Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Kids in the Kitchen

Junior League cooks up program on healthy eating

By Barbara M. Houle FOOD EDITOR
bhoule@telegram.com

Amanda Graves of Amanda Cooks! in Shrewsbury talks about food choices in the supermarket. Her luncheon menu featured healthy choices. It was a big hit with the children.

The Junior League of Worcester had a hungry audience among the 6- to 12-year-olds who attended the Kids in the Kitchen program last week at Girls Inc., 125 Providence St. , Worcester .

The luncheon conversation was lively; the food, healthy and tasty.

The event was designed to educate children on the importance of eating well and staying healthy. The Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen program is a childhood obesity and nutrition initiative from the Association of Junior Leagues International. Junior Leagues throughout the country are participants.

Amanda Graves, owner of Amanda Cooks! in Shrewsbury and a league member, rolled out a special menu that included chicken sausage kabobs with roasted red pepper and pineapple, brown rice with red and black beans and “special” spices, a salad of dark greens, cucumber, carrots and tomatoes with a light vinaigrette, oat bread, fresh fruit and a low-fat frozen yogurt.

Sandy Foster, owner of Indigo Rabbit, the Smart Cookie in Northboro, provided the dessert.

Ms. Graves talked about food shopping and gave tips on how to read food labels. She compared brands and costs of some of the items she prepared. “There are lots of choices in the supermarket,” she said. “We want to be healthy, so we all need to be smart little shoppers.”

She explained why sausages using poultry or vegetables were a healthy choice. “They are lower in calories and fat than alternatives such as beef or pork,” she said. “If the ingredient in the sausage is mostly poultry, you’re on the right track.”

The 50 young people attending the school vacation week program at Girls Inc. definitely were tuned in. Several of them were provided a hands-on opportunity to make a portion of their own lunch.

“Kids want to know more about food,” Ms. Graves said. “I’m convinced of it. It’s important that parents try to involve their children with some of the cooking or meal planning,” she added. “Meals can be a challenge. Keep the food colorful and eye-catching. That’s the reason we put red pepper with the kabobs we served today. Did you notice the parsley on the dish?”

Children learned a lot about veggies this day.

They polished off trays of cookie samples despite being told they all were made with fresh veggies. Ms. Foster rattled off the ingredients in the cookies: carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, pumpkin, zucchini, broccoli and yellow squash.

The kids munched on.

A big hit were the dairy-free, cake-like brownies called Chocolate Pillows. The cookies were made with carrots, spinach, broccoli, pumpkin, zucchini and yellow squash. They flew off the trays.

So did the Cinnamon Almond, Fruit-Layered Bars, Ginger Bites and Lemon Chewies.

Chocolate soy milk helped to wash them down.

Dorothy Henry, league president, said thousands of children will have the opportunity to enrich their lives and palates with recipes, tips and activities from the Junior Leagues initiative.

“Our goal is to raise awareness and attempt to reverse the growth of childhood obesity and its associated health issues,” she said. “We hope we can have more events such as this one.”

Stop & Shop supermarkets donated a $300 gift card for purchase of food for the lunch program.

Students in the confirmation class at St. Mary’s Church in Shrewsbury , as part of their community service project, assisted league members in serving the meal.

To learn more about the Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen program and recipes go to: http://kidsinthekitchen.ajli.org.

Better Burritos is a recipe from Kids in the Kitchen:

BETTER BURRITOS
8 (8-inch) honey-wheat fat-free flour tortillas

Cooking spray

1 pound ground turkey

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped scallions

2 cups seeded and chopped plum tomatoes

1/3 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup chunky salsa

2 teaspoons mild chili powder

8 romaine lettuce leaves

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Wrap the tortillas in foil and heat in the oven. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat the pan over medium heat. Add the turkey, bell pepper and scallions; mix well.

Cook over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon.

Drain the fat from the turkey mixture. Add 1 cup of the tomatoes, the carrot, salsa and chili powder. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the cover and continue to cook until all the liquid is evaporated.

Slice off bottom of lettuce leaves so they are about 6 inches long. Place a leaf in the center of a warm tortilla. Press lightly to flatten center. Spoon 1/8 of the turkey mixture over the lettuce.

Sprinkle the turkey with some of the cheese and some of the remaining tomatoes.

Top with dollop of sour cream. Roll up tortilla to cover filling and then fold in the ends.

Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

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