From Lindsay Brantley: Jumpstart Your Day with Grains!
This week we focused on grains and breakfast. Breakfast is a great way to start getting in the healthy grains your body needs for energy. The teenagers were so excited to be in class this week, especially making breakfasts foods. We instructed how you can get many of your whole grains from common breakfast foods, while making little changes to your diet.
This week we made yummy yogurt parfaits and breakfast sandwiches. The yogurt parfaits were delicious, and there are so many ways to incorporate grains with granola, fruits with berries, and dairy with yogurt! We also made savory breakfast sandwiches with whole wheat English muffins, eggs, and turkey bacon. No one could even tell the difference between turkey bacon and regular bacon! Also, we had so much fun taking turns making our different favorite styles of eggs, and learning about each others'. Our class is held in the evening, so the kids were able to learn that breakfast for dinner can be a healthy spin on ordinary dinner options.
From: Meghan Donovan:
This week we had our second class at Parkway where we had a very informative returning member and a handful of newcomers. Our helpful returning member did an amazing job recalling the food guide pyramid which was covered last week. This helped to catch our new members up and along the way we answered a lot of questions. One big one was on how to get children to eat fruits and vegetables.
Suggestions shared by fellow class mates and instructors:
- Have the children eat the number of vegetables that equals their age, so if a child is five, they have to eat five green beans.
- Pray with them before the meal
- Tell them that if they eat vegetables they “will be strong and your teeth will not fall out.”
- Have children help with gardening to increase their willingness to eat vegetables since they have helped it to grow.
- Give kids vegetables with something to dip in like carrot sticks and a little ranch dressing
Following the nutrition lesson everyone went into the kitchen to help with making Barely Jambalaya. Everyone seemed to really like meal, even the kids when they joined us. Participants also wanted the salad recipe which consisted of baby spinach, tomatoes, feta cheese, walnuts, and light olive oil as the dressing.