Win a $25,000 Kitchen Kart for your school (& $1,000 for yourself)

Thanks to a partnership with the Nestlé Healthy Active Kids, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Get Kids Cooking program, parents and carers have the opportunity to nominate their child’s school to win a $25,000 Kitchen Kart,  a fully equipped mobile teaching kitchen. The winning entrant will also receive a $1,000 VISA Load&Go Gift Card.

Healthy Kids is a global program which focuses on improving basic knowledge of nutrition and physical activity levels in children around the world. The global program is aimed at improving the nutritional status of school children aged 6 – 16 years old and includes both nutrition education and physical activity programs at the national level. In 2001, Nestlé Australia developed, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), the Healthy Active Kids resource. It has the common goal of helping Australian families get active and healthy.

I believe good nutrition for your family begins in the home and it’s my aim to teach my children to make healthy choices and to teach them how to cook. It can be a minefield sometimes, reading labels and knowing what is actually healthy for you and your family. If I look at how I was raised, food in it’s most natural form is usually the best way to go.

Eating healthy food and being active are key to avoiding childhood obesity. My children are pretty active at school and partake in after school activities like dance and Scouts. 

The Healthy Active Kids website has some great information for teachers, families and kids.  They have developed a “What’s on your plate kids?” plate which shows you just how much protein, salad and vegetables and carbohydrates should be served at mealtimes. There are some wonderful resources on what to pack in your children’s lunchboxes.

How to enter

Having worked at my children’s school canteen these last 5 months, we were focused on providing ‘made from scratch’ foods and providing healthy options. I’d love to be involved in teaching children in the school how to cook and this Kitchen Kart would be such a valuable tool. If you’d like to win one for your school PLUS $1,000 for yourself, visit the website to enter. Entries close at 5pm on Friday 29 July 2016. (Entries open to Australian residents only.) Good luck!

 

Disclaimer: I was sent an information pack from the Nestlé Healthy Active Kids initiative. All thoughts and options are my own.

 

How to cook Italian Food at Home

One of my all time favourite cuisines is Italian.  It’s tasty, it’s usually quick to make and most ingredients can be kept in the pantry.  Once you start stocking these ingredients, you’ll see that they can be used in many other cuisines like Greek, Spanish or other Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cuisines. It’s usually the cooking process that determines where its from. I try to keep these basics in my larder, that span across a variety of countries, so I am able to have a variety of meals at home. So, here’s how to cook Italian food at home.

What you need from the pantry:

Pasta, rice, flour, tinned tomatoes, chick peas (garbanzo beans or ceci), cannellini beans, berlotti beans, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, sugar, stock powder/cubes, breadcrumbs, yeast, nuts (eg walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts), polenta, tomato paste, passata (cooked tomato sauce already flavoured)

From the fridge:

Beef, pork, chicken, veal, cured meats (eg pepperoni, proscuitto), ricotta cheese, marscapone cheese, parmesan cheese, cream, eggs, milk, butter

Fruit & vegetables:

Onion, garlic, tomatoes, celery, carrots, potatoes, spinach, broccolli, eggplant, zucchini and their flowers (corgette), capsicum (bell peppers), asparagus, pumpkin (butternut squash), leeks, radishes, beets, mushrooms, fennel, artichokes, beans, prickly pears, lettuce varieties (eg rocket, radicchio), lemons, apples, berries, oranges and other citrus fruit, pears, grapes, peaches, plums, cherries

Herbs & spices:

Basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, chilli flakes, thyme, garlic, sage, peperonicini (hot chilli flakes), rosemary, mint, nutmeg, saffron, vanilla

Recipe Examples

Below are some examples of easy recipes to make Italian food at home.

Make your own pasta

Pasta e polpette (Pasta & meatballs)

Caramelised Carrot Risotto

Italian Garbanzos (chick peas) and Sausage

Spaghetti con pollo e funghi (Chicken & Mushroom Pasta)

Zuppa di Fagioli Rossi (Red Bean Soup)

Beef & eggplant lasagna

Chicken & vegetable risoni

 

Eggplant parmigiana & mozarella stack

Osso Buco with tomatoes & gremolata

Silverbeet & ricotta lasagna

Pesto genovese

Cannellini Bean Spread / White Bean Dip

Easy polenta

Orange & Fennel Salad

Pistachio & Cranberry Biscotti

Easy Pizza dough

So, there’s so many different varieties of Italian food but the ingredients are found in most homes. Let the seasonal produce dictate what you’re going to cook.  Remember, substitute, substitute, substitute.