This cafeteria is cooking: Chef in the kitchen spices up school meals

When Kathy Roush recently met her 8-year-old grandson Keenan Spencer in the Holy Angels cafeteria, she cautiously asked how he liked the homemade lentil and sausage soup he had for lunch.

She expected to hear a resounding "Yuck!" And so she was pleasantly surprised when the second-grader gave her a thumbs-up.

"He was all smiles," she recalled. "I said to him, 'You really liked it?' and he told me that he loved it. I was also surprised because it was very flavorful and I wouldn't have served it to him."

The lentil soup is just one of the daily delights served up by Chef Michael Bauer, the new dining services director for the Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools. He is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute and has been involved in a number of Traverse City restaurants, most recently as owner of The House.

Bauer has banished processed and prepackaged foods -- such as compressed chicken and canned soups -- and replaced them with meals prepared from scratch. Kids are also drinking hormone-free milk and dining on hormone-free meat.

"Anything that's processed, you just won't find it here," said Bauer, who is also serving as much organic and local food as possible. "We're taking a fine dining mentality and putting it into an institutional setting."

GTACS Superintendent Mike Buell said that the goal has been to serve good, attractive and healthy food and keep it affordable. They couldn't do that without Bauer's skills.

"You can't cook for a thousand kids from scratch without someone who has been to school," said Buell.

GTACS also made the decision that it would be all or none when it came to making lunches, he said.

"You can't put a food a child doesn't know next to something like chicken nuggets that they are familiar with and expect them to make the healthy choice," said Buell. "So we decided that healthy foods would be the only choice."

There haven't been too many complaints so far. And why would there be when the students are dining on delights like rosemary-garlic roasted chicken, tomato bisque soup, turkey stroganoff, meatloaf made from local grass-fed beef and hummus veggie wraps?

Since Bauer came on board in mid-January, the number of kids signing up for lunches has risen 10 percent and Bauer expects it to go higher.

"I had one parent e-mail me that her child wanted to know why she didn't serve roasted cauliflower like he had at school and when she asked her high school student what he was eating at lunch and he told her that he ate broccoli almost every day, she about fell off her chair," said Bauer.

"We found out they don't like parsley on their macaroni and cheese," he said. "So some of this is trial and error and gaining the trust of the kids."

GTACS is one of the many school districts that have evaluated and changed what children are eating in an effort to combat the growing rate of childhood obesity and the subsequent health risks. Serving deliciously prepared foods is one of the principles in a wellness policy that also includes nutrition and physical education as key components.

The first step for Bauer was to transform the "heat and serve" kitchen into a place where all the cooking could be done from scratch. This endeavor was financed with grant money and now allows Bauer and his kitchen team to stir up an array of tasty menu items like Béchamel sauce for homemade macaroni and cheese and a variety of soups such as potato-leek, tomato-based chickpea and the popular tomato, spinach and Swiss. They're also eating whole grains like bulgur and quinoa.

"The K-2 kids love quinoa," said Bauer referring to this lesser-known protein-rich seed that is cooked and served as a grain.

One of the most popular lunches to date has been roasted chicken wings glazed with a homemade hot sauce served alongside stuffed potatoes.

"Those were labor-intensive, we had to prepare the wings and then I spent seven hours on a snow day roasting them all," said Bauer. "And the kids loved them."

Students can also sample from a salad bar five days a week. Choices include fresh greens and homemade corn-syrup-free salad dressings like a lemon basil.

Bauer also believes that nutrition education is an important of his lunch program. He shares recipes and cooking tips with parents in newsletter articles and on the school's Web site. In addition, Bauer and his team are available to cater events outside school.

For more information about the lunch program, visit the school's Web site at www.gtacs.org.

In a blender, add basil leaves, yogurt, Dijon, lemon juice and rice wine vinegar. Turn blender on high and slowly add olive oil. Drizzle in slowly so as not to break. (This is an emulsion sauce.)

Sweat onions in melted butter until translucent. Add carrots and celery, sweat. Add garlic, sweat. Add potatoes and stock. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add chicken, peas and corn. Cook for five minutes. Thicken with cornstarch. Add parsley and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve over noodles, rice or your favorite bread.

Over medium heat, sweat onion and garlic in a little oil or butter, until translucent. Season with salt. Raise heat and add meat, cumin and coriander. Stir, scraping bottom of pan, browning the meat. Season with salt. Add red hot sauce and jalapeno, tomato and stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until meat is tender. Add beans and corn; check seasoning and let simmer 15 more minutes. Stir in lime juice and cilantro. Serve with garnishes and condiments of choice. Makes one gallon. (Note from the chef: A good place to shop for Mexican ingredients in Traverse City is Osorio on S. Airport Road next to Taqueria Marguerita.)

Photos

Michael Bauer

Keenan Spence, 8, eats lunch with Nathan Sodini, left, and friends at Holy Angels Elementary School on Friday. Record-Eagle