Kayleigh Smith, 10, of Largo, left, and Roco Smith, 8, of Largo watch activities at the Fire House Family Cook-off Oct. 17 at Fire House 41. The Smith family prepared Graham Cracker cake, made with chocolate, graham crackers and other ingredients.
LARGO – Young chefs participated in the Fire House Family Cook-off Oct. 17 at Fire House 41, 180 Fourth St. SW.
The youths who participated on Saturday entered their original recipe and were chosen as finalists for the event. They were judged on taste, creativity, ease of preparation and nutrition. The goal is for parents to encourage youths to get more involved in the kitchen and make meal time their family time.
All Children’s Hospital received a grant from Kohl’s and will be working with several community partners over the next several months to provide the community with helpful information regarding nutrition and healthy cooking. The goal of this grant is to encourage children and families to get more involved with making healthy food choices and preparing meals together as a family.
Children who are involved in the selection and preparation of food are more likely to make healthy choices and try new things, according to promoters of the event.
In addition to the Family Cook-off events the grant also provides funding for ongoing family cooking classes (parents need to call All Children’s Hospital for location information at 767-6923 and the production of a healthy kids cookbook, coming in the summer 2010. All of the recipes featured at the event on Saturday will be included in the Kids Cookbook.
Besides Kihols, the event was supported by several community partners including, All Children’s Hospital, Largo Fire and Rescue, the Heart of Largo and Pinellas County Extension Office.
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