(ARA) – With back-to-school season right around the corner, there’s no better way to spend time with your kids and encourage them to use their imagination than to create something with them in the kitchen.

Over the past seven years, thousands of kid chefs from across the country have taken on the challenge of making the most creative peanut butter sandwich, coming up with peanut butter kabobs, peanut butter fruit pockets and even “Happy Hedgehogs” using Jif (R) peanut butter and their imaginations.

From Aug. 7 through Nov. 13, 2009, the makers of Jif peanut butter are accepting entries for the 8th Annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest(TM). Five finalists will win a trip to New York City for the live judging event and a chance to win the grand prize of a $25,000 scholarship fund. Four runners-up will be awarded a $2,500 scholarship fund. The contest is open to children ages 6 to 12.

Last year’s most creative peanut butter sandwich was inspired by a Louisiana po’boy sandwich and a Philly cheesesteak. Ten-year-old Jordyn Boyer of Lebanon, Pa. wowed the judges with her Po’Boy Peanut Butter Chicken Cheesesteak, made with Jif Creamy Peanut Butter, chicken, peppers, onions, apples and mozzarella cheese. To compliment the fresh peanutty taste of her sandwich, Jordyn created a sauce of Jif creamy peanut butter, Worcestershire sauce, honey and honey mustard, perfect for dipping her savory sandwich.

For decades, choosy moms have made Jif their No. 1 choice of peanut butter and the makers of Jif would like to give choosy moms the recognition they deserve. The Jif Moms Voice Their Choice Contest (TM) is asking moms (or those inspired by one) to submit their stories – in 250 words or less – of how they make the best choices for their families. One grand prize winner will win a trip to New York City to serve as a judge at the 8th Annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest final live judging event in March 2010.

Last year’s winner, Judy Detter, from Clark Summit, Pa. talked about wearing many different hats in her family, one of them being the family chef. “As a choosy mom of two kids, peanut butter is something we pack in their lunches daily,” she says. “As my family’s cook, I choose to prepare healthy snacks and creative meals and look forward to recreating these recipes with my daughters.”

For official rules, entry form, recipes or to learn more about the contests, visit www.jif.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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“If I had to choose a few books for our leaders today to read they would be Vergil’s Aeneid and some Greek and Roman classics,” says Marie Bolchazy, executive vice president of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. “The classics are the foundation of our civilization, and we still live by and debate the same ideas they did back then, whether we realize it or not.”

Bolchazy recommends four books that have a wide-ranging appeal and can get anyone up to speed on how our past informs our future:

* “Vergil’s Aeneid,” translated by G. B. Cobbold.
An action-packed epic tale, the Aeneid is the story of a man whose city is destroyed by war, who struggles to find a higher purpose in life and leaves the woman he loves to fulfill his destiny. The eternal struggle between good and evil is featured in this fast-moving history of Rome. The debate over war and morality could just as easily be taking place in the halls of Congress or the opinion pages of today’s newspapers.

* “Classical Considerations — Useful Wisdom from Greece and Rome”
Even thousands of years ago people knew that wisdom comes from sharing ideas with each other and with those who have gone before. In this book, a diverse group, including students, a psychiatrist, Vietnam veterans and no less an authority on leadership than Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, share in their own words how these ancient writings have influenced their lives.
Paterno cites the Trojan hero Aeneas as an inspiration, not only in football, but also in life.

* “The Epic of Gilgamesh” by Danny P. Jackson
The epic of Gilgamesh goes back to 2800 BC. Translated for the first time in the 1850’s, this ancient work, which predates the Bible, created a theological stir in Christian Europe. The story of the flood, the myth of the loss of immortality due to a serpent and the civilization of the first male are some of the stories found 2,000 years later in the Bible. The historical hero Gilgamesh goes through various stages of manhood — hormonal, intimacy, empire-building, awakening, search for immortality, finally obtaining the herb of immortality and ultimately losing it to a serpent. This Bolchazy-Carducci edition has been favored by the Great Books Foundation and Prentice-Hall (which includes it in their literature anthology), and was translated into Turkish. It is also published with a Hebrew translation. The epic is read by thousands of students in college and high school, with 15 original illustrations in color and 18 illustrations depicting the ancient world of the Mesopotamians. The epic is extremely important in comparative mythology and religions.

* “When in Rome”
When you just can’t bring yourself to sit down with heavy themes like the battle between good and evil, you can laugh and learn with a book of cartoons featuring Julius Caesar, Medusa and the Trojan War. Because, after all, if you can’t laugh at history, you won’t learn from it.

These books and other can be found at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and Bolchazy.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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