A provider’s view on food and the CACFP program March 13, 2017 Emily BarrowActivity Ideas Food and Nutrition Providers No Comments by Emily Barrow, CACFP Child Nutrition Professional March 12th-18th is National Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) week. To celebrate, here’s a peek into the work that we do every day at Child Care Answers, sponsoring providers throughout Central Indiana. Proper nutrition during the early stages of childhood ensures appropriate development and reduces physical and educational problems later in life. Providers participating on the program receive valuable nutrition education that helps them support growing children and their nutritional needs. In addition, they receive a reimbursement to assist them financially in serving nutritious meals. WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A CACFP PROVIDER I recently reached out to one of my child care home providers, Shannon Garcia, to understand her experience with the CACFP program. She shared, “CACFP not only provides good nutrition for the children but also enhances my business. It is a marketing tool that makes me stand out from other home day cares that don’t participate. I enjoy meal planning and shopping for meals. It eliminates the hassle of trying to decide and make meals on the fly. It also helps me see menus in writing so that I know I’m offering variety and healthy choices.” INVOLVE CHILDREN IN THE FOOD PREP (AND MAKE IT FUN!) The children in Shannon’s program also love to help her make colorful fruit salads and sing songs as they prepare them. As providers (or parents), involving kids in the preparation is always a fun way to get meals going. Below is a delicious fruit salsa recipe served with cinnamon chips that makes an excellent CACFP snack. Enjoy! FRUIT SALSA WITH CINNAMON CHIPS Recipe by Jen Nikolaus, Yummy Healthy Easy Ingredients Fruit salsa: 16-oz. strawberries, diced 2 kiwi, peeled and diced ½ cup blueberries ½ cup raspberries 3 Tbsp. sugar-free apricot preserves or jam Cinnamon chips: 4 flour tortillas (I used soft taco size) cooking spray ½ cup sugar 1½ tsp. cinnamon Instructions Preheat oven to 350º F. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On a large plate, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Spray each tortilla front and back and carefully lay on the plate, one at a time. Move around lightly to get the cinnamon and sugar to adhere to the tortilla, then flip coating the other side. With a pizza cutter, cut cinnamon and sugar tortilla in half and then each half into four pieces, creating 8 slices per tortilla. Spread out on the baking sheet. Repeat with all tortillas and then place in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Pull baking sheet from oven and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, combine the fruit and the preserves in a medium sized bowl. Serve with cooled cinnamon chips and enjoy! Cover image by Flickr user Quinn Dombrowski, Creative Commons license.
