Mindy Rice, the University of Idaho campus dietician, demonstrated how to prepare two simple, healthy meals Wednesday afternoon.
Rice made two dishes during this event. One dish was made in a pan and placed in the oven to cook. It consisted of sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, green apples, tofu and several spices. The other dish which consisted of enchilada sauce, refried beans, noodles, corn and Greek yogurt was mixed in a pot on a stove top.
A group of UI students attended the event and watched as Rice chopped, poured and mixed ingredients.
As Rice was preparing the second dish, she made a remark about her own cooking ideology.
“This is how I cook: I taste it, I follow a recipe, I modify it. It’s never the same every time,” Rice said. “I feel like cooking is science and an art and I just do the art side of it more. I am not particularly precise.”
Once the dishes were finished all students in attendance were given the opportunity to sample the food.
The demonstration was part of a series put on by Vandal Health Education called Vandalizing the Kitchen which takes place in the Student Recreation Center every month.
Rice took over the Vandalizing the Kitchen event when she began working as the campus dietician in March. Rice has fourteen years of experience as a dietician.
“I want to expose people to how simple it is to make healthy meals,” Rice said. “A lot of time people just aren’t familiar with things in the kitchen. So, basically, I want to feed people on campus and help them improve their skills or expose them to things that maybe they haven’t seen before.”
Rice also leads hands-on cooking classes on campus, grocery store tours and provides personalized nutrition counseling for UI students.
Gavin Green can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gavingreenphoto