Last Thursday I taught a cooking class with Felecia Bennett-Giles, a Cancer Services’ Outreach Educator. The class was hosted by Greater Cleveland Avenue Christian Church. Their kitchen was perfect for our class of 12 participants. Just the right amount of space for everyone to get involved!
It was such a great class and here are some of the comments we received:
- “Absolutely love the vitamin water with cucumber.”
- “Very good program. It helped me a lot with preparing my foods. The food was cooked without salt and it was very very good. It is my goal to eat healthy.”
- “This program is an excellent source to reach people that would not ordinarily listen to their loved ones. Having a personal input usually allows people to appreciate a quick, prepared dish.“
- [I plan to] “buy more fresh spices and seasonings to enhance flavors in foods”
The best part for me was to see participants in the class learn a skill and then teach that skill to other participants. Many people became more familiarized with using fresh herbs in cooking. We didn’t use any salt in the cooking process!
Here are the recipes that we used:
Image via Wikipedia
Make Your Own Vitamin Water
- Slice 1 large cucumber
- Put in pitcher of water
- Store in fridge overnight
- Enjoy over ice!
Summer Veggie Roast
Combine any or all of the following vegetables – the amounts of each depend on how much you’ve got around. And if you have something that’s not on this list and you think would fit well, go ahead and try it in here!
Ingredients:
• Diced Onion
• Minced Garlic
• An assortment of veggies like carrots, potato, squash, zucchini, eggplant, kale, broccoli etc.
• Fresh, minced or dried parsley
• Dried or fresh oregano
• Dried or fresh basil
• Fresh rosemary, minced
• Fresh thyme
• Pepper and salt
• Olive oil
Instructions:
1. Chop all veggies into small cubes.
2. Place in large baking dish, uncovered.
3. Pour enough olive oil to coat veggies.
4. Mix in spices, garlic and onion, pepper and salt, to taste
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until desired consistency. If you include potatoes and carrots or other root veggies, it may take a little longer than 1 hour. Check with a fork and keep cooking until done.
6. I check on it and stir the veggies around every 20 – 30 minutes.
Oven Baked Chicken
Ingredients:
• 1 1/2cups corn flakes cereal
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon water
• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lb)
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (look for one without sodium/salt)
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 450°F (we did this at 400°, the same temp as the roasted veggies).
2. Line 13×9-inch pan with foil; spray with cooking spray.
3. Place cereal in plastic bag or between sheets of waxed paper; crush with rolling pin.
4. Place crushed cereal in small bowl.
5. In another small bowl, beat egg white and water with fork until frothy.
6. Dip chicken breasts into egg white mixture; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning.
7. Roll chicken in cereal to coat; place in foil-lined pan.
8. Bake 18 to 23 minutes, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut.
Image by Wally Hartshorn via Flickr
George Foreman Grilled Zuchini
Ingredients:
- Zucchini (yellow or green)
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- Other herbs, if desired
Instructions:
- Cut zucchini into strips
- Brush with olive oil (or
mix in bowl with olive oil) - Sprinkle on pepper, salt
and herbs (we used fresh thyme and rosemary along with pepper) - Grill on George Foreman
for 5 minutes, or until tender. - EAT!
You can do this with a variety of different veggies! Choose
the ones that cook quick for best results (corn on the cob, peppers, onions,
mushrooms, etc.)
Zucchini Bread
For this recipe, the zucchini needs to be grated. I use a cuisinart to do the grating. We’ve done up to a triple recipe with all the zucchini we get some weeks!
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil, a healthy type of fat)
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups grated zucchini
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts(optional)
- 1/4 cup wheat germ
Instructions:
- Mix eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla
- Add flours, baking soda, salt, wheat germ, cinnamon, (raisins and nuts).
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
There is added fats and sugar in this recipe. So don’t overdo the serving size! Also – you could try substituting some of the oil for applesauce, and you could probably try cutting back on some of the sugar. That experiment is up to you!
Enjoy!!
– Julie
