Staff from the Umass Extension Nutrition Education Program came to the Watson Elementary School on March 9th for the first Family Cooking Night offered by that organization. Fall River School Student Assignment and Parent Information Coordinator Barbara Allard contacted UMass Extension Site Director Andrea Gulezian, MEd, RD, LDN and invited her to arrange for staff members Lindsay Megan and Sue Loughlin to teach a cooking class for parents and students at the school They brought the ingredients for black bean soup, a Mediterranean couscous, and a pot roasted beef and demonstrated how to prepare each dish in just a few minutes each. Lindsay also gave a ten-minute PowerPoint session for parents on "Supermarket Savvy." Family members were then given recipes and encouraged to try the dishes at home. The children were clearly fascinated by the demonstration and eager to try them. "What we wanted to demonstrate is that one can prepare nutritious, inexpensive meals in a short period of time at home without a lot of fancy cooking skills," stated Gulezian. "Next we plan to do a session in which the children get to make some of their own dishes," she added. Click here for a 20-minute video of the first part of the session. For more information, contact Barbara Allard at 508-675-8376.  

(Top row)  Fall River School Student Assignment and Parent Information Coordinator Barbara Allard welcome Umass Extension Nutrition Education Program Supervisor Andrea Gulezian, MEd, RD, LDN, center, to the Watson Elementary School where School Principal Cathy Carvalho takes a picture of some of the students who came for the session with their parents. (Row two) Nutrition instructor Lindsay Megan makes some final preparations before beginning a PowerPoint talk on shopping for the parent. (Row three) Nutrition instructor Sue Loughlin begins preparing a black bean soup. (Row four) Six-year-old Stephen Vieira and five-year-old Dysen Mickelson watch intently as Dysen's mother, Samantha, watches from behind. (Bottom row) Dysen and eight-year-old Lily Albernaz wait for the finished product.