My High School Diet 7 During Coronavirus

No meat in this day's High School Meals and that's okay, but there is plenty of dairy and with French Toast an egg is normally used to coat the bread.

The unusual part of this Meal is Ardella's Fun Pack for Lunch. It's just a couple of bread rounds with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.

And I can't remember when I had a frosty Slush, but what the heck I'll give it a taste test!

For this new Food Series, I gave myself the assignment to find out what High School kids are being fed during Covid-19. We here in Los Angeles care about the nutrition needs of young people.

I'll be sharing a different Breakfast and Lunch meal every few days. I think you'll be as surprised as I am of the good, the bad, and the ugly...oh boy.

These meals are Grab & Go from my local High School. I'm sure regular school cafeteria fare is different (better?) than the ones I am getting carryout at the drive-thru lane. You can click here to see the first meal I had at my neighborhood Grab & Go.

The GIF above is a Grab & Go walk up at Susan Miller Dorsey High School. 

There seem to be plenty of meal bags laid out on the tables and once I asked if they ever run out and the attendant replied emphatically "Never!"

Breakfast: French Toast, Blueberry Muffin, Apple, Juice, and Milk (always Milk.)

French Toast is a real kid-pleaser and this one is almost perfect except one part which I will talk about later. The bread is soft and the coating extra-eggy. Is it sweet too,  and with a dash of fragrant cinnamon spice.

French Toast is precooked so all you need to do is heat it for a few seconds until warm...or just go ahead and eat it at room temperature.

A very good French Toast, however, there is a strange slick coating, that I'm not sure of...hmmm, I think it is oil? I know it isn't syrup as it's neither sticky or sweet, just a neutral taste. Since the package has no labeling, I guess it will remain a mystery.

It's a 2fer of sweet bread with the addition of a Muffin. I don't know if this was supposed to go the lunch as these 2 meals come in one bag and it's up to me to guess what item goes with breakfast or lunch?

The cupcake is moist and sweet with cinnamon spice. There is no package label but once I broke it open I could see a couple of blueberries. It is a tasty Blueberry Muffin.

Lunch: Fun Pack (Bread Round, Pizza Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese), Carrots, Orange, Frozen Slush.

This is a very good Fun Pack, even when served at room temperature. I guess you could call it a vegan pizza, or an open-faced sandwich?

The bread round is very soft, so not really pizza dough or pita bread. It's a thick slice too and that's fine. I assume the bread is made of whole wheat, like most bread products I've tried so far.

The Marinara Sauce or Pizza Sauce is thick and loaded with herbs and spices, very satisfying in fresh tomato flavor. I liked it a lot and want the recipe!

The shredded Cheese is Mozzarella (I think as there is no ingredients list on the package.) It's very soft and a mild-flavored version -- quite tasty.

The most peculiar thing is the amount of Pizza sauce and Mozzarella cheese to too much for just 2 bread rounds - you would have to really pile it on to finish those toppings. So if you have any bread laying around then get out a slice!

I tasted the open-faced sandwiches at room temperature and grilled. Of course, grilled is better as a cracker bread crispness and flavor come to the fore, but either way works for me.

It was fun to have childhood visions when slurping on a Cool TropicsSlush packet.

Click on any photo to see larger.

It's a short ingredient list and I like that, a nod to healthier fare these days. 

Paradise Punch is lightly sweet and a mild fruit flavor like white grape juice. I liked that there was no lingering cane sugar extra-sweet flavor. 

I refroze the packet since it was lukewarm to the touch by the time I got home. After a half-hour or so I poured and squeezed out the icy parts into a glass. There is a spout to cut along, but next time I would cut lower across the wide part and pour it all out at once. This would enable the packet to be more frozen like a Slush should be.  

Finally, the Orange was sweet and seedless while the Carrots are crunchy and fresh tasting.

For reviews or info about the purveyors of these food items you can check out Fooducate, just enter a product food name and see what pops up about it: https://www.fooducate.com/

And you can learn about Los Angeles Unified School District's Cafe LA (which supplies a lot of the packaged food) here: https://achieve.lausd.net/cafela

And do check back in a few days for more of my latest food series High School Meals.

 Be safe & keep your distance!

My High School Diet 6 During Coronavirus

It's eclectic eats for Day 6 of my High School Meals Series. Today I picked up Mexican sweet bread called Conchas and a Chef's Salad. I consider this a lucky day indeed. I never know what is in store when I drive thru the  Grab & Go line to pick up grub at my local High School.

For this new Food Series, I gave myself the assignment to find out what High School kids are being fed during Covid-19. We here in Los Angeles care about the nutrition needs of young people.

I'll be sharing a different Breakfast and Lunch meal every few days. I think you'll be as surprised as I am of the good, the bad, and the ugly...oh boy.

Click on any photo to see larger.

These meals are Grab & Go from my local High School. I'm sure regular school cafeteria fare is different (better?) than the ones I am getting carryout at the drive-thru lane. You can click here to see the first meal I had at my neighborhood Grab & Go.

The GIF above is a drive-thru Susan Miller Dorsey High School's Grab & Go. 

There seem to be plenty of meal bags laid out on the tables and once I asked if they ever run out and the attendant replied emphatically "Never!"

Breakfast: Conchas Mexican Sweet Bread, Corn Muffin, Apple, Orange, and Milk (always Milk.)

This breakfast is more interesting than typical sugary donuts.

Mildly sweet and a bit dry this sweet bread is of the Mexican pastry variety.  Conchas is a tasty way to start the day.

Go to any Latin market and you will see these in the bakery department. I have found them at my local 99c Only Stores, too.

It's about the size of a hamburger bun. The white stripes on top are sweeter than the interior which makes a nice contrast and overall -- it is a good balance. It's a bit on the bland side but that's okay with me.

I think this is a Corn Muffin as there is no labeling on the package. Corn Muffin is a bit grittier than a cupcake probable due to the cornmeal base.

You can taste corn in the cake part and every once in a while I thought I got a chewy corn kernel. It is a sweet cornbread and more crumbly than a cupcake. The thin sticky-soft top seemed to hold most of the sugar sweetness. Overall I liked it.

Lunch: Chef Salad and Cookies.

I hit the jackpot today with a Chef Salad and Educational Snacks (cookies).

At almost 8 ounces this is a good-sized green salad with Turkey, Ham, and Swiss Cheese topped with a creamy Ranch Dressing.

Now the green part is just Iceberg lettuce and the label calls it a "Classic Salad" so I expect nothing less.

I like Iceberg for the crunchiness and an almost sweet (green) to a lightly bitter (white) range of chopped leaves. It is the kind of lettuce I grew up with and as far as I'm concerned it will never go out of style.

The segmented top to the salad holds small half-inch bars of lightly smoked ham and turkey.

The turkey is white meat and the ham is very lean. The texture is of real meat, not a processed ground and shaped type. It is a hearty and filling salad.

The Swiss Cheese is shredded and soft in texture and mild in flavor. I would have liked a more intense type of Swiss, but this is fine anyway.

And finally, you can mix in Ranch Dressing. The Ranch is thick and creamy with a slight onion and chive undertaste that comes thru the mayo and buttermilk base. It's a rich dressing and I liked it very much.

The ingredient list is a long one but this salad has everything in it.

If you're vegan then this salad is not for you, but I would line up at the Grab & Go  anytime for this old school Chef Salad

The Lunch Dessert is a bag of smart cookies called Dick & Jane Educational Snacks. They are tasty and crunchy. Not too sweet and similar to Animal Crackers or a mild vanilla wafer - nothing special, just a plain cookie.

I never heard of this brand, but you can click here to find out what Dick & Jane are all about. But basically, the cookies are nut-free (Dick is allergic to nuts,) low sugar. They are distributed through Amazon to the general public and I guess they have a contract with schools.

The cookies I got are a collection of English and Spanish words with the translated image on each cookie. There are other cookie themes like States & Capitals, Presidents, and Food & Nutrition.

They have nutrition and ingredients listed clearly on the package. And it doesn't look bad, mainly whole grain wheat and a few other ingredients including sugar, honey, eggs, whole milk, and sunflower oil.

For reviews or info about the purveyors of these food items you can check out Fooducate, just enter a product food name and see what pops up about it: https://www.fooducate.com/

And you can learn about Los Angeles Unified School District's Cafe LA (which supplies a lot of the packaged food) here: https://achieve.lausd.net/cafela

And do check back in a few days for more of my latest food series High School Meals.

 Be safe & keep your distance!

My High School Diet 5 During Coronavirus

This is the best High School Meal I've had so far. How can you top Coffee Cake then Mac & Cheese with a Chicken Breast Fillet?

Breakfast is a little sugar-heavy with a Coffee Cake, but the High School Breakfast I picked up did include Celery, a Banana, and Fruit Juice, too.

But Lunch was the star of these High School Meals. I'm always down for Mac & Cheese if it's done right and a Grilled Chicken Breast is extra points in any food exam!

For this new Food Series I gave myself the assignment to find out what High School kids are being fed during Covid-19. We here in Los Angeles care about the nutrition needs of young people.

I'll be sharing a different Breakfast and Lunch meal every few days. I think you'll be as surprised as I am of the good, the bad, and the ugly...oh boy.

Click on any photo to see larger.

These meals are Grab & Go from my local High School. I'm sure regular school cafeteria fare is different (better?) than the ones I am getting carryout at the drive-thru lane. You can click here to see the first meal I had at my neighborhood Grab & Go.

The GIF above is a drive-thru Susan Miller Dorsey High School's Grab & Go.  

There seem to be plenty of meal bags laid out on the tables and once I asked if they ever run out and the attendant replied emphatically "Never!"

Breakfast: Coffee Cake, Carrots, Juice, Banana, and Milk (always Milk.)

It is a square of classic Coffee Cake. Sweet but not too much so. Cinnamon and brown sugar are the main flavors. I've had them with a crumbly top, not so this one - it's just a sweet soft top with a cake interior.

It's a tasty Coffee Cake and it would go well with my morning cup of joe. As for ingredients most bread and muffins or cakes seem to have whole wheat flour now.

Crunchy Carrots are a nice way to start the day. 

I'm surprised Bananas are not more often offered, it's usually an Apple and Orange.

And Orange Medley Juice and Lowfat Milk are always included.

Lunch: Mac & Cheese with Chicken Breast and Frozen Veggies. 

This is the most filling meal of the week. I separate the chicken meat from the mac and cheese.

The breast meat is still moist. It was a fillet of breast, not a processed loaf thank god. Even though there are char marks on the outside, it tasted poach or baked, not grilled. There is no smokey flavor you think would come with those char marks...false advertising?

I'm not complaining really, it's a nice size, a plump and moist piece of chicken breast. But I find white meat boring compared to dark, just my preference.

The Mac & Cheese is of the stovetop variety, meaning it is a creamy cheese sauce heated with cooked macaroni. This is a better version than Kraft box Mac & Cheese. The cheese sauce was more cheddar, maybe even white cheddar. I liked that it was more intense than I expected.

My girlfriend Linda liked it a lot. She thought they used wheat pasta (there's no ingredients list on the package) and the cheese sauce was scrumptious. In a perfect world I do like my Mac & Cheese baked with a crusty cheese layer on top, then creamy underneath.

This Mac & Cheese with Chicken Breast is a tasty meal, by far the best all week.

A cardboard bowl of Veggies accompanied the main meal. A medley of corn, carrot and green peas.

They are of the fresh frozen variety as opposed to canned veggies. And cooked tender but not to mushiness. There is little seasoning that I can detect, unlike over-salty canned veggies.

I easily microwaved the Veggies. I liked the mix and you get a good amount, too.

This Meal Day was the most satisfying all week and the balance of protein, carbs, and veggies was just right.

For reviews or info about the purveyors of these food items you can check out Fooducate, just enter a product food name and see what pops up about it: https://www.fooducate.com/

And you can learn about Los Angeles Unified School District's Cafe LA (which supplies a lot of the packaged food) here: https://achieve.lausd.net/cafela

And do check back in a few days for more of my latest food series High School Meals.

 Be safe & keep your distance!