Happy Halloween!!!

From the candy to the different costume, Halloween is not only fun for the children but for parents as well. To help make this year’s festivities a trick-free treat by following these simple safety tips from the Center for Disease Control.
S Swords, knives, and similar costume accessories should be short, soft, and flexible
A Avoid trick-or-treating alone. Walk in groups of with a trusted adult
F Fasten reflective tape to costumes and bags to help drivers see you
E Examine all treats for choking hazards and tampering before eating them. Limit the amount of treats you eat.

H Hold a flashlight or glow stick while tick-or-treating to help you see and others see you.
A Always test make-up in a small area first. Remove it before bedtime to prevent possible skin and eye irritation
L Look both ways before crossing the street. Use established crosswalks whenever possible
L Lower your risk for serious eye injury by not wearing decorative contact lenses
O Only walk on sidewalks whenever possible, or on the far edge of the road facing traffic to stay safe
W Wear well-fitting masks, costumes, and shoes to avoid blocked vision, trips, and falls
E Eat only factor-wrapped treats. Avoid eating homemade treats made by strangers
E Enter homes only if you’re with a trusted adult. Only visit well-lit houses and NEVER accept rides from strangers
N Never walk near lit candles or luminaries. Be sure to wear flame-resistant costumes

It is important to remember that event though children need to safe during the Halloween festivities, adults need to remain safe as well. Here are some safety tips for the night adventures.
• Slow down and be especially alert in residential neighborhoods. Children are excited on Halloween and may move in unpredictable ways.
• Take extra time to look for kids at intersections, on medians and on curbs.
• Enter and exit driveways and alleys slowly and carefully.
• Eliminate any distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings.
• Drive slowly, anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic and turn your headlights on earlier in the day to spot children from greater distances.
• Popular trick-or-treating hours are 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. so be especially alert for kids during those hours.

Below are some fun activities for the kids!

Coloring Pages

Mazes and Word Searches

Food Safety Time!

With holiday parties’ right around the corner, especially Halloween being tomorrow, we decided to provide the community with a few basic food safety tips.  These tips are to ensure that you and your guests have a wonderful time.

WASH: wash not only your hands but any surface that will come in contact with food. You should wash your hands with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling any food.  Rinse fruits and vegetables thoroughly to remove any surface dirt.  Do NOT rinse raw meat and poultry before cooking in order to avoid spreading bacteria to areas around the sink and countertops

SEPARATE:  When shopping in the store, storing food in the refrigerator at home, or preparing meals, keep foods that won’t be cooked separate from raw eggs, meat, poultry or seafood. Consider using two different cutting boards, one for fruits and vegetables and the other for your meat/seafood products. Do NOT put cooked meat or other food that is ready to eat on an unwashed plate that has held any raw eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, or their juices.

COOK:  You should always use a food thermometer when making meals to ensure that everything is cooked to a safe internal temperature.  The safe zone for cooked food is above 165°F.   Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm. When making your own eggnog or other recipe calling for raw eggs, use pasteurized shell eggs, liquid or frozen pasteurized egg products, or powdered egg whites.

CHILL:  Refrigerate leftovers and takeout foods—and any type of food that should be refrigerated, including pie—within two hours. When thawing frozen food remember that you should do it in a safe manner.  This means that you thaw frozen food in the refrigerator, under cold running water, or in the microwave—NEVER at room temperature (sitting on the counter). Cook food thawed in cold water or in the microwave immediately. Allow enough time to properly thaw food. Don’t taste food that looks or smells questionable. When in doubt, throw it out!

Hopefully these tips will provide you with enough knowledge to have a safe and wonderful holiday season this year!

sources: foodsafety.gov      fsis.usda.gov

It’s Eat Better, Eat Together Month!

It’s ‘Eat Better, Eat Together’ month! Not everyone has heard of this topic, and that’s okay. ‘Eat Better, Eat Together’ is all about family and the importance of enjoying a meal together. This campaign was launched by Washington State University Extension in 1996 and proved to be extremely successful! Not only does this campaign promote family meals, but it also places an emphasis and eating more nutritious meals. WSU has also developed additional materials that can incorporate this theme into other areas, such as a classroom or after-school activities.

The ‘Eat Better, Eat Together’ program has shown to be a positive influence in many families. Research has shown that families that share meals together have better communication within their family, eat healthier meals, have increased school performance, and are better at adjusting to new situations. So if eating together as a family has so many benefits, then why don’t more people choose to do so? Obstacles.

Many families face multiple obstacles that can make it nearly impossible to plan a family meal together such as conflicting schedules, no time, or they don’t know how or what to cook for dinner. Thankfully, your local health department is going to provide you with some tips and easy recipes to make family dinners not only possible, but less stressful as well.

How to make family meals a common occurrence?

• Start eating together sooner. If you start having family meals together while your children are young, it should become habit.
• Plan ahead of time when you will enjoy a family meal together. Remember, if you are just starting out, start with one family meal a week. Try to choose a day when everyone can be there.
• Breakfast and lunch are meals, also. A family meal does not necessarily mean that it has to be dinner.
• Prepare meals ahead of time if time is not on your side. Think about purchasing a crockpot if it is in your budget. With a crockpot, you can just toss the ingredients in and let it cook all day.
• Try to involve everyone to make it fun. Let kids set the table, mix ingredients, or think of the next meal. If you have older children, see if they would like to prepare a meal for the family.

How to make family meals more enjoyable

• Focus on each other. This means turning the television off, as well as phones. If you can’t turn your phones off, avoid bringing them to the table to resist the temptation of using them.
• To have a stress-free meal, avoid sensitive topics. Instead, talk about enjoyable things.
• Encourage everyone to try to new things, however, avoid demanding them to because this may cause tension and could possibly threaten your weekly/daily family meal time.
• Involve everyone in conversation, especially children!
• Have fun!

Tips on how to eat healthier as a family and save money

• Shop smarter. When you go grocery shopping, choose the healthier snack item.
• Make a grocery list and stick to it. Only buy items you need.
• Don’t grocery shop while you’re hungry. You will be more likely to spend more money and choose the less nutritious options.
• See if your local grocery store price matches. This can save you time and money because you won’t be shopping at multiple store.
• If there is a good deal on an item that your family uses a lot of, stock up!
• Buy store brands.
• Buy items that are in season.

Finally, here are some easy-to-follow recipes that you and your family and prepare and eat together!

 Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken thighs, with the bone, skin removed
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (Tuttorosso my favorite!)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
• 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
• 1/2 large onion, sliced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh herbs such as basil or parsley for topping

Directions:
Quick method: Season chicken with salt and black pepper and place in the slow cooker. Pour tomatoes over the chicken, top with onions and peppers, add oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper, give it a quick stir and cover. Set crock pot to LOW 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours. When the timer beeps, remove lid and keep the crock pot on HIGH one hour to help it thicken. Better method but requires more prep:  Heat a large skillet over medium-high, lightly spray with oil (I use my Misto) and brown chicken on both sides a few minutes, season with salt and pepper. Add to the slow cooker. To the skillet, spray with a little more oil and add onions and peppers. Sauté until juices release and the vegetables become golden, a few minutes. Add to the slow cooker. Pour tomatoes over the chicken and vegetables, add oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper, give it a quick stir and cover. Set crock pot to LOW 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours. Remove bay leaf, adjust salt and pepper and enjoy!

This recipe brought to you by: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/06/crock-pot-chicken-cacciatore.html

 

Simply Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef (try choosing the leaner beef to make it a healthier meal!)
• 2 ½ cups shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 container part-skim ricotta cheese
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
• ¼ cup chopped parsley (if you choose to use dried parsley, use about half as much)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 jar (24 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 12 Lasagna noodles, uncooked

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F.

BROWN meat in large skillet on medium-high heat. Meanwhile, mix 1-1/4 cups mozzarella, ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley and egg until blended.

DRAIN meat; return to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add 1 cup water to empty sauce jar; cover with lid and shake well. Add to meat mixture; stir until blended. Spread 1 cup meat sauce onto bottom of 13×9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup meat sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and cheeses. Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray.

BAKE 1 hour or until heated through, removing foil after 45 min. Let stand 15 min. before cutting to serve.

This recipe brought to you by: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/simply-lasagna-69196.aspx

 

Minestrone

 

Ingredients:

• 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
• 2 cups water
• 14 oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed and dried (You can also use any other type of bean!)
• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 medium yellow sweet pepper, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning or 1 teaspoon dried basil and garlic powder
• 1 cup dry rigatoni or penne pasta (You can also use shells or any other kind of pasta)
• 2 cups baby spinach (Try buying fresh, but if not, frozen will work as well. If using frozen, make sure you thaw and drain it first!)
• Shaved parmesan cheese and/or fresh basil (optional)

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven, combine tomatoes, water, beans, broth, sweet pepper, seasoning, and pasta. Bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium.
3. Cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, just until pasta is barely tender.
4. Stir in spinach.
5. Ladle into soup bowls and top with parmesan cheese and/or basil (optional).
6. Enjoy!

This recipe brought to you by: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/minestrone/

 

Resources:

http://nutrition.wsu.edu/ETEB/pdf/LeadersGuide/ETEBLeaderGuide.pdf                       http://food.unl.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=aef5ba2b-eb28-49af-a25b-2db5292e432d&groupId=4089482
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/preschoolers/healthy-habits/making-mealtime-family-time.html
http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/healthy-and-cheap-meals/

Tongue print?

Don’t stick out your tongue if you want to hide your identity.  Similar to fingerprints, everyone also has a unique tongue print.