The Valley Breeze

THE RECIPE BOX - New program teaches kids how to cook healthy meals

By Rhonda Hanson

NORTH PROVIDENCE - This recipe was made at home by 13-year-old Andrew Lourenco, a student at Ricci Middle School.

According to his mom, Patricia, "He's been interested in cooking since he was 5 years old, doing all the outdoor grilling." When the school nurse announced a new program incorporating both nutrition and culinary skills, Andrew wanted to participate.

The after-school program - Fit2COOK4Kids - took place at The Davinci Community Center located in Providence on the North Providence line.

Karen Salvatore, creator of the after-school work/study model program said, "This is an immediate, specific and realizable educational grassroots health care solution to prevent childhood diabetes and obesity."

It began five years ago when she formed a nonprofit called Food and Truth. Her goal was to educate, motivate and organize around food issues. But, she felt that it had to be done in a loving and safe environment in order to succeed and, more important, have a lasting impact.

Funds were secured through grant monies and a common goal established between the Davinci Center's Executive Director John DeLuca, and Mayor Lombardi of North Providence. According to Salvatore the mayor had been looking for a program that was geared toward children and since the center services many North Providence residents it was a good fit.

The children were chosen by middle school nurses, assessed as at-risk kids for diabetes and other health issues. But it wasn't just going to be fun and games. There was a contract to be signed by each child with very specific expectations laid out in it, including how much they would be paid, approximately $6 an hour, for attending the two and one half hour sessions twice weekly.

Among the stipulations was the agreement to learn the discipline of healthy nutrition, exercise and cooking, how to bank the money they earned, food and knife safety, how to prepare a delicious and nutritious meal for their whole family and how to read a nutrition label. Also table etiquette, conversation and preparation skills for job interviews was all to be covered in the six-week span of the program.

Executive Chef Angel Ferrer gave food instruction. Each child received a slow cooker to take home and twice a week prepared the family meal with ingredients sent home by the chef. Following that, a discussion of the ingredients and experience as well as a little friendly competition for "best presentation" was shared at the next class.

Chef Angel gave the kids a pizza crust and sent them home one day. The dessert pizza recipe was "created" by Andrew after an online search. He used the pizza crust supplied by Chef Angel for his first creation. For the upcoming graduation, Andrew decided to remake his pizza using a cornmeal crust as well as making his own whipped cream because he learned in class that prepared nondairy whipped topping - though fast and easy - is made with hydrogenated oil and is not the better choice for your body.

He found his cornmeal pizza crust at Whole Foods in the freezer section, but other recipes do use refrigerated sugar cookie dough or ready-made sugar cookies as the base. A whole wheat crust would be a good choice too.

Andrew likes kiwi, mandarin oranges and strawberries on his dessert pizza. The best part of the program for Andrew is that "he is much more conscious of what he puts into food now, lots of colors (healthy vegetables and fruits), he's carrying it with him," said his mom.

As for the program, it seemed a wonderful success, especially on graduation night where 48 students smiled with pride as they greeted dignitaries, sat them at tables and served some of their own creations, including Andrew's dessert pizza. In fact, Andrew said he'd rate the course a five-out-of-five.

Karen Salvatore is hoping that the new O'Bama-Biden Transition Project will get a good look at this program and allocate stimulus funding to continue with this model statewide and across the country. It is a health crisis - childhood diabetes and obesity - and it needs addressing now, she stated.

"I feel that my whole life has been leading up to this," said Salvatore. She quotes a Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." But most important she believes that "Healthy food is love to be shared."

For more information about the Food and Truth "Fit2COOK4Kids" contact Salvatore at 294-6800.

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients:

1 cornmeal pizza crust (Vicolo brand)

1 (8)oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 +1/2 cups whipped cream

assorted berries fruits, washed and sliced

Directions:

1. Bake crust at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool.

2. To make the your own whipped cream use heavy cream and add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Whip until it becomes thick.

3. Mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and whipped cream.

4. Spread this mixture evenly over the pizza crust.

5. Decorate the top with sliced fruits such as kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, raspberries etc. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe can be made in a mini-pizza size using sugar cookies as the base.

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