US Potato Board and The Kids Cook Monday Partner for Family-Friendly Recipe Education

DENVER, Aug. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for back-to-school, the United States Potato Board (USPB) and The Kids Cook Monday have announced a partnership designed to educate families about delicious and nutritious potato recipes that they can enjoy cooking and eating together at home, even on a busy weeknight.

The Kids Cook Monday (TKCM) is a part of The Monday Campaigns, a non-profit public health initiative associated with Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Syracuse universities that dedicates the first day of every week to health. TKCM encourages families to set aside the first night of every week for cooking and eating together as a family, an initiative that the USPB could not be more pleased to support.

"The US Potato Board is thrilled to be partnering with The Kids Cook Monday," said Meredith Myers, Global Consumer Marketing Manager for the USPB.  "Potatoes truly act as a blank canvas for a variety of flavors, which also makes them a very family-friendly vegetable."

The USPB and TKCM partnership will include the creation of an eCookbook which will offer a year's worth of Monday meal suggestions (52 recipes) that families can cook and enjoy together. The eCookbook will be available initially from select retailers and available on both PotatoGoodness.com and TheKidsCookMonday.org after the first of the year.  In addition, the USPB and TKCM will be sharing recipes across one another's online properties, including websites and social media, to help promote the goals of both organizations, including increasing potato consumption and encouraging families to cook and eat together.

"We're looking forward to sharing kid-friendly potato recipes on our website and social media properties and working on the eCookbook development in partnership with the USPB," said Diana Rice, Registered Dietitian and PR Associate for The Kids Cook Monday. "Potatoes fit so naturally into family meals and provide essential nutrients including vitamin C and potassium."

Are you ready to get in the kitchen with the kids? Potato recipes perfect for cooking and enjoying with the whole family include colorful and veggie-packed Rainbow Potato Pancakes and the whimsical side dish, Mashed Potato Hills.

Potatoes are a natural, fresh and nutrition-packed vegetable: one medium-size, skin-on potato has just 110 calories per serving, more potassium than a banana and provides almost half the daily value of vitamin C with no fat, sodium or cholesterol. That's why they deserve a place on the family dinner table every night – and with seven unique potato types (Russets, reds, yellows, whites, purples/blues, fingerlings and petites), kids and parents can feel satisfied every night of the week.

Visit www.potatogoodness.com to find hundreds more healthy and creative potato recipes. You can also sign-up to receive the US Potato Board's weekly recipe email to receive a new recipe in your email in-box each week.

About the United States Potato Board
The United States Potato Board (USPB) is the nation's potato marketing and research organization.  Based in Denver, Colorado, the USPB represents more than 2,500 potato growers and handlers across the country. The USPB was established in 1971 by a group of potato growers to promote the benefits of eating potatoes. Today, as the largest vegetable commodity board, the USPB is proud to be recognized as an innovator in the produce industry and dedicated to positioning potatoes as a nutrition powerhouse—truly, goodness unearthed.   

About The Kids Cook Monday
The Kids Cook Monday is an initiative of The Monday Campaigns, a nonprofit public health initiative in association with Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Founded on research that demonstrates Monday is the day consumers are most likely to introduce healthy changes, the organization seeks to establish Monday as the day "all health breaks loose." The Kids Cook Monday campaign launched in 2011 and continues to promote a simple message to households worldwide: "start your week off right, make Monday family night!"

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140818/136861

SOURCE United States Potato Board