To celebrate National Beef Month in May the NEP assistant teamed up with the ANR Agent to develop Get Cooking with Beef, a 4 week series focused on all aspects of cooking with beef. In this series youth learned on a range of topics from food safety, knife skills, beef cut selection, beef nutrition, recipe creation, MyPlate, food preparation and cooking methods. 

10 students participated in this series. Several of the students indicated their favorite part was actually getting to cook their own food and learning about cooking healthy recipes with beef. Some stated they enjoyed learning and practicing knife skills and the appropriate tools to measure different items for recipes. 

By end of the series, students had changed some of their behaviors. 90% of students improved in 1 or more knowledge areas in food safety and 90% used safe food handling practices more often. 

As a reward for participating students received various items that they could take home and use in their own kitchens. Some students have started preparing recipes at home for their families. The NEP assistant and ANR agent have received photos and stories from numerous families of students preparing and cooking healthy meals with beef for their family.