Month: January 2015

Seven ways to satisfy your sweet tooth in 2015

by Ashlee Lamar

Did you know that 45 percent of Americans make resolutions for New Year’s? Eating healthier and diet-related changes are often at the top of the list of resolutions.

If your resolution falls into this category, you’re in luck. Here’s a list of healthier ways to satisfy your sweet tooth this year:

1. Fresh Fruit with Dark Chocolate (70 percent cacao or more).
Combine strawberries, blueberries or your other favorite fruit with a 1 ounce serving of shaved dark chocolate. Dark chocolate provides antioxidants called flavones which can be beneficial towards heart health. The higher percentage cacao, the higher it is in flavonoids (look for 70 percent cacao or more).

2. 2 Minute Apple Pie
Slice an apple into 7 or 8 wedges, sprinkle with cinnamon and microwave on high for 2 minutes or until tender. The sugar from the heated apple provides extra sweetness without requiring additional sugar.

3. Heart Smart Trail Mix
Combine ½ cup Cheerios, 1 tablespoon walnuts, 1 tablespoon cranberries and 1 tablespoon of chopped dark chocolate. The walnuts provide Omega-3, a healthy fat, and the dark chocolate is a great source of flavones.

4. Mock Carrot Cake Parfait
Place ½ cup of vanilla or plain flavored, low fat Greek yogurt in a bowl. Top with ¼ cup shredded carrots, 1 tablespoon of raisins, 1 tablespoon of chopped walnuts and 1 tablespoon of shredded pineapple. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

5. Healthy Chocolate Sundae
Combine ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt (or low fat vanilla frozen yogurt) with 1 ounce dark chocolate and 1 tablespoon of chopped walnuts.

6. Choco-Peanut Butter Popcorn
Pop small bag popcorn (look for the “natural, no added butter version”). Top with 1 tablespoon melted peanut butter and a sprinkle of cocoa powder.

7. Homemade Banana Split
Slice a banana in half lengthwise. Top with 2 spoonfuls Greek yogurt, a sprinkle of cocoa and a cherry if desired.

Ashlee Lamar is a registered dietitian at Providence Medical Center, Kansas City, Kan.

KCK school board votes not to give $2 million toward Healthy Campus plan

After a discussion that included support for the overall concept of the Downtown Healthy Campus plan, the Kansas City, Kan., Board of Education voted Tuesday not to contribute $2 million toward it.

Board members decided unanimously that they did not want to provide a cash contribution to the building of the community center planned for the healthy campus, according to Kelli Mather, chief financial officer for the school district. Mather was asked by the board to continue to work with the Unified Government on the project, especially in discussions about programming and the use of playing fields that could be built there.

The district had received a request from the mayor for a $2 million contribution to the healthy campus plan. Plans for a community center, owned by the UG and run by the YMCA, include a swimming pool that might be used by schools.

Mather said the district is interested in working with the UG on programming and space for students, but the board felt a $2 million capital contribution was not something the district could do.

“Education is struggling right now,” Mather said. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen with the funding formula.”

She said another consideration of the board was that the district would not have ownership of the facilities, so it would be hard to invest in it.

“We are interested in working with them,” Mather said. “The board is very supportive of the entire project, very supportive of the community center itself and the entire healthy campus project.”

The healthy campus, also called the Downtown Parkway District, is planned for the 10th and State Avenue area, and includes a grocery store, a community center to be run by the YMCA, green space, and play space. It is near Big 11 Lake.

There are other sources of outside financing being pursued by the Healthy Campus initiative, including grants from foundations. Preliminary ballpark figures were $12 million to $14 million for a community center, and $15 million to $18 million for a new grocery store.

Currently, Wyandotte and Washington high schools have swimming pools. Washington’s is the only pool that could be used competitively, Mather said. Washington’s has six lanes, not eight lanes which are usually needed for meets, according to Mather. Sometimes modifications may be made for swimming events, however. The Washington pool does not have diving capability for meets.

Sumner Academy, not far from the healthy campus, has an older pool that is not in use, not filled with water currently, she said. The school board had a lot of discussion about accessibility, manageability, and cost-effectiveness, she said. The board is still open to conversation with the UG about swimming lessons at the community center and other programming, she said, but she is not sure whether plans for the pool will be downsized.

There is also the possibility that playing fields may be part of the healthy campus plan, she said. If so, they might include fields for Sumner Academy and Douglass Elementary.

The school district has improved several playing fields in the past few years, including installing Astro-Turf at Harmon, and renovating Wyandotte’s field, she said. It is currently in the middle of building Schlagle’s new stadium and field near that high school, she added.

Washington has a full-size stadium, but not turf yet, she said. Sumner Academy has only a practice field at the present time, she said.

Mather said the healthy campus project “certainly is something that would enhance the downtown area, and it is a positive thing to enhance any part of the community.”

KCKCC gets revenge on Penn Valley in last-minute thriller

by Alan Hoskins

When it comes down to down-to-the-wire finishes, nobody does it better than Kansas City Kansas and Penn Valley community colleges and Tuesday night’s collision was no exception.

Trailing by 12 points with 15 minutes to go, KCKCC avenged an earlier 72-71 loss with a 75-69 win that wasn’t decided until the final seven seconds.

The win was the third in a row for the Blue Devils (11-4), who will be shooting for a rare home win over Cowley College in a 4 p.m. tipoff Saturday.

Penn Valley threatened to put the game out of reach early, leading 41-33 at halftime behind the long range shooting of 5-11 sophomore Julius McCoy, who had seven three-pointers and 23 points. Hitting their first five shots of the second half, the Scouts built their lead to 54-42.

Still trailing 64-59 with 7:24 left, the Blue Devils rallied with defense, holding the Scouts scoreless for nearly seven minutes.

By the time Penn Valley scored again with just 35 seconds left, KCKCC had gone ahead 65-64 on field goals by Babajide Aina and C.J. Vallejo and two Joe Lendway free throws and then got a huge three-pointer from the baseline from Vallejo for a 68-64 lead.

“I saw there was a minute 30 seconds left and knew I had to do something,” said the former Bishop Ward standout.

Penn Valley twice got within a point in the final 24 seconds. After Aina converted two free throws to make it 70-67, the Scouts had a chance to get even only to have Amaad Wainwright miss on one of three free throws with 14 seconds left. The Blue Devils took advantage of the miss by breaking the Penn Valley press culminating with Ray Ridley finding Lendway alone for a layup and a free throw for a 73-69 lead.

“I was going to dunk it but decided to just lay it in,” Lendway said. “I don’t know why he fouled me.”

Freshman Austin Hall had his biggest night with the Blue Devils with 22 points and nine rebounds while Vallejo added 19 points including five three-pointers and Lendway 15 points and six rebounds.

Ridley led with 10 assists and seven points while Aina had another big floor game with 10 rebounds, eight points and six assists.

“Another gutsy win,” said KCKCC coach Kelley Newton. “That’s two in a row coming back from being down double digits. We’re finding out how to win.”

Newton was particularly pleased with the Blue Devil free throwing, a perfect 9-of-9 in the second half when the game was being decided.

“I was proud of that because we haven’t been shooting free throws that well,” Newton said. “We also got some great plays, C.J.’s three-pointer and Ray’s pass to Joe Lendway were big. And we held McCoy to one three-pointer the last half so we did a better job on him.”

Alan Hoskins is the sports information director for KCKCC.