The First Lady, guest chefs, and local school kids collected fresh ingredients. Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson.

RODALE NEWS, WASHINGTON, DC—Last Friday, some 700 chefs visited the White House to show their interest in Michelle Obama's "Chefs Move to Schools" program. It calls on chefs to volunteer some time to their local schools to improve the food, and get kids interested in cooking. Some of the visitors, including celeb chefs like Cat Cora and Tom Colicchio, also harvested ingredients from the White House garden for a meal with area schoolchildren. They helped the kids put together (and then devour) a meal of grilled chicken with herb-sherry vinaigrette, a dip for broccoli and fennel, and a rhubarb-strawberry crisp.

The White House shared those recipes with the public, and they sounded quite tasty. But having tried to work with chefs’ recipes over the years, I knew if they were to be truly useful, they'd have to be tested. Chefs talk in shorthand: They assume the home cook knows as much as they do, and they unintentionally leave out ingredients. They think, for example, that if the directions say to marinate the chicken, the home cook knows how much oil is needed, even if it isn’t listed among the ingredients; they also assume that if a fruit crumble is to be baked, everyone knows the proper temperature. Stuff like that.

So I spent some time in the kitchen, and now the recipes have been tested—and altered as needed.

The yogurt dip is one of the most delicious and refreshing versions of raita I’ve ever tried. The grilled chicken salad, with its fresh herbs and sparkling greens, is the perfect meal for a hot summer day.

And the rhubarb-strawberry crisp was worth the effort to find rhubarb. Everywhere I went, the produce guy said the same thing: "We haven’t had any for two weeks." It took the kindness of a friend with a rhubarb patch to make it possible to test the recipe; hopefully, the vegetable will be more available in your area. This crisp isn’t as sweet as many versions, which makes the flavors of the strawberry and rhubarb shine through. With all the fresh produce and its oat crumble topping, the dessert's even good for you.

Yogurt Vegetable Dip
Adapted from White House kitchen
Yields 2-plus cups

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
½ cup finely diced onion
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic with the yogurt and mix well. Stir in the cucumber and onion.

2. Chill for at least an hour, overnight if desired.

3. Serve with cherry tomatoes and cut-up raw vegetables like broccoli or fennel.