You can receive Featurettes by e-mail daily, weekly or monthly by request. We can e-mail by your choice of topic or all stories as you may prefer. NORTH AMERICAN PRECIS SYNDICATE, INC. 350 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10118-0110 PRESORT STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID North American Address Service Requested Precis Syndicate, Inc. To make it even more convenient for editors to use our stories, NAPS has added an RSS syndication feed to our Web site. Simply hit the RSS button on our site for automated updates on available content. Please contact us to arrange to receive Featurettes in the format that works best for you at (800) 222-5551 or e-mail your request to us at printmedia@napsnet.com. We can provide Featurettes on CD-ROM or you can download it online at www.napsnet.com. Gary Lipton Media Relations Manager Phone: 1-(800)-222-5551 Fax: 1-(800)-990-4329 Web site: www. napsnet .com e-mail: printmedia@napsnet.com #2419 North American Precis Syndicate, Inc., 350 Fifth Avenue, 65th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10118-0110 Braces-Friendly Fare Cooked Up By Celebrity Chef (NAPSA)—Many parents find that mealtime can be a challenge when their children get braces. Now, thanks to some new recipes, both parents and kids will have something to smile about. For example, when celebrity chef Gale Gand’s 10-year-old son, Gio, got braces she faced one of her toughest tests to date: how to modify her favorite recipes into braces-friendly fare that her whole family would love. “Meals have always been an event at our home, a time when we can all come together as a family to share delicious food a n d t h e d a y ’s e v e n t s , ” s a y s Gand. “The good news is that with a few food modifications and braces-friendly substitutes, our family mealtime ritual didn’t have to change that much.” According to the American A ssoci ati o n o f O r t h o d o n t i s t s (AAO), more than 4 million children and 1 million adults have braces. “Avoiding hard, sticky, crunchy and chewy foods helps to keep braces intact and can make t he t r e atme n t p r o ce s s fl o w smoothly,” says Dr. William Gaylord, D.D.S., M.S.D., an orthodontis t an d p r e s i de n t o f t h e AAO. “When patients take good care of their braces, they should be able to finish treatment on time with good results.” To help parents and patients, the AAO provides the following braces-friendly recipe created by Chef Gale Gand. She says it’s one of her son’s favorites: Dishes like Chef Gale’s Savory Chicken Pot Pie can help keep braces intact and make the treatment process flow smoothly. Savory Chicken Pot Pie Serves 4 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 large chicken breasts, cut into cubes 1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed 2 large carrots, peeled and cubed 1 ⁄2 cup of frozen peas 1 16-oz. can of chicken broth 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley salt and black pepper to taste 1 tablespoon butter 2 tablespoons of flour 2 disks of pie crusts for a 10” pie (ready-made or homemade) In a large skillet, heat the olive oil till it’s almost smoking, add the onions and saut them. Stir them to coat with oil and then add the cubed chicken cook till the onions are translu- cent and chicken is cooked through, stirring often. Remove to a bowl. Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to boiling and add the potatoes and carrots to cook them through, simmering about 15 minutes. Reserving the chicken stock, strain out the potatoes and carrots and add them to the chicken. Add the peas as well. In the same saut pan, heat 1 tablespoon butter and add 2 tablespoons flour. Stir continuously over medium heat to boil and cook till it’s straw colored, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the reserved chicken broth and cook, whisking till it boils and thickens. Stir in all the vegetables and chicken, and parsley and taste for seasonings. Add salt and pepper as needed. Place a homemade or readymade pie crust in the bottom of a deep-dish, 10-inch pie pan. Pour the chicken and veggies over the bottom crust, then place the top crust over and crimp the edges. Cut 3-4 small slits in the top crust or use a small cookie cutter to remove a portion of the top crust, leaving a cut-out design. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes or until the pie is hot and bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Parents interested in additional braces-friendly recipes or information on orthodontic treatments or orthodontists near them can visit www.braces.org. Putting The Power Of Words To Work (NAPSA)—Read all about it. A powerful vocabulary can often add to a person’s employment potential and help make lifelong learning possible. Plus, building a strong vocabulary increases a person’s ability to communicate effectively, both socially and professionally. It also enables people to have a better grasp of the information that they read or are exposed to through other media, such as radio or television. This holds true for both adults and children. The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) offers the following tips for improving a child’s vocabulary: 1. Encourage your child to read as much as possible from a variety of sources. 2. Tell a story. You might be surprised by all the words you choose when you describe the things you do, the people you meet and the places you go. 3. Act it out. Often, children and adults can benefit from visualizing words—either in the illustrations of a book or by acting them out. 4. Expand on it. When you tell your child stories and read together, ask questions such as “how” and “why” to support the use of additional and more precise words. 5. Encourage your child to search for words on the Internet. 6. Use technology creatively to promote learning. For instance, the NCFL recommends using vocabulary-building video games such as Ubisoft’s My Word Coach. To promote literacy, the video game publisher Ubisoft, the NCFL and actress Meredith Baxter have joined forces to create an online contest called the “Great American Word Challenge” that helps bring a sense of fun and excitement to literacy. Experts say family literacy can be an important way to foster lifelong learning. Said Baxter, “There is nothing more powerful than the ability to express yourself with confidence. Building that confidence starts with a strong vocabulary, and the foundation for vocabulary—and future academic success—starts at home.” The contest, which runs through January 31, 2008, pits cities against one another in a test of vocabularies. People across the U.S. are encouraged to compete in an online version of the video game My Word Coach for the chance to establish their hometown as the city with the best vocabulary in the country. The city that gets the highest average score takes the title and the prize; Nintendo DS units and copies of My Word Coach will be donated to NCFL learning centers in the winning city. Everyone w ho plays the “G reat American Word Challenge” will also be entered to win a grand-prize trip for two to Washington, D.C., and have the chance to win one of two Nintendo Wii gaming systems awarded each month. To learn more, visit www. greatamericanwordchallenge.com.