Your Students Will Like Quick Sausage Hash

It’s an everyday school ritual that my youngest daughter anticipates with delight. She pulls the elementary lunch menu off the refrigerator door, brings it to me to read and repeats each of the lunch items for the week.

Ham deli sandwich with fruit crisp for Wednesday? Sounds good!

Doug Wordell, director of nutrition services for School District 81, is putting more emphasis on choice this year.

“As a registered dietitian and dad, I know that when students get to choose, that they choose more and eat better,” says Wordell, who is in his second year as director.

Food isn’t nutritious unless it’s eaten, adds Wordell, who offers six or seven entree choices and a variety of a la carte items each day to students at middle and high schools. Elementary students get one or two choices.

Elementary schools such as Longfellow and Westview are testing a new option called a “fast bag” - lunch sacks that contain such items as string cheese, crackers, yogurt, mini-salads and fruits or vegetables.

Wordell oversees the feeding of more than 16,000 lunches and 5,000 breakfasts each day in District 81. He also coordinates after-school programs such as Express and all catering needs of the district.

This year, he developed a centralized system for assisting parents with applications for free or reduced-price meal programs. Last year, 54 percent of students took advantage of this program.

Other changes include making computers available at each school to facilitate communication, adding more entree choices such as salad bars and displaying foods to better appeal to students.

Here’s a quick sausage hash recipe to make as your child checks out the school menu for the week ahead.

Quick Sausage Hash

From “Meatless Meals” (Pillsbury, 1996).

1 (8-ounce) package frozen sausage breakfast patties, beef or vegetarian

1 tablespoon oil or margarine

4 cups frozen potatoes O’Brien with onions and peppers

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Ketchup or salsa, if desired

Spray large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Cook patties as directed on package until lightly browned. Remove patties from skillet; chop coarsely. Return to skillet.

Add oil, potatoes and onions; cook an additional 6 to 8 minutes or until potatoes are tender and lightly browned, stirring frequently. Serve with ketchup or salsa.

Yield: 4 (1-cup) servings.

Nutrition information per serving, using Green Giant soy protein breakfast patties: 250 calories, 8 grams fat (29 percent fat calories), 29 grams carbohydrate, 12 grams protein, no cholesterol, 6 grams dietary fiber, 500 milligrams sodium.