Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

The Best School Lunch From Last Semester

Story by Lynn Walters
 

Green & White Fettuccine with Tomato Basil Sauce and Green Salad

Last semester Cooking with Kids’ Green & White Fettuccine with Tomato Basil Sauce and Green Salad was voted in to the top 10 best lunches on the School Lunch Photo Wall and went on to be picked by Jamie and his team as the best school lunch from last semester!

First prepared by pre-kindergarten through sixth grade students in their Santa Fe classrooms the recipe contains spinach fettuccine, white fettuccine, fresh garlic, olive oil, canned diced tomatoes, canned crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, fresh basil leaves and parmesan cheese was then adapted for large-scale cooking in school cafeterias.

In the classroom, children make fresh spinach and white pasta from scratch, while the school lunch recipe calls for dry spinach and white fettuccine. Both the classroom and cafeteria recipes call for Romaine lettuce with a simple homemade vinaigrette dressing. This school lunch came out of our professional culinary experience and interest in sharing the delight and magic of cooking simple, delicious, and healthy food from basic ingredients.

Children are enthralled by the process of cooking in the classroom. After making the fresh fettuccine, one little girl wanted to make the fettuccine for her birthday dinner that night.

When this meal is served in the cafeteria, students recognize that they made it in the classroom. They are also astute observers, and often comment that the food that they made in the classroom was different, and usually how much better “their” food tasted. However, a number of Cooking with Kids recipes have been well accepted as school lunches, and Green & White Fettuccine with Tomato Basil Sauce is now on the regular school menu rotation.

Judi Jaquez, Santa Fe Public Schools Student Nutrition Director, explained:

“We are so fortunate to have a partnership with Cooking with Kids. Students who have participated in the cooking classes are much more open to trying new foods. When they recognize a food that they have helped to prepare in class and it is being served in the cafeteria, they tend to have a very positive response.”

Have you entered your school lunch onto the Food Revolution photo wall? The Food Revolution wants to know what’s on the lunch tray around the world.

Find out more about how you can improve the school lunches served in your school here and search for a local Food Revolution community group to join in your campaign here

See The Worst School Lunch From Last Semester here.

About the author: Founder and executive director of Cooking with Kids, Inc, Lynn Walters submitted the photo, rated in to the top 10 best school lunches on the Food Revolution Photo Wall and chosen by Jamie and the Food Revolution team as the ‘best’ school lunch from the winter 2011 semester. To learn more about Cooking with Kids, visit www.cookingwithkids.net.

Ingredients
Spinach fettuccine
White fettuccine
Fresh garlic
Olive oil
Canned diced tomatoes
Cannned crushed tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
Fresh basil leaves
Parmesan cheese

Nutritional data shown above in the main image.

show/hide

Share this article