Ed. Note: Cross-posted from USDA Blog

Drum roll please…. The long anticipated winners of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Recipes for Healthy Kids competition were announced this morning by Secretary Vilsack.

USDA and the First Lady launched the Recipes for Healthy Kids competition last September, challenging kids, nutrition professionals and community members, to dream up healthy recipes to be incorporated on lunchtime menus for the National School Lunch program. The contest is a component of the First Lady’s broader Let’s Move! initiative that also includes Chefs Move to Schools, which encourages chefs to work with schools in their communities.

Teams of judges traveled the country to visit each school, testing each entry before voting for their favorite one. A winner was chosen from each of the four categories including Whole Grains, Dark Green and Orange Vegetables, and Dry Beans and Peas. To recognize and share the culinary creativity nationwide, the top ten recipes in each category will be published in a Recipes for Healthy Kids Cookbook to share with students and families.

In addition to the professional judging component, USDA and the First Lady also challenged YOU, the public, to visit challenge.gov and vote on your favorite recipe in the challenge.  We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your vote and let you know that your popular choice winner was Tasty Tots from Bellingham Memorial Middle School Bellingham, Mass. They will receive $1,500 for their winning recipe!

And, without further ado, the first, second, and runner-up winning recipes and schools for each category are:

Dark Green and Orange Vegetables
   • First Place:    Central Valley Harvest Bake, Joshua Cowell School, Manteca, C.A.
   • Second Place:    Stir-Fry Fajita Chicken, Squash, and Corn, Monument Valley High School, Kayenta Unified School District, Kayenta, A.Z.
   • Runner-up :  Crunchy Hawaiian Chicken Wrap, Mount Lebanon Elementary School, Pendleton, S.C.

Central Valley Harvest Bake, by Joshua Cowell School.
 

Whole Grains
• First Place: Porcupine Sliders, Intermediate District 287, South Education Center Alternative, Richfield, M.N.
• Second Place: Chic’ Penne, Harold S. Winograd K-8 School Mission, Greeley, C.O.
• Runner-up: Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, Bellingham Memorial Middle School, Bellingham, M.A.

Porcupine Sliders, by Intermediate District 287, South Education Center Alternative.
 

Dry Beans and Peas
• First Place: Tuscan Smoked Turkey & Bean Soup, Ira B. Jones Elementary School, Asheville, N.C.
• Second Place: Lentils of the Southwest, Sweeney Elementary School, Santa Fe Public Schools, Santa Fe, N.M.
• Runner-up: Confetti Soup, Burke Middle and High School, Charleston County School District, Charleston, S.C.

Tuscan Smoked Turkey and Bean Soup from Ira B. Jones Elementary School.

Congrats to all the winners! We hope you are as excited as we are to see these recipes pop up on school lunch menus across the country.