Cooking lessons let local youth stir up spaghetti
The latest installment of the Rockmart Farmers Market cooking classes meant both vegetables and creativity for the county's young chefs.
Each class ensures students will leave with two new recipes, and Thursday's recipes included preparing veggie noodles and crafting homemade tomato sauce.
Using healthy ingredients directly from the farmers market, the children were taught the ins and outs of replacing typical pasta noodles with various vegetables such as carrot, onion, potato, and more.
Eating pasta noodles isn't a death sentence, but having a made-fromscratch, vegetable-based alternative to the gluten filled noodles that are so common in dishes doesn't hurt either.
This course also gives full creative power to the chefs who gain the abili- ty to ditch the default pasta noodles from the store and craft creative dishes using their favorite ingredients, and of course, the same applies to the tomato sauce.
Don't like all the onions in the store-bought tomato sauce? Don't add them.
Want some carrot in your sauce? Chop some up and add them in.
The class didn't just teach youth about healthy eating, it gave them the ability to eat healthy in a way they could enjoy.
Making homemade veggie noodles and sauce takes more than creativity, however. Transforming long chunks of carrot or tomato into thin, delicious noodles takes the skill of a knife or appliance. This is where the class's information on safe cutting skills came into play. The class taught the proper way to handle a knife, how to prevent knife-based injuries, and how to use basic cooking appliances such as stoves and processors.
For future events, parents who are concerned about their child using said tools, or parents who simply want to watch, can feel free to act as spectators of the class. However, limited space inside the kitchen means parents will have to watch from outside the room.
Since the class deals with potential dangers, the lower age limit is 7. Parents are urged to judge for themselves whether or not their child can handle cooking and the dangers it can potentially involve. The class itself will have a minimum of 3 adults supervising and assisting the children.
Those interested in enrolling a child for the cooking classes are required to reserve a spot ahead of time. Classes cost an average of $5 and take place alongside the market from 4-6 p.m. Visit the market website atwww. rockmartfarmersmarket.com or call (404) 436-1818.