Sartell Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com
Friday, Sept. 27, 2013
Braulick from front page ucts and careful attention to federal and state guidelines and mandates. One of her constant challenges is to get students to try new foods. Variety, as Braulick well knows, is one of the key components to good nutrition. Throughout the years, Braulick and her staff have frequently added new foods and food combinations to the menu, always trying to decrease fats, sugar and salt without making foods bland or unexciting. Braulick has learned the value of patience. It takes time, she said, for some foods to “catch on” with children, some of whom can be finicky eaters. However, year by year, students are indeed starting to like foods – such as more “exotic” vegetables – they once thought they hated. Braulick is never happier when students start liking foods and their new likings become part of their families’ meals. She is keenly aware of the connection between school lunches and athome family nutrition. In fact, that is her major goal: wise food choices and good nutrition as prime components of a lifelong – and generational – tradition. The process of food education is never-ending, and sometimes it can be a struggle. Last year, for instance, schools had to start preparing meals using federal mandates and guidelines that limit the amount of calories allowed per meal. Some students thought the meals were not filling enough. Some dropped out of the food program. This year, Braulick noted, school-lunch
participation is getting back to where it once was. Also this year, new federal standards have been introduced for school breakfasts, similar to those put in place for lunches last year. So far, students seem not to have complained about the changes, Braulick noted. Constant innovation is the name of the game in school food service. Braulick has been on the cutting edge of innovation and program development, constantly “tweaking” lunches and service. The latest innovation is the “Rainbow Veggie Bar” in schools. Seven to eight brightly colored vegetables are available each day from dark green to bright red. The kinds of vegetables are rotated daily and can include spinach, romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, bell peppers of all colors, diced sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, radishes, corn and “exotic” choices such as jicama. Students can eat as many vegetables as they want. “We’re having good luck with the Rainbow Veggie Bar in the elementary schools,” Braulick said. “We’re having pretty good luck with it in the middle school. In the high school, students aren’t quite as excited about it.” However, as Braulick has learned: patience, patience. Other programs that Braulick has introduced, developed or adapted to Sartell schools are the following:
Farm to School
The “Farm-to-School” program makes available to students food produced on area farms – items such as corn, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell peppers and to-
matoes. Currently, the food program is purchasing produce from Baker’s Acres in Avon.
Food recycling
The food-waste recycling program makes it possible to use thrown-out food to feed pigs at a hog operation at Berthold Farms in St. Francis, Anoka County. The food is picked up at the school and hauled to the farm. One good sign, Braulick said, is the amount of thrown-out food has not increased.
Chef in School
A Chef-in-School program invites local chefs into the schools to give advice and hands-on know-how for recipe development, culinary skills and other ways to brighten lunches. The chef from last year moved from the area, but Braulick said she will soon try to start the program again with a new chef or chefs.
Interns
Each year, a number of interns from Iowa State University are rotated at Sartell schools, where they give dietary tips and work and learn with the cooking staff.
From Scratch
This year, Braulick and her staff have started a “From Scratch” program. They are trying to make more meal entrees using fresh ingredients. For example, fresh chicken breasts are either dry-rubbed with herbs or marinated before baking to make them tasty, with less sodium. It’s another one of Braulick’s efforts to make foods
delicious and nutritious.
Background
Born and raised in Montevideo, Braulick worked as a nursing-home aide, then did at-home daycare before deciding to study food-service management at Alexandria Technical College, starting in 1980. It was there she met her husband-to-be, Michael, who is vice president of St. Cloud Industrial Products. The Braulicks, who live in
5 St. Augusta, have two children – Justin Braulick, an attorney with the Dan Eller law firm in Waite Park; and Jessica Braulick, a registered nurse in the Twin Cities. The Braulicks have three grandchildren – well, actually four, Braulick is quick to add. Their names are Ava, Jackson, Selah and Gabriel. “Gabriel is in heaven,” Braulick said. Sadly, he died of a kidney disease before reaching the age of 2.