The March edition of the Cooking Light magazine hits newsstands this Friday with a focus on inspiring families to prepare healthy and affordable meals and celebrating the 5^th Anniversary of Let’s Move!. First Lady Michelle Obama is featured on the cover and is the first person in the magazine’s 28-year history to appear on the cover. In this special edition, the First Lady sat down to talk with Cooking Light about her personal experience around cooking and family meals and how that lead to her work focusing on nutrition when she came to the White House.

The First Lady shared some of the challenges she faced as a busy working mom trying to keep her family’s health in check. Recognizing that change needed to happen following a visit to their pediatrician, Mrs. Obama turned to cooking and began preparing two more meals at home each week.

The First Lady shared fond memories of sitting down to the dinner table with her parents and brother growing up and how important family meal time always was in their home. And it’s a tradition the President and First Lady try to incorporate into their lives even with their family’s busy schedule living at the White House.   

Mrs. Obama talked about how her experiences at home inspired her to bring the conversation of healthy eating and cooking to her work at the White House. She wanted to support parents who are eager to make healthy choices for their families. It first started with planting the White House Kitchen Garden and then led to the launch of Let’s Move!. 

March 2015 Cooking Light Magainze Cover

Inspired by Let’s Move! and a local farm in Alabama that partners with Cooking Light, the magazine launched Let’s Cook! through this edition, which provides easy, healthy, and affordable recipes to help busy families prepare meals at home. All of meals cost less than $12 for a family of four and take less than 30 minutes to prepare, showing that healthy food can be affordable and less expensive than eating out.

Be sure to check out the First Lady’s interview with Cooking Light, and have your family join you in the kitchen for some fun preparing the delicious dishes!