The Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — At a time when many people are rethinking their food budgets, Rebecca Plant is on a mission to make sure that low-cost meals are not low on nutritional value. For the past three months, Plant has been teaching a weekly cooking class that emphasizes healthy home cooking.

Plant and her husband, Shawn, founded the Turning Point Church in Galveston last November.

“We’ve already moved once and are outgrowing this location as well,” Shawn Plant said.

The cooking classes are one of the church’s outreaches to the community and are held each Tuesday at the church’s storefront location.

“Diabetes is a terrible problem, and diet plays a big part in diabetes,” Rebecca Plant said. “I’m hoping to start a cooking class that is specifically based on recipes for controlling diabetes, but I’m hoping that our general cooking class will teach people how to eat to prevent diabetes — that would be much better.”

Plant spends much of her cooking class breaking down the barriers many people assume will keep them from fixing healthy meals.

“If they know how to cook healthy food without it costing a lot or taking too long, they’ll cook more and eat less fast food,” she said. “I don’t have time to spend two hours getting dinner together, but I can put together a soup using ground beef and frozen vegetables in less time than it would take to go pick up fast food.”

She makes the soup, she told the class, by browning a pound of ground beef, draining off the grease, then adding two bags of frozen mixed vegetables and two cans of beef broth.

“I simmer it for about 15 minutes to cook the vegetables, then season it with salt substitute or Tony Chachere’s seasoning,” she said. “It goes a long way and feeds a lot of people.”

The cooking classes include both live demonstrations by Plant and other church members and cooking videos.

“Rosenberg Library has a lot of resources for healthy cooking,” she said. “I just checked out the ‘Fast and Light Cooking’ DVDs by Rachael Ray for us to watch.”

In the weekly classes, which are held before Tuesday night services, Plant dispenses her own tips and recipes for cooking on a budget.

As the mother of four children, she has learned to buy meat in bulk and divide it into meal-size portions to freeze.

“You can also stock up on bread and milk when there’s a sale and freeze them,” she said.

Plant encourages input from the class members as well, and they share their own strategies for healthy eating on a budget.

One participant pointed out that the dollar store now has a refrigerated section selling eggs, milk and other staples for a dollar, and another offers her recipe for vegetarian chili.

“Red onion is best in vegetarian chili because it’s a little sweeter,” she said.

Another regular attendee explains some of the changes that helped her lose weight.

“First of all, I cut out fast food and started packing my lunch every day,” she said. “For something sweet, I’d cut up apples or pears and sprinkle them with a little Splenda and cinnamon.”

As the class discusses shopping and cooking, they snack on vegetables.

“We’re all learning,” Plant said.

+++

Quick And Easy Pork Soup

Cooking spray 1 cup frozen prechopped onion 2/3 cup frozen prechopped green bell pepper 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced 1 pound pork loin, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces 2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 (15-ounce) can pink beans, rinsed and drained 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Heat a small nonstick Dutch oven over medium-heat. Coat pan with cooking spray.

Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño to pan; saute for 2 minutes. Add pork; cook 3 minutes.

Add broth and next 6 ingredients (through tomatoes); bring to a boil.

Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until pork is done, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat, and stir in cilantro.

— Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light

+++

Roasted Acorn Squash

3 medium acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed 3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces and softened 1/2 cup maple syrup Freshly grated nutmeg Freshly ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place squash halves on a large baking sheet with the cut-side up.

Divide the butter pieces among all six halves, smearing it all over the cut side of the squash.

Drizzle each half with maple syrup and season with freshly grated nutmeg and ground black pepper.

Roast the squash for 40-60 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork.

— Recipe from “Rachael Ray’s Fast and Light”

+++

Vegetarian Chili

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 cup chopped red onions 3/4 cup chopped carrots 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup chopped green bell pepper 3/4 cup chopped celery 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow or zucchini squash 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, chopped 1 (19 ounce) can kidney beans with liquid 1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Sauté onions, carrots and garlic until tender. Stir in green pepper, squash, celery and chili powder. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, kidney beans and corn. Season with cumin, oregano and basil.

Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

+++

Turkey Lettuce Wrap Tacos

1 pound ground turkey 1 small onion, chopped 1 tablespoon dried minced garlic 1-2 tablespoons chili powder 1 tablespoon cumin 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chilies 2 tablespoons lime juice 8 leaves romaine lettuce, washed and root ends trimmed 1 tomato, chopped

Heat a deep, 12-inch chef’s saute pan over medium heat.

Add the turkey, onion, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Cook, stirring, until the turkey is brown and the onion is limp.

Add the green chilies to the turkey mixture in the pan, stir to mix them in, then let cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the lime juice.

Spoon equal amounts of the turkey mixture into the center of the romaine lettuce leaves. Top with chopped tomatoes and fold into tacos.

— Recipe from “Foods and Flavors of San Antonio,” by Gloria Chadwick