EDMOND — For 9-year-old Harrison Booker, cooking comes naturally.

Both his mother and grandmother love to cook. When his grandmother, Debra Wolfe, who lives in Chicago, found a cooking contest for elementary children, she sent the information to Harrison.

First lady Michelle Obama, the website Epicurious, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture sponsored a nationwide recipe challenge to promote healthy lunches as part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Initiative.

Harrison and his mom started talking about his favorite recipes that he makes and Harrison decided to enter the contest with his Power Pesto Pasta.

“I ues whole wheat pasta and make my pesto with basil and garlic I raise in my gardens, and pine nuts,” Harrison said.

His mom, Jennifer Booker, said the challenge was converting handfuls to cupfuls because Harrison just grabs what he thinks he needs when cooking.

“One of my recipe books has a similar recipe, but I had to use ChooseMyPlate.gov, the new government nutritional guideline, for the contest,” Harrison said.

He added for his entry he added steamed green beans, yellow squash and tomatoes, but depending on the time of the year and what is available he sometimes adds frozen peas.

The Clegern Elementary fourth-grader said he likes to eat and he likes to cook for his mom and dad, Scott Booker.

He was 3 years old when he helped roll balls for ginger cookies, which are still his favorite cookie.

His favorite cookbooks are “Around the World Cookbook,” “Clegern Cooks!,” “Children’s Cookbook” and “Kids’ Fun & Healthy Cookbook.”

When Harrison received an email saying he was one of two winners from Oklahoma he said all day he kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe I won.”

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner” will recognize 54 winners, ages 8-12 and representing all U.S. states, three territories and the District of Columbia, who will attend a Kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House hosted by Mrs. Obama.

The group will join the first lady for a healthy lunch, featuring a selection of the winning recipes, followed by a tour of the White House kitchen garden.

When he arrives in Washington, D.C., Harrison said not only is he looking forward to meeting first lady Michelle Obama but he is also excited about going on a private tour of Julia Child’s kitchen.

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge received more than 1,200 entries for nutritious, delicious lunches that were both creative and sophisticated, ranging from sizzling tofu with green onions to scrumptious salmon salad.

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner” invited a parent or guardian to work with their child to create an original lunchtime recipe that is healthy, affordable and tasty. In support of Let’s Move!, launched by the First Lady to help solve the problem of childhood obesity, entrants were encouraged to reference the nutritional guidelines of the USDA site, ChooseMyPlate.gov, to ensure recipes met the primary criterion of being healthier. Entries had to represent each of the food groups, either in one dish or as parts of a lunch meal, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat dairy foods.

 The winners were chosen by a panel of judges that included Epicurious editor-in-chief Tanya Steel, Assistant White House Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, celebrity chef Jose Andres and representatives from the USDA and Department of Education. The full list of winners and recipes can be found online at recipechallenge.epicurious.com. A free downloadable and printable e-cookbook of the winning recipes, including nutritional analyses, photos and drawings, will be available in late August at recipechallenge.epicurious.com, letsmove.gov, USDA.gov, and Ed.gov.

“Our tasting panel was absolutely amazed at the variety of sophisticated, healthy recipes we received that included not only chicken breast, whole-wheat pasta and fresh fruit, but more surprising ingredients like quinoa and salmon,” Steel said.

“What was especially wonderful were the heartfelt stories about why it was important to eat healthy. These kids understand that you are what you eat and that they need to strengthen their bodies and their minds with the most wholesome food possible. We are so thankful to Mrs. Obama for teaming up with Epicurious to help raise awareness for the importance of a healthy diet among kids.



pmiller@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 171 Pasta.

“I ues whole wheat pasta and make my pesto with basil and garlic I raise in my gardens, and pine nuts,” Harrison said.

His mom, Jennifer Booker, said the challenge was converting handfuls to cupfuls because Harrison just grabs what he thinks he needs when cooking.

“One of my recipe books has a similar recipe, but I had to use ChooseMyPlate.gov, the new government nutritional guideline, for the contest,” Harrison said.

He added for his entry he added steamed green beans, yellow squash and tomatoes, but depending on the time of the year and what is available he sometimes adds frozen peas.

The Clegern Elementary fourth-grader said he likes to eat and he likes to cook for his mom and dad, Scott Booker.

He was 3 years old when he helped roll balls for ginger cookies, which are still his favorite cookie.

His favorite cookbooks are “Around the World Cookbook,” “Clegern Cooks!,” “Children’s Cookbook” and “Kids’ Fun & Healthy Cookbook.”

When Harrison received an email saying he was one of two winners from Oklahoma he said all day he kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe I won.”

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner” will recognize 54 winners, ages 8-12 and representing all U.S. states, three territories and the District of Columbia, who will attend a Kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House hosted by Mrs. Obama.

The group will join the first lady for a healthy lunch, featuring a selection of the winning recipes, followed by a tour of the White House kitchen garden.

When he arrives in Washington, D.C., Harrison said not only is he looking forward to meeting first lady Michelle Obama but he is also excited about going on a private tour of Julia Child’s kitchen.

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge received more than 1,200 entries for nutritious, delicious lunches that were both creative and sophisticated, ranging from sizzling tofu with green onions to scrumptious salmon salad.

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner” invited a parent or guardian to work with their child to create an original lunchtime recipe that is healthy, affordable and tasty. In support of Let’s Move!, launched by the First Lady to help solve the problem of childhood obesity, entrants were encouraged to reference the nutritional guidelines of the USDA site, ChooseMyPlate.gov, to ensure recipes met the primary criterion of being healthier. Entries had to represent each of the food groups, either in one dish or as parts of a lunch meal, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat dairy foods.

 The winners were chosen by a panel of judges that included Epicurious editor-in-chief Tanya Steel, Assistant White House Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, celebrity chef Jose Andres and representatives from the USDA and Department of Education. The full list of winners and recipes can be found online at recipechallenge.epicurious.com. A free downloadable and printable e-cookbook of the winning recipes, including nutritional analyses, photos and drawings, will be available in late August at recipechallenge.epicurious.com, letsmove.gov, USDA.gov, and Ed.gov.

“Our tasting panel was absolutely amazed at the variety of sophisticated, healthy recipes we received that included not only chicken breast, whole-wheat pasta and fresh fruit, but more surprising ingredients like quinoa and salmon,” Steel said.

“What was especially wonderful were the heartfelt stories about why it was important to eat healthy. These kids understand that you are what you eat and that they need to strengthen their bodies and their minds with the most wholesome food possible. We are so thankful to Mrs. Obama for teaming up with Epicurious to help raise awareness for the importance of a healthy diet among kids.



pmiller@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 171

Power Pesto Pasta



Pasta Ingredients

10 ounces of whole wheat penne pasta

1 yellow squash, cut into half-inch thick slices

1 cup green beans

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup baby spinach leaves



Pesto Ingredients

1 large bunch of fresh basil leaves (about 2 cups)

1 cup of fresh baby spinach leaves

1 big clove of garlic

1/4 cup of walnuts

1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/8 cup of olive oil

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

Directions

Place garlic and walnuts in a food processor and blend until coarsely chopped. Next add the Parmesan, basil and spinach and run processor until just blended down. Add olive oil and blend again until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. Steam yellow squash and green beans until tender. Return pasta to pan and add enough pesto to coat the pasta. Divide 1 cup of spinach into four bowls. Add pesto pasta on top of the spinach leaves, top the pasta with the yellow squash, green beans and cherry tomatoes. Have a delicious, juicy peach for dessert!

Feel free to use your favorite vegetables. Green peas, broccoli, zucchini and asparagus taste great, too!  

Any unused pesto can be placed in a small container, covered in a piece of wax paper and frozen to use again later.