A Kids State Dinner

WASHINGTON, D.C.The first-ever kids state dinner will take place later today at the White House, with first lady Michelle Obama hosting 54 children aged 8 to 12, one from each state, three territories and the District of Columbia. The attending children were selected based on the recipes they submitted as part of the Lets Move! Healthy Lunchtime Challenge.

For the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, children, working along with their families, were asked to submit original lunchtime recipes that fit set criteria of healthy, affordable and delicious; it also had to follow MyPlate nutritional guidelines. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges tapped by USDA, the United States Department of Education and Epicurious, the three organizations that joined forces with Mrs. Obama on this initiative.

The recipes will be collected and offered for free download by Epicurious (an offshoot of Bon Appétit and now-defunct Gourmet magazines, owned by Condé Nast). Some preview recipes, such as Apple Oat Balls (inspired by a healthy snack for horses), Mexican Delight (includes instructions for homemade whole-wheat tortillas), Pesto Pasta (friendly to food allergies), Stuffed Red Peppers (filled with brown rice, chicken, scallions, garlic, spinach and tomato sauce), and Rainbow Salad With Black Beans, Mint and Lemon (an outlet for a prolific homegrown mint supply), have been published via an entry on the Lets Move Blog.

The event will be streamed live over the Internet on the Kids State Dinner web page starting at 10 a.m.