Childhood obesity will be the number one cause of death of future generations.  The effects of childhood obesity can lead to the development of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems. These children’s health related facts lead the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) to develop a grass-roots community campaign to teach children about nutrition and healthy eating.

With the success of the Junior League of Springfield’s Kids in the Kitchen (KITK) program, promoting and educating children to learn and take action to live a healthy lifestyle, the next facet to brand many joint marketing campaigns for the program is to produce a “cookbook” that will be used as a fundraising tool to further develop the KITK program. The Junior League of Springfield, in partnership with St. John's Children's Hospital and 93.9 ABE FM, wants to encourage your kids to get healthy and get cookin' with the production of a Kids in the Kitchen cookbook to be released in the spring of 2009. The “cookbook” will be a collection of 75 plus recipes created by kids for kids ages 8-12. The cookbook will also be a resource guide for parents to understand the basic principles of healthy eating and exercise for children. The goal is to design a colorful, alluring, and fun cookbook that kids can use on their own or with their parent(s). Kids will feel empowered to understand nutrition and how it is associated with their bodies and be able to make their own meals.

The cookbook will have six major sections: Basic Nutrition, following the KITK Program elements as provided by the Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. and approved nutrition standards provided by nutrition and dietetic professionals and the USDA, Exercise Essentials for kids varied by age groups and tips for parents, Breakfast Recipes, Lunch Recipes, Dinner Recipes, and Snacks/Party Treat Recipes. In addition, there will be recipes for children with special dietary needs, such as diabetics and celiac.

In addition, the cookbook will include an introduction, explaining the Kids in the Kitchen Program, online resources, a vocabulary quick reference, an index, and an insert to market additional KITK initiatives. Recipes will be labeled by level of parental involvement as easy, medium, or difficult. Recipes will be obtained from various approved sources, such as the KITK website, nutrition experts, and through kids-only recipe contests and test kitchens. Each recipe will be accompanied by the nutrition facts, serving size information, and helpful kitchen tool, storage, or other tips.   In addition to listing the ingredients that will be needed for each recipe, there will also be an equipment list for the kitchen tools that would be required to make the recipe.

The cookbook production will be conducted with the full cooperation of members of the Junior League of Springfield and the presenting sponsor for the cookbook, St. John’s Children’s Hospital. If you are interested in shaping the eating habits of today’s children or just have a passion for cooking, please contact Brandy Moore at kitkcookbook@jlsil.org for more information or to join us on the exciting path to educate kids about cooking healthy. Your family and/or business can participate in a variety of different ways, such as becoming a part of the Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook Committee, submit your contact information to receive correspondence about how your child can participate in future test kitchen opportunities, submit a recipe, and/or become a Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook Sponsor.  Please include as much contact information as possible with your message.