Avocado oil a healthy addition to your pantry

You can add another exotic, imported bottle to your already overflowing cabinet of infused and flavored oils. Avocado oil is just as rich and buttery and healthy as the gator-skinned fruit it is harvested from. Chile, the top producer of Hass avocados, has assembled the Chile Association of Avocado Producers and is not only a leader in production of the oil but requires its oil to endure rigorous taste tests and strict assembly to ensure a pristine product. This oil tops Prevention magazine's list of top 25 power foods because of its antioxidants, such as vitamin E, which helps skin and coronary artery health.

The cooking uses are no less impressive because of the oils high smoke point of 520 degrees. Ideally, this oil is great for stir frying, dipping fresh vegetables and drizzling over salads.

Let them eat veggies: Kids are either heading back to school or have been settling into their new homerooms for a couple of weeks and you are racking your cobwebbed brain for healthy lunchbox food that's just as much kid friendly as it is to your wallet. Its hard sneaking veggies and healthy snacks into their brown bags and lunchboxes, unaware that they will probably just toss them. Try incorporating healthy sides with these tips from Kerrygold.

• Find kid-pleasing ways to incorporate vegetables. Provide a small container of salad dressing as a dip for carrots, sugar snap peas and red pepper wedges.

• Add a salad with the sandwich. Make a little extra green salad at dinnertime and, before dressing it, set some aside in plastic containers for each child. Provide the dressing in small containers.

• Offer dried fruits such as cranberries, raisins or apricots, instead of a cookie. Or, combine dried fruits with some chocolate chips and nuts.

• Halve and core pears and apples for easier eating. Add a few cheese sticks with the sandwich for a boost of calcium.

5-a-day keeps bad grades away: A recent study showed that children who consumed a diet rich in fruits and vegetables tended to score higher on tests than their peers who snacked on sweets and treats high in fat.

Good Medicine's summer 2008 issue reported a study conducted in Canada as part of the Children's Lifestyle and School-Performance, looked at more than 4,500 fifth-grade students to examine a link between diet quality and academic performance. Food frequency surveys were handed out and were then compared with a standardized test screening for all the fifth-grade student participants. The results showed that children who finished all their veggies at the dinner table achieved higher scores on the test than those who exhibited a poor diet on paper.

Eleven heaven: If you're not sending a scholar back to school and you'd like to venture out this weekend, you have until Sept. 13 to experience Cafe Matou's celebratory 11-year anniversary. The restaurant is offering diners $11 specials with accompanying $11 wine pairings. The restaurant is at 1846 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Call (773) 384-8911 to make reservations.