Playland Nursery School in New Canaan recently offered a class, titled "15 Minute Meals," to a group of mothers on the go.

The one-and-a-half hour session was taught by Nicole Straight, an award-winning chef and owner of Westport-based Time to Eat!, a new business devoted to teaching novice cooks how to prepare healthy meals with ease.

A mother of two toddlers, Emma and Abigail, Straight created the classes to show that cooking can be simple and fun. "I want to make mealtime easier for families," she said. "In today's society, people are so busy. Moms take their kids to soccer practice or other after-school activities and, often, meals are eaten on the run.

"My goal is to streamline dinner by providing recipes that can be made on the stovetop in a short amount of time. This way, families will have time to sit down and eat dinner together," she said. "I think that mothers, in particular, feel a strong desire to provide for their families, but since everyone is so strapped for time, nutrition suffers."

In her business venture, Straight is able to make use of lessons she's learned along two separate career paths. "I went to cooking school in Tuscany," she said. " I later attended graduate school at Smith, where I pursued an education degree. I put myself through grad school as a private cook. After I left teaching, I had a brief stint working for Martha Stewart and later took a job as a personal chef for a family, where I worked for four years. I left that job to pursue my own business."

Time to Eat! cooking classes advocate healthy meals made with ease and simplicity. "My 15-minute meal concept includes easy clean up. During the lessons, I teach students how to prepare six different meals using only one pot and one pan," she said.

The recipes taught in the New Canaan class included salsa "moron chicken" with tortillas, cheese, guacamole and sour cream; garlic shrimp; teriyaki scallops with edamame and spinach; ham steaks with polenta coins and peas; peppered minute steaks with wilted balsalmic arugula salad; and turkey scallopini with tomato sauce. She also offers suggestions on how to best use leftovers.

In addition to recipes, Straight provides students with a list of items that should be stocked in their kitchens as well as a suggested weekly shopping list

Suggested staples include couscous, pre-made chicken stock, canned beans, diced tomatoes; barbecue, teriyaki and soy sauces; polenta, garlic puree, olive oil and pre-packaged salad mix.

"Many of my recipes make use of frozen foods, such as cleaned, deveined shrimp, sea scallops and pre-cut vegetables," she said. "You might pay a little more for these items, but if you are looking to save time, the expense is well worth it."

Suggested freezer items include tortellini, shredded cheese, tortillas and boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

When preparing a meal, she advises her students to keep the foods being cooked similar in size. "This way everything cooks evenly," she said.

She advises against stirring foods repeatedly while they are cooking. "You should only turn food once during its preparation," she said. "This way, the food cooks more quickly and it allows for carmelization."

The class at Playland Nursery School was organized by Nancy Greenspoon, of New Canaan, whose 4-and-half year-old twins, Annalee and Teddy, attend the preschool.

"I took a course from Nicole at her home in Westport and I just loved it," she said. "She gave me a repertoire of easy meals and some very non-intimidating techniques for putting things together and, according to my husband, my cooking has improved by 40 percent.

"Nicole increased my awareness of certain ingredients that constitute a meal," she added. "I wanted to make others aware that a class like this exists."

Straight also teaches an "Easy Dinner Parties" class as well as a recently developed lesson plan, titled "Not Your Mother's Casseroles."

"The dinner party class is an offshoot of the 15 Minute Meals' class," she said. "My students asked me for ideas on how they could take what they learned and apply it to an adult event. This class includes suggestions for appetizers, entrees and desserts.

"The casserole class provides recipes for delicious one-pot meals," she added. "The recipes take a little longer than 15 minutes to make, but the foods can be prepared in advance and then frozen so that the meals are ready for you when you want them to be."

Straight, who is available to teach locally, additionally will be offering her classes at the 92nd Street Y in New York this spring. For information, call 221-8306 or e-mailNjm007@excite.com

Straight shares the following recipes with the Westport News:

Moron Chicken
Skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Per serving: 3 tablespoons barbecue or teriyaki sauce or five to six shakes of lemon pepper.

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

2. Place each chicken breast in a single sheet of aluminum foil, put sauce (or lemon pepper) on top of chicken and gather sides of foil to form a tight packet.

3. Place chicken packets directly on rack in oven for 15 minutes.

4. Remove packets from oven, open and serve chicken.

Note 1: Use caution when opening foil packets. The steam emitting from them is very hot.

Note 2: Leftover chicken can be mixed with apples and mayonnaise for chicken salad.

Turkey Scallopini with Sauteed Mushrooms, Capers and Lemon Juice 
1 tablespoon butter 
1 teaspoon olive oil 
1 tablespoon garlic paste 
Thinly sliced turkey cutlets 
One package sliced mushrooms 
1/4 cup capers 
Juice of one-half lemon 
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Season turkey with salt and pepper.

2. Place butter, olive oil and garlic paste in pan over high heat.

3. When butter has melted and mixture sizzles, add turkey and cook about two minutes on each side.

4. Add washed and sliced mushrooms, capers and lemon juice and shake pan occasionally for about three minutes, until mushrooms have become a little brown.

 5. Remove from heat and serve.