Balance your Thanksgiving feast with a pretty parfait on Black Friday, which just so happens to be National Parfait Day! Choose a parfait below or create one of your own.
Pumpkin Parfait
Ingredients
1 canlow-sodium pumpkin (about 15 ounces)
3 cupsfat-free or low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoonground nutmeg
1/4 cupraisins
1/2 cupquick cooking oats
1/2 cuprice crisps
1 tablespoonvegetable oil
1/4 cupbrown (or white) sugar (packed)
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a blender or with a fork, blend the pumpkin until smooth.
Mix pumpkin, yogurt, and spices in a bowl.
In another bowl, mix the granola ingredients: raisins, quick cooking oats, rice crisps, oil, and sugar.
Spread granola on a baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
Let the granola cool down until it hardens. Then, break it apart or crush it into small pieces.
Spoon the pumpkin into 6 medium-sized glasses or bowls.
Put granola on top of the pumpkin in each glass or bowl. Spoon the pumpkin and granola in layers until all have been added to a glass or bowl.
Serve immediately or refrigerate.
Strawberry Banana Parfait
Ingredients
1/2 medium ripe banana, mashed
1/8 teaspoonvanilla
1/3 cupplain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cupsliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cupbran and wheat flakes ready-to-eat cereal
Directions
1. Stir banana and vanilla into yogurt and combine well.
2. In a 10-12 ounce glass, alternately layer the yogurt-banana mixture, strawberries and cereal.
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and pudding mix; blend well (about 2 minutes).
2. Add yogurt and vanilla extract; blend until smooth.
3. Stir the thawed whipped topping into the mixture.
4. Line the bottom of the parfait cups with a teaspoon of crumbled ginger snaps.
5. Layer 6 banana slices on top of the cookies; then 2 tbsp of the yogurt mixture on top. Repeat with another layer of the ginger snaps, bananas, and yogurt mixture.
6. Top with cinnamon or crushed cookie for garnish.
Thanksgiving is upon us, and the holiday season is in full swing! To prepare for the fun festivities ahead, Ayer and Storey Elementary Schools received Nutrition Corners with the theme, "Healthy Celebrations." Because children spend so much time at school, it's important to remind them of healthy choices, no matter the time of year. Ayer and Storey's Nutrition Corners encourage teachers to celebrate class milestones and holidays while promoting a culture of wellness. And of course, the Nutrition Corners wouldn't be complete without a reminder to use MyPlate to guide our meals.
Storey's Nutrition Corner in the staff lounge is a daily reminder to create a healthy classroom.
Fruit kabobs and play time outside are just a few of the Nutrition Corner's ideas for a nutritious and active classroom.
Staff and faculty can check out the "Recipe of the Month" for seasonal, tasty meals to try at home with their own families.
By reminding students and staff that celebrations don't need to be packed with sugary treats, they will start to develop more balanced habits for years to come. Parents can reinforce these ideas at home by encouraging children with non-food rewards, such as a sleepover with friends or a fun outing. Share your own tips and experience in the comments below!
Parents at Jefferson Elementary School were thrilled to begin the Plan, Shop, Save and Cook Series. They were excited to learn about ways the class could help them save money when it comes to healthy cooking at home and also learn ways to plan healthy meals. Many activities were included during the lessons, which allowed them to apply the skills they learned. One activity had the parents first create a meal plan and then plan their shopping lists. This activity allowed them to see the food groups they were eating plenty of, and which other food groups were being left out.
Jefferson parents planning their families' meals for the week and creating their shopping lists.
As the lessons continued throughout the weeks, many of the parents were eager to share their success in balancing all of the food groups on MyPlate to ensure balanced diets. Others shared their new found awareness of store flyer sale items, which included seasonal fruits and vegetables. Many parents also learned how low their whole grain consumption was, and began incorporating more whole grains into their meals. A couple of the parents even shared that they made our enchilada casserole at home and their families loved it, not knowing that they were eating whole grain brown rice!
Nutrition Educators, Araceli and Angelica, with some of the parents from the class who received their certificate of graduation from the Plan, Shop, Save and Cook Series.
Overall the class was very successful and we had 7 parents graduate the Plan, Shop, Save and Cook Series. Many parents appreciated learning nutrition information provided during the class by mentioning how useful it was for them to ensure that they make everyday, healthy eating a positive and simple, one step at a time, change. They know that these changes will make an extreme difference in their overall health and the health of their families.
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Interested in bringing an adult nutrition education class to a school or community center near you? Contact our Adult Nutrition Program Supervisor, Javier Miramontes, at 241-7531 or jfmiramontes@ucanr.edu for more information.
On August 2nd, 2016, UC CalFresh was invited by the Housing Authority of Madera to participate in their National Night Out event. National Night Out is an annual event that is celebrated on the first Tuesday of August. Neighboring communities work together with law enforcement to create a culture of partnership for safer communities. UC CalFresh presented the workshop, "Milk is For Me," while the Housing Authority of Madera passed out books to children in the communities. National Night Out occurred at three different neighboring communities: the Malone Apartments, the Knox Apartments, and the Kennedy Apartments. UC CalFresh spent a total of 45 minutes at each site, which was a new, mobile approach that the team has not tried before.
Nutrition Educators, Angelica Perez and Maira Enriquez, work together to educate community residents.
All of the great books that were given out to the neighboring communities.
The UC CalFresh team working hard throughout the evening.
All in all, there was a great turn out for National Night Out in Madera, and the community loved the nutrition information and books they received. It was wonderful to see the residents partner with local law enforcement on a hot day to promote this event. The UC CalFresh team met many great people and hopes to be apart of this event next year.
When I eat healthy I limit the amount of fat, sodium and sugar in my diet. In order to avoid having my food taste bland, I use vegetables and fruits to add flavor. There are so many fruits and vegetables we can use to make our food taste delicious and healthy.
One of my favorite things to make is salsa. I've been eating salsa since I was a kid and I'm lucky that my mom makes the best salsa. Check out my salsa recipe and suggestions below:
What will I need to make salsa?
Ingredients: Tomatoes, peppers, water and salt.
Kitchen supplies: A blender or a molcajete (mortar and pestle).
Tomatoes are a good source of Vitamin C.
How can I make my salsa spicy?
Thai peppers are very spicy and packed with flavor, so if you want some spicy salsa add a small handful.
Top row : Serrano Chili Pepper, Jalapenos. Bottom row: Thai Peppers, Dried Abrol Peppers.
How can I make a mild salsa?
Jalapeños tend to be the least spicy. Experiment by adding a few when you make your salsa. Once you build a tolerance, add more peppers.
You can add salsa to almost any dish to give it flavor.
What if my salsa is too spicy?
Add another tomato or water to reduce spiciness.
The traditional way of making salsa is using the molcajete (mortar and pestle) to crush the tomatoes and peppers together.
How can I make green/red salsa?
If you want to make your salsa red, use tomatoes and dried Chile de Abrol.
If you want to make your salsa green, use tomatillos (they look like small green tomatoes) and green peppers.
You can use tomatoes to make green salsa: just reduce the number of tomatoes and increase the number of green peppers.
Purple salsa: Once you feel comfortable making salsa you can use a variety of peppers and tomatoes to make your salsa different colors.
Do you have a recipe I can try?
Yes! Here is a quick and easy recipe that I made in less than 8 minutes:
Ingredients:3 tomatoes, 6 grilled jalapeños, water and garlic salt.
I typically grill the tomatoes and jalapeños and add warm water when I make salsa.
Note: If you blend the tomatoes and jalapeños raw it will taste different. If you decide not to grill them, just heat up the finished salsa in a pan.
