SAN ANTONIO — More than 200 people recently attended the Dinner Tonight! Healthy Cooking School at the San Antonio Garden Center to learn how to prepare quick, healthful and economical meals at home.
The school was part of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s statewide effort to promote at-home family dining through providing easy, healthful, and economical meals. It was presented by AgriLife Extension, the Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.
More than 200 people attended the Dinner Tonight! Healthy Cooking School at the San Antonio Garden Center. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo)
“At-home family dining is becoming a lost art that could do much to address many issues related to family cohesion and obesity,” said Dr. Connie Sheppard, AgriLife Extension agent for family and consumer sciences for Bexar County. “Many people are overwhelmed when they think of menu planning and making healthy, cost-effective meals for themselves and their families.
“Dinner Tonight! was developed by AgriLife Extension agents statewide to provide resources and recipes to help encourage at-home family mealtime. And Dinner Tonight! Healthy Cooking Schools were developed as a way to bring people together in a fun environment to learn about healthy meal planning and preparation.”
The cooking school featured guest chefs Beveylon Concha, who showed the audience how to make a broccoli slaw, and Jennifer Fisher, author of The Fit Fork blog in Austin, who represented the Texas Beef Council and prepared a sirloin and sugar snap pea pasta salad. Sheppard prepared a Mexican pot roast using easy-to-find ingredients.
Guest chef Jennifer Fisher prepares a sirloin and sugar snap peas salad at the Dinner Tonight! Healthy Cooking School. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo)
As each recipe was being prepared, cooking school participants were given samples to taste as they watched the chefs and the stage projector screen which gave an up-close view of the meal preparation. A separate vendor area was set up adjacent to the stage for participants to visit before and after the different cooking demonstrations.
“I grew up on a farm in Rosebud, Texas,” said Judy Davis, a parish nurse in San Antonio who attended the program. “I’m interested in healthy eating for both adults and kids, and I came to this Dinner Tonight! program to get some ideas for healthy recipes. I’m also concerned about families eating together and that meals are affordable, and those issues are being addressed here too.”
John Amos, who attended the cooking school with wife Anna Martinez-Amos, said they came to learn easy recipes to cook at home and show their kids how to prepare.
“We’re conscientious about not having too much junk food around the house and offering our kids healthy snacks like fruit,” Amos said. “Our kids are teenagers and one of them will be leaving home soon and needs to learn to cook something besides fish sticks and chicken nuggets.”
Participants received a Dinner Tonight! cookbook and goodie bag, and door prize drawings were held throughout the evening.
Sheppard told participants Dinner Tonight! recipes are available through free weekly video webcasts at http://healthyliving.tamu.edu under the Dinner Tonight! tab. The website is updated every Monday with a new recipe and video webcast. Families can sign up to receive weekly emails announcing new recipes by contacting Sheppard at the Agrilife Extension office for Bexar County at 210-467-6575 or at csheppard@tamu.edu.
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