The year-end holidays are the perfect opportunity to engage the entire family in the kitchen.  Some health professionals worry that today’s youth are missing out on learning how to cook. Once on their own, few young adults know how to do more than boil an egg, make toast, or make boxed macaroni and cheese, so take advantage of this special time together to teach lifelong cooking and nutrition skills and family recipes.

It’s tempting to have the kids only make cookies and desserts at this time of year, but also seize the opportunity to teach them how to contribute to making family meals. If relatives are visiting, invite everyone to help. To start, have everyone wash their hands while counting to 20 or singing Happy Birthday. Children with long hair should pull it up into a hair band.

Very young children are good with their hands and can help wash produce, peel fruit and tear lettuce, snap beans, stir and toss cold ingredients, sift flour, sprinkle raisins, and crumble cheese. They are terrific assembly artists and can pour dry ingredients from measuring cups.

Elementary school children can progress to chopping veggies and fruits with strong plastic knives like those made for lettuce, and using other kitchen gadgets such as garlic clove rolls, garlic presses, vegetable peelers, apple section dividers, melon ball scoops, and rolling pins. They may also want to attempt layering salads, or lasagna and scooping liquid into baking cups and pans. They can also use a butter knife to make their own sandwiches and cut fruits and cooked veggies.

Middle school children can measure using spoons and cups. They can stir warm liquids on the stove, use a microwave with care, and begin using a mixer with supervision. They may even want to dabble in designing their own pasta dishes with various veggie combinations. Mature students will need a lesson in safe knife skills, including using a sharpening steel. Take kids this age to the grocery store and have them read food labels and prices.

High school students need to be given some basic rules about using the stove, oven, carving knives, blenders, and food processors. They may have an interest in designing family meal menus and recipes and creating grocery lists. Using recipes with minimal ingredients can be a good foundation to practice planning, shopping, and timing meal preparation.

At this time of year, filling jars with dry ingredient mixes for soups or pancakes make fantastic time-saving gifts. Here’s a link to making a few holiday mixes.

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn1494.pdf

Of course, good nutrition principles should be encouraged at any age, as well as using guided patience, because it will get messy. Show everyone how to help clean up, too. Enjoy precious family time together in the kitchen sharing recipes and special meals.
Happy Holidays!

The seasons have come around to fall once again, and the Halloween rush is on. When my children were young, that meant home made costumes from our ever-expanding collection, making flowing gauze ghosts to hang in the front tree, lining the driveway with lit carved pumpkins, making fruit punch in a black plastic cauldron, and leaning a witches broom and hat by the front door, while ghostly moans from a spooky sound track filled the house.

The dads distributed flashlights and glow sticks, the moms corralled everyone for the annual photo, and the kids dashed for the largest candy bag they could find—their pillowcases. None of those cute little candy containers were ever sufficient.

We hosted the annual Halloween night neighborhood chili dinner to help harness the excitement and take the edge off of the incoming flood of candy with a quick, healthy, shared meal. The excitement was palpable.

Our candy bowl had a green battery-powered plastic hand in the middle that would flinch when a hand reached in. It spooked, but never stopped anyone from grabbing a few pieces. The elementary school always gave a homework assignment to count and categorize each load of candy. By the end of the evening, the kids were exhausted, and would only eat a few pieces. Their exuberance for it lasted only a couple days and after that, Halloween and candy were mostly long forgotten.

The kids learned that this was a special treat. No threats, no drama—just learning for themselves the difference between a special occasion and daily food needs. Candy isn’t on my weekly grocery list, and rarely in our home.  Within a few days of Halloween, the thrill of the hunt was gone and we were back to our regular eating routine.  Sometimes I would find those pillowcases of candy weeks later, and they would quietly disappear—just in time for the next lesson in go-slow-whoa foods with the appearance of the next holiday’s traditional novelty treats.

Here’s a link to read another Halloween blog post, “5 Ways to Help Kids Eat Smart This Halloween,” also written by a registered dietitian.

http://www.raisehealthyeaters.com/2011/10/5-ways-to-help-kids-eat-smart-this-halloween-2/

Have a spooktacular Halloween!

Fall is back-to-school time and much has been written in newspapers, magazines and blogs about healthy food to pack for your favorite students. Keep protein selections lean, add fruits and veggies, and pack whole grains when possible. Melissa wrote a blog entry on packing healthy lunches below.

Choosing a lunch box is a favorite activity for kids. Insulated bento boxes are big this year. Check out www.easylunchboxes.com and www.laptoplunches.com . No matter what type of lunch box, bag, or pouch you choose, be sure to add a chill pack or frozen juice box to keep the food cool. Chill packs also prevent food-borne illness in foods that need refrigeration. These would include foods with protein like meats, fish, chicken, eggs, dairy, and mayonnaise. Nuts and seeds do not require chilling.

• Wash hands before preparing and eating. Include moist towelettes or antibacterial gel in the lunch box if necessary.
• Use an insulated lunch box instead of a bag.
• Always include a frozen chill pack or frozen juice box in the lunch container if perishable foods are used.
• Toss leftovers that needed chilling when the lunch box comes back home. They have been in the danger temperature zone too long. (40 – 140 degrees Fahrenheit) For more information about food safety, go to www.FoodSafety.gov .

Read through the kid-friendly recipes on www.Playnormous.com/health/recipes with your child. The recipes and the games on the website are great conversation starters to ensure that your student eats healthy to learn well all year.

Have you noticed newly designed shelf labels in your grocery store lately? Markets are making big strides in consumer nutrition education by creating label systems using shapes, colors, and numbers to make it easier to make healthy food choices.

Hannaford has had their kid-friendly Guiding Stars system for years. Foods that don’t meet nutritional criteria have no star label. Parents can engage kids in shopping by setting star limits for foods that can be placed in the shopping cart. One star is good, two better, and three best.

Recently, Shaws Supermarkets introduced their Nutrition IQ color-coded labels based on food nutrient content. A multi-colored wheel on their site explains the details, and makes it easy to select healthy foods based on your needs.

Many markets, like Big Y, Tops, Price Chopper and fourteen other chains are using the Nuval system of shelf labels. Foods are rated a number from 1 to 100 using a complex formula of multiple variables. A score of 100 is the best. Try the “Nutrition by the Numbers” game on their website, and compare family scores.

All of these nutrition tools make grocery shopping faster and effective, and lend themselves well to creating games for kids to help and learn.

Have them search for number ranges, or colors, or star level foods. Think of it as a scavenger hunt in the grocery store. It’s a win-win game for families or individuals.

Choosing a summer camp for kids can be challenging. Camp offerings are as varied as children. Many camps include swimming, boating, nature hikes, crafts, music, sports, and theatre. Parents often look for camps that can provide new ventures for their children to experience — but what about video games as a camp activity? A recent article addressed the pros and cons of video game camps. Some feel sedentary video games contribute to childhood obesity, but camp directors say video games promote strategic problem-solving and social skills using the dominant platforms in today’s youth culture. Here’s a checklist for you and your child to use when considering the best camp option regarding video games:

• Is a sufficient variety of activities offered?

• Is there sufficient supervision in a safe environment?

• Is there a good mix of passive and active activities offered?

• Are there health-related video games (“video games for health”)?

• Is there a good mix of educational games offered?

• Are the games age-appropriate?

• Are there classes in video and/or smartphone game design?

Conversations about making wise video game choices have benefits long after your kids have returned home from camp and the school year begins. You may want to get in the game, too! The nutrition games on Playnormous.com are a terrific place to start!

Happy Summer!

Catherine