Chef Kent Getzin Consulting

01/23/2026

Yah know… Sugar reductions in school meals are upon us!
And, While I fully support reducing sugar in school meals,
wow, is it gonna be a tussle!!

Cool thing is, I am currently working on Recipe Development project through the state of WA Team Nutrition Program!

I’m tasked with creating five recipes and then testing at schools with kids.
They must meet the following criteria:
~ Nothing currently like them on the USDA recipe resource
~ Lowering added sugar and sodium
~ Veggies at Breakfast
~ Emphasize Protein at Breakfast
~ Each must contain at least one WA Produced ingredient
~ incorporate Beans, Peas and Lentils (alt proteins)

To make a long story short (which is very difficult for me), I’m working on a zero added sugar, fruit based sweetener that’s blowing my mind!

As an example, I’ve been able to take ALL of the added sugar out of my granola recipe that I’ve been teaching in schools for years using this fruit based sweetener. And that’s just the beginning!

I have so much to share with you, but I can’t give it all away in one post.

Take a look at the pictures. All of the items you see have sugar reduced drastically or eliminated completely by using this new fruit base sweetener that I developed.

It has so many potential uses and I’m super excited about getting it out there!

So, how are you feeling about sugar reduction?
😃 Ready
😬 Nervous
😤 Frustrated

There are no wrong answers and no judgment. It’s gonna be a big job!

Y’all ROCK out there in school food service world! It’s very hard work and you’re killing it out there! Keep going. Don’t stop! Kids need you!

Happy to answer questions and bounce ideas!

01/22/2026

Funny story behind this little video clip. I asked the Director if they could take a little video of what was going on, on the fancy screen she monitored production from at the back of the room. I wanted to know what was going on, but I also wanted to share it with my wife at home.  She took it during this “milk” bit and it’s just dripping with puns and dad joke jokes.
😂🤷‍♂️😂

It’s kind of hard to hear, so turn it up.

Chef Mataio and I had such a blast writing and shooting this unique production!

It will be a public resource, and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

01/22/2026

I'm currently involved with two really fun video projects!

+ Harvest of The Season for Washington State
+ Understanding and Applying the Five New USDA rules affecting school meals that is just going into effect

I can't wait to share the whole project with you (32 of the videos), but here are a few highlights from the week of shooting. It was quite the production!

Coolest thing is SO MUCH good has already come from the project and it's still not a finished product. Just you wait!

This is just a teaser!

11/12/2025

Azusa USD is really rock’n it! Check out this video about their excellent school meals program!

Way to to Azusa team!!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CH3LbivJS/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Behind every healthy student is a dedicated team! 🍎 We're proud to showcase the incredible work of the AUSD Nutrition Services team, who prepare and serve d...

11/11/2025

Hey there School Food Pro, Lunch Lady, Chef, or whichever lovely title you’d prefer! Regardless, YOU freak’n Rock!!

Fun Tutorial ahead, so hang in for some inspo!!

To my amazement, it’s been two-years since I posted this, one of my most popular posts on Facebook

A quick tutorial on Veg Roasting. Well it’s worthy of a repost.
😍🫑🌽🌶️🫑🧄🥰

Seriously, if you do this at your school kids will be blown away! And as a side bonus, your staff will get lots of love back in the form of Thank You’s, and Wow’s, and Please do this everyday’s, from them!!

Who doesn’t love that, right?! 🥰

So I’m throwing down a challenge!

It’s easy:
1. Read the post!
2. Do it!
3. Feel the love!
3. Post a pic! Come on, show-off a little!
4. Do it every day, a different veg, me medley every day!

Boom!

Here it is!
Steaming is snazzy but Roasting Really Rocks!

Veggies love to be Roasted! Wanna see kids flip out for veggies? Roast’m!

Don’t roast them just any old way, though. If you want the tastiest and most eye-appealing veggies then these few simple tips, and a little practice, will Roast your World!

1. Cut veg in big pieces - ¾-1” chunks.

2. Place them in a very large bowl.

3. Coat with the oil of your choice. Just enough to make them shiny. Toss and stir to coat evenly.

4. Season with salt and pepper. Salt is an important culinary ingredient and is necessary when cooking with whole foods. Use carefully but use it! Otherwise, bland veggies will result. Test me on this. Taste test them both ways with kids. I bet I know what they will like better! 😉 If you want kids to eat more fresh, whole veggies, then make them taste better than the manufactured foods. By the way, manufacturers use salt in all the products you’re currently buying.

5. Toss and stir, Toss and stir! Please don’t just dump and drizzle. You have likely seen videos or recipes of people putting raw vegetables on a sheet tray and drizzling with oil and sprinkling with flavorings and seasonings. This method produces wildly inconsistent results. Some veg is un-oiled and seasoned, and some is over seasoned. …don’t do it, man. Toss and stir, Toss and stir for best results!

6. After all that tossing and stirring, then dump it on a sheet pan. Shallow layer. Don’t heap them or they will just steam in the middle. A shallow layer allows and ensures a beautifully caramelized result! Caramelization = depth of flavor (and allows for minimal salt use)!

7. Roast’m really HOT! Don’t be tempted to just throw them into a 350 oven. No bueno! A fully preheated, 425-450 oven is necessary for the magic to occur!
Did I say roast them HOT? … Oh yah, great, I did!

9. Then just Roast them till they’re done! Different veggies and different ovens will result in different cook times. Also, how full you stuff the oven makes a difference, too. If you have the luxury, don’t pack the oven full. Spread out up to three pans in a couple of ovens whenever possible with an empty rack between pans. And, batch cook whenever possible! Turn the oven, even hotter if you have to stuff it full. Rotate for even browning as necessary and Always try to get in and out of the oven as quickly as possible to keep the heat in there.

10. You will know they are done when they have a nice caramelization!
To get good at this, just roast a lot of veggies! Serve roasted veggies on your menus every! Practice makes perfect! 😎👍🏽

11. When they’re ready, serve them as soon as possible! No food ever benefited from camping out in the hot cart.

12. Here are a few pics to inspire and few written recipe ideas to get you started! First time you make them write down the quantities you use and then you’ll have the beginnings of your own custom standardized recipe. Remember practice makes perfect. 😎👍🏽

Remember! Cook from scratch more and more everyday!

Post a pic!

10/25/2025

Check out all this beautiful SCHOOL food!

October, also known as Farm to School Month, is almost over...

Now is a great time to reflect on what beautiful locally grown and/or produced menus you created!

If you didn't really do much local purchasing this year, it's ALWAYS a good time to get INSPIRED and motivated to do more local purchasing and scratch cooking!

I hope this video, all of foods produced public school cafeterias, will inspire you to do more of the same!

I'm always available to chat and to answer questions about how you can get started!

I'll be in Pasadena, CA next week for the Cal SNA Annual Conference! Me and Chef Laura are doing a breakout session at 8AM Friday, 10/31 on scratch cooking!

Stop by and let's catch up!

10/21/2025

I haven't posted for way too long but that doesn't mean I don't still love you!

Here is a real quick update:

June, July and August:
Lots of local trainings in my state of Washington! Lots of emphasis on baking this summer but other great food and skills were explored also. Check out some pics!

Headed to California for the Cal SNA Annual conference! Chef Laura and I are speaking at a breakout session on Friday morning at 8AM. I hope you will stop by if'n you're at the conference!

08/21/2025

Breakfast is happening in your schools now or will be in the next week or so! 
Your students are gonna love this, and they will learn all about quick breads! Good skills to have! Enjoy!

08/02/2025

Teams Really Make It Happen!

08/01/2025

07/31/2025

Happy Summer Everyone!

In this video, CherylAnn and I talk about salad bars. Not as buzzwords, but as a powerful tool that will help you serve more fresh fruits and vegetables to kids. From boosting student participation to building pride in your kitchen, salad bars are more than a side option — they’re a gateway to so much more scratch cooking! Let’s explore why every school should have one — and how you they can play a key role in your school meals program!

Like, Share and Follow for more ways you can start doing more and more scratch cooking everyday in your school meals program!

07/10/2025

Hey You! I hope summer is treating you well!

Also, there is a recipe hidden in here for you but please read this first!

I’m kinda hung up on thoughts of Breakfast right now. In schools, we could feed kids a lot better at breakfast with some fresh ideas!

Last week I put up a tutorial and recipe on how to make “Sheetpan Pancakes”. If you didn’t see that one, take a quick spin through my feed and check it out! Easy, delicious and kids love it!

I also got some good feedback on the tutorial format that I wrote the post in. I didn’t just post a recipe, I taught you all about how to make pretty much any quick bread!

Recipes without understanding are ok, but where the “Rubber Meets the Road” is SKILLS!

What I mean by that, is recipes are often confusing and hard to understand but they are necessary, important and required in our school food service world.

Thing is, your time is much better spent learning the skills that are within the recipe than just simply how to make the recipe.

For instance, that pancake recipe I mentioned is in the category of culinary preparations called QUICK BREADS. Once you understand the concept and skills associated with making “quick breads” then you basically know what to do and how to avoid common pit-falls when making them.

You didn’t just blindly follow a recipe, you learned the skills associated with making quick breads which will ultimately make you a much better cook!

So, Lets try this concept with BREAD PUDDING:
• Bread Pudding at its most basic is sweet custard and chunks of bread baked together.
• The sweet version is called Bread Pudding and a savory version is called Strada.
• The savory egg and milk mixture is often called “Royale” (eggs, milk, salt and flavoring) and the sweet version is called “Custard” (eggs, milk, sugar, flavorings).
• A good basic Ratio for any Custard or Royal is (eight whole eggs per quart of milk).
• Royale is also what a QUICHE is based on. Pie Crust filled with cheese, meat (ham, bacon, sausage, shrimp, ect) and a savory Royale.

So check this out!
Now you understand the most basic facts about a very important culinary preparation that will now allow you to Riff in the kitchen!

Here is what I mean:
I just explained to you what makes up pretty much any Bread Pudding, Strata or Quiche. I also gave you a basic ratio for the egg/milk mixture, called a custard or royale. I told you what basic main other ingredients you could find in versions of these recipes.

Armed with this knowledge you could: grab that half baguette from the freezer, dig in the fridge for the eggs, milk, that chunk of ham or smoked salmon, those roasted potatoes and carrots leftover from Tuesday’s dinner, the three little hunks of cheese in the drawer and make a delicious Strata for dinner tonight!

Or skip the baguette and buy (or make) a pie crust and pour that same mixture into the pie shell (skipping the bread chunks or leave them in if you want!), bake it off and have a delicious quiche!

I hope you’re getting my point. Focus first on the skills first then the recipes will be a lot easier to deal with!

I’d love to hear your questions and comments about this topic! Please reach out and let me know who it’s going!