge by including one new, fresh, and non- pre-packaged food in your child's lunchbox every day. In the beginning it won’t be hard with obvious choices such as apples, bananas, and oranges, carrot sticks, and celery.

Proteins like fresh nuts and cheeses are also easy finger foods and quick to pack in a lunchbox. Dried fruits such as craisins, apricots, and cherries can stand in for high sugar sweets and fruit roll ups. Then you can get creative with offerings like tropical fruits and lesser known veggies like crunchy jicama. You’ll be sure to open your kids eyes to a plethora of new fruits and veggies. I bet you could get through the entire school year trying a new food each day if you wanted.

And if you’re sitting there saying, wait a minute, my kids don’t like to eat new foods, then you might have to change your approach. To get your kids interested in trying an unfamiliar fruit or veggie, cut them into fun shapes like stars, hearts, and diamonds and serve with your child's favorite dip. My son's favorite is ranch dressing, he’ll eat anything if he can dip it in ranch.

Simply peel any outer skin; slice into half-inch slices lengthwise into plank shapes. Then use a cookie cutter to cut out your desired shape (you can use this technique for eye appealing crustless sandwiches too). It's a fun way to use all those cookie cutters you may have lurking in the back of a cabinet. When I use this technique, I save the scraps for my own snacks so there is less waste.

Another fun challenge, even for those who have kids who are too young for school lunches, is to go through the alphabet and see if you can try new foods for every letter. Each day you would try a food starting with A (apples, bananas, carrots, dates… you get the picture) and working through Z. And what, you might ask would you eat for the letter Z? Why, ziti or zucchini of course. What the heck, have them together in place of the usual macaroni and cheese!

So try some of these ideas this school year as a fun way to get your kids interest in healthy eating rejuvenated.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 1 box (16 ounce size) ziti pasta
• 1 pound zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-in. chunks
• 1 pound yellow summer (crookneck) squash, cut into 1-in. chunks
• 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
• salt
• 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (more if desired)
• 1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives