Cooking with Kids

One of Cheryl’s favorite nonprofit organizations is Cooking with Kids. She is both a past board member and past board president. All children deserve the chance to eat delicious healthful real food and learn how to take care of themselves. In 1995, Cooking with Kids began offering no-cost culinary education to Santa Fe children. The organization educates and empowers kids and their families to make healthy eating choices through hands-on learning with fresh affordable foods. When kids help prepare healthy foods, they’re much more likely to eat and enjoy them.

Over 25 years, the organization has grown to serve nearly 5,000 kids annually throughout northern New Mexico from pre-kindergarten to 6th grade, with more than a thousand volunteers, many of them parents. You might be flabbergasted to know that—for just one example—Ethiopian lentils are being made in classrooms, served in cafeterias, and delightedly devoured by kids all around Santa Fe each school year. Participating children learn not only about food and cooking, but geography, math, and social interaction and teamwork skills too.

Click here to check out and order the Cooking with Kids Cookbook, an inspiring collection of kid-tested recipes that can be made at home. Cheryl, with cookbook author Deborah Madison, wrote the foreword for the book.