We are so excited that Claire is hosting our 4th program and this time, due to the generosity of our sponsors, we can offer it FREE to every kid – as long as they have internet coverage!

This is what you need to know!

It’s free

There are no fees to participate. There are great prizes for the kids and parents go in the draw to win a fabulous BOSCH dishwasher.

It’s online

This program is UNIQUE and available ANYWHERE there is Internet coverage. This means parents have no travelling, no pick ups or drop offs – kids learn to cook in their own home, using their food, cooking their dinner. Location is no barrier to participation.

Kids love it

The program is hosted by teen Claire Gourley. She has the ability to motivate and inspire kids to share her food discovery journey. Feedback from kids on the previous three online programs is extremely positive.

Uses technology wisely

Kids love participating in live-chats, uploading images, watching You Tubes and making Internet cooking buddies. We ensure it is in a safe environment and we veto any comments before they are posted. Activities are designed to keep data use to a minimum.

Program is flexible – kids from a huge age range (5 – 16) join in.

We have mums, dads, caregivers and grandparents all having fun with their kids.  We also have a lot of kids who are over 14 who join in by themselves interacting with Claire, and others who get a friend over to cook and do the challenges together. During the program families and friends from up and down the country sit down to an It’s My Turn To Cook Tonight dinner!

It’s more than just cooking

We slip in all sorts of other foodie things – like making good food choices, reading labels, kitchen safety, budgeting, nutrition tips, food jokes plus they gain confidence both in the kitchen and on the computer. We send them to do challenges – like over-the-top table settings and random acts of food kindness – all fun activities designed to give kids practical food skills as well as a deeper understanding of food.

Kids who are food savvy have a huge advantage

Research shows kids who have practical food skills are far more likely to make better food choices. Kiwi kids need to be encouraged and supported to make good food choices.

Timing

Runs April 22-24 (also 15-17 July & 1-3 October)

Theme

Each program has a different theme – the April theme is quick food.

Find out more

www.itsmyturntocooktonight.com

Wow we have done it – Claire has her first book in the Apple iBookstore!

Claire and I have spent much of her university holidays working on new publications for you – this first one is now available. We are so excited as this is great techonolgy and a fantastic way to motivate your child. We think this is a big step for us as we move with the times and keep up with technologies your kids are being exposed to.

William, my younger son has just gone into a class at school which is blended learning with iPad as the central focus – and he is loving it… I know your kids will love this cookbook format!

This first book has a focus on food for good weather – light summery food, barbecues, salads and in Claires style of course there are some sweet treats too!

I have five review copies to give away – if you would like a free copy to review please email me on glenda@foodsavvykids.com

Click here…

Teenager Claire Gourley shares her food discovery journey with easy, quick recipes and tips to get kids food savvy. For kids aged 9 – 16, this book reflects Claire’s food motto – “I don’t do complicated” and is all about making cooking fun and achievable.
Claire recipes work, taste great and are really really easy. If she didn’t find them reliable, tasty and easy, she ditched them! She has added lots of photos, tips and things kids will probably want answered as they are cooking… for anything a bit tricky she links to her YouTubes.

Claire wants to know enough about food to take good care of herself. She figures lots of kids are the same as her – they love eating food but they’re always busy with friends, school and sport, so they can’t really be bothered spending too much time cooking – but that doesn’t mean want to settle for average food!

It’s My Turn To Cook takes kids on Claire’s food journey as she has worked out what she needs to know to get food savvy! She has gathered quick, easy recipes made a lot of YouTubes, and asked a lot of questions. She intertwines food and nutrition tips so that while kids are cooking they also get skills to make good food choices.

Many cookbooks are written by adults for adults and while they may look beautiful they are often boring… Claire doesn’t do boring!! This informal chatty approach has much appeal with kids of all ages.

The other two titles are now finishing off are

• It’s My Turn to Cook Quick Food and
• It’s My Turn to Cook Bread

Yesterdays holiday program is a great way to leave 2012… it epitomizes my goal of happy kids cooking! As 2012 draws to a close  it’s a time to reflect where we got to…

It has been a year of holiday programs, lots of happy kids cooking and getting food savvy… Claire and I feel like we have just begun to scratch the surface as there is just so many  kids who want to learn so they can fully equip themselves… These are exciting times as we further develop our eBooks, streamline our holiday programs…

I look forward to helping you get your kids more food savvy in 2013! Best wishes for a lovely family time over the holidays. You can still download the free resources of yesterdays programs by clicking on the book or going here.

Glenda Gourley
PS… This little video is a snapshot of our holiday program…   it was so cool to see the children so happily involved!

This week has been amazing as the media have encouraged kids to learn to cook…

As a finalist in the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards there has been a fair bit of media interest… the highlight has been her interview on Breakfast TV and her chat with Coran Dan  - follow the link and you will see her explain why she wrote the book. The interview focussed on her age (or lack of it!) and that a cookbook had never made it this far in the awards before – she also has a major grovel to get votes in the Children’s Choice award which is really funny! from my perspective I think the potential impact on teens and parents if a nutrition book could win is so huge – so if you haven’t already – please vote!!

The other exciting thing this week is her debut on the the Smalls Blacks in Kak’s Kitchen. This is now a regular event every Sunday morning at 7.30am for the next 25 weeks (and average about  10 times on Sky Sports and the Rugby Chanel) – it is pitched at younger children and the intent is definitely to encourage kids to have a go at cooking. I will load these to YouTubes but in the meantime just follow the TVNZ link and she is in Chapter one.

Success teaching cooking with children is much more likely if you start off with foods that they really like. In my experience I have found that it is ideal to start with easy kids recipes using familiar foods, like potatoes, which have a wealth of redeeming features. The vast majority of teenagers love the taste of potatoes so you are pitching to a receptive audience.

Taste, ease, nutrition and budget may be high on an adult’s radar of what influences a decision to cook. However, issues like being able impress friends, being able to make yourself look good by having healthy skin, being at a healthy weight, choosing foods which are sustainable, even having recipes electronically rather than on paper – are likely to be jamming the radar of a teenager.

Potatoes have many positive features, being the worlds third biggest food crop their availability and acceptance is well entrenched. The huge advantage of potatoes is that no matter where you live you will always be able to buy locally grown – a feature which has much appeal for our environmentally savvy teens.

From an international perspective potatoes really shine out on a whole raft of environmental issues. The potato plant produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Potatoes also require significantly less water to grow than other carbohydrates. On average, it takes 3,000 litres of water to grow 1kg of rice, 500 litres to grow 1kg of wheat and 75 litres for 1kg of potatoes. Plant utilisation is efficient as up to 85% of the potato plant is edible human food, compared to around 50% in cereals.

So when you consider production capability, sustainability and use of world resources it is little wonder that teaching teenagers to cook by using this remarkable food is so effective. For those keen to do their bit for the planet, eating locally grown potatoes is a step in the right direction.

Perhaps of more relevance to adults who want to teach healthy meals for kids is their nutritional status. If you had to write a nutritional CV for potatoes you’d have a rather bulging document. The assets of this rather plain-looking vegetable which is sometimes referred to as humble, show clearly that in nutrition terms they are clearly anything but.

Put succinctly, potatoes are amazingly nutrient and phytonutrients rich, bursting with vitamins and minerals, are virtually fat free, contain no cholesterol and when served in their skins are a great source of fibre. Potatoes have a high satiety index which means they have a key role to play in weight control as they make you feel full for longer.

Versatility also stands out. Whilst a child likes familiarity of foods, they do not want to be bored. Many dishes have potatoes in them, from awesome filled baked potatoes, scrummy soup, to-die-for wedges, to a huge range of salads. Additionally there is the universal attraction that children have for roast, boiled and mashed potatoes.

So why should you start teaching easy kids recipes with potatoes? It’s simple really.

1. They like the taste.
2. No matter where you live, they are readily available at affordable prices.
3. They are great for the planet.
4. They are great for them.
5. They are familiar and able to be cooked in many ways.

The most important thing is that once a child gains confidence with a food that they like, they will venture on to other foods. Let’s get these kids having some fun, enjoying what they cook, feeling the benefits of eating healthy food and racking up a few successes!

Over the past few weeks, and for quite a few to come, Claire has been presenting really easy kids recipes on after school TV. Amidst the cartoons and lively banter of kids TV presenters Claire has a two minute segment called Claire Cooks .

I believe this is perfect positioning – cooking is being portrayed as fun and easily achieved by everyone. The presenters really support Claire and encourage their viewers to ‘have a go’. A lot of basic food skills  are covered and and nutrition messages delivered in a relaxed and  fun way. To me this is nutrition education in action! The role modelling is awesome.

The recipes we selected have been incredibly simple and all have come from Claire’s collection of recipes in the ‘nearly’ released book Who’s Cooking Tonight? (Out very soon!!)

The programs that have screened are all loaded to Claire’s website in the video section. New ones are  added as they are aired.

I am delighted that there has been a lot of media interest recently  in cooking with children and presenting easy kids recipes that can teach children to cook.

Last week Claire was on The Erin Simpson Show on TV2 where she discussed her philopshy of food ( do as little work as possible but get as good tasting food as you can) and prepared one of her favorite recipes. It was great to see the presenter so  enthusiastically encouraging kids to get into the kitchen and have a go.

Over the weekend we had another TV film crew filming in our kitchen for another after school kids TV show Studio 2. For this show Claire was  filmed doing  six step by step recipes.(You can imagine the juggle this has was around her school work and family life – the photo will how you just how invasive this is!!!!) and these will screen over a 12 week period.

In both of these cases I was impressed and heartened by the enthusiasm and fun way they wanted to impart cooking skills to the kids and also deliver nutrition messages as well. If we have any hope at all of inspiring kids to go the whole ‘have fun – let’s make it cool’ concept has to be paramount.  Pop over to Claire’s site and follow the links if you are interested. I will let you know when the series of six segments begins so you can see what I mean.