Healthy Picnic Dishes

Last week's Healthy Cooking class had an attendance of 13 people - the largest class to date!  The topic was Healthy Picnic Dishes and we focused on a number of low fat, low sodium dishes with great taste and minimal prep.

Recipes included (clockwise from top): Pasta Salad with Garbanzo beans, Mediterranean Crustini, Kale and Butternut Squash Sauté, and Beet Coleslaw.

The recipes for this month's class came from students at the Art Institute of Wisconsin. Nutrition instructor Renee Scampini led the class and covered various topics.  An interesting bit of information that I didn't know beforehand was that washing pre-washed bagged salad greens can actually increase the chance of eating a foodborne disease! Bacteria thrives in water so if you purchase a bag of greens (e.g. spinach, lettuce mix, etc) that contains a few leaves of contaminated food, washing it will just encourage that contamination to spread.  Eating a couple leaves of spinach with a bacteria is much better than an entire salad! So if it says pre-washed, DON'T wash it!

Renee reviews food safety tips for summer picnics

We also reviewed Picnic Food Safety tips.  Try to use cold food or nonperishable food for picnics - it's easier to keep food cold than to keep it hot.  But if you are cooking, make sure to use a food thermometer to know that you're cooking to a safe temp: steak, pork and lamp chops to 145F; poultry and ground beef to 165F.   Cooked food should not be out for more than 2 hours - bring it in and just pull it back out when you're ready to eat.

Our 'work bench' after less than an hour of prep and cooking! 

Next month's cooking class will instead be food demonstrations during the farmer's market: Garden Fresh Meals on Saturday, July 20th 11-1:30pm.