SFC’s The Happy Kitchen started offering classes with Round Rock Independent School District (ISD) at about the same time that I joined The Happy Kitchen two and a half years ago. Since then, we have offered four, six-week series for parents in the district. Two of our facilitators, Jackie Broadnax and LindaKathryn Stone-Cueva (both pictured) have been with the series from the very beginning, and facilitator Paige Balius first connected with The Happy Kitchen by attending a Round Rock ISD class.

We were thrilled when Round Rock ISD’s Family Resource Center approached us about offering a reunion for past class participants in the district. We have been offering follow-up classes at SFC, but the location is less accessible for folks in Round Rock.

Because February is American Heart Month, we put together a short review of a few key nutrition concepts that can help with heart health: reading nutrition fact labels, choosing low-sodium foods, and choosing heart-healthy oil over butter or lard. Jackie and LindaKathryn demonstrated our Beans and Greens recipe and we invited participants to bring a dish to share as well.

Participants were invited to introduce themselves and share their experiences with healthy eating since taking the class. A common theme was that healthy food can have a bad reputation. One participant shared that if she tells her family that they’re having a healthy meal, they expect it to taste bad. Participants were grateful that the recipes from The Happy Kitchen are healthy AND delicious, and that the class is more about what you can eat, instead of what you can’t.

And if there were any doubts about whether healthy food can taste good, the potluck of Beans & Greens, homemade hummus, spaghetti squash, waldorf salad with apples and wheatberries, and homemade cornbread certainly proved that it can.