730 feast at Cross Timbers Thanksgiving meal

EDMOND — Cross Timbers Elementary students celebrated their first Thanksgiving lunch of healthy foods as they ate turkey, ham and all the trimmings.

Families and friends joined first-grade students dressed like pilgrims and fourth-grade students as guests for lunch Tuesday. Seven hundred and thirty plates were filled with mashed sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, dressing and gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, homemade wheat rolls and low fat frozen yogurt.

“I am ecstatic,” said Principal Cathey Bugg. “I think it is so important to have our families come into our schools and partner with us. It is important for the students to see their parents and grandparents endorse the education process.”

Numbers of noon-time lunches being prepared for the Christmas meal are expected to be even higher. Guests must make reservations ahead of time.

“We are inviting second-, third- and fifth-grade parents and friends during the holiday season,” Bugg said. “We are expecting 100 additional guests during the holiday meal. Dividing them up like this makes the numbers more manageable.”

Dave Fouts, a chef with Simply Smart Food and an Edmond Sun columnist, heads up the pilot child nutrition program at Cross Timbers. He has helped introduce more fresh fruits and vegetables and more freshly made items to the daily menus.

“For me it gives me a great feeling knowing we can put out such a phenomenal product at such an inexpensive plate cost while exceeding nutritional guidelines,” Fouts said. “I use their hands and they use my menus.”

Chef Daniel Roy, who the students call Chef D’Roy, began Thanksgiving lunch preparations on Sunday by baking 20 turkey breasts. He also mashed and seasoned the sweet potatoes as he prepared casseroles to be cooked Tuesday.

“The secret to juicy turkey is to sear the turkey on a high heat, that seals the outside and keeps all the moisture inside,” Roy said.

In addition to baking the whole turkey breast, instead of using processed meat, all of the side dishes were made healthier by controlling the sodium and sugar and adding spices and herbs.

“We use nutmeg, clove, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper with a little parsley for color in the sweet potatoes,” Roy said. “All the time we are controlling the sugar and salt in the recipe.”

The parents and students alike agreed that the meal tasted good, too.

“I like the turkey best,” said second-grader Colin Flowers. Megan Jackson, second-grade, agreed with him because she said it tastes like the turkey her mother makes.

Second-grader Kaitlyn Pickard said she wished her mom made wheat rolls like they make at school.

First-grader Gregory Jerry said he liked the green beans the best, but his father Michael Jerry said, “I like it all.”

Twins Jackson and Brendon Carter said they liked the turkey and sweet potatoes. “I like the healthier food,” their father, Steve Carter said. “This is what their mom makes at home so the kids are lucky, no big changes for them.”

The twins are excited when they look at the lunch menu each week, Steve Carter said. Their favorite meals during the year include breakfast cinnamon rolls, pizza and the meatball sandwich.

Monday, as Roy sliced the turkey breasts, cafeteria workers made 950 wheat rolls and prepared cranberry relish cups for Tuesday’s dinner.

Tuesday’s last-minute Thanksgiving lunch preparations included baking dressing and cooking green beans with turkey bacon to lower the fat, ham base and salt and pepper.

“We use frozen green beans,” Fouts said. “From the field to frozen, we add only the salt we want.

“The cafeteria manager Pam Cheyne has a really extraordinary team that worked with us to make the meal possible,” Fouts said, “and Cathey Bugg’s leadership and support have been shown throughout the pilot program.”

During Tuesday’s lunch she and the assistant principal, Candice Pealor, took their place on the lunch line handing out the wheat rolls.

“The support they give as well as the support of the faculty has helped make this program a success,” Fouts said of the pilot child nutrition program.

Two years ago Cross Timbers stopped serving Thanksgiving dinner.

“The year that we had 990 students we decided we couldn’t prepare and serve that many meals so we stopped for two years,” Bugg said. “It is a great opportunity to connect with both the students and parents and watch as the students’ parents partner with us. It is such a feeling of unity to bring the parents in.”

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