It seems that I have food on the mind today so I decide to use that as the theme for my Notes! Whenever we hold meetings or trainings they seem to turn out even better when we can serve food. Our friends at Green Tree Christian Church always fix beautiful meals for our Young Parents program, Art in the Park for Capable Kids and Families will also feature pizza, and Early Care and Education providers loved the special breakfast we provided before their morning of learning. Maybe you can come up with a better theme for me but today it looks like food!

Cupcakes and More!

	Sarah and one of her amazing creations!

What a great friend Sarah Becker is to the Partnership. Sarah made 61 beautiful and delicious cupcakes for us last week. It just so happens that Sarah also has a Facebook page where you can see some more of her beautiful creations!

This week we also celebrated our Board Members and Community Builders with a wonderful breakfast - all prepared by staff. Karen may not be able to make cakes like Sarah but she is an artist in the kitchen. Her breakfast casserole was so yummy I thought you might like the recipe! 

Sausage/Bacon Frittata
5 cups (½ large package) hash browns, thawed
½ cup melted butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
2 cups shredded pepper jack
½ lb. sausage, browned & drained
1 lb. bacon, cooked & crumbled
12 eggs
1 cup milk
¼ cup half-&-half
salt & pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425°.  Place hash browns into lightly PAM sprayed 9"x13" glass pan and press down evenly to form a crust.  Drizzle with melted butter, season with salt and pepper, bake for 25 minutes.  Layer sausage, bacon and cheeses over crust.  Beat together eggs, milk and half-&-half and pour over.  Reduce heat to 350° and bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting, holds well. 

For the Veggie option, we substituted one each sauteed green pepper, red pepper and red onion.

Scholarship from Mo-Sci Education Night was a great success last week! Special thanks to Mo-Sci Foundation for the generous donation which allowed us to award seven scholarships to youth in our Young Parent and Independent Living Program. The youth were so excited to receive this much needed support to continue their education. One of the scholarship winners is seventeen years old, married, and expecting a little boy in June. One of her references stated that this young mom takes on life’s challenges with a positive attitude and determination to succeed. After becoming pregnant she came to the Young Parents program eager to know about parenting.  Now that she is graduating, she is planning further education for herself. She states “I will be able to find a job that I will love but also be able to give my boy the best life possible.” ( I could not make the picture of the scholarship winners any bigger so I decided the picture of the enchiladas would help tie my theme together!)

Top: Our Green Tree Chefs! Middle: Our Scholarship Winners and Friends Bottom: Some great looking enchiladas!

I just wanted to tell you a bit more about the Provider Appreciation Day we held last Saturday. Thanks to the generous support of the Wal-Mart Distribution Center #6069 we were able to provide 59 childcare providers with four hours of training on Conscious Discipline. The teachers were so grateful for this important training and so appreciative of the delicious breakfast and pampering provided to them that day! Thanks for making all things possible!