Harkin Tries Again to Reform School Lunch Via an Amendment to the Farm Bill

You gotta love Senator Tom Harkin (D Iowa, Charman of the Agricultural Committee) if you are a better school food activist. He has been trying for umpteen years to improve the nutritional profile of foods served in school cafeterias across the nation. This time around he worked with the food and beverage manufacturers and CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) to address limiting unhealthy foods other than the standard school lunch and packaged it as an amendment to the farm bill. Here's the NYT article link http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/us/02school.html?em&ex=1196830800&en=ad6345970eafea98&ei=5087%0A. Hot lunch (reimbursable meals in food service lingo) which is governed by the Department of Agriculture, would therefore not be impacted. Too bad.

But some are not lovin' this amendment because it would preclude individual states from passing stricter legislation, although individual districts could. In a pig's eye they would! So we in Connecticut for example would see our stricter legislation superceded by the amendment. What exactly does this mean? Well our current law bans the sale of soda and sports drinks in schools but the amendment provides an exemption for flavored low-fat milk in elementary schools and diet soda and sports drinks in high schools, albeit in smaller serving sizes.

So this is a classic example of how well-intentioned efforts to make sweeping changes for the betterment of society get compromised. There are so many players, each with a finger in the pie, so the pie just can't get smaller without one crying foul. (Gosh, does this conjure an image of pigs feeding at a trough?)

I feel obligated to point out that the fat, sugar, sodium and calorie limits this amendment would impose on so-called a la carte and snack foods is a welcome relief. In Connecticut we have an optional provision to our state law which awards financial incentives to limit fat, calories and sugar in snack foods, but not all districts adopted the new standards. So you still see 300 plus calorie snacks and super-sized snacks in many districts. This would eliminate that ongoing issue, hopefully once and for all.

So, the way I see it, it boils down to a tradeoff between allowing diet soda and Gatorade in high schools and finally eliminating super-sized snacks and excessive fat, sodium, and sugar in a la carte foods across the board. And if you don't like that tradeoff, start lobbying your local board of education to set stricter guidelines. As they say in Spanish, "Cuando el chancho vuela" (When pigs fly).

Oh My, It's Pumpkin Pie Time Again

Looking for a way to make baking pumpkin pie with my two boys a little easier, I decided to try Trader Joe's frozen pie crusts. They're really frozen pie dough already rolled out - no pie tin. This is not your supermarket's pie crust! No, no, no. This is the real deal. It is not lowfat but there's no hydrogenated oil and no HFCS - they use real butter and sugar. I do wish it were made with whole wheat flour though.

The dough defrosts in an hour on the counter. All you do is unfold it, lay it in a 10" pie pan, tidy up the excess crust and crimp. Fill with prepared pumpkin pie filling (I use the Libby's recipe but substitute Trader Joe's organic pumpkin for Libby's, dark brown sugar for white sugar and add 1/4 tsp. of freshly grated nutmeg.) Here's a link to the original recipe. http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18470

So everything went well until my four-year-old decided to taste the ground ginger. He took it pretty well although I nearly ripped the sleeve of his sweater while trying to pry it out of his mouth. He'd bitten onto the closest thing he could to relieve his scorching tongue and wouldn't let go! A cup of water later, we were on to the next problem.

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one who discovers, a bit too late, that they're brown sugar has fossilized. I decided to chop the solid, dried out mass it into smaller pieces with a chef's knife, dump it into a microwave safe bowl and cover it with a damp paper towel. I microwaved it for 30 seconds and voila, it was just like new. I couldn't believe it. It was gorgeous.

So we were able to finish preparing our pies, baked them off, and the boys shared a ramekin of leftover filling for dessert. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My Trusty Rice Cooker

I love my rice cooker! It sure has seen a lot of action over the last 12 years. It was a wedding gift from my mother-in-law, who is Korean, and who has probably used one every day of her life. It was a great gift because I use it several times a week. Not only is it a huge time saver, it's incredibly convenient and easy to use. You can cook just about any grain in it; all you have to do is add the right amount of grain and water and the cooker does the rest. When it's through cooking, it holds it in warm only mode indefinitely. You will never ruin a pot of rice or quinoa again. On super busy cooking days, that's one more empty burner you can use for something else.

One piece of advice, make sure the steam vent is directed away from your wood cabinets and never reach over the steamer while it's running or you'll get a nasty steam burn. Obviously, keep it away from kids. You can buy a rice cooker at Asian grocery stores and just about any other retailer that sells small kitchen electronics.

The basic recipe for brown rice or quinoa is 1 part grain to 2 parts water. It comes out perfect every time. Koreans let rice rest for a little while in the cooker after it's done to "jim" or "set". At first I was skeptical, but it's true. It is much better, both in flavor and texture, if you let it a rest at least 10 minutes after the lever flips to "done".

I recommend immediately unplugging the unit after filling the serving bowl and leaving the lid open so any leftovers can cool off. Or, if you're sure to be serving seconds, leave it plugged in with the lid closed and you'll have nice hot rice when you return.