Vegging out with Jasmine

Jasmine, my daughter, asked me to be her assistant in a cooking demonstration. How flattering.

I realized step one involved running to the grocery store, shopping, prepping for fruits and vegetables, paying for the lot of it and hauling it to Houston.

            Still, I was flattered to assist my daughter. It’s what moms love to do.

            She has already worked all over the state with Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics and she’s working toward becoming a dietitian. She’s recently observed nutrition programs at school districts, hospitals, etc. This cooking demo was for WIC program mothers in Texas City.

            My part of this adventure began in a local grocery store. I was charged with getting a combo of four fruits and vegetables that the mothers had perhaps never tried, so they could think about coordinating the items into their family diets.

            Jasmine asked for jicama. I didn’t see it on the shelves and I asked a stocker.

            “Hmmm,” he said. “Does it go by any other name?”

            No worries. I got radishes. My dad used to grow them and slice them up to put in sandwiches. As a kid I found them too hot and spicy, but now I love them. My daughter was not too familiar with them herself. I told her I hear they eat radish and butter sandwiches in England.

            I also put cherries, yellow bell pepper and leeks in my basket. The checkout person had to ask what the leek was. To be fair, I knew, but that didn’t mean I’m all the time buying them and cooking them.

            I prepped the items to serve and sample and also left some intact as a display so the mothers would recognize them in the store.  The nibbling session went well, if I say so myself.

            As for her cooking demonstration, Jasmine assembled bean, cheese, zucchini, spinach and corn quesadillas and everyone sampled the finished product. There were surveys and discussions over the pros and cons of fresh, canned and frozen vegetables with what we all hoped was a continued and better understanding that healthy foods can be fun.

            I’m ready for the next class.

            Darragh Doiron is one of a family of Southeast Texas foodies, bringing more into the fold. darraghcastillo@icloud.com