upLIFT Newsletter | SY 2022-2023 | Issue 4 | January 2023 |
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The Arizona Department of Education Health and Nutrition Services (HNS) is excited to continue the "Serve a Rainbow" initiative for this school year! This initiative aims to urge operators to promote a colorful spread of unique and delicious fruits and vegetables for students to enjoy throughout the school year. Every other month, HNS/upLIFT will announce a new "Serve a Rainbow" produce color for your team to feature and serve in your schools. Service can be as simple as a vegetable plated on a tray, or fruits and vegetables intricately presented to students in a colorful display or salad bar! The creativity is up to you!
Last month, HNS received photos from Palominas Elementary School District. Palominas was excited to receive eggplant from their Farm To School partner Echoing Hope Ranch! Eggplant is a vegetable that happened to grow in abundance in southeast Arizona, so Palominas had more than enough to serve it quite a few times as one of their "Farm Fresh Friday" veggie sides! They served the eggplant roasted and seasoned with dried herbs and spices. They also created a delicious recipe for an Eggplant Tomato Bake, which was a big hit with the students! Students at Palominas were excited to try something new, and the feedback was overall positive! Many students also stated that the cafeteria "smells like Thanksgiving" whenever it is served. What a fun way to use such a versatile and unique vegetable in the cafeteria! |
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The featured color for January and February is... |
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We challenge you to implement what you learn from the monthly webinars and resources to help you serve a unique variety of produce, rich in color over the course of this school year. Now is the time to show off your apples, strawberries, radishes, beets, watermelon and more! Email Ashley.Kennedy@azed.gov any pictures of your colorful service lines so we can showcase your beautiful produce in future upLIFT newsletters! HNS can't wait to see how YOU "serve a rainbow" to your students! |
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Join us for our upcoming upLIFT Webinar!
upLIFT Webinar Series: upLIFT Your Menu - Enhancing Your Equipment! With Guest Speaker - STAR School!
January 17, 2023 at 1:30 pm
Join us on January 17th to discover the routes in which you can enhance your equipment and make best use of funding and resources available to you. HNS will be featuring a guest speaker from STAR School in Flagstaff, AZ to discuss how enhancing your equipment not only simplifies your meal service, but also improves the meals that your teams produce! From kitchen scales and prep tables to large mixers and ovens, there are endless possibilities to soar to new heights when it comes to the equipment you have in your kitchen. Want to learn how you can upLIFT your menu by enhancing your equipment and create new experiences and nutritious meals for your students? Don’t miss January’s upLIFT webinar! Register today! |
Sunrise Elementary School in Yuma displays their beautiful salad bar!
Students at Sunrise Elementary School in Yuma, AZ enjoy this beautiful spread of fruits and vegetables daily and are always excited to grab their favorites! HNS would like to recognize the cafeteria staff and manager at Sunrise Elementary School for putting forth extra effort to make sure their students are receiving healthy and tasty school meals everyday!
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Research Rundown
This month's Research Rundown article investigated the single and combined effects of serving preschool children a large portion of vegetables and/or enhancing flavor by adding butter and salt over the course of four weeks to increase appeal. The article shares how larger portion sizes and flavor enhancements affected student consumption. The information in this study can be used to help you implement strategies for increasing vegetable consumption by making them a bit more palatable or by increasing portions! |
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Featured Food - Red Apple!
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Together, we can influence positive
dietary behaviors in students! |
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. |
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