Healthy cooking on the cheap
Michael Passalacqua, owner of Angelo’s Restaurant in North Franklin Township, walks around the room showing young parents how simple and inexpensive it is to make pasta primavera at Church of the Covenant in Washington Wednesday.
Michael Passalacqua, owner of Angelo’s Restaurant in North Franklin Township, demonstrates how simple and inexpensive it is to make pasta primavera at Church of the Covenant in Washington Wednesday.
About 40 young parents spent Wednesday learning how to prepare healthy meals on a tight budget.
The Pregnant and Parenting Teens group through Washington County Teen Outreach learned the secrets to good cooking on the cheap with just a pot or a skillet.
Michael Passalacqua, owner of Angelo’s restaurant in North Franklin Township, gave the demonstration Wednesday by whipping up good food and showing how it can work in the kitchens of young parents. Amy Podjurski-Gough, a parenting educator on the PPT staff, said the “Live, Laugh, Love” presentation shows the members how to be stronger people and parents.
“If they own a skillet and a pot, they can make anything,” Podjurski-Gough said. “A lot of these families, unfortunately, are limited in their means of cooking. They just use microwaves or fast food.”
The presentation at Church of the Covenant on East Beau Street in Washington gave the young parents a chance to learn from a professional how to prepare the food and, yes, even taste it. Another workshop at a later date will give the group the hands-on experience of taking what they learned from Passalacqua and trying to make it themselves in a new kitchen being built at the outreach’s North Main Street office.
The PPT group has held five of these workshops over the past 2 1/2 years for young parents living in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties. The Washington County Teen Outreach program has been in existence for the past 25 years.