Articles in the April 2008 Issue

• A Note from Sandra
• More kids to get fresh fruits, vegetables during school day
• Final DDN Session in 2008 series is April 30th
• Food Service Director Training Seminars at NFSMI
• Certification Institute Update
• Power Panther Tour—Sign up Today!
• Have you expressed your appreciation lately?
  Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation week
• Building for the Future with the CACFP
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Kids on the Move
• MyPyramid Corner: Increasing the Fiber in Meals with Legumes
• Department of Defense (DOD) Fresh Produce Update
• Resource Corner – New Dietary Guidelines Fact Sheets Available
• Little Bits of Wellness Wisdom

“Even when opportunity knocks, You still must get out of your chair to open the door.” …Nuggets

There are many chances to learn more about your field of employment this spring and summer. Get out of that chair and make the most of the opportunity!

I appreciate your patience and the notes of support for the CANS group that came in during a difficult time in the office with various personnel issues. I also appreciate the CANS staff and their willingness to pitch in to “get ‘er done”! We are on the upward swing of the pendulum! We got some good chuckles out of a couple of the responses to the list of issues. Tammy said all we needed is a couple of kids to get sick on our shoes, and Sheryl suggested a case of head lice would fit in nicely!

The recalled ground beef should all have been picked up or destroyed by now. If it has not been or if you find some later, please report that to Elaine from our office and she will work with you to get it destroyed.

Enjoy the spring, the growth of the earth and opportunities for our growth - an opportunity to make a positive contribution to someone’s life and another chance for us to do it right in our own life. 

Opportunities for education - workshops, conferences, training

You may have heard the topics before – but are you doing what you learned?

Opportunities to further your program education abound this spring and summer.

More kids to get fresh fruits, vegetables during school day

South Dakota will add 25 sites to its Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program for the 2008-09 school year. The program currently serves about 4,000 students in 10 schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation. With the additional 25 sites, the number of students served will reach nearly 10,000 at locations statewide.

Participating agencies receive funds to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to their students throughout the school day. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the South Dakota Department of Education’s Child and Adult Nutrition Services.

“We’re very excited for the agencies chosen to participate. Their applications reflect a sincere commitment to helping students develop healthy eating habits for a lifetime,” said Sandra Kangas, who oversees the Child and Adult Nutrition Services program in South Dakota.


The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program aims to increase student consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, introduce students to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and encourage students to make healthier choices in their diets. According to federal guidelines, priority is given to agencies with 50 percent or more students receiving free or reduced-price meals and those with a non-federal partnership in place.

The additional sites for 2008-09 include:

• Bennett County School District – Martin Grade School
• Children’s Care Hospital and School, Sioux Falls
• Enemy Swim Day School, Waubay
• Eureka School District
• Flandreau Indian School
• Frederick Area School District
• Gayville-Volin School District
• Hyde School District – Highmore Elementary
• Kadoka Area School District – Interior
• Kadoka Area School District – Kadoka
• Kadoka Area School District – Midland
• Pierre School District – McKinley Elementary
• Rapid City School District – Canyon Lake Elementary
• Rapid City School District – General Beadle Elementary
• Rapid City School District – Knollwood Elementary
• Sioux Falls Children’s Home – Loving School
• Sisseton School District – Middle School
• Sisseton School District – Westside Elementary
• Spearfish School District – Middle School
• Spearfish School District – West Elementary
• Summit School District – Summit Elementary
• Volunteers of America-Dakotas – Group Care
• Wagner School District
• Wall School District
• White Lake School District – White Lake Elementary

The federal government recently gave all states access to the program. Previously, South Dakota had access only through a limited number of tribal schools.

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*The Tea DDN site can not broadcast Power Point images—so if you attend at this location, you will only be able to view the presenter.

Check out the SD Team Nutrition website at http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/nutrition/trainingandassistance.asp for more information. The video from the January and February sessions are available to watch on your computer. Click on the link above and scroll down to the January or February session and look for the link under resources.

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Food Service  Director Training Seminars at NFSMI

Are you a new or aspiring food service director or do you have staff that you would like to receive training to help them become a food service director? A five day seminar will be offered several times between May and August from the National Food Service Management Institute. The locations to choose from include Utah, New Hampshire, Mississippi, and Massachusetts. For more information, please visit the NFSMI website http://www.nfsmi.org/Education/Workshops.html

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Child Nutrition Institute Update

Early Bird Deadline for Child Nutrition Institute is April 25th!!

For those of you planning to attend Child Nutrition Institute, don’t forget that the Early Bird deadline is April 25, 2008. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to save $25!! Registration deadline for Institute is May 9, 2008. Registration may be completed online at http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/training/Institute/index.asp If you have any questions about Child Nutrition Institute, call our office at 773-3413.

Hot Off the Press!!

We have just received exciting news!! Dr. Yibo Wood,  who was a program specialist for the CANS office from 1992-2002, has accepted our invitation and will be our banquet speaker this year as well as teach a few classes for us in Track 6. Yibo left South Dakota to accept a job with USDA in the Food and Nutrition division in Alexandria, VA. We are so excited that she is going to be making a trip back to South Dakota!

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Power Panther Tour—Sign up Today!

The Power Panther will be touring South Dakota from the middle of August until the middle of October. He will stop at schools, outside school time programs and child care agencies to encourage children to Eat Smart. Play Hard., and Move More. Sit Less. The Power Panther Tour is part of the Team Nutrition grant that CANS received from USDA. CANS staff and South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension staff will travel with the Power Panther costume and provide a 15-20 minute assembly program to promote eating smart and playing hard aimed at children from preschool age to elementary school age. The Power Panther especially appeals to young children up to about 3^rd grade.

The Power Panther is also available to stop by your agency during breakfast or lunch if that would work better than an assembly. To sign up for a visit from the Power Panther, please complete the one page registration form on our website at http://www.doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/nutrition/index.asp and mail or fax it to us at the address provided on the form.

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Have you expressed your appreciation lately?
Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation week

May 5-9 is Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation week. The School Nutrition Association has designated this one week each year to honor child nutrition employees. Be sure to set aside some time to celebrate just how special these employees are and let them know you’re thinking of them.

Certificates of appreciation are available from Child and Adult Nutrition Services for long-term employees to be honored or those that are retiring. Certificates can be requested at 10 years and at 5-year intervals after that (15 years, 20 years, etc.) Certificates for retirees can be requested at any time. You can request a certificate of appreciation for the employee by providing the name, years of service, and school/agency where they are employed. You can include years of food service at other schools or agencies, also. Be sure to note who the request should be sent back to and if you need it by a certain date such as for a retirement party.

Written requests should be submitted so we are sure the spelling is correct. Submit the request to CANS by April 15 to the attention of Shar; by email to shar.venjohn@state.sd.us,  by fax at 605-773-6846, or use our mailing address of 800 Governors Drive, Pierre SD 57501-2235.
 

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Building for the Future with the CACFP

Upcoming Training Events –

“CACFP Plus!” Workshops

• May 7 Rapid City Youth & Family Services

• May 20 Pierre Kneip Building

• May 27 Sioux Falls Augustana College

• June 3 Aberdeen Aberdeen Catholic Schools

• June 4 Watertown Lake Area Technical Institute

“CACFP Basic” Workshops

• May 6 Rapid City Youth & Family Services

• May 28 Sioux Falls Sioux Falls School District

• July 29 Pierre SD Capital Lake Visitor’s Center

The CACFP Plus! workshops are designed for veteran staff that have a solid understanding of Program requirements. The CACFP Basic workshops are designed for new staff that need to be trained in the basics of the CACFP. The basics class is limited to 25 participants per class. Pre-registration is required. There is no charge to attend. For more information please contact Melissa Halling at (605) 280-2696 or by email at melissa.halling@state.sd.us.

CACFP Basics –

Meeting the CACFP requirements for serving size when children serve themselves
in the Child and Adult Care Food Program – The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reimburses centers and homes for serving nutritious meals to the children or adults in their care. Many different facilities operate the CACFP, all sharing the common goal of bringing nutritious meals and snacks to participants (Child Care Centers, Family Child Care Homes, After-School Care Programs, Shelters, and Adult Day Care Centers). Our CACFP Basics topic this month is meeting the CACFP requirements for serving size when children serve themselves.

Meeting the CACFP requirements for serving size when children serve themselves – from Managing Mealtime Madness, Provider's Choice, Inc.

When children are too young to fully participate in family style meal services, you can put the required serving size of each meal component on their plates. But once they begin to participate in family style meal service, they control their own serving size. They may serve themselves more than the CACFP required serving, less than the required serving, or choose not to serve themselves any of a food at all. It is the child's decision which foods to choose and how much to take from the selection of nutritious foods you offer.

The CACFP component requirements are still very important. They are established to provide a well balanced diet that provides children with all of the nutrients and calories they need. In addition, you are required to meet these requirements for reimbursement.

If a child chooses not to take any of a particular food, do not pressure him or her. Resist the impulse to say things like, "Just try one bite." However, do not take any food off of your menus because a child chooses not to serve himself or herself any. The more familiar children become with a food, the more likely they are to eat it. Next time they may try it, and eventually they may like it and soon they may choose to eat the required serving size. Try cooking the food a different way or in the case of vegetables, serve them raw with a dip.

If a child continues to refuse a food after it has been offered several times, replace it with a food that provides similar nutrients. For example, if you serve spinach and children continually refuse it, look for another green leafy vegetable to serve instead. Try broccoli or turnip greens. Children's tastes do change, however, so don't eliminate spinach forever. Give it another try in a few months.

If you have a child who continues to refuse all of the foods that fit one of the component requirements, like vegetables, for example, consider planning a special activity that might interest the child in the food and encourage him or her to try it. With vegetables, consider a field trip to a garden or to a farmer's market.

If children take less than the required amount of a food item, wait until they have eaten what they put on their plate and offer them a second serving. Let them decide if they want the second serving and how big that second serving should be.

Remember: Never bribe, threaten, or trick children into eating. Meal time is not only about children getting nutrients and calories; it is also about children developing a positive attitude about food and meal time.

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Kids in the Kitchen

Rice and Apples – from Healthful Menus and Recipes, Pennsylvania Department of Education

• 1 ¼ cups uncooked instant rice

• 1 ¼ cups water

• ½ tsp. salt

• 2 tbsp. margarine

• 3 cups apple, finely diced

Bring water, apple, salt, and margarine to a boil. Stir in rice. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork before serving.

Makes 10 (1/2 cup) servings

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Kids on the Move

Red Light/Green Light – from http://www.babyzone.com/toddler_preschooler_fun/Play/a1160

The player who is "IT" stands on the finish line while the others are on the start line. Then IT turns his back on the others and says green light and counts to five. He then shouts red light and the others must stop and not move. If he sees anyone moving that player must return to the starting line. The game continues until a player reaches the finish line.

In a variation of this game called Letters, a child shouts a letter instead of "red light/green light." If a child's name contains that letter, she takes the corresponding amount of steps (for example Lee would take two steps forward if "e" was called). Play continues until someone reaches the finish line.

In a second variation, IT stands on the finish line with his back turned to the other players and counts to 20 (or whatever number is agreed upon) while the others advance. If someone touches IT before he is finished counting, IT turns around and gives chase back towards the start line. Once he catches someone, that person becomes IT.

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MyPyramid Corner: Increasing the Fiber in Meals with Legumes

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid recommend a higher level of fiber intake than most of us consume. USDA is recommending that schools increase the amount of fiber in meals served to get ready for upcoming regulation changes.

Legumes are a vegetable that can be counted as a meat alternative, are naturally low fat and are an excellent source of fiber, iron, vitamins, and phytochemicals. In South Dakota we don’t typically eat a lot of legumes, but there are some old standby items that often contain legumes such as chili, refried beans, and baked beans. To get students to eat more legumes can take persistence, creativity, and trying new recipes. As students become more familiar with ethnic dishes from the south and from countries such as India, they learn to like dishes such as beans and rice, black bean burritos, lentils with curry, and black eyed peas. What is the best approach for schools and child care agencies to get students to eat more legumes? There really isn’t one except to keep trying new recipes and new strategies.

One strategy that may help is having teachers teach the students about a country such as India and then serving a meal that has foods that are typical from that country. Another strategy is to have students taste test various bean dishes outside of the meal. Offering items on a food bar where it doesn’t matter if very many students take the item means the item can gradually gain acceptance. Schools and child care agencies are finding ways to get students to eat legumes—it is just a matter of trying different things until you find something that works. Below are a wealth of recipes—some are quantity recipes, and some aren’t.

The Healthy Meals Resource System, a website from USDA, has a lot of bean recipes in its recipe collection. Type in the word beans and 94 quantity recipes for items such as hummus, various kinds of soup, tacos, beans and rice, salads with beans, chili, and other menu items are revealed. http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/schoolmeals/Recipes/recipefinder.php?term=beans&search_type=text&mode=results&submit=Search+for+a+recipe If you type in the word lentil in the search engine, 2 additional recipes can be found.

A recipe for Red Beans and Rice with Spinach as well as a few other recipes are available on the School Nutrition Association website at http://docs.schoolnutrition.org/recipes/index.asp.

The Lancaster, Nebraska Extension website has tips for cooking with legumes and several recipes such as Mexican Skillet Rice, Rosemary Chicken and White Beans, and Black Beans with Corn and Tomatoes http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciq_dry_beans.htm

Mayo Clinic has a lot of bean recipes on their website. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/RE00084 
As does WebMD
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56009.
As does the Fruits and Veggies-More Matters website
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/ 
And the Center for Disease Control (CDC) http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnparecipe/recipesearch.aspx

Also recipes can be found in traditional commercial recipe sources such as the online version of Betty Crocker. A search on that website pulled up 75 legume recipes with titles such as Southwestern Potato Patties, Black Bean Chili Salad, and Rice and Bean Rollups http://www.bettycrocker.com/search/searchresults.aspx?terms=legumes&Tab=Recipes. 

Bean producers such as www.northarvestbean.org and www.centralbean.com also have a wealth of recipes on their websites.

So, roll up your sleeves, and start experimenting with bean recipes to find recipes that will work at your school or center. The amount of fiber that students eat will increase and the students will be started on a path of health that can stay with them for a lifetime.

To learn more about fiber, including sources of fiber, and the benefits of fiber in the diet, visit the Harvard School of Public Health at
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fiber.html

To learn more about what the MyPyramid says about fiber and eating legumes, please visit www.MyPyramid.gov

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Department of Defense (DOD) Fresh Produce Update

The DOD fresh produce office in Denver is changing:

• Local Agencies will still order the produce just as always.
• Print a copy of your order just in case it is lost.
• Contact number for Karen Kenton has changed to 303-961-1235 if you have any problems.
• The fax number for faxing receipts, etc. is 215-737-7166.
• The office in Denver will be closed as of Friday, March 28, 2008.

Please contact Elaine in the CANS office 605-773-4769 or email Elaine.Scott@state.sd.us if you have any questions.

Resource Corner – New Dietary Guidelines Fact Sheets Available

Two new fact sheets have been developed by USDA to promote the 2005 Dietary Guidelines. A total of 9 fact sheets will be available when USDA is done developing all of them. They can be accessed at
http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/dgfactsheet_hsm.html

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Little Bits of Wellness Wisdom

√   Make a weekly eating plan and stick to it. Plan your meals in advance to take advantage of time-saving techniques. Cook on Sunday for the week and save yourself time and money the remainder of the week.

√    Plan in advance for healthful snacking. Keep pretzels, breakfast cereals, crackers, bagels, or breadsticks in your desk, glove compartment, or gym bag for a snack that’s ready any time you are.

√    Keep bread in your diet – no matter what the fad says. Bread and other complex carbohydrates are not fattening. Gram for gram, carbohydrates have less than half the calories of fat, supplying 4 calories per gram. Fat supplies a whopping 9 calories per gram.

√    Watch for confusing labels. Fat free doesn’t mean calorie free. Your body will store excess calories, regardless of the source, as fat.

√    Get physical while watching television. Instead of being a couch potato glued to the tube, do crunches while channel surfing.

Source: Life’s Little Book of Wellness, SD Wheat Commission

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