Hollywood, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/20/2012 -- LivePlate has joined the Food Revolution with its Project Lunchbox live cooking lessons and recipes. Moms, Dads, and kids can join in any of the free lessons online for ideas, recipes, and tips for packing healthy lunches. Packing lunches can be fresh, tasty, and even save money for parents.

LivePlate co-founder Andrea Fuentes says, "We believe in cooking social. Our live interactive video events let families learn from chefs and dieticians, but also share kid friendly ideas with each other." She adds, "Many families think Lunchables are a healthy choice, when they are highly processed and even expensive."

Cafeteria food in many schools is not very appetizing and often full of unhealthy processed meats. In many cases, the schools are facing budget cuts and buy premade "heat and eat" foods that contain lots of preservatives and added salt.

The August 15 online cooking class features healthy baked chicken "nuggets," home made frozen smoothies, and PBJ roll ups. Homemade baked chicken nuggets are made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, without the added fat and chemicals of commercially processed nuggets. They will stay warm double wrapped in foil in a lunch box.

One tip is to cook ahead and freeze portions, which can be placed in thermos style jars. Kids enjoy homemade whole wheat macaroni and cheese, spaghetti with turkey meatballs, or even tomato-cheese quesadillas.

LivePlate is a cooking site where people cook together socially with live video chat. Anyone can set up a live cookalong just for fun, to meet new people, or to learn new cooking techniques. Recipes like this one for frozen smoothies that thaw in time for lunch are very popular.

"We want to support people cooking together with friends, for fun and better health, " said Andrea Fuentes of LivePlate.

For more information, contact Andrea Fuentes andrea@LivePlate.com or 305 978 6155.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/project-lunch-box-liveplate-helps-moms-with-cooking-lessons-158517.htm

Hollywood, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/14/2012 -- LivePlate helps promote Meatless Monday by offering families free online cooking classes and lots of easy recipes. Many families, organizations, and schools are supporting Meatless Monday as a way to improve their health by eating meals made with nutritious whole grains, vegetables, and dairy products. The Humane Society of the United States is now promoting Meatless Mondays as a way to improve the lives of farm animals, especially those in factory farms, by reducing demand for meat.

But for Judy Mowrey's family, Meatless Monday helps stretch the family grocery budget. "We are on a fixed income, and meat is definitely expensive," commented Judy. "I enjoy making healthy vegetable omelets or pasta dishes on Mondays."

Pescetarian Journal author Alaiyo Kiasi has hosted several cooking classes online through LivePlate's interactive platform, including The Joy of Soy, where people cooked with their friends to make soy-based spaghetti and toasted coconut soy shakes. Many vegetarians and pescetarians, who do not eat beef or chicken at all, share recipes on LivePlate's platform.

Meatless Monday began in 2003, sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The "cut out meat one day a week" program is active in 23 countries around the world. Ghent, Belgium became the first city to go meatless in May 2009 and Paul McCartney introduced Meat-Free Mondays to the UK soon after. Since then, Meatless Monday has rapidly expanded into an international movement with a simple message: it's good for your health and it's good for the planet.

LivePlate is a cooking site where people cook together socially with live video chat. Anyone can set up a live cookalong just for fun, to meet new people, or to learn new cooking techniques. Professional chefs and food blogger of lead interactive cooking lessons, where people can cook along with their friends while learning the latest recipes, like this one for a Ricotta Frittata with Fresh Tomatoes. "We wanted to support Meatless Monday movement for health, budget, or environmental concerns by making these fun cooking classes available to families online, " said Andrea Fuentes of LivePlate.

For more information, contact Andrea Fuentes andrea@LivePlate.com or 305 978 6155.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/liveplate-promotes-meatless-mondays-with-online-cooking-classes-157304.htm

Hollywood, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/09/2012 -- Miami, FL - July 23, 2012—The Rock 'n Roll Chef challenges Miami kids to bypass the drive-through and cook healthy food through the culinary outreach program at Higher Ground. Chef Alan Hughes hosts kids' cooking lessons for underserved high school students, challenging each team to create recipes from scratch with fresh ingredients. LivePlate also live streams the online cooking lessons, every Tuesday at 1:00 pm Eastern during the summer, and they will be streamed after school in the fall. Online cooking class viewers can cookalong with the Chef via text and video chat.

During the class, the students made roasted chicken, chicken salad, and chicken soup. For July 4th, Chef Alan's teams created their own recipes for veggie burgers. Students even created their own healthy baked empanadas and chicken wraps.

Joan and Burt Salomon, parents of Brittany, came to see why their daughter has suddenly become so fond of the kitchen. Brittany said to me, Ma, I'm going to try it and see if I like it – and now she loves it," says her mother, originally from Nicaragua. "This program is so good for the kids. It supports something in society, keeps them off the streets, teaches them to reach out to others – and they learn something new in life." "I want to empower these kids by giving them the skills to cook real food, even on a budget. Some of my students even want to go on to careers as chefs, " stated Chef Alan Hughes. "The kids really enjoy creating their own recipes like the one for veggie burgers, and they have a great time cooking with friends. "

Chef Alan Hughes is a classically trained private chef, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and artist. The chef stars in a cooking TV series on Yahoo! Espanol. He also plays lead guitar in a rock band, when not volunteering to teach kids' cooking lessons.

Higher Ground is a culinary arts experience especially for underserved high school students in Allapattah. Higher Ground offers culinary arts training and cooking lessons in summer and after-school programs, with volunteers from the community. Citichurch in Miami, Florida sponsors Higher Ground. Another sponsor is The Children's Trust. They are expanding their program for the 2012-13 school year; more information can be found online on their website.

LivePlate is a cooking site where people cook together socially with live video chat. Anyone can set up a live cookalong just for fun, to meet new people, or to learn new cooking techniques. "We wanted to support Higher Ground and Chef Alan by making these great cooking classes available to young people online, " said Andrea Fuentes of LivePlate.

For more information, contact Andrea Fuentes andrea@LivePlate.com or 305 978 6155, or Chef Alan Hughes at info@chefalanhughes.com.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/goodbye-junk-food-rock-n-roll-chef-gives-kids-cooking-lessons-156363.htm