The Garden City Telegram
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Fresh feast
Published 3/20/2009 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Spring means special events such as Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduations.
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[if "Brad Nading/Telegram — Dianna Lovelady, center, and Debbie Frederick, left, both from Lakin, leaf through receipt books as they relax in recliners Thursday during a Taste of Home Cooking School at the Finney County Fairgrounds exhibition building. Lovelady had won a "VIP" seat for he show for her and one friend. The recliners were provided by The Superstore. " isnot "nopurchase"]Brad Nading/Telegram — Dianna Lovelady, center, and Debbie Frederick, left, both from Lakin, leaf through receipt books as they relax in recliners Thursday during a Taste of Home Cooking School at the Finney County Fairgrounds exhibition building. Lovelady had won a "VIP" seat for he show for her and one friend. The recliners were provided by The Superstore.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Martha Schwend, center, asks questions and hands out McCormick spices for correct answers as she walks through the audience Thursday during the Taste of Home Cooking School at the Finney County Fairgrounds Exhibition Building.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Martha Schwend prepares one of the receipes Thursday night during the Taste of Home Cooking School session at the Finney County Fairgrounds Exhibition Building.
And special occasions mean food that is healthy and fresh and drinks that are filled with flavors of fruit, says Martha Schwend, culinary specialist for Taste of Home magazine.
Residents from southwest Kansas were treated Thursday night to the Taste of Home's Spring Sensations Cooking School at the Finney County Fairgrounds. Schwend prepared 10 recipes from the magazine's latest publication for a crowd of about 1,000 people.
The event was sponsored by The Garden City Telegram.
Taste of Home does about 40 cooking schools a year, and Garden City has hosted shows in the past. Schwend said that this spring, she will do 20 cooking schools across the country.
"We've got a really good showing with our magazine. We look forward to having a great time and sharing some recipes," Schwend said.
Before the event started, the crowd made its way to a number of booths from local companies. Event-goers also received free goody bags — environmentally friendly bags that can be used for shopping that were stuffed with coupons from local vendors, Zip Lock bags, two Taste of Home magazines and other items.
During the first part of the show, Schwend prepared Greek turkey burgers with spiced yogurt, fruit and nut granola, spicy Asian shrimp salad, salmon with herb and citrus orzo and chocolate and vanilla creme brulee.
Many of the recipes cooked Thursday night, as well as recipes in the magazine, are healthy, Schwend said.
"We know that our cooks like to experiment. If you start with a basic healthy recipe, then you can always add ingredients to veer off from that," Schwend said.
Schwend said the magazine and its staff are seeing more requests for healthy cooking. In the cooking school, Schwend told the audience about the healthy food featured in the magazine.
For example, the ground turkey used in the turkey burgers is low in fat. And spices have antioxidants in them, Schwend told the audience.
Of course, not all recipes are healthy. The chocolate and vanilla creme brulee uses heavy cream, but it's OK to indulge every once in a while, Schwend said.
Michelle Freeman and Tara Ail, both of Garden City, said the creme brulee was their favorite recipe of the night.
"We love to cook," Freeman said. "We wanted some fresh ideas."
Freeman and Ail said desserts are their favorite thing to prepare for guests, as well as for themselves.
In the second half of the show, the audience watched as Schwend prepared Mexican lasagna, mushroom Napoleon, Shanghai chicken and zucchini with spicy Mandarin ginger glaze, orange lemonade and fresh fruit tart.
While she was cooking, Schwend gave the audience a few tips to follow.
Herbs can be kept for one to two years before they need replaced; spices can be kept for two to three years.
Fresh shrimp should not have black spots, should smell like seawater and should be translucent in color, Schwend told the crowd.
And when cutting vegetables such as tomatoes or zucchini, cut the ends off, then cut one slice of the vegetable off so it will sit flat on a table. That makes the vegetable easier to cut into uniform slices, Schwend said.
There was a drawing at the end of the show for each dish, as well as various door prizes.
Share your favorite recipes in our food/dining forum at http://swktalk.com.
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