Monthly Archives: April 2009

Sunday’s Plate

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From World’s Healthiest Foods

Onions

Comment: Children don’t usually like onions because raw, they have a startling “bite” and cooked they become slimy. Getting children used to onions can take a lifetime, and what a shame someone does not enjoy the taste and health benefits of onions.

What would a kitchen be without the distinctively pungent smell and taste of onions filling out the flavors of almost every type of cuisine imaginable? Fortunately, yellow storage onions are available throughout the year but sweet varieties have a much more limited growing season and are available only a few months out of the year.

The word onion comes from the Latin word unio for “single,” or “one,” because the onion plant produces a single bulb, unlike its cousin, the garlic, that produces many small bulbs. The name also describes the union (also from unio) of the many separate, concentrically arranged layers of the onion.

Food Chart available HERE.

This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Onions provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Onions can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Onions, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.

And more.

Monday’s Tattler

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Good Morning!

This is Easter Week! We will be exploring Easter complete with Passion and bunnies. It’s a nice combo.

Miss Kelly has been testing the children in her class, and she asked to have report cards held another week so she could send the test results home with each child with the report card. We were very happy to do this. If you have any questions about the Kindergarten Standards Achievement test, please see Miss Kelly.

We will also be working on handwriting across the whole school. This seems to be something the kids like to do, and we have been having contests to see whose handwriting is best for their class. Handwriting is an important part of communication, and the ability to communicate through good handwriting is an important step to going off to school. Our job is to see that our children go off to school with the best abilities.

This is a short week. We will be out on Friday because of Good Friday.

On Thursday, we will send Easter baskets home. These baskets represent your child’s behavior during Lent. We don’t use candy during Lent, and when your child keeps his medal or does something extra wonderful, he receives the gift of candy for his basket. Some of these baskets are brimming. One child will have to have an auxiliary bag! If your child is not at school much, his bag will not be as full as a child who is at school every day, so don’t worry, part time parents.

When we come back to school after Easter, it’s push push push to the school finish line. We are still honing the summer program, and by May 1 we will be sending home an itinerary for summer. There are some changes being made that you will just love.

Have a great week!

Something New for Saturday

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I found this on Food Navigator and couldn’t resist it. It is something new indeed. I wonder if the kids would like this?

Scientists edge towards squid sausages

By Stephen Daniells, 19-Mar-2009

Related topics: Science & Nutrition

Muscle from jumbo squid can form stable gelled-emulsion products, according to Mexican research, offering potential for a range of products like squid frankfurters.

Writing in the International Journal of Food Science & Technology, the researchers note that jumbo squid mantle muscle used to make frankfurter-type products performed well in sensory tests.

The results suggest that the mantle muscle of the cephalopod could open up “a range of possibilities for product development”, wrote the authors, led by Anibal Felix-Armenta.

“The importance of the present study lies in that no work has been published about the elaboration of gelled-emulsified type value-added product made of jumbo squid mantle muscle,” said the researchers.

Product formulation

Using the mantle muscle of jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas), reportedly an abundant species in the Gulf of California, the researchers evaluated the formulation, processing and physicochemical characteristics of a gelled-emulsion frankfurter-type product.

The researchers note no changes in the pH or the water holding capacity of the product, a result they took to show as “an indication of the great stability this product can show during cold storage”.

Analysis of the sensory qualities, including colour, flavour, aroma, texture and overall acceptability found that colour was most negatively criticised factor. This was followed by aroma and texture, said the researchers.

The panellists involved in the sensory tests said they ‘liked slightly’ the product. One explanation for this relatively low score, said the researchers, was that this “might be […] the panellists’ first introduction to this type of product, as no seafood frankfurter has been introduced in the regional market”.

Microbiological analysis

The researchers noted an unfavourable microbial profile, with growth of aerobic bacteria observed during 27 days of storage.

“The results […] indicate that, although a stable product may be manufactured, more work needs to be done to increase the further physicochemical and microbiological storage life of jumbo squid frankfurters,” said the researchers.

“This study showed that having a proper post-harvest control of raw material (jumbo squid mantle muscle) results in the production of a wholesome gelled-emulsified type product.

“In general, from the physicochemical stand point, frankfurters showed good storage stability during the evaluated period. However, microbial growth was the decisive factor for their storage life,” they concluded.

Source: International Journal of Food Science & Technology
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2007.01709.x
“Jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) mantle muscle gelled-emulsified type product: formulation, processing and physicochemical characteristics”
Authors: A. Felix-Armenta, J.C. Ramirez-Suarez, R. Pacheco-Aguilar, M.E. Diaz-Cinco, G. Cumplido-Barbeitia, G. Carvallo-Ruiz

Friday’s Tattler

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Friday we had a splendid trip to the zoo. We are getting in the mode for summer trips, so good discipline had to be kept about staying with the group, and for the most part, the kids did a great job. A few tried to proceed me, and lost their medals, but for the most part the children were well behaved. A few lost their medals for harassing the animals. Good behavior in public always begins with good behavior at home. What is expected at home continues out the front door.

We arrived at Amazonia early and there were few people there. Many of the children were more eager to race to the finish than to observe what there was to see. Once we blocked the path, they settled down and began to look at all the wonderful animals and plants. It was then the kids began to see everything and discovered things even the teachers did not see. Addie pointed at a flamingo that was perched high up by the glass ceiling. We noticed the toucans were breading and had a big nest in the side of the wall. We saw a tiny possum in a wall cage that was just darling. We found a big snake coiled under a bush, and we enjoyed the paranahs and turtles that were in the bottom of the exhibit.

The rest of the zoo was alive because of the wonderful weather. The kids enjoyed watching the tiger pace, the zeebras move around and the wolves come right up to the window. Everyone seemed to be filled with that spring time energy. The petting zoo was being cleaned and we got to watch the zookeepers work. I saluted the hippo who is my age exactly. I asked her how she keeps her weight down, but she was too busy eating to respond!

We went to Price Park for half our lunch, but it was too cold to even play, and after eating everything I had in the way of sandwiches, we left for school and a warm room to finish our carrots, apples, pickles and cookies.

The rest of the day was spent on play and more discovery about the Amazon.

Next week is a short week. We will be in school, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We will be looking at Easter.

Immigrants for Thursday’s Class

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From Education Week. This is an interesting story in a time when the battle of the borders is increasingly in the news. My in-laws were immigrants from Ireland. They came over in the 1920s and made a go of it in New York. My father in law was a bus driver and my mother in law worked at the local Catholic school. They turned out a nurse, a secretary, and a college professor. Not bad for 3rd grade educations. Nicest people in the world.

Scholars Mull the ‘Paradox’ of Immigrants

By Mary Ann Zehr

Providence, R.I.

The academic success, tendency to stay out of trouble, and physical health of children of immigrants to the United States tend to decline significantly from the first to the third generation.

That troubling pattern brought researchers together here recently at Brown University to examine a provocative question: Is becoming American a developmental risk?

More than two decades have passed since researchers began to document what they call the “immigrant paradox”: Immigrants generally do much better in American society than expected, given the challenges of navigating in a new culture, not speaking English well, and often having little money, yet their early success often is not sustained by later generations.

For more of the story go HERE.