Adventures Of Sammy

Synopsis:

Nate Rocks can do it all: part super-hero, part all-star athlete, part rock-star… part fourth-grader?

Ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge cannot catch a break. After all, life as a fourth-grader can be hazardous what with science projects to deal with and recess football games to avoid. Everyone, including his best friend Tommy, seems to have bad luck when hanging around Nathan. Throw in an older sister who is a royal pain, a dad who is stuck in the past, and a mom who keeps trying to poison him with her awful cooking, and poor Nathan’s life as a fourth grader appears to be completely doomed.

Armed only with his sketchpad, his imagination, and his wits, Nathan Rockledge navigates the perils of the fourth grade in style, to emerge heroic, as Nate Rocks, proving that even a ten-year-old can accomplish great things.

Follow the quirky and imaginative adventures of ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge as his cartoons come to life.

Meet Nate’s Creator: Karen Pokras Toz:

Karen Pokras Toz is a writer, wife and mom. Karen grew up in Orange, Connecticut and graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Finance. She also attended the University of Richmond, where she studied law and business, receiving both a JD and an MBA. Karen has spent the last several years working as a tax accountant, writing in numbers. She recently discovered a passion for writing with words. In June 2011, Karen published her first children’s novel Nate Rocks the World. She is currently working on the second book in the Nate Rocks series to be published in 2012.

Karen is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Association of Independent Authors (AIA), and the Independent Author Network (IAN). Karen enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time with her husband and three children.

Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland

As mentioned in my previous post, Clover Leaf is Re-inventing Fast food to make Canadians healthy. They gave me the chance not only to interview Chef Michael P Clive, their creative resource for their 5 healthy recipes, they let me ask them a few questions, too.

Do you know how many calories you need to cut to lose 7.5 lbs per year? Why they chose tuna as their main ingredient to improve health? What Clover Leaf fees their employees for breakfast? BananaBoy certainly had fun finding out and is now excited to hear when tuna is on the menu – he doesn’t mind which flavour it is.

Read on, eat healthy and tell your friends!

Sarah Butland: As a Canadian, I’ve been seeing so many companies say they are supporting health but taking actions proving otherwise. Do you feel you’ll be leading the way for other companies to take part in changing our diet the right way?

Clover Leaf: We hope other companies will recognize what a struggle it can be for Canadians to maintain a healthy lifestyle in a hectic world. At Clover Leaf, we believe that the more convenient, time-saving and healthy choices available for consumers to choose from, the better!  That’s why we “re-invented” fast food, taking traditional take-out favourites like burgers, pizza and tacos, and putting a healthy twist on them.  These recipes are fast, easy and delicious, but are much lower in calories and fat than traditional fast food favourites.

Sarah Butland : All of your recipes for this campaign include tuna. Why tuna? What are the benefits of this fish versus say, salmon or lobster?

Clover Leaf: Canned tuna is already in the pantry of nearly two-thirds of Canadian households. We wanted to create simple, healthy recipes that would be easy alternatives to fast food, and the versatility, convenience and accessibility of our flavoured tuna products allowed Clover Leaf to do just that.

Tuna is a rich source of lean protein, low in fat and packed full of other healthy nutrients such as vitamin D and selenium.

Although salmon is typically higher in fat than tuna, it’s the good kind of fat, loaded with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. We recommend Canadians have a variety of fish and seafood in their diet. Our website, www.cloverleaf.ca, has hundreds of great recipes, including not only tuna, salmon and lobster dishes, but also recipes for shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, crab, sardines and herring!

Sarah Butland:  You pride yourself on having a Thriving Workplace with fresh fruit provided every morning, filtered water systems, and employee discounts on your fish. What do you find employees best respond to and how do you suggest other companies learn from your examples?

Clover Leaf: Good health practises help both individual employees and our overall business. Clover Leaf can trace its roots as far back as 1871, with the very first and only cannery on the Fraser River in British Columbia. This long-term success would not be possible without our valued employees. Our team respects the philosophy that we “practice what we preach” by making a healthy lifestyle and smart food choices a regular part of their busy lives.

Sarah Butland: Was the idea behind adding flavour to your tuna based on getting young children to like it, or was it simply to offer more variety?

Clover Leaf: A little bit of both, with some convenience thrown in! Flavoured tuna is another step toward encouraging Canadians to include healthy seafood in their diet. Because the flavour is already mixed in with the tuna, it saves a step and allows for quick and easy recipes, such as our Spicy Tuna Pad Thai with our Spicy Peanut Satay and Spicy Thai Chili flavours, or the Original Shawarma infused with Lemon & Pepper and Garlic & Hot Pepper flavoured tunas.

Children are responding well to the new flavours too, especially in fun recipes like the Personal Naan Pizza. As seafood consumption is a part of healthy brain development and functioning, it is especially important that children get enough of this low calorie, high protein food. For full details on children’s seafood consumption, Clover Leaf encourages Canadians to follow Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.

Sarah Butland:  Is there a reason only your light tuna is flavoured, or do you plan to offer a line with your white tuna as well?

Clover Leaf: You read our minds!  Clover Leaf will soon be launching three flavoured white tuna products: Sundried Tomato, Chipotle and Jalapeño.  Look for them on grocery store shelves starting in February of next year!

Sarah Butland: Your website has a lot of tips and information about getting healthy and maintaining good health, including recipes and links to other websites. Has this always been something Clover Leaf has focused on, along with quality fish?

Clover Leaf: Absolutely.  We at Clover Leaf have always believed that a healthy active lifestyle, including healthy eating is the key to a longer, happier life.  We pride ourselves in providing our consumers and customers with a wealth of information that can help them to do just that.

Sarah Butland:  What advice do you have for children/adults who are hesitant to try seafood?

Clover Leaf: Seafood and fish play a crucial role in human health, including reducing the risk of heart disease while improving brain development and normal functioning. In order to get these and the many other benefits, why not start with one of Clover Leaf’s Re-Invent Fast Food recipes?  By replacing a fast-food cheeseburger with the Captain Burger with Bacon and Cheese, you’ll save calories and fat while getting the many benefits of tuna, not to mention how delicious it is!

Sarah Butland: You’ve dealt with Chef Michael P Clive previously on the Take 5 campaign. Since he has a musical background, has he written a jingle for your company yet?

Clover Leaf: No. But we love Michael’s passion for cooking and entertaining!

Sarah Butland: What was the inspiration for the easy open cans? When were they first introduced?

Clover Leaf: The stiff metal “Easy Open” lids with the pull ring have been around for more than a decade, though most canned seafood products do not have this feature.  However, within the past couple of years Clover Leaf has introduced “Easy Peel” lids on all of our Flavoured Tuna and Tuna Salad Kit products.  The easy peel lids are foil – somewhat like what you’d find on a yogurt container.  The pull tabs on these lids allow anyone to open these delicious products quickly and easily.  Clover Leaf is the only canned seafood brand in Canada to offer this convenience.

Sarah Butland: Is there anything else you’d like Canadians to take away from this campaign?

Clover Leaf: Much of the fast food out there is low on nutrition and high in fat, calories, and sodium – and it’s often served in very large portions. By replacing those fast food favourites with Clover Leaf’s ‘Reinvent Fast Food’ recipes, you can lose weight and get the heart-healthy benefits of fish. Remember – you can lose up to 7.5 pounds in the course of a year if you eliminate just 500 calories from your diet every week!

Major thanks to Clover Leaf for their effort and support in encouraging Canadians to make the healthy choice, whenever possible.  And thanks to them for asking me to share this information with all of you.

And, of course, thank you for reading!

Sarah Butland

Clover Leaf, with the help of celebrity chef Michael P Clive, is helping Canadians get healthy in a tremendous way through their recently launched Re-Invent Fast Food campaign.

I’ve been invited to help share the news with you and I’m ecstatic to do so as it’s something Canada needs right now. With Jamie Oliver focused on America it’s great to see such a well known chef in Canada take charge of our community.

As part of my efforts to share this wonderful campaign with all of you I have asked Chef Michal P Clive and Clover Leaf 10 questions relating to their campaign, goals and 5 recipes they created in support of our health.  (I’ve tried 2/3 of these tuna recipes and they are amazing! Everything they say they are and more.)

Keep reading to know how Chef Clive enjoys his Mac and Cheese, from a drive thru and his phrase he’s trying to make known.

Meet Chef Michael P Clive:
1) To start us off on a light note do you prefer creating a meal, talking or eating your creation?

I like all three, in that order. I prefer to create the meal, discuss its attributes and then consume the meal. I tried coining the phrase “I’d much rather feed the masses than eat the masses” – it wasn’t widely accepted.

2) Michael, when you decided to become a chef did you ever imagine you’d have to help Canadian’s get healthy and avoid a pandemic of childhood obesity?

Not so much. Growing up at home my family taught me the importance of relatively healthy eating. Later my culinary training I focused on the standards of French cuisine which introduced me to the various ways of using rich creams and butter. Taking all this knowledge and finding a balance became something I was intrigued by.

3) What is your favourite healthy meal to make for you and your loved ones?

I really like to spend time with my loved ones so in order to have more time and still deliver a flavourful, meal explosion that is quick and easy, I’d choose any one of the Clover Leaf take 5 recipes. Something easily prepared in under 5 minutes. Perhaps you’ve heard of Take Five? 5 ingredients, five minutes? Reinventing fast food? Intriguing recipes? Chef Clive? No? C’mon.

4) Tell us the truth, do you ever get something unhealthy at a drive thru or do you make all of your own dishes?

Fast food drive thru is a slippery step. Once upon a time I could lean that way due to exhaustion after long hours of work. But I also learned some time ago that I simply felt better about myself if I kept my fast food selections “clean”. For example, fresh sandwiches and salads, cow calorie vinaigrettes instead of creamy dressings, and limit the road tacos. My wife also pretends not to know me if I frequent such places.

5) What kind of cheese do you prefer on macaroni with Clover Leaf tuna?

I prefer a five to seven year old Cheddar cheese – something with creaminess and tang. However, I suggest preparing your next Mac n’ Cheese utilizing the awesomeness of the Garlic & Hot Pepper flavoured flaked light tuna to add a new dimension to this classic comfort food.

6) Speaking of macaroni and cheese, do you recommend with ketchup, without, or with honey mustard? What is your favourite way to eat a classic?

Condiments don’t so much complete my Mac n’ Cheese experience, but rather spinning it around to include more protein. Whether it be smoked ham, grilled chicken, poached lobster or even canned tuna.

7) With Clover Leaf you created 5 recipes with tuna that are pitted against popular, easy and quick favourites such as pizza, burritos and a cheese burger. What is your favourite fish that could be used to compare to these items, besides tuna? Is there a fish you would recommend to regular non-seafood eaters to start?

Well, tuna is a favourite of mine but if the world were to run out I suppose I’d choose something from the fond memories of my youth. Salmon. So versatile, so much flavour. I’m a lover of so many species. Sole, Perch, Catfish, Swordfish. So may faves! Hard question.

Michael, do you have any advice for up-and-coming chefs who want to make a difference by lowering the rate of childhood obesity while making eating affordable and easy?

Keep it clean and keep it simple. Avoid grazing and prepare more food at home. Your home is less likely to have a deep fryer…for the time being that is.

9) And lastly, but maybe most importantly, if you had to eat one meal for a year what would it be?

Wow, I’m never ready to fully answer this question. Right now I’m feeling like the original Shawarma every day. Maybe some fruit infused soda water to go with it! If not that, then perhaps a captain burger…or beef wellington.

10) Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Check out these recipes and many more for your next culinary adventure at www.cloverleaf.ca.

Thanks for reading, sharing, eating well and cooking!

Sarah Butland

author of Sending You Sammy

Another children’s book by Maranda Russell which takes a wonderfully simple idea and makes it beautiful. Growing up in a foster home I saw what it was like for children of all ages to wait for the perfect fit, some much longer than others for no reason other than them being themselves.

Weezie, in this case, is the elephant in the room after everyone else has been adopted. He begins to blame himself, his uncontrollable sneezes from allergies, for not being acceptable to any visiting family and convinces himself that he’ll never find a home away from the orphanage.

The only line in this book I stumbled over was “For a moment his eyes filled with hope, but then he remembered the past and shook his head.” Elephants have incredible memories and so I pondered the significance of suddenly remembering the past that had upset him so. Once I got through that I was right back with Weezie, the Elephant with Allergies and rooting that he found a home. He did, of course, find a home and I think this book will easily find a home in your hearts.

I can’t wait for the print edition with more illustrations to be available! Right now you can read this as an ebook through Smashwords.

Thanks Maranda for letting me read this and for sharing with the world the theme of belonging.

And thank you for reading!
Sarah Butland

 

 

In Memory of Dad is a short but sweet tale of love and loss in a beautiful way. Maranda unfortunately went through the loss of her dad at a very young age and finds relief in helping others know they are not alone in their loss.

This story is suitable for all ages and both boys and girls. Its main character, Kaley, suffers the dramatic loss of her father at a young age and her love for her father is expressed fondly through her love of basketball.

Easily and quickly read this story is for anyone who has lost a pet, family member or friend to moving or passing. It helps its readers realize that they are not alone in the loss of a great person and good can come of maintaining normalcy in your own life. Kaley’s, and Maranda’s fathers would be proud at the outcome.

A terrific buy at only $0.99 for the ebook!

Thanks for reading,

Sarah Butland