Cooking Demos Offer Healthy Inspiration

 Shirley Salado, a nutrition educator with Farm and Home Advisor, teaches one of the County's new "Cook it Quick!" healthy cooking demonstrations.

 We’ve all been there. We’re rushing home from work, hungry and tired, and have little energy or patience left to cook dinner.

That’s where a series of new cooking demonstrations could provide a boost of inspiration.

The free classes, called “Cook it Quick!” started in April and offer employees practical ideas and instruction on how to put together quick, healthy meals. If you can’t make it to a session in person—there’s just one left June 21 at HHSA’s Health Services Complex on Rosecrans—check out a video of the first class on LMS. It’s simply called, “Wellness Cook It Quick Video.”

County Wellness Coordinator William Erese said he expects the Employee Wellness program to offer more cooking demonstrations in the future.

Shirley Salado, a nutrition educator with Farm and Home Advisor, taught the first two classes. At her class earlier this week, more than a dozen people watched as she started up an electrical wok and put together a vegetable-packed Asian stir-fry dish. She poured in some olive oil, onion, garlic, ginger and then colorful bags of pre-chopped vegetables including carrots, broccoli and cabbage. To add some more flavor, she stuck in some low sodium soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and seeds and chili flakes too. She encouraged the class to experiment with their favorite healthy seasonings or sauces.

Salado then showed the audience one way of incorporating both fruits and vegetables into breakfast fare by way of a green smoothie. She whipped up a drink in a blender using almond milk, spinach, carrots, pre-cut mango, frozen strawberries and banana.

“At every opportunity, try to build fruits and vegetables into your meals,” Salado said. “You can have a big lunch salad but why not start in the morning?”

She also showed off a chili dish she’d prepared the night before and then simmered all day in a slow cooker. She substituted chicken for turkey in this recipe below, which is also available online through Martha Stewart’s website here.

Spicy Turkey Chili

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Yield: serves 6

 

Ingredients:

·       1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless turkey thighs cut into one inch pieces

·       3 cloves garlic, minced

·       1 medium yellow onion, diced small

·       2 Serrano chilies, seeded and minced

·       1 chipotle chili in adobo, seeded and minced

·       1 can (28 oz.) whole peeled tomatoes, pureed

·       2 tbsp. chili powder

·       Coarse salt

·       2 cans (15.5 oz. each) of black beans, drained and rinsed

·       1 tbsp. white vinegar

 

      Directions:

1.   In a 5- to 6- quart slow cooker, combine turkey, garlic, onion, Serrano chilies, chipotle chile, tomato puree, chili powder and one teaspoon salt. Cover and cook on high until turkey is fork-tender, 3 hours (or 6 hours on low). Add beans and cook until warmed through, about 30 min. more. Stir in vinegar and season with salt.

 

Cook’s Note:

Serve the chili with sliced jalapenos for heat, cilantro for fresh flavor and a dollop of sour cream to cool things off.

(From Martha Stewart Living magazine March 2013)

To sign up for a cooking demo or to watch the video of one, visit LMS.