A Healthy Experience

Jan 15, 2011 by lanashabit

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! It ends this Sunday at midnight.

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Last night was inspiring. Exhilarating. A dream come true.

Excuse the iPhone pictures, I could not find my camera in the midst of packing.

As a Christmas present, Stacy (my step-mom) signed us up for a hands-on cooking class at the Whole Foods Culinary Center in Austin.

Just reading the description made me giddy.

Healthy Resolutions

January 14, 2011

6:30-9:00pm

HANDS ON

Dan Marek, Healthy Eating Specialist

Put your New Year’s resolutions into practice! Learn a few new techniques so you can create an incredibly delicious meal—and you’ll never even guess it’s health food. Menu: Savory Spanish Tapas; “Creamy” Mushroom Stroganoff with Zucchini Noodles; Heirloom Seasonal Vegetable Soup; Ambrosial Chocolate Pudding.

However, I had no idea it was going to be Vegan, almost all raw and use NO oil. I was on cloud nine.

As a pair, Stacy and I had our own cooking station. This included our own oven, stove, sliced and pre-measured ingredients, pots and knives. The class had only 11 people, allowing the instructor to easily walk around and instruct each group. At the beginning of the class, we introduced ourselves and said why we were there. Some announced that they were trying to become healthier, knew someone who ate healthy or received the class as a gift. One man, from South America, declared his love for meat and seemed very skeptical at first.

This is Dan, the Whole Foods Healthy Eating Specialist.

He explained that being healthy starts by:

1. Eating nutrient rich foods
2. Eating mostly plants
3. Eating WHOLE foods – no processed foods
4. Eating the rainbow

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Dan introduced the class to Chia bread. As a blog reader I knew all about Chia seeds and their nutritional benefits, but had never actually tried it. I was not let down.

While the Chia bread was toasting in the oven, we made an Olive Tapenade by processing Kalamata olives, parsley and garlic.

The second Chia bread topping was a Savory Spanish Wild Mushroom Bruschetta. We sauteed portobello and shitake mushrooms (using water instead of oil), onion, cherry tomatoes, basil and a No-Oil Balsamic Dressing that we made. The No-Oil Balsamic Dressing was to die for! It was sweetened with dates and was heavenly when added  to the mushrooms. We sneaked bites as we cooked.

Dan also demonstrated knife skills; the proper way to dice and slice an onion and how to peel and de-seed a butternut squash.

We learned how to caramelize an onion without oil. Who knew that was even possible?!?!

No-Oil Caramelized Onions

1. Heat pan on high heat.
2. Chop onion.
3. Put onion in pan and cook until is starts to brown and stick to the pan. Scrape brown from the pan and stir the onions.
4. Add 3 tablespoons of water. Continue cooking on high.
5. When onion starts to stick again, scrape the brown from the pan and stir.
6. Repeat step 4 & 5 three times.

Amazing!!

We then made a Butternut Squash Soup, which was declared the winning recipe at the end of the evening.

While the soup was simmering, we processed cashews, white miso, nutritional yeast and garlic to make a “Creamy” Mushroom Stroganoff. This was placed atop zucchini noodles with a Pine Nut Parmesan.

For desert we made an Ambrosial Chocolate Pudding using avocados, raw cacoa, dates and bananas. Ours turned out very banana-y because we accidentally added too many bananas.

As we sat around a table, drinking wine and eating the food we had just made, some declared that they “were skeptical,” but realized that “healthy food could be delicious!” The hesitant man from South America was very impressed by the resulting meal.

It makes me so happy when people realize that eating healthy does not have to be boring and bland, but can be exciting and delicious.

Thanks Stacy for such a fun experience!

I took notes and will be sharing some of the recipes and more tips from Dan in the coming week.

At the end, I turned to Stacy and said, “I want Dan’s job.”

Some day.

“As children we were told not to play with our food, as adults it’s required.”
-Dan Marek

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I made the drive back to school this morning. I unpacked, reorganized, found my camera and went for a run. I’m off to hang out with some friends that will get an earful about the cooking class.

Hope your having a wonderful Saturday!

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