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Earlier today, we announced a new initiative that we’ll be using to empower our youngest guests and their parents to make healthier choices. This program, called LifeSmiles, is based in part on First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign to decrease childhood obesity. Common goals of both programs are to provide access to healthy, affordable food and to increase physical activity.

Through LifeSmiles, we’ll be investing $1 million and 20,000 volunteer hours over the next five years to support health and wellness initiatives aimed at families. For instance, in 2011, we’ll be partnering with the Pittsburgh Children’s Marathon as part of our commitment to promoting physical activity.

Starting next month, we’re also going to offer healthier alternatives to our iconic Smiley Cookie, which we’ve been serving free after every kids’ meal since 1986. Beginning on December 1, children 10 and under will have their choice of a complimentary original Smiley Cookie, a mini Smiley Cookie, or an apple after their meal.

Of course, the principles behind LifeSmiles aren’t new to us. Over the last several years, we’ve made substantial commitments to promoting healthy lifestyles. LifeSmiles will enhance our existing programs like FarmSource, which since 2002 has allowed us to partner with the local agricultural and business community to provide our guests with fresh, wholesome foods; and Eat’n Smart, which gives our guests an easy way to identify menu items that meet their specific dietary requirements. Coupled with these programs, our investment in LifeSmiles will help us fulfill a critical need in our region by giving families the resources and the knowledge they need make healthier choices.

Chef Regis Holden helped us kick off the program today at Pittsburgh Faison Primary School in Homewood, PA, as he and members of Grow Pittsburgh worked with third graders to make stone soup. In the process, students learned fun, unique ways to prepare healthy food.

To make your own stone soup, check out Regis' recipe below. Want to know the story behind this unique meal? Click here.

Stone Soup
Serves a village (approx. 40)

Ingredients:

• Smooth stones of your choice, washed and scrubbed clean
• 1 Gallon hot water in a large soup cauldron
• 8 oz mirepoix soup base (or soup broth/flavoring of your choice)
• ½ Tbsp. Olive oil
• ½ Tbsp. Minced garlic
• 64 oz. Marinara sauce
• 6 oz. Onions, slivered
• 6 oz. Celery, sliced
• 6 oz. Carrots, sliced
• 6 oz. Cauliflower florets
• 6 oz. Zucchini, quartered
• 6 oz. Yellow squash, quartered and sliced
• 6 oz. Green beans, cut into ½” pieces
• 8 oz. Bowtie Pasta, cooked

Directions:

• Add stones to cauldron of water. Bring to a boil.
• Wash, peel, and cut vegetables.
• Heat oil in a separate pan on the stove top. Add onions, celery, carrots, cauliflower, and garlic. Stir constantly until onions begin to cook.
• Dissolve the mirepoix/broth in the boiling water in the soup cauldron.
• Add the marinara sauce.
• Cover pot and reduce to a simmer.
• Add remaining vegetables and cook until vegetables lose their firmness, about 30 minutes.
• Add cooked pasta just before serving.

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