Wailupe Valley School sixth-graders, from left, Megan Barrett,
Kacy Church and Tessa Kaneta, all age 10, eat lunches made at home.
Photo by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin

From Home: Pack a healthful lunch with punch that won't leave your kids with sour grapes Staff and wire reports At Wailupe Valley School, two of 11 youngsters surveyed by the Star-Bulletin found two fruit or vegetable servings in their lunch pails - first-grader Larissa Schienle discovered a banana and red flame grapes. Sixth-grader Kacy Church munched on a whole raw carrot, washed down by a can of passion-orange juice. When asked, "What's your favorite healthful food in a home lunch?" three Wailupe students answered grapes and three said apples. Then again, sixth-grader Tessa Kaneta favors "beef curry with rice - and I love milk"; fifth-grader Ikaika Nakoa sticks with his gigantic chocolate muffin; and second-grader Carlos Martinez prefers a bologna sandwich - and grapes. Most youngsters have a sense of what's healthful, but less than half of them actually tote fruits or veggies in their home lunches, according to a new University of Hawaii study. (See Page A-1.) Here are some fresh ideas and recipes on how to liven up school lunches by packing healthful and interesting punches. End-of-the-summer watermelon is on sale this week and next for Labor Day picnics. Seed, slice and pack melon chunks in a ziplock baggie, then in an insulated lunch bag or with a reusable ice pack. String fruit squares and cheese cubes on wooden skewers. Make sure to brush apple or pear slices (if using) with orange or lemon juice to retard browning. If your child is very young, break off the sharp end of the stick. Use plastic straws if you don't have skewers. Spread roast beef, turkey or ham slices, or thinly sliced cheese, with mustard, low-fat mayonnaise, butter or margarine and wrap around carrot, celery or bread sticks. Spread mini rice cakes with peanut butter and sprinkle with raisins or apple chunks. Make your own dry snack mix with a favorite cereal, little pretzels and dry-roasted peanuts, plus dried fruit. Combine reduced-calorie cream cheese with a little orange juice to make a dip. (Or simply pack some fruit-flavor yogurt.) Pack pineapple chunks, melon cubes, apple and pear wedges to be used as dippers. Spread flour tortillas with softened reduced-calorie cream cheese and sprinkle with chopped vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, carrots) and roll up tightly. These can be made the night before, sliced crosswise into six to eight pieces in the morning and repacked in plastic wrap for the lunch box. Combine low-fat mayonnaise with peas and cubed carrots. Spread onto low-fat ham slice. Roll ham slice up and secure with toothpick. Substitute pink salmon for the usual tuna salad and add a bit of liquid hickory smoke to perk up the flavor. Spread a flour tortilla with refried beans. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and roll up tightly. Send along a little container of salsa for dipping. The sandwich recipe is from IronKids bread. The cinnamon cereal snack mix is from "My Watkins Cookbook." The last recipe is from Quaker Oats.

From School: Lunches provide the nutrients kids require. And parents can't beat the great price By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto Star-Bulletin Chicken stir-fried with pasta, salad of fresh greens, whole wheat roll, and chilled citrus. A bill of fare at a trendy restaurant? No, it's a fifth Tuesday menu in the Statewide Menu Cycle of the Leeward District of the state Department of Education for the new school year. The menu is an example of the nutritious, reasonable midday meals planned, prepared and served by food service personnel in public schools around the state. "We feel that our school lunches provide all nutrients that kids need at a very affordable price. We want the parents to consider school lunch as a regular meal for their kids," said Gene Kaneshiro, director of the DOE School Food Services Branch. For 75 cents a day, public school students can eat up to two ounces of meat, a cup of vegetables and fruits, three servings of breads or rice, and a cup of 2 percent milk or 1 percent chocolate milk. Moreover, all meals comply with the latest USDA Dietary Guidelines calling for more vegetables and fruits, more breads and fiber, less fat and less salt, Kaneshiro said. "No. 1, we have further reduced our fat levels (and) we are increasing the volumes of fruits and vegetables by one-quarter to one-half cup, depending on the menu," he said. Kaneshiro said there are 188,000 public school students. Eighty percent, or 150,000 youngsters, eat school lunch and one-third of this group, or 50,000 students, qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Reduced prices translate to 20 cents for either the 75-cent lunch or the 35-cent breakfast. Kaneshiro said the school breakfast is a bargain; a typical offering would be applesauce, french toast, smoky breakfast sausage and chilled milk. "That's why we say school breakfast is the best kept secret in town," he quipped. "We've been trying to get more kids to eat school breakfast. About 90 percent of the schools serve breakfast." Trish Britten, food and nutritional specialist in the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, recommends school meals. "We found sodas, sugary drinks, chips, very few fruits and vegetables, and very little milk in home lunches," she said, echoing the results of a recent UH study. "My bias is: For most kids, school lunch is a healthier choice. Some parents may pack a wonderful lunch, but if we look at all home lunches across the board, most are not very good." Said Kaneshiro, "We're not there just as a restaurant. We're there as part of the whole educational process. In addition to feeding and preparing students to learn, we're there to teach kids to make good, healthy choices. So our menus are designed to meet USDA Dietary Guidelines and, if they learn to eat our school lunches, they'll be subconsciously learning how to make good food choices. We serve balanced meals: Milk is there, fruits and vegetables are part of the meal, bread is a component." He concluded, "Our mission in preparing school lunches is to prepare the student to learn. The mission of DOE is to teach the kids. We go back to the concept that a hungry child cannot learn ... We're talking our students and the future of our community."

2 slices white or whole wheat bread
1-1/2 ounces sliced smoked turkey
1/4 cup shredded lettuce, carrots and red cabbage (combined to make 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise

1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
5 cups rice or corn cereal squares or combination of both
1 cup raisins
1 cup candy-coated milk chocolate pieces

Store in tightly sealed container or large, sealed plastic bag. Makes 5 cups.

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/4 cups quick or old-fashioned oats, uncooked
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt, optional
1/3 cup fruit preserves, any flavor