Cooking Up Change: Polenta Pizza and Sweet Potato Pancakes

I attended the Farm to Cafeteria conference in Detroit last week, hosted by the National Farm to School organization and the Community Food Security Coalition CFSC).

I want to start with saying that the people in Detroit could not have been kinder or more welcoming! I’m glad that our conference brought some much needed income to this incredible town. One of the biggest cities in the country (140 square miles!), it was already suffering before the recession but now, it’s really struggling. The good news is that there are many dedicated folks who are working hard to revitalize the city through gardening and urban farming (which was written about in Oprah a couple of years ago). I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the country ends up taking pointers from Detroit in upcoming years….

There are so many things I could write about regarding this terrific conference! It was three days of informative sessions and mingling with 600 attendees, who are dedicated to bringing healthier food to children. If you’re involved in any part of the food industry, I highly recommend attending this fall’s CFSC conference in New Orleans from October 16-19. Jamie Oliver might be leading a revolution on television but there are plenty of people who have been steadfastly igniting a revolution for years from their school gardens, farms, classrooms, and offices.

My favorite part of the Farm to Cafeteria conference involved the kids (not a surprise!). Three teams of high school student were finalists for the Cooking Up Change cooking contest. For anyone who thinks that kids, especially teenagers, don’t like healthy food, check out the menus they created. The Cooking Up Change contest shows that kids will not only like healthy meals, they are capable of developing original recipes entirely on their own!

Here is a description of this inspiring program:

“Cooking up Change empowers students to show the world just how delicious and how healthy a school lunch can be. The contest challenges students to create a great-tasting lunch that meets nutrition standards on a tight budget, using only ingredients commonly available for food service. Students must create recipes that include no more than six steps so that they can easily be replicated on a large scale in real school kitchens. ”

The “tight budget” is that the recipes cost only $1.00. Why? Because that’s all school kitchens have to spend on school lunches! (Ridiculous, I know.)

Christie Vilsack (wife of Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture) is a strong supporter of the program and kindly came all the way to Detroit to award the winning students. The winners were three high school students of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona. Hopefully, all the teams feel like winners because their food was fantastic. We ate their creations for lunch one day and I think hotel banquet halls should consider hiring these teenagers to consult! Here are a couple of recipes from the other two finalist teams. The Polenta Pizza recipe is gluten-free and the Sweet Potato Pancakes can be made gluten-free. All of the recipes can be made for just a few dollars.

If you’d like to hold a Cooking up Change contest at your local school, visit the Healthy Schools Campaign or contact Sara Linkzing at sklinzing@healthschoolscampaign.org. You can make a difference!

St. Paul Polenta Pizza

6 cups water
3 cups cornmeal, coarsely ground
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onions, dehydrated
6 1/4 cups crushed tomatoes
7 ounces tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 garlic powder
2 tablespoon sugar
Dash salt
Dash pepper
2 cups spinach (frozen, thawed and drained)
3 1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella, shredded
3 1/2 cups low-fat mozzarella, shredded

Heat water to boil, once boiling slowly add cornmeal and mix constantly until combined, then lower heat to a simmer and whisk to remove lumps.

Add the 1 teaspoon of salt and mix for 2 minutes, or until thick. Divide mixture into one well-greased baking pan (12 x 20 x 2 1/2″) or 2 small pans. Set aside to allow the polenta to firm up.

While crust is firming up:

In a saucepan, heat oil. Add dehydrated onions, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, Italian Seasoning, garlic powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and spinach to oil and stir to combine then simmer for 20 minutes until thick.

Divide sauce evenly and spread half over polenta crust. Combine cheese and sprinkle approximately 3 1/2 cups onto each pizza. Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 350°F or until cheese is lightly browned.

UC Berkeley Sweet Potato Pancake

1 teaspoon canola oil
1 dash salt
1/2 cup sweet potato
2 tablespoon all-purpose, bleached flour

Steam the sweet potato (in a steamer basket on the stove) and mash it using a potato masher or your gloved hands. Add 1 dash of salt and 2 tablespoons flour; mix well. Form the mixture into small patties (smaller ones will stick together better). Add canola oil into a preheat skillet. Cook the pancakes until golden yellow or brown.