Cooking Collegiate

Hate to break it to you, girls, but there is some truth to the freshman fifteen. This may surprise you, but dorm food is typically 90 percent carbs and 10 percent pesticides, and after four or five beers and a few cranberry chasers, the calories add up. But you can change your waist's fate by making an effort to cook your own fruit--and veggie-friendly food--and make a few friends (and guys: perhaps a few girlfriends) along the way. Central Market is offering a cooking class--for college bound students--that offers easy tips on how to prepare a healthy, wholesome meal within the limitations of a dorm kitchen and slim budget. Among the dishes that Dean Liesenfelt and his students will whisk up are roasted chicken with new potatoes and buttered edamame, Spanish rice, beer-braised sausage sandwiches with caramelized onions, and chicken and frozen vegetable stir-fry. Sounds like a Top Chef menu a la dorm quickfire challenge. The course will take place in two parts, one each Thursday and Friday, beginning at 6:30 pm. Because spots are limited, make sure to book an online reservation at centralmarket.com, contact Central Market at 469-241-8389, or make an in-store reservation at 320 Coit Road in Plano.
Thu., Aug. 13, 6:30-9 p.m., 2009