Check out my progress on When Pizza IS a Vegetable
Remember that greasy brick of bread and cheese you used to get in the school lunch line that was supposed to be pizza? Sadly, Congress is trying to pass legislation that would make that pizza considered a vegetable under the USDA school lunch requirements. The bill comes as a result of the Agriculture Department’s previous proposal to limit potatoes, sodium, and refined grains. The prospect of such changes has caused rising discontent in both the frozen food industry as well as some conservatives in Congress—we wouldn’t want to infringe on a child’s right to eat pizza and French fries crap food, now would we? [insert sarcasm here].
All that being said, there are some ways that making pizza a vegetable would be in the best interest of America’s children—load those pies up with nature’s bounty!
Given my own personal love of veggie-loaded pizza, I have a few examples to provide:
Arugula, Caramelized Onion, & Goat Cheese Pizza
Something tells me that BBQ tofu anything is not going to show up on school lunch menus anytime soon. A girl can dream.
What do you think of the “pizza as a vegetable” proposal? What are your favorite pizza toppings?
Today’s menu didn’t feature any pizza, but it was all pretty tasty nonetheless.
This morning’s breakfast was a delicious rendition of Overnight Oats. This one included key lime yogurt, raspberries, & coconut.
For lunch, I packed a batch of Greek Hummus.
The evening meal featured Ellie’s Spiced Lamb Pops.
My tweak:
-I used tofu instead of lamb.
The spice mixture was slightly out of the ordinary in that it included ground cinnamon—not a usual culprit for savory spice rubs. I liked it, but this meal wasn’t anything special that I would repeat again.
OK, I need to just chill before another long weekend of MNT studying. Good night!
Filed under: Meals
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
Pizza…a veggie?? Um….no. School lunches have gotten better in recent years, but they still need a lot of work. As a teacher, I wouldn’t touch anything from the cafeteria with a ten foot pole.
Love all your eats by the way. So yummy!
I saw that today. This country is messed up!
i was so depressed after i had read the news about congress and not changing the lunch meals for the better
i had thought it was a done deal. i feel like america is in such a vicious cycle. congress doesn’t want to lose all the lobbying money they get from the potato farmers etc. so the children get to continue to be served unhealthy foods, grow up, and put staggering costs in our healthcare due to obesity realated diseases. i’m hoping that in my future career as a rd i’ll be able to work with others to prevent this from getting worse. did you hear about the prediction for type 2 diabetes in 2030?
BroccoliHut Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:21 am
I did indeed hear about the prediction about T2DM in 2030. Quite depressing, but it just goes to show how much our country needs future health professionals like us!
I’ve been reading about the pizza proposal all day and, quite frankly, I think it’s the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. To consider bread with sodium-laden sauce and cheese a vegetable is absurd.
I agree with you though, there definitely are ways to get your veggie servings in a pizza; however, what they serve for school lunches does not qualify!
Remember how Ronald Reagan tried to pass ketchup as a vegetable?
Have you ever tried making your own pesto and use that as a sauce base for your pizza? It’s friggin delicious!
I spent yesterday making Indian spiced butternut squash to take to Thanksgiving. The spice called for was “garam masala” and on the ingredients list on the jar it says: cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and black pepper. I agree that the smell is amazing, but without an unhealthy dose of salt, the flavor didn’t kick!
BroccoliHut Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Garam masala is a great spice mixture! I use it in curries all the time. You’re right though–not a bit of sodium to be found.
Fried egg pizza?! Love that idea
I would be (semi) okay with classifying pizza as a ‘vegetable’ if it was made with whole wheat dough, real tomato sauce. light cheese and loaded with veggie toppings. But, we all know this isn’t how pizza is served in schools. Calling a slice of enriched flour, greasy, fat laden pizza a ‘vegetable’ is a crime. And that’s my rant for the day!
wow I love all of your pizza ideas
amazing!
hahaha BBQ tofu pizza in schools would be AMAZING.
I am totally hungry for pizza now!!!!!
Perhaps they could specify that the pizza could only be classified as a vegetable if the crust was one of those paleo inspired ones- the pureed cauliflower and egg base type ones? What a boon for cauliflower farmers! Or if they used chickpea flour a la socca given that beans are catagorised as a portion of vegetables?!