Healthy Habits Workshop for Moms and Dads

Each day, children make choices that affect their health, their relationships, their self-confidence and ultimately their success in school. Spend your morning with us, and learn how you can help your children develop a perfect blend of healthy habits — ingredients that will help them reach their greatest potential.

The workshop will include:
• healthy cooking demonstrations: Bistro Kids and Robyn Prusky
• tips for healthy parent-child relationships: Andy Pomerantz, PhD, and
Debbie Granick, RN, MSW
• insights on nutrition, exercise and learning: Cheryl Maayan, MAJE
• a guide to reading food labels: Andy Zuckerman, MD
• a taste-test of healthy snacks
• ideas for parents of picky eaters…and more!

All the Right Ingredients: Helping children establish healthy habits
Tuesday, March 9, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
at The Saul Mirowitz Day School — Reform Jewish Academy

Bring your friends with young children! This is a great way for prospective parents to learn that RJA is a school that REALLY cares about kids!

RSVP to Patty Bloom.

WWII program enlisted for war on child obesity

Childhood obesity continues to trend upwards at alarming rates.  We need to do all we can to put healthier food in front of our children.  This is a great article about a program that was created in 1946 to transform WWII recruits that were malnourished and now is at the front in trying to deal with our nation’s obesity issue.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/08/MNG81BT6RN.DTL

KCA is One Cool School

KCTV5 in Kansas City is doing a feature called “Cool Schools.”  Kansas City Academy was recently featured and our Bistro kids progam was a part of it.  Great job to Chef Coby and Chef Mark, as well as the students on being part of “Cool Schools.”  But we’ve known for a long time how cool you all are! 

Click the following link to view the segment

http://www.kctv5.com/video/22474384/index.html

The latest scoop from SMDS

The following article appeared in Saul Mirowitz Day School newsletter called “KIDZ NEWZ…..for kids, by kids.”  A big Bistro kids shout out to Matthew B for doing such a great interview with our Chef Monica!

YUM…..by Matthew B., 4th Grade

Did you wonder what it is like to cook for 82 kids every other day? I went into the lunchroom and interviewed the AMAZING Chef Monica. Our conversation is below:

Matthew: Why do you like making food for the kids at RJA?
Monica: Because the kids here are awesome, and I like to see them smile.

Matthew: What’s the favorite thing to cook?
Monica: That’s a hard question because I like to cook a lot of things.  Probably homemade pizza and pasta.

Matthew: What is the nicest compliment you’ve received from an RJA student?
Monica: Recently, a student said “Chef Monica, the meatloaf  was so good, I didn’t need ketchup!” That meant a lot to me because some people like to put ketchup  on food even before they taste it.

Matthew: How did you decide to be a chef when you grew up?
Monica: I’ve loved to cook for as long as I can remember. My mom told me that when I was three, I would take frozen foods out of the freezer and stick them in the oven. I would pretend I was cooking! 

Matthew: What makes the lunches special here?
Monica: They taste good AND they are good for you! Any time you can get that combination, that’s a good thing! All of the food is fresh and organic.

Matthew: What do we have to look forward to?
Monica: In the spring, we’ll start cooking with things from our garden. You’ll pick the food and bring it to the kitchen and see it on your lunch tray. That will be fun!

Chartwells Food Service

Great article from the Washington Times looking into Chartwells food service.  This should open your eyes

D.C. school lunch firm questioned on nutrition

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/26/dc-school-lunch-firm-questioned/

Bistro kids Newest addition!

It’s a…………………New Culinary Class Instructor for Kansas City.  I’d pass out bubble gum cigars but I chewed them all on my drive back from Clearwater Fl. to our home office in Estero Florida.  Okay it’s not the home office but it’s where I’m at and it’s home and an office so……okay anyway….

BISTRO KIDS IS PLEASED TO WELCOME MARK ZUKAITIS JR. TO OUR STAFF!

We are thrilled to have Mark on our team and look forward to what he will bring to our company and our Kansas City Customers.  Here’s Mark’s Bio in his own words:

“I have had a passion for food since I can remember.  Both of my parents loved to cook dinner for the family, and I began helping at a very young age.  By the time I was 10 years old, my parents were letting me take turns with them cooking dinner.  I attended Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina to get professional training and graduated second in my class of over 500 students with an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts.  I have extensive background in Low Country cuisines of the Southern United States as well as Southwestern fare and Meditterranean foods from Spain, France, Italy and Morocco.  I was a Culinary class instructor at Williams-Sonoma for over five years and have done private classes, caterings, and wine tastings at people’s homes for the past 10 years for groups of all sizes.  Today, I enjoy cooking at home with my two daughters, Isabelle, seven years old, and Evelyn, 5 years old.  We focus on fun, yummy food that is healthy and full of energy for our busy lives.  I am very excited to be a member of Bistro Kids and to help teach other children about the wonderful world of food and the benefits of eating well balanced meals.”

Mark Zukaitis Jr.

Welcome to the staff Mark.  We are happy to have you here! 

  

Bistro kids is making impacts on lives

We received a message from Rachel Kennedy a couple of days ago, and it really pleased us to see what she had to say.  We are thrilled that we could in some small way make an impact in someone making a career change like Rachel is making. 

“Hello Chef K!
 
My name is Rachel Kennedy.  We have previously spoken via email a couple of times, I used to work for Oakhill Day School and I handled all of the billing, so the few times that you undercharged us, I emailed you to let you know.  Anyway, I decided to make a career change, partly because of Bistro Kids.  I have a Business Degree from UMKC and I worked for State Street for many years and also ran my own business.  But last semester I decided to go back to school and begin to work towards a degree in Dietetics and become a Registered Dietitian.  My focus is going to be on children and hopefully school lunches and I am so happy that a business like Bistro Kids exists.
 
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Bistro Kids had a part in my “light bulb moment” to change careers!
 
Best of luck to you and maybe our paths may cross once I become certified.
 
Rachel Kennedy”

Thanks for the note Rachel.  We wish you the best of luck with your schooling and look forward to our paths crossing in the near future.  You are going to be a great plus to the children who you work with!

P.S. Do you have any more of those light bulbs?  I sure could use one or two! :O)

Rethinking Lunch in Minnesota

This is a great video on how they are rethinking lunches in Minnesota.  We love that they are making the effort to give our children a chance at healthy lunches and a healthier future.  Kudos to everyone there for taking the time to create this video!

http://www.bethecatalyst.org/andyberndt/posts/331-new-video-what-s-happening-with-school-food-around-minnesota

Health Optimizer

When we find a site that we feel will be of value to you we like to pass it on.  www.myhealthoptimizer.com is a great website that will empower you in dealing with your health.  The site has valuable health resources which will assist you with strategies and practices that are optimal for you and help you achieve results. 

Learning and dealing with health can be a daunting task trying to sort out what  to do?  This site gives you the opportunity to go at your own pace to start the journey to empowering  yourself with knowledge to deal with your health.  As we all know, there is nothing greater than that!  Take a look around their website.  It may be just what you are looking for.

Happy Health!

The Staff at Bistro kids

Join us on Facebook and Twitter

Join us on Facebook and Twitter as we continue our quest to serve healthy food and teach a healthy lifestyle to our customers (students) of the schools we serve. 

Join our fan page on Facebook: search Bistrokids

or click the following link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Bistro-Kids-Farm-2-School-Lunch-Program/124613687220?ref=ts

And follow us on Twitter: Chefk

or click the following link: http://twitter.com/chefk

We look forward to having you join our fun!