Homemade chickpea-based hummus and sparkling soda show students that easy and healthy can be tasty.

Paul Drowns, Community Cooking educator at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, knows how to play to his audience, especially when he’s working with teenagers.

Recently, a dozen or so local teens gathered at the Auburn Public Library for a lesson that focused on reading labels and preparing healthy snacks. The message: Your health is important and it’s easy to make better choices once you have the right information.

Drowns, with the assistance of Sarah Ullman, Youth Programs coordinator at the Nutrition Center, provided the teens with an array of empty beverage bottles. The teens were asked to read each label and to place the bottles in order of nutritional value. The beverages included popular carbonated soft drinks, low calorie drinks, organically produced juices and more.

One teen noted that a particular soft drink label listed 15 grams of sugar per serving. “It’s not that sugar is necessarily bad,” said Drowns, “but it’s important that you know how much you’re putting in your body, (and to remember that) with sugar, you go up and you crash.”

“A lack of nutritional value goes beyond just the sugars,” Ullman added.

Although a lower sugar content often means that an item is healthier overall, “artificial sweeteners can be scarier than sugar,” said Drowns, and less sugar can often mean more artificial sweeteners, which can sometimes be linked to physical ailments and conditions.

To demonstrate how tasty and easy it can be to prepare a healthy, low-sugar beverage, Ullman asked the students to assist her as she created individual servings in tall tumblers using a mixture of seltzer water and cranberry juice, garnished with a wedge of lime. A taste test was met with approval by all.

On the savory snack side of class, Drowns set out the ingredients and tools needed to make hummus. “Hummus,” he said, “is the Arabic word for chick pea” — the main ingredient in hummus.

Why is hummus a healthy snack? According to Drowns, “Chick peas are high in fiber and protein, they help to satisfy hunger cravings, to balance blood sugar levels and they are rich in beneficial vitamins and minerals.” Overall, hummus contains “zero sugars,” but lots of “complex carbohydrates, which translates to increased energy.”

Although Drowns and the students used a food processor, you can make hummus “with a potato masher or even a tough fork and a little patience,” said Drowns. While Drowns worked the food processor, students peeled cloves of garlic, cut and squeezed lemons and measured olive oil to add to the mix.

In addition, Drowns added tahini and a pinch of salt, although he explained that both could be left out. “Tahini,” said Drowns, “is simply ground sesame seeds, like a peanut butter. . . . It gives the hummus a nutty taste.”

“While the tahini and olive oil used to make hummus are sources of fat (and calories),” explained Drowns, “both are unsaturated fats (good fats) and in moderation qualify as a healthy choice.”

Other ingredients that could be used to add taste and texture to hummus include, but are not limited to, paprika, diced onions and roasted red peppers, Drowns suggested.

How simple is it?

“It took us maybe 15 minutes,” said Drowns. In addition to the easy preparation, when taste tested atop black corn chips the students agreed that hummus was as delicious as it was simple.

According to Drowns, “The easiest way to get kids interested in healthy snacks and foods is to spend time in the kitchen with them.”

“Kids learn from us,” he said, “so positive modeling is key to their learning to make good choices, (and) exposure to new ingredients and trying familiar foods prepared in a different way is good for opening up discussion and exploration. . . . It really is that simple!”

Most of Drowns’ classes are hands-on and focus on kitchen safety and basic cooking skills. “We usually prepare a meal from start to finish, and eat together while discussing the lesson,” he said, adding, “I try to make sure that the recipes are healthy choices that call for affordable, accessible and seasonally appropriate ingredients.”

Although classes are often held at the Nutrition Center on Bates Street in Lewiston, Drowns often visits senior centers, community centers and other venues. And on the last Tuesday of each month, the Nutrition Center hosts an adult community cooking night from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Kale pesto

Makes about 2-3/4 cups (about 15 1.5-ounce servings)

Total time: 15 minutes

Add 3/4 cup almonds to a mixing bowl.

Tear 3 cups (firmly packed) kale into small pieces and add to the mixing bowl.

Peel the white papery covering off 2 cloves of garlic, then mince the garlic with clean scissors or a garlic press and add it to the mixing bowl.

Add 3/4 cup low-fat Italian-style grated cheese to the bowl.

Zest 1 lemon into the bowl.*

Cut the lemon in half and remove the seeds. Squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl.*

Add 1 teaspoon pepper.

Add 1 teaspoon salt.

Pour 1/3 cup olive oil into the bowl.

Put everything into a food processor and blend for 2 minutes. *

Serve with veggies or mix with pasta!

* For young cooks following this recipe, get an adult to help you!

Buttercup squash hummus

Makes about 6 cups (18 1/3-cup servings)

Total time: 10 minutes

Have an adult seed and bake a 3-pound buttercup squash until done.

With a spoon, scoop the insides out of the baked buttercup squash and put it in a medium mixing bowl.

Carefully add 4 tablespoons of tahini (sesame seed paste) to the bowl.

Juice 2 lemons into the bowl (be careful not to squeeze any of the seeds into the bowl).

Peel the white papery cover off 3 cloves of garlic, mince the garlic with clean scissors or a garlic press and add it to the bowl.

Open and rinse 1 15.5-ounce can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and add them to the mixing bowl.

Add 2 teaspoons salt.

Add 4 teaspoons of cumin.

Add 3 teaspoons curry powder.

Add 5 tablespoons of olive oil.

Scoop all of the ingredients out of the bowl and into a food processor. For young cooks, with the help of an adult blend the ingredients for 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides, blend again and then serve the hummus to your friends!

Hummus bi’l-tahina (hummus with tahini)

Makes about 4-1/2 cups (9 half-cup servings)

Prep time:15 minutes; total time to make: 1 hour

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups dried chickpeas

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 large cloves of garlic, peeled

1/4 cup roasted tahini (sesame seed paste)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt and black pepper to taste

Chopped parsley, ground cumin, chili powder or paprika for garnishing

Method:

Rinse and drain the chickpeas, place them in a large pot and cover them with 5 or more inches of lightly salted water.

Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat, then reduce the heat slightly and cook the chickpeas until tender, about 40 to 50 minutes.

Skim away any foam that may form during cooking, and add boiling water if necessary to keep the chickpeas continuously covered.

Drain the chickpeas and save 1-1/2 cups of cooking water.

Use a food processor to puree the chickpeas and garlic in batches, using portions of the olive oil and reserved chickpea cooking water to process until creamy.

Transfer the puree to a large bowl and use a wooden spoon to beat in the tahini, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

If the mixture is too thick, add small amounts of the remaining cooking water to achieve the desired consistency.

Check the taste and, if necessary, add some of the hummus back to the food processor and puree again along with more garlic, tahini, lemon juice or salt and pepper.

To serve, spoon and spread the hummus onto a large round serving platter, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and garnish with a dusting of chopped parsley, cumin, chili powder or paprika.

Note: Hummus will last a week if refrigerated, and can be frozen for up to 4 months. To freeze hummus, spoon portions into zippered freezer bags and squeeze out all of the air before sealing. Thaw frozen hummus overnight in the refrigerator for use the next day; be sure to stir before serving.