Help Your Kids Bring Home the Bacon

This summer look to young Wiltonians to not only bring home the bacon, but wontons and cookies, too.

A new summer program, "Now You're Cookin!" will teach middle and high school students how to slice, dice, and sauté. Under the tutelage of a TV producer and seasoned cook, the young chefs in training will also learn a dash or two about healthy lifestyles.

"I never say this is a cooking class in which you will eat vegetables and fruit," said Carol Leonetti Dannhauser, who will teach the class. "It just so happens the food they're going to eat is healthful."

Dannhauser, a former journalist turned television producer, started the website Cooking Teens and a teen cooking show for CPTV.

The workshop brings Wilton Continuing Education and Trackside Teen Center together.  It's also the first program specifically designed for teens.

"We're really excited about this," said Emily Dowden, Wilton Continuing Education's children's programs supervisor. "It's two pretty big community organizations coming together for the first time."

Most teenagers aren't immune from busy schedules. And many teens are well acquainted with vending machines and fast food. With so much emphasis on curbing childhood obesity, nutritionists across the nation are encouraging Americans to cook at home and dine out less.

According to the American Dietetic Association, home cooking means more healthful eating. Eating out often equals twice the calories, fat, and sodium.

"We want to really stress healthy habits, but the occasional guilty treat is all right," Lindsay Kaye, program manager at Trackside, said. "It's all about moderation."

So there will be sweet treats, just with natural ingredients.

"There is so much 'Thou Shalt Not.' I am about 'Thou Shall; Thou Shall Eat,'" Dannhauser said. "We have all these wonderful ingredients and butter and cream are a beautiful thing. Just moderation."

The cooking students will get to take advantage of Trackside's commercial kitchen. There they'll make personal sized meatloaves in muffin tins, and wontons stuffed with minced chicken and Napa cabbage.

But fear not, Dannhauser said, everything can be prepped and plated in 20 minutes.

"Many people don't realize you can get dinner on the table in 20 minutes, and from scratch!" she said.

The program will run from July 12 through July 16. There will be a morning session for middle school students and an afternoon session for high school students. It will cost $195, plus a $25 food fee to enroll. Interested students can enroll on line at www.wiltoncontinuinged.org.

Dolores Tufariello, coordinator of Wilton Continuing Education, said the workshop aims to show kids that cooking is both fun, and practical.

At the end of the week the class will compete in a Wilton Teen Iron Chef competition.

"Cooking is a great skill for them to learn," Kaye said. "And Mom and Dad will benefit from their teens learning a few tricks in the kitchen."