Anne McAlpine: July 18, 2019

I recently spent a very interesting morning at the Cypres Children’s Centre and was very impressed with the nutritious lunch and snacks that are provided for children. The Centre is part of Community Support Centre of Haldimand Norfolk and accommodates children from babies to preschoolers. Sarah Buggeln is the Program Coordinator of Cypres Child and Youth Programs and Robin Kittle is the Supervisor of Cypres Children’s Centre in Caledonia. The chef is Karen Hager, who is originally from Peru. She very proudly told me that she had just become a Canadian citizen.

Karen rotates the menu on a four-week basis and uses mostly fresh ingredients, reduces sugar and salt, and uses only whole wheat breads and pastas. She is currently making lunches and snacks for 27 children. Karen washes all vegetables and fruits in a baking soda and cold water mixture before using them. She also uses only olive and canola oils. She has introduced the children to both couscous and quinoa.

Karen was serving butternut squash alfredo sauce over whole wheat pasta for lunch the day I was there and she explained that she always serves the sauce separately because the children often prefer different amounts of sauce. She served broccoli as a side dish to her pasta.

One of Karen’s favourite desserts is the avocado chocolate pudding and she said that the kids love it. Dessert when I was there was berry popsicles and they were really good. When making the alfredo sauce if your food processor is small, process the sauce in a few batches and then mix it all together. You can also add white beans that you have cooked and blended together well with the sauce. The avocado chocolate pudding really interested me and so I prepared it at home and I really liked it.