What's been cooking?

Hello there.....it's summertime..... and it has sure been busy in my neck of the woods.  It has been way too long since I've posted here as I have been somewhat engrossed in summer school. I'm taking classes to gear up for re-entry into nursing school and have had alot of fun taking an art appreciation class thus my previous post which was the first paper I wrote this semester. I have  been researching and writing a paper almost every week for the last 9 weeks.  I toured the Rotunda and the Academical Village  at UVA and wrote a paper analyzing the architecture.  I visited the Richmond Art Museum which was mind-blowing and I wrote another paper on that.  I did have some time in there however to teach a group cooking class which was truly alot of fun and we made some amazing food.  We were a group of 6 women and we cooked a lovely seasonal summer menu. Here's a recap of what our class was like.

All ready to go...

Getting our 40 year old ACME Juicer ready to make our vegetable juice cocktails....

Making Potassium Juice (carrot, celery, parsley and spinach)...

and carrot, beet and apple juice.......YUM!!

Such beautiful frothiness!!!!!

Next up.....Preparing the tofu for teriyaki tofu...

Cutting and blotting the tofu to make it less wet......

Preparing the pans with coconut oil to lightly brown the tofu slices... 

Nice and crispy and slightly browned...

Mincing the scallions...

Preparing the marinade...

Scallions, soy sauce, sesame seeds and other ingredients...

Getting the tofu ready to bake in the oven for about 20 minutes...

Preparing the squash by first halving and then scoring the tops...

Making the miso-ginger sauce for the squash...

Making the tahini sesame sauce for the rice noodles...

The finished sesame sauce....yummy! 

The finished noodles....Next time I buy the wider noodles....my bad.... but they still tasted good!

Gluten- free Shortcake preparation...using almond flour...

Shortcakes ready for the oven and the strawberries all cut up....

Brown and crisp on the outside and nutty and moist inside...

Our Meal: Sesame rice noodles, Teriyaki tempeh, Miso ginger baked summer squash followed by....

Our strawberry shortcake dessert served with coconut whipped cream and fresh mint leaves! Everything tasted amazing and it was so fun to cook together....I can't wait until the next time!

Photo credits go to Jona Noelle Baily.


Next cooking class will be held on Saturday 
September 21, 2013
FALL MENU, to be announced
from 10:00 am- 1:00 pm at Lisa's house
$45/person
Please call 434-973-1700 or email Lisa to reserve your space!

Lisa Olko RN is a Certified Health and Lifestyle Coach.  To read more about her and the services she offers visit her website.  To get a Free Health Consultation with Lisa click Here.