Tag results for: cooking


Cooking for One or Two

Category: Season 4

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Shanna Shultz, RD, LDN

GIANT Food Stores

Shanna Shultz, RD, LDN is a graduate from Virginia Tech with specialized training in dietetics from Penn State University. She has clinical experience with weight loss and diabetes counseling and has a passion for encouraging others to enjoy cooking and exploring new foods.

Cooking a nutritious meal for one or two can be a real challenge, but it does not have to be! Let Giant Food Stores Nutritionist Shanna Shultz teach you the basics about shopping, meal planning, and cooking for singles and pairs.

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Evaluating Dietary Supplements for Seniors

Category: Season 8

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Lynn James, MS, RDN, LDN, Senior Extension Educator with Penn State Extension

Lynn James provides educational programs for organizations and the community on improving nutrition, health, and food safety. Her program focus is community nutrition research and program development in food and culture, family chronic disease prevention, Type 2 Diabetes, and food safety.

Did you know seniors can be at risk for spending their limited income on supplements they might not even need? Dietary supplements aren’t regulated like foods, and some can be unsafe and/or not do what they promise. We’ll help you determine whether a supplement has been found to be effective and safe and identify sources of credible information for dietary supplements.

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Don’t get “Bugged,” Keep Foods Safe

Category: Season 8

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Sharon McDonald, MEd, RD, LDN

Sharon currently serves as an Extension Educator and Food Safety Specialist based at University Park. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and a master’s degree in education from the Pennsylvania State University. She is a registered dietitian with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a licensed dietitian in the state of Pennsylvania.

Stacy Reed, MS

Stacy is an educator at Penn State Extension Lancaster County. She has a bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Nutrition Science and a master’s degree in Food Science from The Pennsylvania State University. Her job focuses on providing health and wellness and food safety education and technical support, outreach, and programming.

Are you at risk for food poisoning? Do you want to learn the keys to preventing foodborne illness? Don’t get “Bugged” in the Kitchen addresses food safety in your home. We’ll look at keeping food safe from purchase to preparation and beyond and places where problems may occur. Even if you have been preparing food your whole life and never gotten sick, it only takes one small misstep for a problem to occur!

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Kinship Family Bonding

Category: Season 9

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Matthew Kaplan, Extension Educator

Professor Kaplan is a prominent leader in the intergenerational studies field, conducting research, developing curricular resources, and providing leadership and guidance in the development and evaluation of intergenerational programs in the U.S. and internationally.

Darlene Sansone, Extension Educator

Darlene is an PennState Extension Educator based in Lawrence County, PA. She works in the Food, Families, and Health unit and provides community-based educational programs related to Family Strengths, Early Childhood, Parenting Education for custody, divorce and truancy, Strengthening Families, Better Kid Care, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.

Learn the benefits of engaging in family bonding activities. We will also discuss cooking, having meals together, playing games, watching movies, and other activities that promote family closeness. Family Bonding can reduce stress, create positive relationships, and generate lasting memories for the entire family. Learn creative ways grandfamilies can make new family traditions and ways of being, learning, and growing together.

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Food Insecurity among Older Adults and the Emergency Food Safety Net

Category: Season 10

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Kristina P. Brant, Ph.D., Extension Educator

Kristina Brant is an Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology at Penn State. She is a qualitative researcher who studies the family and community dimensions of substance use. Her work has been recognized by the American Sociological Association and the Rural Sociological Society, and it has been funded by multiple organizations including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. She also works with Penn State Extension to put research into practice through community-based education and programming in rural Pennsylvanian communities.

Justine Lindemann, Ph.D., Extension Educator

Justine Lindemann is an Assistant Professor of Community Development and Resilience in Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. She has years of both domestic and international experience working on issues around community and economic development related to food system change.

The reduction of COVID-era benefits such as expanded SNAP payments, continued inflation, and rising food prices have put unprecedented pressure on older adults’ abilities to meet their household food needs. The emergency food network in Pennsylvania, which includes food banks, food pantries, and other local organizations that distribute food, has attempted to expand service delivery to meet these increased needs; however, crucial gaps in funding and food provisioning have widened. In this talk, we will draw on recent research to describe the work of the emergency food network in Pennsylvania, discuss increased food insecurity and the programs that work to address food needs among older adults, and provide more information on the relevance of these programs to listeners.

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If you need to connect with resources in your community, but don’t know where to look, PA 211 is a great place to start. From help with a utilities bill, to housing assistance, after-school programs for kids, and more, you can dial 211 or text your zip code to 898-211 to talk with a resource specialist for free. Our specialists will listen to your needs and give you information on programs in your community that might be able to help. 

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps Pennsylvanians buy food. People in eligible low-income households can obtain more nutritious diets with SNAP increasing their food purchasing power at grocery stores and supermarkets. Those who are eligible receive an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) ACCESS Card to make food purchases. 

The United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, makes commodity foods available to State Distributing Agencies. States provide the food to local agencies that directly serve the public (food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, etc.). The local organizations distribute the food to eligible recipients for household consumption or use them to prepare and serve meals in a congregate setting. Recipients of food for home use must meet income and household eligibility criteria. 

The Senior Food Box Program works to improve the health of low-income seniors by supplementing their diets with nutritious USDA Foods. In Pennsylvania, eligible participants include low-income individuals who are at least 60 years old and whose household income is at or below 130 percent of the U.S. poverty level. 

The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) provide WIC recipients and low-income seniors with fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs from approved farmers in Pennsylvania. 

Feeding Pennsylvania is the statewide association of nine Feeding America affiliated food banks. The mission of Feeding Pennsylvania is to promote and aid our member food banks in securing food and other resources to reduce hunger and food insecurity across the state and to provide a shared voice on the issues of hunger and food access within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

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