Brashear Teens: Healthy Cooking with Liz!

Hey guys! Danyelle from the Hilltop back after the teens had a couple weeks off. This week we were joined by Liz from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank to start our Kids Cook! programming. Liz will be joining us once a month through May to share some healthy eating tips and tricks and to prepare something good to eat with our teens.

The afternoon started out with a discussion about My Plate. The teens talked about what the food groups are and which items/how much of each group they should be eating each day for proper nutrition.

After learning about the nutrition background and talking about different types of healthy foods, the students then got to make a healthy snack to eat. Liz brought in the ingredients to make whole wheat flatbread and the kids got to work, mixing the ingredients and kneading the dough. They were each given a portion to flatten and shape as they so desired before putting it on the griddle to bake.

While their shaped bread baked, the students discussed healthy choices and ways to incorporate whole grains into their daily meals and snacks. They also learned about what the different ingredients in grain recipes do, ie the baking powder in the dough allowed the bread to rise slightly while cooking, but still remain dense, unlike bread that includes yeast and rises to become airy and spongy.

After the flatbread was done cooking, Liz shared some hummus with the teens to try. Many of the students had never tried hummus and although not all of them enjoyed it, they all enjoyed trying something new.

Although it's hard getting back into the swing of things and we started out with only a few teens at the beginning, by the end of the activity more students stopped by to join us, especially since food was involved. Every one had a great time learning with Liz and we're excited to have her back next month for another great activity. 

Join us next week, Wednesday, January 13 for Unique U, an art activity about individuality and expression from 330-5 PM. See you there!

Danyelle