Cooking Matters

Way to Grow hosts Cooking Matters for a 6-week cooking course for Way to Grow families.

Family Cooking Classes Build Confidence
Family Cooking Classes Build Confidence 1200 900 Ann Frances Gregg

Family Cooking Classes Build Confidence

Way to Grow celebrates the power of food to nourish more than just bodies, it builds connection, confidence, and community, which is why we’re proud to partner with University of MN Extension for a six-week series of cooking classes for families through Cooking Matters. Each week, a local chef (Peter), a nutrition educator (Lani), Way to Grow parents, and our Programming Team come together to learn a new recipe and build kitchen skills that support long-term success at home. These shared experiences help families turn everyday cooking into positive family experiences.

We want to give a special shoutout to Brittany, a former participant in our first Cooking Matters series last year. From the start, she arrived early to help Lani and Peter with prep work. Her willingness and hard work made such a positive impact for everyone involved. This year, she returned as a formal volunteer for the full six-week course. We’re so grateful for her enthusiasm, skill, and time..

Week by week, recipe by recipe, these cooking classes are feeding families in all the ways that matter.

Teaching hands-on, healthy meals on a budget

Cooking Matters is a national program dedicated to helping families shop for and prepare healthy meals on a budget. Their hands-on, real-life approach aligns with Way to Grow’s mission of supporting families through education and empowerment. Each week, families learn how to:

  • Use simple techniques to cook with confidence
  • Try new flavors and foods with guidance from an experienced local chef
  • Use the Cooking Matters Recipe Finder to discover practical recipes perfect for busy lives
  • Stretch ingredients across meals

Parents and Family Educators gain practical skills and ideas they can immediately use. And children often join in – tasting, laughing, and celebrating the meals their parents create.

Why family meal planning matters

Way to Grow knows that consistent mealtimes support children’s learning and development. Family meal planning can boost language skills, pass on cultural traditions, and create space for emotional connection. When caregivers feel confident in the kitchen, they’re more likely to prepare balanced meals, and more likely to enjoy doing it.

Through this six-week series, parents discover that nutritious food doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. With the right tools and support, mealtimes are less stressful and more meaningful.

Chef Peter leading a family cooking class session
Parent cooking a new recipe during Cooking Matters session
Way to Grow mom preparing vegetables during class
Women discussing ingredients during a family cooking class
Brittany and Ronel smiling with Brittany’s cooking certificate

A program that feeds more than stomachs

Week by week, recipe by recipe, these cooking classes are feeding families in all the ways that matter. What starts as a simple meal often ends with shared laughter, new friendships, and a growing sense of confidence. Families leave with full stomachs and hearts, and skills that will last well beyond the final session.

Our final session was especially sweet. Participants received program certificates, shared a celebratory lunch, and enjoyed a favorite from the Cooking Matters recipe page – Black Bean Brownies. Delicious, rich, and packed with protein, they were the perfect way to end a season of learning and connection.

Way to Grow is grateful to the University of MN Extension program for investing in our community and showing what’s possible when we cook and learn together. We’re happy to share that a second series is in the works. Stay tuned!

To explore more about how Cooking Matters helps families thrive nationwide, visit cookingmatters.org.

Special thanks to John Gwinn for sharing his photos with us.

Want to become a Way to Grow family?

If you or someone you know is expecting a child or raising young children in the Twin Cities, we’re here to help. Our free, personalized home visiting program supports families from before birth through third grade with early education, health resources, and trusted, long-term support.

Learn more and apply today at waytogrow.org/enroll.

We’d love to walk alongside your family, too.

  • Ivy Marsnik
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For School Success, Start with Breakfast
For School Success, Start with Breakfast 2048 1362 Ivy Marsnik

Parents know that school mornings can be the busiest time of the day. Between getting kids to school on time, signing permission slips, making sure homework is done, and everything else, breakfast can be a last minute thought. However, unless you are certain your child is eating breakfast at school, breakfast at home is vitally important.

For years we’ve been told we need to eat breakfast. It’s undeniably good for you! Every night, most of us fast, or go a period of time without food, for eight to ten hours as we sleep. To break the fast, it is important we eat breakfast and jump start our day. Breakfast provides important energy to the body and the brain which in turn enables all of us, including our children, to feel better, think better, learn better, and perform better.

Here are a few ideas for a healthy, quick, and low-cost breakfast on those busy mornings:

  • Enjoy homemade granola on top of a fruit and yogurt parfait, or as a standalone cereal (great hot or cold)
  • Make oatmeal with fat-free or low-fat milk and add fresh, frozen, dried or canned fruit
  • Try grits with light coconut milk with canned mango or peaches in light syrup or its own juices
  • Make a fruit smoothie with low-fat milk, fruit, and peanut butter
  • For a special treat, enjoy a delicious fruit tart

Eating breakfast is a lifelong habit worth teaching your child. It is important to remember that as the parent, you set the example. Even if you are not usually hungry in the morning, or don’t like typical breakfast foods, try a light yet well-balanced breakfast with at least three food groups. The reality is, almost any dish can be eaten for breakfast. So go ahead and serve those leftovers!

By planning ahead and forming good habits, your family will see that eating breakfast is not only quick and easy, but is also a great way to spend time in the kitchen together and set your day off to a strong start.

The University of Minnesota Extension’s Health and Nutrition, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Education program is excited to partner with Way to Grow and has a shared vision for healthier families. Our education provides Minnesota families with tools and strategies to help counter the effects of food insecurity, poverty and obesity. One of the classes we offer is Cooking Matters® Minnesota. This is a six-week series of cooking-based nutrition education program that empowers people to eat healthier and make better use of their food resources. Program graduates report an increase in confidence to prepare healthy meals and excitement over understanding food labels and ways to stretch food dollars. Parents realize that small changes in how their families eat can make big differences in the end. Most importantly more families find making the healthy choice is now a much easier choice.

For more information on the University of Minnesota Extension’s Health and Nutrition, SNAP-Ed program, contact: Evalyn Cabrey, MS, RD, SNAP-Ed Regional Coordinator (Metro), at ecarbrey@umn.edu or 612-624-9942.

This article was written by Sharmyn Phipps, SNAP-Ed Educator
University of Minnesota Extension, Health and Nutrition Programs, SNAP Education

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Cooking Matters Class Comes to a Delicious End
Cooking Matters Class Comes to a Delicious End 541 271 Way to Grow

In week five of Way to Grow’s six week Cooking Matters class, the group took a trip to Cub Foods. But this was unlike any ordinary trip to the grocery store. The group was posed with a challenge: using $10 or less, buy ingredients for a meal that incorporates all five food groups and feeds four.

Cherise rose to the challenge, choosing ground turkey, a tomato, whole wheat tortillas, cheese and romaine lettuce. While she normally grabs iceberg lettuce, instructor Erin informed her that the darker color of the romaine means it’s packed with more good-for-you nutrition, so Cherise decided to branch out. The mini lesson is just one small example of the knowledge Cooking Matters participants learn during any given class.

The mixture of staying under the $10 budget, branching out to try new foods and adding a dash of creativity sent Cherise home with a brand new cooking pan! Her children and sister enjoyed the meal, she said; though, the romaine lettuce wasn’t a hit with her toddler, who thought it was a toy leaf.

The final Cooking Matters class went out on a zesty note today, as participants made and consumed a fabulous meal of homemade corn tortilla chips, mango salsa and a refreshing apple-lime fizz drink.

The class wrapped up with a graduation. Each participant received a certificate of completion, a reusable grocery bag filled with healthy foods and a cookbook with affordable meal and snack ideas. Participants thanked the instructors, citing that they now know how to better understand nutrition labels, purchase healthier foods and stick to a grocery budget.

Cooking Matters’ mission is to help families shop for and cook healthy meals on a budget. Huge thanks to Cargill for providing the class funds, the University of Minnesota Extension for teaching the class and the Center for Families for hosting.

Check out our Facebook page for a gallery of photos from today’s final class.

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Twelve Days of Growing: Day 9
Twelve Days of Growing: Day 9 150 150 Way to Grow

Day 9 – 9 children – 9 out of 10 Way to Grow children entering kindergarten were up-to-date on recommended immunizations during 2013. Our commitment to health and wellness extends from prenatal checkups and new parent support groups to Cooking Matters and our Dream Tracks teen parenting program. With key community partnerships and connections to valuable resources, we help lay the foundation for a healthy home.

We hope you’ll consider a making a gift to Way to Grow a part of your holiday giving. Your tax-deductible gift will continue to fund our Great by Eight initiative, which provides outcome-based, holistic, year-round, language-to-language, early education programming to the families and children we serve.

To make a contribution, please click here or phone Melissa Meyer at (612) 874-4740.  To learn more about our programs, please explore our website.

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