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If you aren’t worried about meeting any component requirements and want to offer a true dessert, try this Easter Smores Dip I saw on TikTok. Spray the bottom of a baking dish with non-stick spray or lightly coat with butter. Pour in some chocolate chips and layer with the classic Peeps marshmallows alternating colors between rows. Bake in a conventional oven 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes. Serve with graham crackers. YUM! This would be a fun recipe to send home with students or parents for some holiday weekend fun that the family can enjoy together. Bake sugar cookies in the shape of eggs or bunny rabbits, decorate and viola! Make your own fruit carrots by adding orange food coloring to melted white chocolate. Leaving the green stem on strawberries, dip them into the orange chocolate covering the red skin completely. Let it dry. Fill a piping or plastic bag with more orange chocolate, and in a sweeping motion, drizzle chocolate over strawberry to add dimension. If you wanted to, you could sprinkle it with crushed oreos to give the illusion of a fresh carrot pulled straight from the soil. How fun?! Another fun dessert would be Peeps Rice Krispies Treats! Make your Rice Krispies Treats using Peeps marshmallows.When done, sprinkle the top with colorful edible sprinkles. Students are sure to love this one! These ideas can extend into the entire Spring season! As I said in the beginning, there are endless possibilities. Ones that can meet meal pattern contributions and ones that do not. Whichever direction you choose, remember to have fun! Let the colorful passion you have for school nutrition shine through the work you do! Happy Spring!

Self-Proclaimed Recipe Concoctor Valerie Weivoda, MS, RD, LD, SNS

One thing I love about Spring is the bloom of various colors. From garden beds to the candy aisle, I love seeing the bright colors flood my surroundings welcoming the new season. When celebrating Spring and the Easter holiday this month in your cafeterias, there are endless ideas. Anything colorful can be associated with the Easter Bunny himself, including Jellybeans and Captain Crunch cereal. If you like to serve special treats on holidays like Halloween, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day, continue reading for Easter fun! Colorfully dyed boiled eggs can be served at breakfast and lunch in a protein pack container with a handful of nuts, string cheese and a muffin or on a bed of lettuce in a salad. Jazz up a basic parfait by turning it into a bunny rabbit’s garden. Layer the bottom of a clear parfait cup with 2 oz granola to create dirt. Add green food coloring to your vanilla yogurt and portion on top. Toss coconut shavings in the same green food coloring to create the illusion of grass and sprinkle atop yogurt. Now you’re ready to nestle in a small rabbit-shaped chocolate and arrange two to three Whoppers Mini Robin Eggs or Cadbury Eggs. There’s your bunny paradise. You can’t tell me a student wouldn’t want that! Use this parfait idea to create your own design and layers of a yummy breakfast treat. Easily switch out the bunny-shaped chocolate for a bunny-shaped marshmallow or substitute 2 oz grain equivalent cereal for the granola. Instead of dying the yogurt green, use strawberry yogurt or leave it white and line the inside perimeter of your cups with strawberry slices. The goal is to keep it colorful, and you can’t go wrong!

May 1-5, 2022

FIND CONNECTIONS . BUILD COMMUNITY. At The Youth Mental Health Project, we work every day to ensure that families have support to care for and strengthen their children’s mental health. Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week -- held every year during the first week of May , is a national campaign that raises awareness and funds to promote better mental health for children. Please join our FREE events this year!

Fami ly St ory Time May 1 st - 7pm

Broadway Cabaret Night May 2nd - 7pm

Young Men ’ s Mental Heal th Forum May 3rd - 7pm

xoxo Gal Pal Val

6pm - Ha r r y Pot t e r Tr i v i a 7 : 30pm - Ment a l Hea l th Tr i v i a l Pur su i t

Tr ivia Night May 4th - 6pm & 7:30pm

Genet i c Test ing for Mental Heal th May 5th - 7pm

Growing up in a family of 6 children with parents and older siblings that cooked, I have always been curious in the kitchen. My love for food and fitness led me to pursue a Master’s degree in Dietetics and Nutrition from the University of Mississippi. During my internship I had a spark of interest in school nutrition. Now, as a director, I try to create and menu at least one new recipe each month, whether it be a taste test at one school or something menued across the district. In my spare time, I love to create my own recipes at home, prepare and review other’s recipes, and talk about all things wellness on my Instagram page: @val.weivoda_rd. Valerie Weivoda, MS, RD, LD, SNS Child Nutrition Department Director, Lee County School District (MS)

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