A New Fall of Cooking, Learning, and Community

EMPWR is back in the kitchen! We kicked off our fall cooking series with Chef Mario and were excited to welcome new students, returning families, and new volunteers to our first class of the season.

On the menu were two kid-friendly favorites with a Southwest twist: Southwest Mac & Cheese and amaranth muffins. Along with cooking together, students learned about the three major macronutrients—or “macros”—that our bodies need: carbohydrates, protein, and fat. We talked about how carbohydrates give us energy, protein helps our bodies grow and repair, and fats help support our brains and absorb certain vitamins.

One of the featured ingredients in our class was amaranth. Although it is often treated like a grain, amaranth is actually a seed. It has been cultivated in the Americas for thousands of years and was an important food crop for Indigenous civilizations in Mesoamerica, including the Aztecs. Its tiny seeds are packed with nutrition: amaranth provides protein and fiber along with minerals such as iron and magnesium. It is also naturally gluten-free. Amaranth can be cooked like a grain, popped, ground into flour, or—as we discovered—added to muffins!

The class also gave us a chance to debut our beautiful new aprons, handmade from Native fabrics by a family member of two of our student participants. They were a special reminder that EMPWR is about more than learning recipes. Our program continues to grow through the creativity, generosity, and participation of the families and community members who make each class possible.

We are grateful to Chef Mario, our volunteers, and all of the families who joined us for a wonderful start to the fall season. We look forward to another semester of cooking together, trying Indigenous ingredients, and learning simple ways to make nutritious food part of everyday life.