Crunchy Vegetable Burrito
Our goal is to help parents and caregivers prepare healthy meals and snacks by sharing recipes, tips and ideas that are geared for children ages 2 to 5. This will help children eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods along with reducing the mealtime stress of feeding young children.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup carrots, scrubbed with clean vegetable brush under running water, shredded
- 1 ½ cups broccoli slaw or chopped broccoli or cauliflower
- 1 cup chopped salad greens or lettuce, gently rubbed under cold running water
- ½ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup low-fat ranch dressing
- 4 (7-inch) whole grain tortillas
Directions:
- Wash hands with soap and water.
- In a small mixing bowl combine carrots, broccoli slaw, chopped lettuce and cheese.
- Add ranch dressing and toss to coat vegetables.
- Spoon ¾ cup of the vegetable mixture down the center. Wrap the tortilla around the vegetable mixture.
- Serve immediately.
Pumpkin Spice Shake
Enjoy this spicy delight as a delicious treat at the end of a busy, active day. It contains vitamin A and is a source of calcium — so you're not drinking "empty calories."
Nutrition Software Used: ESHA Food ProcessorNotes:One 15 oz. can of pumpkin has about 1-3/4 cups of canned pumpkin — enough to make seven shakes. After you open the canned pumpkin, transfer any remaining pumpkin to another container, cover, and store in the refrigerator. Use within four days or freeze. Here are some ways to use the extra pumpkin:
- Stir a few tablespoons into a bowl of oatmeal. Top with walnuts, raisins and cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
- Mix into vanilla yogurt, a tablespoon at a time, until you get a taste you like. Add a touch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice for extra flavor.
- Fill an ice-cube tray or silicon mini muffin pan with canned pumpkin. Pop out when frozen and transfer to a freezer bag.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (NOT canned pumpkin pie MIX)
- 1/3 cup nonfat milk
- 1 cup low-fat frozen vanilla yogurt
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Directions:
- Wash hands with soap and water.
- Add all ingredients to a blender. Cover and blend on high until smooth.
- If desired, garnish with a dash of pumpkin pie spice.
University to host Soil Health Summit on Nov. 19
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Loft Gallery features 4-H member's artwork
Twelve talented young artists from across Nebraska have artwork currently on display in the Loft Gallery in the Nebraska East Union.
The show features fourteen drawings, including graphite, ink, charcoal, color pencil, and scratchboard artwork, created by 4-H members. The pieces were selected from hundreds of 4-H visual art exhibits entered at the 2021 Nebraska State Fair.
The exhibition features original artwork by the following 4-H members:
- Kaila Spieker, 17, Pierce County, Hadar Handy Helpers 4-H Club
- Addison Zook, 18, Butler County, Always Busy Clover 4-H Club
- Austyn Rumbeck, 17, Buffalo County, Diamond Willow 4-H Club
- Aimee Merrill, 18, Hitchcock County, Southwest Shooting Sports 4-H Club
- Janessa Schmidt, 19, Colfax County Busy Bees 4-H Club
- Anne Marie Wurtz, 18, Lancaster County, Star City Cornhuskers 4-H Club (2)
- Piper Dather, 16, Knox County, Northwest Feeders 4-H Club
- Ashlyn Boeckenhauer, 15, Dixon County, independent 4-H member (2)
- Hadley Hartman, 11, Johnson County, West Elk Creek 4-H Club
- Kinsley Oestmann, 16, Nemaha County, Timbercreek 4-H Club
- Emily Loseke, 19, Colfax County, All-Star 4-H Club
- Carmen Kosmicki, 18, Howard County, independent 4-H member
Admission to the Loft Gallery is free and open to the public anytime the Nebraska East Union is open. The exhibit will remain in place through December.
4-H is Nebraska’s largest youth development organization–empowering 140,000 young people across Nebraska with the skills to lead for a lifetime. The 4-H visual art projects help young people develop life skills, such as communication, problem-solving, self-esteem, and self-motivation. Learn more at 4h.unl.edu.
Gratitude is Always in Season
What is Gratitude
Let’s pause for a moment to examine the definition of gratitude. The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, practicing gratitude supports social emotional learning competencies for social and self-awareness.
Research has shown there are many benefits to practicing gratitude. In a study by Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, they asked participants to journal on specific topics over the course of 10 weeks. One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). The people who journaled about gratitude were found to have improvements in health and well-being, including increased energy levels, improvement in sleep quality, lowered blood pressure, less symptoms of pain, and feeling a greater sense of joy. Click here to read more on how Practicing Gratitude Can Increase Happiness.
Gratitude as a Mindful Practice
Practicing mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way, on purpose in the present moment and non-judgmentally (Jon Kabit-Zinn). Another definition states, “Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention here and now with kindness and curiosity, so that we can choose our behavior” (Dr. Amy Saltzman). Practicing gratitude can bring you to a more present-moment awareness and similarly, gratitude can lead to living in the present.
Mindfulness in Gratitude is the topic of the week for a class I am teaching for childcare professionals, Cultivating Healthy, Intentional, Mindful Educators (CHIME). The CHIME Program provides education and guidance on how to incorporate mindfulness and reflective practice into your daily routine, teaching and care giving. Engaging in mindfulness and reflective practice has many benefits for health and well-being of both providers and young children — including reduced stress, improved emotion management, better sleep quality, increased focus and attention, and enhanced relationships.
In my CHIME class, participants kept a gratitude journal for two weeks. After the two weeks, the early childhood teachers also noted a sense of greater happiness amongst themselves and others in their workplace. Another activity I modeled in the CHIME class was to make a gratitude necklace or bracelet. We selected beads that resembled a person or thing we are grateful for and shared among the group as we strung the beads. For example, I chose the blue bead as I am thankful for the fair weather and clear blue skies. The teachers will replicate this activity with preschool children.
Harvard Medical School suggests Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier and “Gratitude is a way for people to appreciate what they have instead of always reaching for something new in the hopes it will make them happier or thinking they can’t feel satisfied until every physical and material need is met. Gratitude helps people refocus on what they have instead of what they lack. And, although it may feel contrived at first, this mental state grows stronger with use and practice.”
WAYS TO NURTURE GRATITUDE
Writing Thank-you-Notes or Emails
This practice can cultivate your relationships with others and help you to feel happier too. Don’t forget to send or deliver the message personally. I keep a bulletin board in my office, and it has pinned to it the special thank you notes that others have written to me. This little gesture of gratitude is a gift to the heart.
Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal
Keep the journal where it is handy to reach at a specific time each day, perhaps in the morning or in the evening. Write down 1, 2, or 3 things you can be grateful for each day. The things you write about do not have to be grandiose things or events, it can be the little things, hidden often in plain sight. It is important to stop and reflect on how this practice is going after about 2 weeks. What do you notice about your health and well-being?
Pray or Consider Thanking a Higher Power
Consider the practice of thanking a higher power to cultivating gratitude.
Mindfulness Meditation
Find a Gratitude Meditation Practice centered on what you are grateful for.
GRATITUDE PRACTICES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Julie A Reiss, author of Raising a Thankful Child from NAEYC says, “Teaching manners is a fine art of modeling but not always the making of meaning. Raising thankful children is a fine art of helping them make their own meaning.” We can model manners and ways to say thank you when appropriate, but it may not have meaning for children until later. Reiss suggests that learning to say thank you is not the same as being thankful, and that our role as caregivers is to model appreciation and reflect those genuine feelings back to the child.
What Does Modeling Gratitude Look Like for Young Children?
Here are some suggestions from Rebecca Parlakian and Sarah S. MacLaughlin, Nurturing Gratitude (Zero to Three, 2020)
- Show appreciation to your children. Slow down and observe more closely. You’ll see things you appreciate about your kids—then tell them! Appreciation can be an even more powerful motivator than praise. Sharing appreciation is a strong way to feel connected to one another.
- Show appreciation for others. Never underestimate the power of your words and actions. Your children are paying attention to the way you treat others, whether it’s friends, neighbors, a teacher, or the cashier at the market. They hear your tone with the salesperson on the phone. You set a great example when you model kindness, generosity, and gratefulness in your own everyday interactions.
- Use the word “grateful.” Children need to learn what this new word means. Explain that being grateful is noticing something in your life that makes you happy. “I’m grateful that it’s sunny today because it was raining yesterday.” Mention gratitude when you’re doing an everyday pleasant activity, like hanging out at the playground or eating watermelon on a hot day. Pause and say, “I’m so grateful for this day!” or “Wow, this is fun!” Your enthusiasm will be contagious.
- Make a Thankful Tree. Cut a tree trunk from cardboard or construction paper. Tape to a wall or window and cut out some leaf shapes. Ask your child to think of something they are thankful for and write one on each leaf. Then tape the leaf to a branch. Add your own “thankful things.” Have your child ask family members what they’re grateful for and add them to the tree.
- Share stories of thankfulness, gratitude, and generosity.
As with any mindfulness practice, mindful gratitude practice does take time. The benefits may not emerge immediately, but rather gradually occur over time, and children will need to be exposed to genuine appreciation and to feel appreciated themselves. How do you practice gratitude?
LYNN DEVRIES, EXTENSION EDUCATOR | THE LEARNING CHILD
Peer Reviewed by Amy Napoli , Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist and Kara Kohel Extension Educator, The Learning Child
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FarmBits Podcast: Bushel Powered Commodity Marketing
Yogurt Dip for Apples
Our goal is to help parents and caregivers prepare healthy meals and snacks by sharing recipes, tips and ideas that are geared for children ages 2 to 5. This will help children eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods along with reducing the mealtime stress of feeding young children.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 apple, gently rubbed under cool, running water, sliced
Directions:
- Wash hands with soap and water.
- Combine yogurt, cinnamon and vanilla in small bowl.
- Dunk apples in dip and enjoy!
Turkey Mashed Potato Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, scrubbed with clean vegetable brush under running water, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, scrubbed with clean vegetable brush under running water, peeled and sliced
- 1 quart (4 cups) low sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups mashed potatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 2 cups chopped, cooked turkey
- Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
Directions:
- Wash hands with soap and water.
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, sauté over medium heat in olive oil, onion and carrots until the onion is translucent and the carrots are tender crisp, about 5 minutes.
- Add chicken broth, mashed potatoes and thyme. Continue cooking and stir until broth is smooth.
- Add turkey; continue cooking on medium heat until mixture starts to simmer.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally — for about 10 minutes — until mixture is heated through and the temperature reaches 165°F when measured with a food thermometer.
- Season with salt and black pepper if desired.
Try a few of our favorite soup recipes!
Yield: 6 servings Calories: 250Total Fat: 10Saturated Fat: 4Potassium: 15Total Sugars: 4Iron: 6Vitamin D: 0Calcium: 4Protein: 19Fiber: 1Added Sugars: 0Total Carbohydrates: 21Sodium: 610Cholesterol: 50Photo provided by Alice Henneman.3 Internship Programs Help Rural Nebraska Thrive
The Rural Fellowship program has existed for eight years; Hometown Interns, three; and Lead for Nebraska, one. In 2021, 57 fellows and interns served in 36 communities across the state.
The Nebraska Microenterprise Tax Credit
4-H Horse Advisory Committee is now accepting applications
The Nebraska 4-H Horse Advisory Committee provides guidance, support, and assistance in carrying out program activities in the interest of the 4-H Youth Development and horse program. This committee is made up of 4-H volunteer leaders and Extension personnel from across Nebraska who are interested in promoting positive youth development and the 4-H horse program.
4-H leaders, parents, and trainers can serve up to a 3-year term on the committee. All members are expected to attend and participate in 75% of meetings in a calendar year of which there are typically 4. Committee members are also expected to serve on a sub-committee which may meet at a higher frequency. Committees include sponsorship and fundraising, awards and apparel, rule book, youth activity, and volunteer relations. Members are also asked to volunteer at one or more state 4-H events.
Applications are accepted from November 1st through December 3rd at 5:00 PM CT. New committee members are selected based on location, skills, and reasons for wanting to join. Those selected will be contacted directly.
Apply Now4-H Horse Advisory Committee