Category: Recipes for Success

Pasta dishes can be a great way to help the picky eaters in your life try new veggies. Combining a food they’ve never tried before with a familiar favorite like hearty noodles, a tangy pesto sauce or a classic marinara can help get them over their hesitancy to taste something different. 

Nevada City School of the Arts took this idea and supercharged it, working with local producers to create an award-winning whole-wheat penne pasta recipe that’s popping with farm-fresh flavors. By combining surplus harvest ingredients — such as arugula, basil, eggplant, fennel and tomatoes — with, whole-wheat pasta, they created a tasty new dish that can convert even the most determined vegetable skeptic. 
Want to make a delicious, fresh and healthy pasta dish for your family? Try this tasty Tuscan bean pesto penne pasta recipe from The Lunch Box.

Focaccia is a classic flatbread that has been made in Italy and around the world for hundreds of years. The dough is often brushed with olive oil, salt and fresh herbs before baking, resulting in a crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside loaf that makes a savory and tasty treat at any time of the day. 

It’s no surprise that the focaccia at San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) is such a huge hit with students. It’s made from scratch using locally grown ingredients and no added sugars whatsoever, and it uses a long fermentation time to bump up the flavor. The recipe was created by SLCUSD’s own Chef Cory Bidwell, who comes to the district with years of experience in the restaurant industry. The district’s commitment to farm-fresh, healthy and delicious school food like their house-made focaccia has made them a magnet for skilled restaurant professionals who want to use their skills to make a difference in the lives of students.

Want to make a version of this classic bread for the children in your life? Check out this delicious and healthy whole wheat focaccia recipe from The Lunch Box!

“We have all these students that come from different backgrounds and different origins. We want to represent them and give them food that’s oriented to their palate.” – Ashley Rothschell, Child Nutrition Services Senior, Cypress School District 

When you tailor food to your students’ tastes, they’ll enjoy coming in to get it. The School Food Professionals at Cypress School District are always trying to cook foods that speak to who their students are, where they come from and what they like. “We’ve got a large Indian population here, so we started serving dishes like tikka masala,” Ashley said, “and they were a hit.” 

These efforts not only celebrate students’ heritage but also encourage other kids to expand their tastes and try something new. “We’re like ‘Here’s this interesting dish that you normally don’t eat. Give it a try,’” Ashley said. “We let them have a little sample, and, if they like it, they can have a full meal of it. And a lot of times, that’s just what happens.”  

Cypress School District’s tikka masala is just one example of how culturally inspired meals can have a meaningful impact and spark curiosity about new flavors. 

Interested in making delicious and healthy recipes inspired by Indian cuisine for your kids? The Lunch Box has several simple and scalable options, such as chana masala and butter chicken.

“The birria tacos have been on our menu all month, and they’re a big, big hit. “ –  Kat Soltanmorad, RDN, Director, Food & Nutrition Services, Tahoe Truckee Unified School District

And it’s not just with the students, either. Tahoe Truckee teachers and staff love the district’s healthy and delicious meals. “Principal Mitchell from North Tahoe High School buys food from the cafeteria all the time,” Soltanmorad said. “She Facetimed me during lunch to tell me how much she and students liked the birria tacos.” (Recipe credit: Chef Ann Foundation)

All the School Food Professionals at Tahoe Truckee take pride in their work, and it shows. Team members regularly come up with new recipe ideas and new approaches to old favorites. The result is a school food program that’s always evolving, growing and improving. And students are taking notice. “I see students bringing them notes and cards, it’s just outstanding,” Kat said.   

Want to make a healthy dish like this for the kids in your life? Check out these simple and delicious beef birria tacos from the Lunch Box!

“We want students to feel like they’re at home when they’re eating. Our team creates great recipes incorporating the foods and flavors we serve our own families, and the kids love them.” – Michelle Pruitt Roybal, Nutrition Services Supervisor, Azusa Unified School District

The School Food Professionals at Azusa Unified School District are always looking for new ways to give their students home-style meals. To come up with the perfect recipe for pozole, a delicious and hearty Mexican soup, they held a contest. Staff gathered, cooked and voted on their favorite pozole recipes, and they served the tastiest one in their schools. 

The secret to a delicious pozole recipe is great ingredients – flavorful hominy, high-quality chicken or pork, fresh chilis and a rich broth – that provide a hearty meal that fills students up with flavor, warmth and joy. “We want them to have a big smile on their face,” Michelle says. “We want them to be really happy that they’re coming to school to eat.”

Want to make a healthy dish like this for the kids in your life? Check out this simple and delicious pozole recipe from the Lunch Box!

“Students think they don’t like vegetables, then they try ones that come in fresh from the garden. They love the idea of harvesting, bringing something in and serving it right up.” – Elizabeth Mungia, Cafeteria Manager, Oxnard Union High School District

Nothing tastes better than fresh. When fruits and vegetables come right from the farm or garden and go straight to the tray, they bring a flavor that can’t be beat. In Oxnard Union High School District, fresh is always on the menu through their Harvest of the Month program, which spotlights locally grown,  seasonal produce. The program gets kids to taste new fruits and veggies that they might not otherwise try. “The most recent harvest of the month was radishes,” Elizabeth says. “You can tell the kids liked them because there was barely anything left over.”

Harvest of the Month programs teach students where food comes from while also supporting local farmers in their communities. Best of all, they help kids discover new healthy favorites like radish slaw, a tasty, tangy pairing with entrees like tacos. “It’s all fresh from the ground, and that’s what makes it so good,” Elizabeth says.

Want to make a healthy dish like this for the kids in your life? Check out this simple and delicious radish slaw recipe from the Lunch Box!

“I can provide all the students with home-style meals and get them to taste all different kinds of foods and flavors.” – Esther Huizar, Cafeteria Manager, Oak Valley Union Elementary School District

One of the home-style meals that Oak Valley Union Elementary’s team of School Food Professionals cooks from scratch is a chicken quesadilla. Cafeteria Manager Esther Huizar and her team prepare the chicken with fresh ingredients like tomato, onions and garlic, and low-fat cheese. The key to making sure these quesadillas are nice and soft for students is warming the whole wheat tortillas before adding cheese and chicken for a final five minutes in the oven. 

The best part about these chicken quesadillas? The students at Oak Valley Union Elementary love them. As Esther says, cooking fresh, healthy meals “makes a big difference.”

Want to make a healthy dish like this for the kids in your life? Check out this simple and delicious chicken quesadilla recipe from the Lunch Box!