Check out these pictures from Mobile Cooking Schools in Brooks County conducted by CEA-FCH Celia Salinas in June. More classes are on the books!
by amy.ressler
by amy.ressler
The On the Road to Healthy Living Mobile Cooking School was the basis of 2018 Award Recognition from the Texas Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences – Innovation in Programming Award. Additionally, the project was recognized at the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences annaul awards or Innovation in Programming receiving 2nd place in the Southern Region and 2nd Place in National!
by amy.ressler
The On the Road to Healthy Living Mobile Cooking School Instructor’s guide and website was submitted to ACE’s Critique and Awards program and won the silver award winner in Class 34! ACE is the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences and is the professional development organization for communications specialists in the land-grant system (see aceweb.org). Class 34 is the Distance Education and Instructional Design—Educational Package category! The award will be presented at the ACE 2018 annual conference in Scottsdale, AZ in August of 2018.
The guide and website were made possible by:
Amy Ressler, County Extension Agent and Author
Helen White, Communications Specialist and Editor
Brooke Prather, Graphic Design
Remington May, Student Intern
Blair Williamson, Web Content Design
Melissa Smith, Communications Specialist
Holly Jarvis Whitaker, Coordinator of Educational Media and Online Curriculum Development
by amy.ressler
At Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, we create annual reports called “In-Depth Summaries”. Here is the report for the Mobile Cooking School Activities in Montgomery County for 2017.
by amy.ressler
A question came up recently about the Salmon Cakes and Ginger Mayonaise recipe. The recipe for the mayo lists 2 eggs or equivalent pasteurized egg product. When using this recipe, you have excellent teaching opportunity about eggs and food safety. It is imperative that educators use the pasteurized egg product in the class and explain the reasoning. For more information information check out: https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/types/eggs/index.html. I also like to include a handout on egg safety in the handouts for the class.
by amy.ressler
The “On the Road to Healthy Living Mobile Cooking School” will be featured in a concurrent session at the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS) annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on October 17, 2017, 10:00am-10:45am. A project overview will be shared with Extension educators from across the nation!
The project is also receiving recognition at the NEAFCS annual meeting as well!
Family Health & Wellness Award: 1st place National; 1st place Southern Region; 1st place State
Communications Award – Educational Publications: 1st place National; 1st place Southern Region; 1st place State
Communications Award – Educational Curriculum Package: 3rd place national and 2nd place Southern Region; 1st place State
by amy.ressler
With the threat of hurricanes, people usually make sure they stock up on needed supplies… just in case. This means the bread shelves are wiped clean. Recently, with as Hurricane Harvey was making his approach, my co-worker encountered a mom in the grocery store who was fretting the fact that there was no bread left on the shelves. She wasn’t sure what she would feed her kids if they couldn’t get back to the store for a few days. Being the dedicated educator that she is, and always aware of those teachable moments, my co-worker spent a few minutes with the mom giving her some ideas for possibilities other than bread. As we were discussing it later, we started thinking of ways we could incorporate “survival classes”, into our mobile cooking schools. The MCS concept is already designed to teach people how to make quick, healthy meals with minimal supplies. Why not add the twist of preparing for those times a hurricane might hit literally as well as those metaphorical hurricanes we sometimes experience when life gets super hectic? Obviously in crises, getting all of your food groups in is not top priority, but being well-nourished certainly helps reduce stress on the body. Definitely, basic food safety is imperative. Knowing that it’s okay to eat beans straight from a can like those in the Chickpea and Black Bean Salad, and knowing what to look for in terms of keeping foods at the right temperature, will go a long way in ‘weathering the storm”. For “After a Disaster” information, don’t forget to refer people to www.texashelp.tamu.edu for helpful information.
by amy.ressler
“The trouble with tribbles” was an episode on the original Star Trek where there were lots of creatures on the ship, called tribbles, that were difficult to handle because they were very busy. Anyway, they may not be tribbles, but teens can be challenging! In the Instructor’s Guide, on page 48, I mentioned a tip on the page of “Advice from the Field – (number 6) A helpful strategy to use with teenagers is to identify specific tasks and print them on slips of paper to pass out, one at a time, so that they can all participate in an organized manner.” Here is an example of what we did with a group of teens at the library recently. We set up 4 stations and numbered them 1-4; each table was where a recipe would be prepared and assembled. We made Colorful Chicken Quesadillas, No-guilt Guacamole, Chickpea and Black Bean Salad, and Yummy Lime-Pinapple Dessert. Each participant took a slip of paper with a task to complete written on it. After they finished the task, they came back to get another slip, until all of the tasks were done. The quesadillas were set up as an assembly line for each participant to put together their own (after everything has been chopped and mixed from the tasks) and cook/warm on griddles or skillets. Then, they served themselves from the other recipes that had been put together though the tasks.
It’s actually a great way to make sure everybody gets to do something, and it seems to go more efficiently and uses fewer equipment supplies.
And…all of the tribbles are happy! 🙂
by amy.ressler
I was recently visiting with someone about the mobile cooking school and was asked what would be 2 things that I would say might encourage someone to do something like this. In other words, what is the why?
Oooops, that’s three things…well…there you go…
by amy.ressler
We have lots of supplies and shelf-stable ingredients kept “on-hand” to use from class to class. I like to keep them in plastic tubs that are easy to grab and go. It dawned on me the other day when I was looking for a couple of specific supplies, that the clear tubs are awesome for the small stuff. I could peek through to see if the items I was looking for were there without having to get the box out and rummage through. It sounds like a pretty simple concept, but clear containers for the smaller stuff are the way to go! The big boxes that hold all of the equipment, though, need to be very sturdy. I don’t think they make tote boxes that are clear and tough. Hmmmm… probably an analogy in there somewhere…