What's for Lunch: Cheeseburger or Ham & Cheese?

By Ed Bruske
aka The Slow Cook

You definitely needed two packets of ketchup for this lunch--one for the burger and one for the potato wedges. Most of the kids dove straight into the potatoes. They're not fries, exactly, but they look enough like fries to make them irresistible.

Wouldn't you know it, the USDA is proposing to tightly restrict fries and all other kinds of potatoes in school meals, as well as other "starchy vegetables" such as corn, peas and lima beans. Instead, schools would have to serve bigger portions of green and orange vegetables. In other words, the governments wants schools to serve more foods that kids don't like, and cut back on the food kids really love.

This is the formula for making school food healthier. The question is how we go about convincing kids they should eat it. I really wanted to taste the burger, but by the time the last kid had gone through the food line all the burgers were gone. Here's was was left: the alternated ham and cheese sandwich.

In fact, it was pretty good, the ham being "turkey ham" spread on toasted whole wheat bread. Okay, it was a little stale. But still....Carrots sticks with ranch dressing came on the side, and the lunch ladies tossed in some potato wedges to finish things off.