1. Choosing Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grains
Lesson Two:
Choosing Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grains
The second week of Cooking Matters for Parents is dedicated to talking about incorporating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into our diets.
Just as with the first week of class, the teaching team should arrive 30 minutes early to prepare as a group before the participants come.
Goal: Encourage parents to incorporate more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into their meals.

2. Introduction Facilitator Review
Open discussion to see what they remember
After hearing comments, sum up last week’s theme
Ask how the weekly challenge went
Introduce the new lesson
Start with questions to get the participants involved
Share theme
Explain flow of class
Lesson 2 starts off like each of the other lessons: After the participants arrive, the facilitator should welcome the group and engage them in a conversation reviewing last week’s topic and inviting the participants to share their experiences with the goals they set last week. As with all instruction in this course, this portion should use facilitated dialogue, with the facilitator asking open ended questions such as “Who would be willing to share how they tried to meet their goal over the past week?” Be sure to engage all participants and try to prevent one person from dominating the conversation.
If you have any last minute additions to your roll or you want to reinforce the structure of the class, feel free to go over the typical flow of class. Any new participants will also need to fill out the survey, so consider getting them started on this at the beginning of class during your review discussion so they can rejoin the group before the new teaching starts.
After reviewing the past lesson, transition to the topic of the lesson for that day.

3. Nutrition Nutrition Instructor
Objectives: Discuss ways to enjoy a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables; Discuss the pros and cons of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables.
Review MyPlate’s recommendation to make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Ask participants if this is a challenge for them with their lifestyle and participant’s typical eating habits. Acknowledge their experiences and share that the lesson today is focused on practical tips and tricks to making this goal of eating more fruits and vegetables possible. Use the facilitated dialogue outlined in the instructor manual to discuss these tips and the three types of produce: fresh, frozen, and canned.
Using the discussion points outlined in the instructor guide helps make sure you cover all the points for today, and it also helps you present the lesson in an objective manner, leaving you participants free to decide which type of produce best fits their budget and tastes. Encourage your participants to share reasons they choose the produce they do, and what recipes they like to prepare with them.
Finish up your discussion by showing the participants appropriate serving sizes for kids and adults when eating fruits and vegetables, making the discussion as hands-on as possible. Consider using ingredients for cooking that day as a visual.
Key Points
Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
Variety is important for nutrition
There is no “best” form of produce
Keep in mind serving size
Teaching Tips
Ask participants to share experiences and personal examples making fruits and veggies appealing to kids

4. Cooking and Food Safety
Culinary
Instructor
Objective: Prepare recipes using whole grains and different forms of fruits and vegetables.
Reinforce food safety
Review hand washing and knife safety
Introduce washing produce and cans
Creating Connections
Tie in nutrition lesson
Practice using a recipe template
After the nutrition portion of the class, the culinary instructor should have all participants wash their hands and introduce today’s recipe, reading through it as a group using the pattern established during Lesson 1. The facilitator should try to source ingredients this week that demonstrate using fresh, frozen, and canned produce, setting the culinary instructor up to discuss this with the participants , as well as ways the recipe could be modified depending on which type of produce is available. Delegate tasks and cook together, following the tips in your instructor guide for topics of conversation to go over as you cook. Be sure to introduce the new food safety skills for the week: washing produce, rinsing the tops of cans before use, and inspecting frozen produce.

5. Visual created to show parts of a whole grain and food examples
Nutrition
Nutrition
Instructor
Objective: Practice identifying whole grain foods by reading label ingredient lists.
Teaching Tips
Consider bringing a visual diagram of a grain
Bring sample food labels for hands-on practice
Consider bringing serving size poster or other visual aid
As your recipe cooks, return to the nutrition lesson time, focusing on identifying whole grains using nutrition labels. You should begin by introducing the concept of a whole grain and asking if participants typically eat any whole grain foods. Consider bringing in a visual representation of a whole grain to help the participants understand what it means for a grain to be refined and what is lost in the process. Bringing a variety of whole grain items as well can help participants get hands-on practice reading labels. Be sure to choose items that represent the broad spectrum of whole grain options, including breads, crackers, tortillas, rice, popcorn, oatmeal, or other grains you have on hand.
As with your discussion of fruits and vegetables, finish up by talking about appropriate portion size.
Visual created to show parts of a whole grain and food examples

6. Eating Together Facilitator Continue Learning While Eating
Discuss how apply lesson in daily life
Wrap up
Summarize the lesson
Discuss new weekly challenges
Clean up as a group
Distribute take home groceries
Teaching Team Debrief
Just like you did the first week, guide the participants in setting up for the meal and eating together once everyone has their food. The culinary instructor should ask participants to fill their plate according to MyPlate portion sizes that were discussed, encouraging everyone to try items that might be new to them.
While everyone is eating together, the facilitator should engage the group in conversation, following the suggestions laid out in the instructor guide. The conversation should include a brainstorming session in which the participants discuss how they could add more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains into the food they prepare, and the facilitator should refer them to the handout with the same theme on page 17.
The facilitator should end the class by summarizing the key messages and introducing the weekly challenge. Like with Lesson 1, the participants should be given time to discuss and select a challenge to work on during the upcoming week. After listening to their goals, the facilitator should invite the class to help clean up, delegating tasks as necessary.
Once you have distributed the take-home groceries and the participants have left, don’t forget to spend 5 to 10 minutes debriefing as a teaching team. Be sure to talk about what went well, what to improve on, and how to prepare for next week before heading your separate ways.