Cooking with Teens from The Fitness Gourmet and Melissa's Produce

Patricia Greenberg, known as The Fitness Gourmet, has co-authored a new cookbook with her daughter, Gabriella Grunfeld, that reminds us how easy it is for teens to navigate the kitchen in a healthy and scrumptious way.  Patricia came to present her cookbook, "Scrumptious Sandwiches, Salads, and Snacks," with a food demo at Melissa's Produce that included a sampling of the recipes, a signing, and talk of nutrition and of self-publishing.  The fifty recipes in the book stress using ingredients you already have in your kitchen.

Our tasting prepared by the wonderful Melissa's staff included a Mustard Egg Salad served on toast.  It was later demonstrated by Patrica and a couple of tween/teens from the audience.  The Sauteed Corn and Blueberry Salad featured a combination of bursting flavors that I would never have thought to pair.  It was a delicious surprise!  But my favorite recipe in the cookbook is by far the Chocolate Carrot Truffle.  Filled with cocoa, the hidden nutrition of the carrot is completely sublimated.  

Sauteed Corn and Blueberry Salad

Patricia was gracious and transparently open with her audience, sharing the story of the book's family publication, with a brother designing the graphics.  Her multi-generational home is kosher and often used for entertaining; spanning such a wide variety of situations has provided Patricia with a wealth of ideas.  As a nutritionist, Patricia stressed the flexibility of her recipes, which often re-used ingredients in new flavor profiles. 

Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Chocolate Carrot Truffle

One great feature of "Scrumptious Sandwiches..." is the nutrition profiles of each recipe.  Patricia explained that the FDA is revising food label requirements as of 2018.  The changes are meant to bring to the forefront the serving size for each portion, as well as the calorie count.  Patricia worked with a company to formulate labels for each of her recipes in accordance with the new standards far in advance of the requirement. 

This cookbook is one that will encourage a teen who might already be comfortable in the kitchen to widen their scope and hold healthy eating standards.  It's also a great going away gift for a college student moving into their first apartment.