On the nutritional level...

[Priss]

Does salsa count as a serving of veggies?

[FeatsofClay]

I would have to think so, but does the fact that it is usually eaten with all thsoe chips counteract any good it does?

These folks- http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/6178.html give it an A.

[Limper]

Does salsa count as a serving of veggies?

The salt content drags its healthiness down.

[Priss]

The salt content drags its healthiness down.

So is that a yes? I'm not actually worried about the heathy aspect I was just wondering.

[Limper]

So is that a yes? I'm not actually worried about the heathy aspect I was just wondering.

Yes tomatos, peppers and onions in a mash with seasoning is a helping of veggies.

Given the components it should be very high in vitamin C.

[Northcott]

Depends on the salsa. Some are quite a healthy choice, others are full of preservatives, salt, some use sugar... labels are an important read.

[Priss]

Depends on the salsa. Some are quite a healthy choice, others are full of preservatives, salt, some use sugar... labels are an important read.

No preservatives in the one i buy. Hell, if you don't eat the stuff in 3 days it starts to off-gas and go acidic on you. Unfortunately, there is no label on this one, it comes straight from the carnicera.

[Atropine Mama]

I don't know if it's healthy, but since it's a Food of the Gods, who am I to argue?

[Priss]

I don't know if it's healthy, but since it's a Food of the Gods, who am I to argue?

That's what I say. It was just one those questions that popped into my head this morning in the shower, that's all. I entertain myself by sharing these stupid/enlightening things with people.

[Ancalagon]

wasn't this a debate a few years ago, and the conclusion was that it was - and that furthermore, it made much more sense than ketchup being a veggie? (it was related to food in school cafeterias)

Ancalagon

[Northcott]

it made much more sense than ketchup being a veggie?

Karate Jeebus! Some people try to pass of ketchup as a veggie?!?

[Harry]

Karate Jeebus! Some people try to pass of ketchup as a veggie?!?

That was Reagan for ya.

[Pigs in Space]

I would say no, unless you eat a whole tub of it, you know, like a whole tomato's worth.

And then that's probably too many cornchips.


No cornchips are not veggies either.

[Priss]

I would say no, unless you eat a whole tub of it, you know, like a whole tomato's worth.

And then that's probably too many cornchips.


No cornchips are not veggies either.

You much have really tiny tubs of salsa in Ozzyland. A whole tub of salsa is about 10 roma tomatoes or 3 beefsteak sized, about 4 tomatillos, 2 or 3 green onions, 5 cloves of garlic and about 20 peppers.

And I'm not eating it with tortilla chips, I put it in other food, rice, on top of chicken or steak, etc.

[Northcott]

On chicken breast with some avacado. Yum. Or avacado and pineapple instead.

[Priss]

On chicken breast with some avacado. Yum. Or avacado and pineapple instead.

I haven't tried teh avacado & pineapple on chicken yet. Sounds good.

Have you tried a nice pico de Gallo style salsa on a halibut fillet? Super yummy. I'll get you my recipe if you're interested.

[Northcott]

I don't even know what a pico de Gallo style salsa is. :) Can't often afford halibut fillets, either... but I'm always open to new recipes for the days when fortune shines down on me.

[doc]

Depends on if you treat as a side dish or just use it with chips, here's some Salsa recipes (http://www.salsa-recipes.com/) for you to look at.

[Space Cadet B^3]

Weight watchers used to say salsa was a "free food" but that was when I was in 6th grade.

I use salsa on burritos, in my mac 'n cheese, on eggs, etc.

[Priss]

I don't even know what a pico de Gallo style salsa is. :) Can't often afford halibut fillets, either... but I'm always open to new recipes for the days when fortune shines down on me.

Sorry, I live in California, on the coast. I can smell the ocean from my house some days and see it everyday from my office window. I forget seafood is not as freely available everywhere. Hell I have two friends who are diving for abalone this weekend and bring me back their extras.

Pico de Gallo is an uncooked salsa where all the veggies are chopped pretty large. Hell, they have it pre-made in supermarkets around here.

[Pigs in Space]

You much have really tiny tubs of salsa in Ozzyland. A whole tub of salsa is about 10 roma tomatoes or 3 beefsteak sized, about 4 tomatillos, 2 or 3 green onions, 5 cloves of garlic and about 20 peppers.

And I'm not eating it with tortilla chips, I put it in other food, rice, on top of chicken or steak, etc.

Holy crap! I gotta remember everything is bigger in the US.

[Priss]

Holy crap! I gotta remember everything is bigger in the US.

That makes about 3 cups of salsa

[Freedom Canadian]

I'm not claiming this is healthy, but lately, I've discovered that french fries go great with salsa and sour cream. Can't get enough of it. :)

[Priss]

I'm not claiming this is healthy, but lately, I've discovered that french fries go great with salsa and sour cream. Can't get enough of it. :)

hmm never tried that but I don't fries often. I'll try to remember it though.

[Pigs in Space]

I'm not claiming this is healthy, but lately, I've discovered that french fries go great with salsa and sour cream. Can't get enough of it. :)

Pretty much all of the pubs here serve wedges - which are potato wedges (fried) served with sweet chilli sauce and sour cream.

It's a poor-student favourite, cos of the massive caloric content. But it's goooood.

[Harry]

WOOT! Pizzas are vegetables!

http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Ag-appropriations-bill-protects-pizza-and-fries-critics-say-133974398.html?ref=398

Ag appropriations bill protects pizza and fries, critics say

Pizza and french fries are apparently safe from efforts to reform nutrition standards for school meals, but some critics say classifying pizza as a vegetable is the same as Pres. Ronald Reagan’s attempt to classify ketchup as a vegetable.

Lawmakers who wrote the conference report also reaffirmed their support for potatoes, and prohibited the USDA from limiting servings of any vegetable.

The legislation, expected to be taken up by Congress by Nov. 17, increases funding for the Women Infants and Children nutrition program to $6.6 billion, $570 million above the House-passed level and $36 million more than the Senate.

“We’re happy about the WIC increase,” said Lorelei DiSogra, vice president of nutrition and health for the Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association.

However, she said United Fresh was disappointed the fiscal year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill will force USDA to allow pizza to be counted as a vegetable.

“America’s children eat significantly less fruits and vegetables than recommended for good health,” she said. “Our goal has always been to see the new school meal regulations double the amount of healthy fruits and vegetables served in school meals, and we hope the interim final rule holds true to that goal.”

The conference language shouldn’t derail USDA’s effort to put out an interim final rule soon, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. “They certainly already knew about the potato provision so I’m guessing they had already rewritten that once the Senate passed that provision (earlier in November),”

Wootan said Nov. 15. that she believes the USDA could still issue a report with updated nutrition standards for schools by the end of the year, with an implementation target for the 2012-13 school year.

Wootan said it was unfortunate that USDA could not go ahead with a tougher standard for tomato paste that had proposed earlier this year.

“This is about companies continuing to promote and sell pizza as a vegetable,” she said.

Under the proposed school meal regulations, the USDA would have required tomato paste be credited on its actual volume like as other vegetables are required.

The House-Senate conference legislation will require USDA to continue to count pizza as a vegetable, she said. “It’s not that pizza can’t be a healthy food, but it’s not a vegetable.” Wootan said characterizing pizza as a vegetable is “even more ridiculous” than the Reagan administration attempt to call ketchup a vegetable.

The conference legislation contains provisions that restrict funding to the USDA if they try to implement any final rule that sets maximum limits on the servings of vegetables in school meal programs.

“I think that Congress pushed USDA toward some common-sense changes in the meal plan,” said John Keeling, president of the National Potato Council, Washington, D.C. He said the USDA will still be able to deliver high levels of nutrition at a significantly lower cost to schools while maintaining some of the foods that kids like to eat.

“I don’t think this sets USDA back to the starting line,” he said.

The conference bill restricts funds available to USDA to implement any interim final or final rule that requires crediting of tomato paste and puree based on volume. The USDA will also be prohibited from implementing sodium reduction targets beyond the two-year target identified in the USDA’s proposed updated standards. The conference language also restricts funds to USDA if they impose any whole grain requirement for school meals without first defining “whole grain.”

Wootan said the updated school nutrition standards will still be positive for fruits and vegetables, but not as good as they could have been.

“Dietary Guidelines encourage that people eat more fruits and vegetables, but also that they eat a greater variety of vegetables,” he said. “The potato industry needs to share the school lunch tray with other produce growers, of carrots, of green beans of broccoli and the rest,” she said. “Potatoes are good source of potassium but other vegetables are a good source of Vitamin K, Vitamin A, and other nutrients.”

[Harry]

Also: http://www.wsiltv.com/news/local/School-Lunch-Debate-133923048.html

Is Pizza Sauce a Vegetable? Congress says Yes.

HERRIN-- Schools react after Congress unveils its plan for healthy school lunches; one that keeps pizza and french fries on the menu.

The Obama administration proposed changes earlier this year to make school meals more healthy, but Congress seems to have a different plan. Monday night Congress released its final version of a bill that would change school lunch standards.

It has no limit on the amount potatoes served, no limit on sodium and no requirement to boost whole grains. Tomato sauce would continue to counts as a vegetable when tallying the nutritional content of school lunches. It's one example of something the USDA wanted to prevent.

However, conservatives in Congress say the federal government shouldn't be telling children what to eat. They say requirements proposed by the President went too far, costing budget strapped schools too much. Local schools are caught in the middle.

Five hundred students work their way through the lunch line at Herrin Middle school five days a week. For them, it's a time to socialize and grab a bite to eat; but behind the scenes, cafeteria manager Jackie Giles has carefully calculated every calorie on their tray.

"At one time we served 2% milk, in the future I think they would like for us to try to go to skim milk," she says.

While she works to serve healthy choices, she says even vegetables contain carbs and starches.

"Potatoes for one, your corn, peas, your carrots," she says.

She's constantly battling between nutritional guidelines and what the kids will actually eat. For her, Tuesday’s response to the healthy meal was a disappointment.

"We had baked chips, and a lot of those bags were not opened and I feel like a lot of those kids probably saw baked and thought it's not going to taste good," says Giles.

We asked students what they thought.

"I ate the carrots and I ate the sandwich but I took the meat off because I really don't like the meat that they serve here. So I just ate the cheese so that's pretty much all I ate," says seventh grader Chelsea Smith.

"Most of the time they do serve fruit or vegetables so most of it's healthy," replies Cassidy Ray, also a seventh grader.

Giles says between guidelines and her budget, she has a lot pressure on her shoulders to fix a meal kids will eat; especially when many kids eat both breakfast and lunch at school.

"I want to provide a nutritional and healthy meal. I also want to try to provide a meal that I know the kids will eat."

Congress pushes back on healthier school lunches

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-15-Congress-School%20Lunches/id-54ccdf90d4eb4752a91af50c3943bfd7

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is fighting to keep pizza and french fries on school lunch lines, picking apart an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.

A spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards proposed by the Agriculture Department earlier this year, forcing USDA to pull back an attempt to limit potatoes on the lunch line, delaying limits on sodium and delaying a requirement to boost whole grains.

The spending bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. The department's proposed guidelines would have attempted to prevent that.

The changes had been requested by food companies that produce frozen pizzas, the salt industry and potato growers. Some conservatives in Congress have called the push for healthier foods an overreach, saying the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.

In a bill summary released Monday, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and ... provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."

House Republicans had urged USDA to completely rewrite the standards in their version of the bill passed in June. The Senate last month voted to block the potato limits in their version. Neither version included the language on tomato paste, sodium or whole grains, which was added by House-Senate negotiators on the bill.

School districts had also objected to some of the requirements, saying they go too far. Schools have long taken broad instructions from the government on what they can serve in federally subsidized meals that are served free or at reduced price to low-income children. But some schools have balked at government attempts to tell them exactly what foods they can't serve.

The school lunch proposal was based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. When the guidelines were proposed in January, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the effort was necessary to stem the tide of childhood obesity and reduce future health care costs.

Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said the changes proposed by Congress will prevent schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It would also slow efforts to make pizzas — a longtime standby on school lunch lines — healthier, with whole grain crusts and lower levels of sodium.

"They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched," she said.

A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. Mission: Readiness has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service.

"We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program," Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group, said in a letter to members of Congress before the final plan was released. "It doesn't take an advanced degree in nutrition to call this a national disgrace."

The school lunch provisions are part of a final House-Senate compromise on a $182 billion measure would fund the day-to-day operations of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on the bill this week and send it to President Barack Obama.

[Scutisorex Shrewlord]

As a point of clarification: Ronald Reagan had ZERO to do with calling ketchup a vegetable. What Reagan did was challenge the USDA to come up with creative ways of maintaining nutrition levels in schools in light of a tight budget. Some idiot in the USDA proposed the ketchup idea, supposedly because he felt kids would be more inclined to eat it. When it was released to the public for comment, it became a bit of a scandal, and the administration rejected it (and the guy who proposed it had his job reassigned).

[Ergeheilalt]

As a point of clarification: Ronald Reagan had ZERO to do with calling ketchup a vegetable. What Reagan did was challenge the USDA to come up with creative ways of maintaining nutrition levels in schools in light of a tight budget. Some idiot in the USDA proposed the ketchup idea, supposedly because he felt kids would be more inclined to eat it. When it was released to the public for comment, it became a bit of a scandal, and the administration rejected it (and the guy who proposed it had his job reassigned).

Oh, like the whole Christmas Tree tax that someone in the administration thought would be a good idea and all the "War on Christians" conservatives railed against. That too got laid at Obama's feet and he axed the plan (but not the person as far I can tell). Same old shit, different color. Probably because they aren't eating enough vegetables.

[Name Lips]

If it doesn't look like it did when it was on the plant (at most cut up a little), they shouldn't call it a vegetable.

[cnath.rm]

Why the hell should salsa or pizza sauce be counted as a veggie in any case???? Tomatoes aren't vegetables they are FRUIT!! :D

[hobbiteer]

Why the hell should salsa or pizza sauce be counted as a veggie in any case???? Tomatoes aren't vegetables they are FRUIT!! :D

One word: Reganomics


Unless I totally remembered that wrong.

[Megamieuwsel]

Tomatoes aren't vegetables they are FRUIT!! :D
Peppers are too, btw...

[Name Lips]

Potatoes are tubers, but they're being counted as veggies too. A serving of french fries with ketchup is TWO veggies. They should be counted as starches, in the same category as bread.

[shiningbrow]

Why the hell should salsa or pizza sauce be counted as a veggie in any case???? Tomatoes aren't vegetables they are FRUIT!! :D

Congress passed a law defining tomatoes as a vegetable, despite the accuracy of your observation. Here, sick as it is: (from Wikipedia)

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304

(1893),[1] was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that affirmed the lower court ruling that the tomato should be classified under customs regulations as a vegetable rather than a fruit. The Court's unanimous opinion held that the Tariff Act of 1883 used the ordinary meaning of the words "fruit" and "vegetable," under which a tomato is classified as a vegetable, instead of the technical botanical meaning.