In this issue:

• Recipe for Tandoori Yoghourt Chicken Twist
• Dairy Good For Pre-Schoolers
• Lunchbox & After School Tips

Tandoori Yoghourt Chicken Twist

Serves 1

• Combine 1 teaspoon tandoori spices with 1/2 cup Jalna Low Fat Natural Creamy Yoghourt. 
• Divide mix and marinate 50g chicken in one half for 15 minutes. Chargrill or BBQ chicken and slice.
• Spread remaining yoghourt mix on 1 slice flat bread with salad and chicken and roll up.

Dairy Good for Pre-Schoolers

By Karen Inge, APD, leading Australian dietitian and nutrition advisor to Jalna Dairy Foods

It is a moment of joy, tinged with just a touch of sadness, as you watch your ‘baby’ take their first tentative steps towards school or pre-school. They are growing up both physically and emotionally. I think every parent, no matter how long ago, can remember quite vividly when their children started school.

 If you are dealing with that moment, your adventure is just beginning. You not only have to be an excellent adjudicator, organiser, chauffeur and chef, but it’s vital you become a Growth Guru too.

When it comes to optimal growth in childhood, it’s simply something that you don’t want to gamble with.  Dairy foods, like Jalna Yoghourts, are packed with protein and essential nutrients like calcium, to help your kids grow and glow.

Did you know?

• Between birth and 18 years of age a person’s body weight increases about twentyfold.
• During childhood (3-10 years) the rate of increase in weight and height is fairly steady, at about 2-3kg and 5-6cm per year.
• During infancy, the rate of growth goes up and down, but from about three the rate of increase in weight generally keeps pace with the rate of increase in height. 
• Calcium is important for building strong bones and healthy teeth. Adequate daily calcium intake, together with load bearing physical activity, are vital to help ensure that peak bone mass is met.  
• In the first 20 years of life, about three times as much calcium is laid down in the bone than is lost during 40 years of ageing.

The fundamental focus for every Growth Guru is to help your kids achieve the highest score possible in peak bone mass. So your kids need a constant supply of calcium for maximum mineralisation to occur.

Where do you get it?

Enjoying dairy foods, like Jalna Yoghourt, Yoghourt On The Go and Vitalize, is one of the best ways to meet daily calcium requirements, as calcium from dairy foods is easily absorbed. Encourage your kids to have 2-4 serves of dairy food per day - one serve is equal to 200g of Yoghourt or Yoghourt On The Go, a cheese slice or a glass of milk.

The 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey just released revealed that girls (14–16 years) appeared to be most at risk of not meeting their dietary requirements for calcium (82–89% did not meet the Estimated Average Requirements - EAR). Similarly, older boys (14–16 years) were least likely to reach their EAR for calcium (44% did not meet the EAR). Ensuring adequate bone density in these critical years is so important that we need to make an effort to include more calcium-rich foods in family meals.

These tips will help ensure your young children will get all the calcium they need as they start at school or pre-school:

• Stock the fridge with plenty of choices in fresh dairy foods, so any time they want a snack there’s something good to choose from.
  
• Go for Jalna fruit Yoghourts – Premium Strawberry or Fruits of the Forest Creamy Yoghourt, or Low Fat or Fat Free Berry Fruit, or BioDynamic Organic Blueberry or Low Fat Strawberry. Or Yoghourt On The Go - Strawberry or Wildberry.
  
• Mix up your cheeses with tasty, ricotta, brie, Swiss, cream and fetta. 
  
• Choose reduced-fat milk or yoghourt drinks, yoghourt or cheese for all kids in the family from five years, and for as young as two if there is a weight issue. Reduced fat dairy products are not, however, suitable for children under two years.
  
• Choose breakfast cereals that are fortified with calcium and serve with milk or Jalna Yoghourt On The Go or Vitalize Breakfast+ drinks. 
  
• Pack a punch with a healthy lunch – include chilled, single-serve tubs of yoghourt in school lunchboxes. Jalna has a range to choose from in 200g tubs – Premium Vanilla and Fruits of the Forest Creamy Yoghourt; Low Fat Strawberry Yoghourt plus BioDynamic Organic Blueberry Yoghourt. Or you can freeze Jalna Yoghourt On The Go – Creamy Smooth Strawberry – or Vitalize drinks for drinks for playlunch.
  
• Substitute Jalna Natural Yoghourt or Jalna Leben for sour cream on jacket potatoes and use yoghourt in meals – the Jalna recipe section has easy meal ideas.
  
• Include a dollop of yoghourt on barbecued fresh fruit kebabs or fruit salad for dessert.
  

Lunchbox & After School Tips

OK, so the festive season and the holidays seem a distant memory, now it’s back to reality and you’re faced with what to prepare for school lunches and after school snacks. Jalna’s home economist Brigid Treloar has five tips to inspire you – and feed the kids healthy food.

1. Think Fresh
   
   Always look for seasonal produce. It is usually tastier, has all its vitamins and minerals intact, and often cheaper than food that’s been stored or had to travel long distances.
   
   Late summer and early autumn offers Australians an extraordinary array of fruits and vegetables to temp the taste buds of any ‘fussy’ eater. Mangoes, berries, peaches, plums and apricots make great school lunchbox additions. But do protect them from being squished.
   
   
2. Crunch Time
   
   Find a split container and fill one side with your child’s favourite Jalna Yoghourt – the fruit ones like Strawberry, BerryFruit, Blueberry or Fruits of the Forest are always well received – and the other with crunchy vegetable sticks like carrot, celery, snow peas, beans. This way the child gets to increase their vegetable and calcium consumption. Alternatively, pack a 200g tub of Jalna Yoghourt and another container with the vegetable sticks. 
    
3. Salads With a Twist
   
   Sandwiches or wraps are regular lunchbox items, but why not try potato salad or coleslaw, blended with sliced chicken or tuna, packed in a tub for school lunches?
   
   Try our recipe for Potato & Tuna Salad with Yoghourt Mustard Dressing – serve it for dinner one night, add to the lunchbox for the next day. If you make up a coleslaw, use Jalna Low Fat Natural Creamy Yoghourt, a little lime or lemon juice plus wasabi and add slices of pear and pecan nuts for a different texture.
   
   
4. After School Snacks
   
   If you need to give the kids a lift after school, have a selection of Jalna Yoghourt On The Go and Vitalize drinks in the fridge. Vitalize Vitamin+, with its 10 fruits and ten vitamins, is great to overcome flagging energy. And during the hotter months, you can freeze any of the drinks, blended with chunks of fresh fruit, for a quick, cold snack.
   
   Too many muffins you buy are high in fat, but Jalna’s Pear & Oatmeal Yoghourt Muffins (see our recipe), combined with a Yoghourt On The Go, are a better option to keep the kids going till dinner. Make them in mini muffin tins, rather than the ‘extra large’ size.
   
   Or try the Jalna recipe for Banana Loaf, made with new Jalna Low Fat BerryFruit Yoghourt.
   
   
5. Food Safety
   
   Food taken to school needs to be stored properly to avoid spoilage so always use coolbricks or frozen drinks to protect lunchbox foods. And keeping foods separated in containers or sections helps avoid spoilage. You can freeze Jalna Yoghourt On The Go bottles, but not Yoghourt tubs (the Yoghourt will tend to separate).
   
   Need more inspiration? You’ll find more great recipe ideas you can prepare for dinner one night, then pop into the lunchbox next day, in our Recipe section.