Eight sets of small hands busily chopped, grated, minced and mixed in a basement kitchen at Alberta Gary United Methodist Church in Guilford Monday evening, Nov. 10. The children's mothers looked on with proud smiles.

The children, students at Guilford Elementary School, have been cooking up a storm on Monday evenings this fall through a national nutrition education program.

On the menu Nov. 10 were healthy snacks -- pineapple salsa, homemade hummus, and smoothies in peachy-pear-ginger and strawberry-banana varieties.

The first week of the program, Nov. 3, featured two-bean chili, eggplant parmesan and scalloped cauliflower and mushrooms, while a future session will feature pumpkin pancakes.

Each week, the families learn to make a new meal and eat it while participating in lessons on nutrition or grocery budgeting. The families leave each session with the ingredients to recreate one of the dishes at home.

The goal of the program, Operation Frontline, is to introduce children to healthful foods (that jibe with their finicky palates), while providing parents with tips to help make grocery shopping and meal preparation more nutritious while minding a budget.

The program is funded through a grant for Guilford's after-school Bridges program, aimed at increasing family involvement, said Kris Woodson, the Bridges program coordinator at Guilford. She added that the program is a first in Howard County and even had a small waiting list. She hopes to repeat the classes in the spring.

The cooking instruction is provided by chef and Guilford parent Angelia Marchman, of Thyme Savory personal chef services. A nutrition segment is presented by Anna Arrowsmith, a nutrition specialist with the Maryland Department of Education and also a Guilford parent, and Jennifer Mayer, a representative of Priority Partners, a community health advocacy group affiliated with Johns Hopkins.

"It's good practice," Mayer said. "Kids are eating things they maybe wouldn't try otherwise because they made it and they saw everything that went into it."

Parents applaud

Parent Eleanor Dixon-Terry said she was pleasantly surprised at her daughter Lauryn's and son Isaiah's love of eggplant and their openness to meatless entrees after the eggplant parmesan lesson.

"We made it the next day," she said. "They thought it was kind of like pizza. They loved it."

Lety Jimenez, a native of Mexico, said she signed up for the class to share her love of cooking with her daughter, Wendy, 8, and to branch out from Mexican dishes.

"I love to cook. My daughter always tries to help me in the kitchen, but I never let her because I worried about it being safe," she said.

Rosa Torres is participating in the class with her granddaughter Talia Hamiel, 8.

"The opportunity to have them enjoy cooking as much as we do is just wonderful," Torres said, adding that the class introduces Talia to meals other than the Puerto Rican dishes she usually eats at home.

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