momstown Milton kids get cooking with Nutella

Our momstown Milton moms and tots gathered together this week with Miss Mary-Anne for our Junior Chef program.The energy and excitement in the room could only be explained by one thing: Nutella! 

All little eyes and ears were on Mary-Anne as she explained what ingredients our Junior Chefs needed and what we would be doing, with a little help from mom, to make delicious Nutella Breakfast Bars. 

Nutella Breakfast Bars:

 

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350°F and coat an 8*8 baking pan with cooking spray. 

2. In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Our Junior Chefs enthusiastically took turns at whisking together.

3. In another bowl, whisk sugar, butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, applesauce and egg. Add the applesauce mixture to the flour mixture and mixed just until combined. 
 

4. Fold in trail mix and spoon the whole mixture into the baking pan. The kids had a lot of fun patting and smoothing out the surface. 

5. Place in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Let cool for 15 minutes and cut into bars. 

Our Chefs had one more task to complete - spreading the oh so yummy Nutella across the top of the bars -  a little or a lot made no difference because the final product was true perfection!  

 

 

  Craft Time - favourite breakfast foods! 

Before beginning the next scrumptious treat, our Junior Chefs were given a fun craft that got them to put on their thinking caps too! They were asked to think about their favourite breakfast foods. And then they pasted colourful pictures of their special breakfast foods on a Breakfast Menu page that we encouraged the moms to take home and post on their refrigerators.

Recently Nutella released Canada's Breakfast Report citing that moms reported that the top three breakfast challenges included: a lack of breakfast ideas that the kids would like, picky eaters and a lack of time to prepare food in the morning. 

The breakfast menu was designed to help the kids "tell" moms what they prefer and act as a quick reference guide in the morning to help take the guess work out of what to serve.   The Junior Chefs enthusiastically composed their collage of foods and some of the moms were surprised at some of the foods their little ones indicated as favourites.

We weren't finished yet! Miss Mary-Anne announced it was time for another delicious Nutella recipe! 

Fruit 'n' Nutella Yogurt Parfait
(Serves 4) 

Mary-Anne led the Junior Chef group in explaining what they needed to make the Nutella parfait and how to make it. She also reminded the group that moms can make the parfaits in small mason jars for a breakfast on the go! 

 Ingredients

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Directions: 

The kids got busy layering 1 tbsp of granola, 2 tbsp of yogurt, 1/4 cup berries and of course the 1 tbsp Nutella just had to be on top!  They could then repeat with another layer depending on how hungry they were and if they could stand the wait before diving into the deliciousness.

 Each participant got to take home a full sized jar of Nutella, 5 easy-to-make and appetizing recipes and a handy "I love Breakfast" magnet - perfect for hanging our favourite breakfast menus craft on the fridge at home!  

We hold our Junior Chef program once a month.  If you'd like to join us for this program and our other amazing programs, sign up for your 6 week free trial today!

Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of 2 girls. 
You can check out her blog at orchidaforever.blogspot.ca. 

Milton moms and tots enjoyed our momstown Nutella Buddies Event

You know it's going to be a good day when you're able to leave for an event still dressed in your PJ's and that's exactly what our momstown mamas commented as they arrived for our momstown Milton Teddy Bear PJ and Potluck Picnic sponsored by Nutella.

The spread of food was unbelievable - so much variety and choice that both moms and tots had to make their way to the potluck table several times to get a good sampling of all the delicious foods.

While we ate, we chatted about breakfast being the most important meal of the day and how the greatest challenge that moms face in the morning (according to the Canadian Breakfast Report funded by Nutella)  is finding the time to serve a complete and nutritious breakfast to the little ones in the busy bustle of the morning flurry. We shared tips on how to maximize on our limited time in the "am" by trying to prep lunches and lay out clothes the night before in the hopes that would allow for more quality time around the breakfast table every morning.

After our tummies were filled, we got busy with our infants creating adorable foot print bears while our toddlers / preschoolers worked on making their fuzzy wuzzy bear puppets.

 

 

In keeping with Teddy Bear theme we read "Bears on the Stairs" by Julia Jarman and Lynne Chapman. This was a cute story about how creative our little ones can get in order to delay going to bed. We then got everyone involved with our reading of "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. This interactive story had us swishing through tall grass, splashing through a cold river, squelching through thick oozy mud and tip toeing through a dark damp cave. What an adventure!

We ended off the event with our raffle draw. Congrats to Molly for winning the Nutella Knap sack prize pack, Jennifer for winning the Bear Cookie Bouquet from Cookie Munchsters and Amy for winning the GC from our very generous host Maribeth from Scribble n Splatter! No one went away empty handed. We all received swag bags that included our very own jar of Nutella to enjoy at home!

If you would like to join in on the fun or just want more information on what momstown is all about please visit us at momstown Milton and click on the register tab to try out a 6 week free trail membership.