Autumn is almost upon us again, time sure does fly doesn’t it! It feels like all I need to do sometimes is blink and the children whom I’m used to serving in our Nursery are graduating from our Kindergarten program!!
A special mention and thank you to all the frontline workers who helped us get through a COVID flavoured 2020. We all appreciate everything you have and continue to do to keep all of us safe.
Now to the menus, I’m pleased to share the new Choklits seasonal menu, Autumn 2021!
There’s plenty of variety in this seasons menu combined with a few of the children’s favourite meals. They are really enjoying the meals they have input in, specifically the days when they get to choose what we have for lunch. Pizzas and pinwheels are always a popular choices. We also like to set up either a shopping experience to get our ingredients or a cafe experience to eat our lunch which really helps the children learn more about the whole cycle of meal preparation. Both ideas have come from our success of our Plant to Plate Program that we’ve found assists children in the understanding and appreciation of food. And, at the end of each meal, the children (Toddlers, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten) all wash their own dishes.
I’m really looking forward to working with the children this autumn season and value any input from our community. We encourage everyone to get involved so please come and say hello if you have a spare moment when you’re passing through Choklits.
Occasionally, I make a little extra food so if you connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram you’ll know exactly when I have something for you to try.
I almost forgot to mention, I’ve been lucky enough to be featured in Choklits first ever picture story book (picture above) called Meet the Chokliteers. How exciting! Our superstar Pre-Kindergarten Teacher Dee authored the book for the Choklits Community and its been real hit! You can learn more about the Chokliteers on this page Meet the Chokliteers.
Please enjoy our 2021 winter menu…
Helen Rooney
Choklits Chef, Choklits Child Care Centre
Well, it certainly has been a very interesting transition to winter this year hasn’t it! The current Coronavirus pandemic has effected all of us in different ways and as a Chef I’ve had many challenges sourcing produce and keeping the shelves stocked here at Choklits.
A huge thank you to all the frontline workers, the doctors, nurses, emergency staff and of course all the early learning educators who have worked tirelessly through this period to help our great community tackle this virus. Thankfully, I’ve been able to source all the supplies I’ve needed. It seems we have now made pretty good progress and an ease of restrictions and return to normal is not too far off for us now.
It is with great please I can again share a new seasonal menu, Winter 2020!
There’s plenty of winter warmers in there to help keep all our early learners fuelled, energised and ready to learn. We plan on continuing to spend as much time as appropriate outside this winter which will include meal time so it was very important I put together a menu packed full of nutritional value.
Please let me know your thoughts.
As many of you know, I make a little extra food for our Choklits community to try so don’t forget to connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram so you know exactly when I have something for you too try.
Once again, thank you all for the opportunity to cook for your children. I really look forward to working with them this winter season.
Please come in and say hello if you have a spare moment, my kitchen door is always open and we encourage everyone to be involved.
Please enjoy our 2020 winter menu…
Helen Rooney,
Choklits Chef, Choklits Childcare Centre
The change of season is always an exciting time for me here in the kitchen at Choklits. It won’t come as a surprise to those of you that know me but once again I’m super excited to present our new spring menu for all our Choklits children! As you can see below, I’ve added many new dishes to complement the warmer weather as the children start to move back outside and share their meals together in the open air.
Our Plant to Plate program has continued to be a great success and both the children and I will be incorporating many of the fruits, vegetables and herbs grown here at Choklits in our meals through spring. I’ve had lots of great feedback about our food curriculum from parents who have cooked selections from our menu at home and noticed significant positive changes in their children’s attitude towards food. I must admit I do love hearing your stories so please come and share your experiences and feedback, you’ll find me in the kitchen!
Occasionally I make a little extra food for our Choklits community to try so don’t forget to connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram so you know exactly when I have something for you too try.
If someone had told me 8 years ago on my first day here at Choklits that I’d put together a cookbook, I think I would have dropped my wooden spoons and cheese grater (or whatever I could have been holding at the time). However, it is true and you can get your very own copy for free here!
We wanted to make it easy for parents to take a little piece of the Choklits cooking home with them so I put together our 9 most loved dishes in an easy to follow guide. Make sure you grab a copy, there are many nutritious meals and snacks to choose from and it’s really easy to follow. We have even provided some ideas for optional paring music so you’ll have plenty of fun if you invite your children into your kitchen as I do.
Stay tuned because I do intend to add a few more recipes to over the next few months.
We all work continuously here at Choklits to ensure we improve the way we do all things every day, that includes every room and extends across the Choklits grounds.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been further refining my own and practices and skills to ensure we are serving a variety of meals inline with our no packet, no sugar policy. And, I’m pleased to share that I’ve finally perfected a sugar-free tomato sauce for our children. Rather than simply ban sauces and condiments which are notoriously filled with cheap food additives like salt and sugar, I try to think in terms of healthy alternatives and provide different options for the children to choose from. I’m really excited to be able to actually encourage the children to begin to learn about condiments and try my new sauce knowing that the sauce itself is beneficial to their overall wellbeing.
Rissole wraps, pork curry, beef chilli con carn and chicken mince san choy bow are a few of my favourite dishes you’ll find on the new spring menu. We like to mix things up with the change in seasons and I’m excited to get the children’s feedback on these new editions.
One of the perks of working in the kitchen here is getting to talk directly with the children about their food. I have a few regulars standing at my kitchen door with questions about the day’s cuisine. You can rest assured, I get plenty of feedback about the food I cook and as I’m sure you can appreciate most of which is completely unfiltered. There’s nothing quite like a hungry 4-year-old when it comes to honest food feedback! I do love the way their inquisitive minds work and it always makes me smile.
I think we can all admit that from time-to-time we are not very enthusiastic about eating vegetables, even though we know they are an essential part of a good diet and they can taste fantastic with crafty preparation. For that reason, I’ve been hiding vegetables in meals for years now to ensure even the fussiest of eaters get their required vitamins and nutrients.
However, with the success of our Plant to Plate program that has begun to change as the children have grown fonder of growing their own vegetables and eating them. I’ll continue to hide the vegetables when necessary but it’s pleasing to know that our food curriculum really is having a positive influence on their young minds.
Once again, thank you all for the opportunity to cook for your children. I really look forward to working with them this spring season.
My kitchen door is always open and we encourage everyone to be involved, so please come in and say hello if you have a spare moment.
Please enjoy our 2019 spring menu…
Helen Rooney,
Choklits Chef, Choklits Childcare Centre in Ringwood, Melbourne
It might be a chef thing, but I’m thrilled to present our new winter menu here at Choklits! As you can see below, we’re including some yummy winter warmers for our early learners which are perfect for the cooler days and have added a number of dishes for the very first time.
A lot has gone into the creation of our menu over the past 18 months as we continue the development of our food curriculum. Our Plant to Plate program has been a great success. We’ve really been surprised by how many of the children have responded to caring for their own food. What started as a fun gardening activity has quickly turned into one of the most loved projects here at Choklits.
I’ve written about it before, but we’ve found that when children understand where their food comes from and the full lifecycle of food produce, they tend to appreciate their food much more, are more willing to try new foods and enjoy eating food more. We now have many of our children asking to try green vegetables, the same children that described anything green as yucky only a few short months ago!
We really wanted to take the children’s education and experiences with food to the next level. Currently, they grow many of the vegetables we use here in the Choklits grounds and do their own cleaning and washing up after meals. However, we really wanted to give them the opportunity to be part of the preparation and cooking of the food as well.
So, this winter we have added a few new dishes to the Choklits menu that the children can prepare and cook for themselves! The educators and I will be there to help guide them as they learn about preparing a nutritious meal, but they will put together some of their own meals.
We plan to set up food stations and start with the older children making their own mini pizza’s. Make sure you connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram as we’ll be posting updates all throughout our trial.
My favourite dish this winter has to be the curried sausages. We cater for many different dietary requirements at Choklits including some children who are strictly vegetarian. The part I really like about curried sausages is being able to serve all the children food that looks exactly the same. It’s very easy to swap out the beef sausages for a vegetarian option.
The shepherd’s pie is another wintertime favourite at Choklits. I don’t know what it is, but our tummies seem to love a good hearty meal on cold days. Everyone loves my shepherd’s pie here at the centre and you know you’re doing something right when the staff come back for seconds!
For the first time at Choklits we will be serving coconut slice. Another one of our criteria’s while creating this menu was to ensure we continually offer the children new things to help broaden their pallets. Very often, we can find ourselves eating the same things continually. A bit boring if you ask me! I’m looking forward to the challenge of perfecting this slice for the Choklits Community and seeing how the children respond to something completely different.
I’ve been at Choklits for over 8 years now and many of you know that I have developed a few tricks in that time for hiding vegetables in our meals, although I am doing it far less these days with the success of our Plant to Plate program.
We have some great new winter herbs and vegetables growing quickly in the gardens at Choklits, including some native Aboriginal plants. I really am excited to learn more about bush tucker as part of our cultural educational program, but I’ll continue to hide these herbs and vegetables if and when necessary!
Thank you all for the opportunity to cook for your children. This job is a privilege and I’m very lucky I get to play this important role for our community’s children, I take this responsibility very seriously.
I really look forward to seeing the children involved in the kitchen this winter. Cooking is messy, it’s hands on, and we’re going to have a lot of fun!
As always, my kitchen door is always open, so please pop in and say hello. We encourage everyone at Choklits to get involved.
Below is our new menu, see you soon!
Helen Rooney,
Choklits Chef
