Woodlands Workshop: Family Cooking Class!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of preparing kid-friendly, gluten-free meals for Whitney and her family. I have known Whitney since I was 11 or 12 years old, and I remember thinking she was the COOLEST lady ever, so when she asked me back for a second round of a yeast-free food cleanse, I jumped at the chance!

After looking over a great deal of material and planning, planning, planning, I put together a special program for Whitney that involved her two oldest children getting into the kitchen and helping make some familiar dishes that used vegetables and protein in a new way.

We started the day making red velvet pancakes, sweetened with beet sugar and colored with- what else? Beets! While her youngest stirred the eggs and almond milk into the pancake mix (pre-made at my home to avoid any beet-related drama), her oldest stirred the yogurt with stevia powder to make a sweet "frosting". They learned that red velvet cake is really just chocolate cake with red coloring, and were equally disappointed and enthralled.

After they finished their breakfast, the girls set out to make a healthy chicken nugget lunch to bring to their grandparents house that afternoon. Much to my surprise, they were more than willing to touch the pieces of raw chicken! These girls have guts! We put butternut squash bisque in a small bowl, although tomato soup, pumpkin purée, carrot soup, any wet vegetable product would have worked just as well. Then we had to crush up some rice Chex for crunchiness. Here's C crushing the cereal like it's nobody's business (and a small corner shot of our red velvet pancakes)

Here they are dipping chicken into butternut squash bisque, and then straight into crushed rice Chex. No fear!

We cooked them in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil- about 2 minutes on each side, and they ate them up! I believe the words "these kinda taste like Chick Fil A!" we're used!

Then we moved on to making a vegetable dish that brought much delight- Ratatouille. While I sliced the eggplant, tomato, yellow squash, and onion, the girls snapped open every clove of garlic that we had- very helpful for roasting a chicken later. J asked me, "what are those extra garlics for?" 

     "To stick up a chicken's butt." 

"OH WOOOOWWWWW!!!"

The girls took turns laying the vegetables in the pan, then they each sprinkled thyme on the whole thing. We added garlic and olive oil, then popped it in the oven. 

Here they are smiling with their finished product!

Before J and C left for their grandma's house, we had time to steam some garlic green beans. We chopped up some of the readily available garlic cloves and tossed them in with some olive oil after the green beans had been steamed and drained. They smelled so good! A friend came by later and said he could smell it down the street!

Here we are finishing the green beans. Then the girls were whisked off for a fun weekend! They were a blast to cook with- so curious and excited about cooking and eating healthy food!

Whitney and I spent the next 4 hours making roast chicken, spaghetti squash lasagna, flank steak, an asparagus and mushroom frittata, sweet potato hash, roasted broccoli, and peanut butter cups. We also cleaned out her entire fridge, freezer, and pantry. Out of respect to Whitney, I will say nothing about the organizational state of any of these places, nor will I expose any truths with "before" pictures....but these picture are during....

And this is after!

Some highlights of the day:

1. Teaching Whitney some awesome, in-law impressing recipes like this asparagus, mushroom, and leek frittata:

2. Showing her how to talk to a chicken while you roast it and then deconstruct it.

3. Watching her fridge fill up with fresh, organic, homemade food that is healthy, delicious, and way easy to make!

Hopefully I can come back and cook with her kiddos again! I had the best time. Thanks for the opportunity, Whitney!

(To schedule your own in-home cooking class and meal preparation, email mama@mamasgottaeat or call/text (713)299-8555)