Written by Kay Ledbetter, TAMU

Watch parties and individuals alike are invited to join the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service this summer for the free 2022 Virtual Dinner Tonight Healthy Cooking School, presented by South Plains District 2 counties.

The program will be conducted in a private Facebook group from May 30 through Aug. 21. To register, go online to tx.ag/SouthPlainsDinnerTonight. A link will be provided once the form is submitted.

“During the week, we will have lots of tips and tricks from our kitchens to showcase great recipes and information,” said Julie Smith, AgriLife Extension family and community health agent for Borden County. “There will be cooking demonstrations, posts and videos throughout the school. Notification of live recipe demonstrations will be posted on the Facebook page.

“We know we have lots of people who will be working during the times we will be hosting live cooking demonstrations, but it will be there when you log onto Facebook,” Smith said. “We hope you will join us and invite others to join as well.”

Cory Edwards, AgriLife Extension family and community health agent for Lubbock County, said during the cooking school, participants will learn about a variety of cooking techniques, tools and tricks for preparing healthy meals for themselves or their whole family.

“We are targeting busy people who still want to make time for meal preparation and feel good about what they are feeding themselves and their family,” Edwards said. “Our goals are to promote family mealtime, teach families healthy meal planning and food preparation techniques, and promote Texas agriculture.”

On the agenda

A new topic will be presented each week and will include:
— Menu Planning/Meal Preparation.
— Making Food Dollars Stretch.
— Hydration.
— Fewer than Five Ingredients.
— Grilling.
— Fresh Foods.
— Pantry Staples.
— Snacking.
— Canned Goods.
— Frozen Foods.
— Leftovers and Using Leftovers.
— Slow Cookers/Multi-function Cookers.

Presenters for the event will be AgriLife Extension family and community health county agents Edwards and Ashlyn Aljoe, Lubbock; Smith; and Natalie Snowden, Floyd, and multi-county health agents Courtney Lowe, representing Castro/Lamb/Hale counties, and Amber Lambright, Martin/Dawson counties.

For answers to general questions about the cooking school, call Edwards at the AgriLife Extension office in Lubbock at 806-775-1740.