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Fresh Look - What’s cooking
June 26, 2007

I first met Michelle on a pool side in Napa Valley last year. Her daughter took my daughter under her wings in the pool. We got talking and I learned about her and her ambitious venture – getting families to eat healthy and eat together. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Hard to do? Absolutely! How many families do you know that consistently eat healthy, fresh and yummy meals? How many families do you know that always eat dinners together? Clearly Michelle had an uphill battle.

She started her business – What’s Cooking, with cooking classes for children (ages 2 1/2 - 18), a step towards achieving her goal. Before kids, she was a high-school science teacher. What a great background for teaching children to cook. To me, cooking classes are like fun chemistry experiments except the ingredients and the end results are all edible and hopefully yummy. But teaching cooking classes to kids is a whole different matter. It demands creativity, warmth, and a whole lot of patience. Michelle’s students and their parents love her and her classes

We have tried some Michelle’s recipes and love them. Her recipes are simple but always include fresh ingredients. The unique part is that she separates out a kid’s section that details what and how the kids can help to put the dish together. We used to only let our kids (2 and 5 years old) participate in the “stir” part of the cooking process. Now we let them participate much more (no cutting or stove management yet). It is always fun for them to do something new. My kids eat with such enthusiasm, even veggies, when they help make the meals. And we absolutely make eating dinner together a priority. No matter how busy works gets, both my husband and I drop what we do and eat dinner together with the kids. Not only do we all get a healthy and fresh meal everyday, we also have time to talk about our days. Yes, even a 2 and a 5-year old have a lot to say about their day.

Recently Michelle launched a weekly recipe service called What’s Cooking Weekly. For a small fee, you receive recipes for the week, with a shopping list spelled out for you. Like always the kid’s section is included in each recipe. You don’t need to worry about what to cook for the week any more - easy, healthy and tested options are all included in one package. Michelle just got one step closer to her ultimate goal.

Michelle kindly wrote an article for Organicpicks on how to cook with kids. Check it out.

CindyW at Organicpicks
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