Healthy Kid Ambassador visits the King

     Remember last August when I had the chance to go to the White House and meet the President and First Lady, that is when I got the title of Healthy Kid Ambassador. The inspired me to eat healthier than ever It also inspired me to try and help other kids make healthy choices.
      I thought about the area I live in- and we have the 2nd most visited house after the White House- GRACELAND, home of the King. This would be a great place to have a Healthy Heart Kids Picnic and so I asked the nice people at Graceland, and they gave me the opportunity to have a booth at Scout Rock. I am a Scout so that sounded cool.

       One March 22nd I set up my healthy Kid Ambassador booth , showing How to Rethink You Drink. I got about a dozen popular drinks and I measured out the sugar content and put the sugar in bags by each drink. I used a real grahm scale, it was fun and shocking. Have you ever imagined giving your kid a candy bar with dinner?
        Well, it would have less sugar than a Sprite. Or a Blow pop in a kids lunch? That is the amount of sugar in a low sugar capri sun- I can drink FOUR of them!!! That is 44 Grahams of sugar!!!!So many people were shocked.I interviewed Amy about her healthy choice vending machines and had some petitions to sign to get Little Caesars to sell some veggies and Restaurants to serve half portions for half price instead of the bad kids meal food!
   



It was amazing,one lady invited us to do the booth again for her Charity walk! I think Graceland really enjoyed having me in fact they invited me back next year! I would still like them to host a heart healthy Picnic though!

Thank you, Thank you very much,
Leaf

Tuna Quinoa Salad $4.00..........

 

Well, You all know that I love to cook, and I have tried a contest or two, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that I entered The Epicurious First Kids' State Dinner contest and that I won for Great State of Tennessee. 

I found out about this contest while Mamma was looking for nutritional facts for the Cub Scouts. I really was not sure I wanted to enter it, but after some convincing I decided it could be fun. The prize was extravagant. 

First, I wanted to make one of my favorites a Grits Bowl,
 I will give you a recipe for that one day soon. I did learn that grits are not a whole grain, they did not met the My Plate Standards. I saw Quinoa on the list and got curious, epically curious. 

I learned to cook it like rice, it is not hard. I tried lots of different ingredients before I realized that just plain Tuna was the tastiest. I added my favorite veggies and one I don't like onions. I had a great salad but no ideas on how to plate it! We tried a lettuce wrap, or carrot chips and the salad as dip but they seemed boring. My Auntie came and she thought to stuff a pepper acept what kid wants to bit through a whole pepper! Mamma and I sliced them in half and they looked like boats so my Tuna Schooners where discovered. They sailed me all the way to the White House. 

My recipe is in a cookbook available for free from the USgov web sight, along with the other great healthy winners.

More on the great trip and the White House tomorrow-

I promise

Love the Cabbage

Leaf