BACK TO SCHOOL! BY DEB GLASSER, MS, RD

There’s no tiptoeing into the school year.

It’s like going for a swim in the Pacific Ocean: hold your breath, close your eyes, and dive in.

Once you catch your breath and wipe the salt water from your eyes, there’s that wonderful moment that hits you.  You take it all in and remember how delightful it is to just float in the ocean. Sure, there are waves. But those always pass. And the sheer joy of the salty beach air, soft sand and tranquil blue water resonates.

The SNP team has dived right into the 2016-2017 school year.

 Our kitchen is bustling and the SNP Chefs are working diligently to prepare delicious scratch-cooked school meals to serve our students. In one area of the kitchen, freshly roasted turkey is being diced and sprinkled across a sea of individual garden fresh chef salads already piled high with crisp Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, red onion, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Around the corner, Cajun spiced macaroni and cheese is being seasoned and finished with diced bell pepper, celery, and onion.  It’s panned, packed, sent to our schools and will be served with a Creole tomato salad. Fresh off the prep line is a summer pasta salad chock full of seasonal vegetables and fresh herbs. It’s making its way to the cooler to accompany tomorrow’s BBQ beef sandwich. Complex flavors, right?   

We are cozying up to our new kitchen, putting it to good use creating and cooking scrumptious and healthy school meals. The SNP team has grown exponentially over the last 5 years and now provides more than 12,000 school meals per day. We love what we do and work tirelessly to ensure each and every meal is of top quality, day in and day out.

The entire SNP crew looks forward to an exciting and delicious school year-that is, when the swell passes and we come up for air.