After doing quite a bit of research, I came across a website that is extremely helpful for farm-to-school programs and healthy food tasting. I recommend visiting Washington State’s Farm to School website and checking out their “Washington Grown Food Kit,” where you will find several links to vegetable and fruit nutrition and education facts, as well as recipes that are often split into appropriateness for schools, seniors, and child care. This is where I found this mouth-watering root salad recipe perfect for preparing in the classroom or your home kitchen. This recipe is adapted for a classroom size of 25! Each student would be able to try a 1/4 cup.
Root Salad
Ingredients:
1 pound Parsnips
1/2 pound Carrots
6 oz Beets
1 tbs Grated ginger
3 tbs Honey
3 tbs Fresh lemon juice
3 tbs Fresh orange juice
6 tbs Olive oil
Begin by cleaning and grating all vegetables and set aside. Then, mix in the ginger, honey, fresh juices, and olive oil. Combine the veggies into the homemade dressing and mix well. Let stand for about one hour so that the vegetables can marinate. Then serve and enjoy!
Pretty easy, huh? And a perfect recipe to do with students of all ages. Knives aren’t necessary except to cut through the fruit (which an adult can surely handle before the salad preparation begins). Also, using peelers to create ribbons of vegetables instead of graters can be a fun and safe way to get kids involved in the cooking. Adding raisins, cilantro, parsley, and/or scallions are other interesting and delicious variations to this recipe.