After more than a year and over 80 submissions, the Foothills community cookbook is cooked to perfection.
Our Time Together features 40 tried-and-tested recipes submitted from members of the community.
The cookbook includes a colour photograph and a nutritional analysis for every dish as well as tips that highlight serve and return interactions, relationship building, healthy eating and school readiness skills.
“This is more than just a cookbook,” said cookbook committee member Lara Grunow.
“It is an opportunity for parents, grandparents—really all caregivers—to help children improve their fine motor skills, learn new vocabulary, problem solve, follow directions and improve their executive function skills by taking turns, waiting, and asking for help.”
These tips are to encourage families to choose recipes, shop, cook, and eat together.
Hoping to fill the gap left by the Alberta Health Service’s (AHS) Healthy U’s My Amazing Little Cookbook being taken out of publication, the Grandparents Committee of the Foothills Children’s Wellness Network decided to create a community cookbook.
With simple, easy-to-make recipes that people could do with their families, the Our Time Together cookbook promotes healthy eating and time-well-spent together between children and their caregivers.
Using community recipes, the cookbook provides healthy and nutritious options that parents, grandparents, day-home providers, or teachers can use to spend quality time with their children to make the preparation of food a social activity.
The Okotoks launch party is on Jan. 25 at the Okotoks Public Library’s Family Literacy Day Indoor Picnic.
Families are invited to bring a lunch and picnic blanket down to the library and eat while listening to stories, playing games, creating food-themed crafts and making their own healthy snack. Attendees will be treated to some samples of treats from the cookbook.
“It’s been a long process, so we’re really excited,” said Grunow. “We want to thank all of the community members who submitted recipes, and all the people who helped, there was a lot of volunteer hours people put in to get this cookbook up and running, and it looks beautiful.
“I think everyone will be really excited and happy with it.”
A limited number of printed copies of Our Time Together cookbook will be made available, thanks to funding support from the Foothills Children’s Wellness Network. The cookbook will be available to download at their website, foothillsnetwork.ca.
The committee hopes to have a printed cookbook available to view at the launch event.
Launch parties in High River and Turner Valley to celebrate the finished cookbook are scheduled for later this winter and will be announced at a later date.
