A healthy eating drive backed by some of Norwich City's top stars has kicked off around Norfolk schools - with thousands of youngsters tucking into their first Canaries-themed dishes.
For the next four weeks, schoolchildren across the county will be treated to a different dish designed by the nutrition team at Carrow Road and inspired by four of the club's international players.
On Thursday this week, the first of these meals was sampled by hungry pupils, including at Mousehold Infant and Nursery in Norwich.
First on the menu was a Greek chicken flatbread, inspired by international full-back Dimitris Giannoulis.
The dish, which was served with mixed salad, a yoghurt and cucumber dip and couscous, was met with rave reviews from the youngsters sampling it for the first time.
Seven-year-old Harrison Golder said: "I liked the meal because it is healthy. The flatbread was my favourite bit."
Lily Mellet, also seven, said: "I'm going to ask my mum to cook me the recipe tonight for dinner as well."
Amelia Lake, aged six, added: "I loved the vegetables - they tasted sweet and crunchy."
The Active Canaries campaign has been launched by the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation alongside Norse Catering, which provides meals for around 200 schools in the county.
Debbie Horth, Norse's cook manager at Mousehold, said: "As a Norwich City season ticket holder myself I thoroughly enjoyed preparing and serving food that the players would eat when training.
"Thursday's school dinner was so exciting - the children loved their yellow and green food and are so excited to be taking recipe cards home with them."
The next three weeks will see Canaries-themed dishes served up every Thursday.
The remaining dishes are Teemu Pukki's Finnish fish pie pasta bake, Josh Sargent's American mac 'n' cheese and Tim Krul's veggie sausage, red lentil and tomato stew.
At the end of each lunchtime, youngsters are then given menu cards with the players' pictures on them so they can recreate the recipes at home.
Rebecca Westall, headteacher at Mousehold, added: "This is a great initiative for our families and school community to be involved in."
Dimitris Giannoulis’s Greek Chicken Flatbreads
Ingredients:
For the filling:
One lemon; one tsp garlic puree; one tsp dried oregano; 450g chicken (diced) or Quorn pieces
25ml vegetable or olive oil
For the flatbread:
100g plain flour; 100g wholemeal flour
100ml warm water; two tbsp vegetable or olive oil
Method:
To make the marinade, mix the juice and zest of a lemon with garlic puree, oregano and vegetable oil.
Add the chicken (or Quorn) and mix until well coated. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in the fridge for one hour to marinade (you can cook straight away if you haven’t got time to marinade the chicken).
Preheat the oven to gas mark six/200C.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper, add the chicken (or Quorn) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
To make the flatbreads while the chicken is cooking, mix the plain flour and wholemeal flour in a bowl and gradually pour in the water to form a dough.
Knead the dough for five minutes until soft – add more flour if the dough is too sticky or add more water and oil if too dry.
Cut the dough into four or eight equal portions (depending on which size you would like) and roll until half a centimetre thick and make the dough an oval shape.
Place the flatbreads onto a greased baking tray and cook for 10 to 15 minutes at gas mark six/200C.
Top the flatbreads with the chicken and serve with mixed salad, a yoghurt and cucumber dip and couscous.
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