Starke County Retired Teachers Welcome Speaker

Pam Brooke

The Starke County Retired Teachers organization met this week and welcomed Pam Brooke, Family Nutrition Program Assistant in the Starke County Extension Office, as the guest speaker.

With retired teachers often cooking for one, Pam Brooke gave advice on how to turn this type of cooking into several meals.

“I get a lot of seniors who want meals for one or two,” said Brooke. “Here’s an idea I give to them. Make a big meal and freeze part of it. If you do something like that, you always have a meal when you don’t feel up to cooking,”

Brooke tells seniors that they can eat anything that their doctor doesn’t object to, but all foods in moderation.

“We’re all going to eat brownies or stop at McDonald’s or Burger King occasionally. If you splurge on lunch, then maybe for the evening meal have a salad.”

Those in attendance enjoyed the story of the Bean Brownies Pam makes.

“We’re trying to promote beans because they are nutritious. A lady told me she took her bean brownies to a reunion. She tried to make a game out of it by asking everyone to give her the ingredients to the delicacy. She even said she would give a cake mix to anyone who gave her the right answer. As she reported the story to me, she took the cake mix home. No one guessed the brownies had black beans in them. I’ve tried it, and it really does taste like a brownie or chocolate cake.”

Also in attendance at the meeting was the Area One Retired Teachers Association Representative, Dennis Norman, who reported on recent legislative measures.