School Foodie (Farm to School Month) Spotlight: Aubree Roth

Those of you who have been following my blog or know me from “real life” know that I just love local beef in schools.  In order to do a little deeper dive in the topic, Aubree Roth with Montana State University, Montana Farm to School and Montana Team Nutrition was kind enough to spend some time sharing some of her knowledge on how to get local beef in schools.

As you can tell by all her associations, Aubree is one busy lady who wears a ton of different hats.  She’s a Montana native and local food enthusiast who is a huge supporter schools meals, especially those that include anything local like some Montana beef or lentils!  She has a lot of experience training on all sorts of school nutrition topics and travels all across her state spreading information and being a cheerleader for school meal programs.

In the video below, Aubree shares what Beef in Schools in, how it can work a variety of ways in addition to what the main benefits are of getting local beef on the school lunch tray.  She also describes a great school meal she has had recently that included two local Montana foods.  Click on the video below to see the full interview.

SPOILER ALERT: There is talk of meals involving chili and cinnamon rolls.  The controversy of this meal combination just won’t be put to rest!

Here are some links to the resources shared during the interview:

Learn More
Contact Us at beef2school@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/montanafarmtoschool
@Montana Farm to School
Twitter: twitter.com/mtbeeftoschool @MTBeeftoSchool
Web: www.montana.edu/mtfarmtoschool/beeftoschool.html
Download the case study report goo.gl/hr7cOA

Happy National Farm to School Month!

As most of you probably already know, October is National Farm to School Month which means there are so many amazing things going on!  If you want a little background on what Farm to School is, check out these two blog posts which cover the basics and some great links to resources.

There are so many amazing videos out there highlighting the great work going on out there is was hard to pick just one!  I’ve already waxed poetically about how much I love the Montana Beef in Schools video so I won’t bore you anymore, but check out this beautiful video out of Corvalis Oregon:

There is some really amazing farm to school action going on in the south and Georgia is probably leading the pack with their Georgia Grown program.  Check out this amazing video featuring their Farm to School month tag line #kickinitwithkale

More highlights to come but I wanted to share these two great videos to kick off this great month!

Hump Day Blooper Reel!

To celebrate hump day, I present to you a good ‘ole blooper reel!  I’m not a natural in front of the camera and for every good minute of usable video I have about an hour of outtakes, me quietly cursing under my breath and of course my dog running through the background.    Check out my blooper reel below:

School Foodie Spotlight: Cindy Rainsdon RD, SNS

Cindy has had a broad range of experiences working in school food service.  After completing her internship to be a Registered Dietitian, Cindy started working at the State Agency in Nevada and lead the development of the statewide School Wellness Policy, wrote grant proposals and developed training materials.  She then went on to take a position as a school food service director in a rural (but geographically huge!) school district and had a ton of success–she implemented new menu items, increased utilization of USDA Foods and turned the district from running in the red every year to having a healthy ending fund balance.  She is now a General Manager for a large urban school district and in the video below she shares tips for starting out as a new food service director and describes a her favorite school meal.  Spoiler alert–she’s a fellow nacho cheese lover!  Click on the video below to check out the details:

 

School Foodie Spotlight: Tracey Marcum

Tracey Marcum is currently the Director of Operations for Southwest Foodservice Excellence in Northeast Texas but she has served in a variety of roles over her school food service career. She has worked in self operated districts and for food service management companies across several states. Tracey is a natural leader and innovative thinker whose passion for school food service is infectious. She has a wealth of school food service knowledge across all topics from menu planning to strategies for increasing participation but is a true master at the art of USDA foods recipe development, pricing and budget maximization. Click on the video below to learn more about her top tips for leading a school food service department, what trends she sees as leading school food into the future and the best school meals she’s recently enjoyed.