Spotlight: Healthy Living Market Cooking Classes

Obviously I love to go out to eat, but cooking at home is another passion of mine. At the end of the day though, I’m better at eating food that’s placed in front of me than cooking for myself.

The point is, however, that I try – and I’m always striving to get better in kitchen.

When I heard about the Healthy Living Market Cooking Classes, I got really excited. I’ve always loved the concept of a cooking class, especially when it’s interactive and you have your own spot to do things yourself.

So recently Healthy Living Market had a Bistro Fare class featuring Chef Clarina Cravins from the Burlington, Vermont location of HLM. When I saw the menu, my face practically turned into the heart eye emoji.

French onion soup WITH crisp croutons and cheese? LOVE.

Garlic mashed potatoes? LOVE EVEN MORE.

Steak au Poivre? DROOL FEST.

And the fact that I could have the opportunity to learn about how a professional makes these three items as opposed to me just reading stupid articles on my computer? Perfection.

Here’s a little look at the highlights of making french onion soup and mashed potatoes, followed by a mediocre picture of my mashed potatoes and steak au poivre. Picture doesn’t do it justice, FYI.

Okay so the french onion soup was great because there’s literally no soup I love more than french onion soup, and when I got to use a blow torch to make the cheese bubble, it made my night complete.

As far as mashed potatoes go, my sister is the connoisseur in that department, so she’s taught me well based on her experience. But I still learned a few tricks like whipping heavy cream and then adding it in parts to the potatoes after they’ve been riced. Holy moly were they soft and fluffy.

Finally, the steak. I’ve always thought I had a knack for cooking steak, but I’ve always just done it with no real plan or understanding behind what I was doing.

On this night, I became a rib eye steak cooking champion, making literally the most perfect piece of meat I’ve ever made or consumed. I almost melted onto the floor due to the temperature of the steak (aka perfectly cooked), the sear on the outside, and finally, the flavor. Pepper galore. Seriously thinking back to that first bite I took… it makes me want to cry tears of happiness.

My sister (who was my partner at this class) and I also cooked a bomb ass sauce. I would love to make this meal every single day and drink it with a bottle of wine, also every single day.

If you want to feel like a real professional or you just want to learn the basics in the kitchen, please consider attending one of the cooking classes at the learning center at Healthy Living Market. Oh and the best part? We had leftovers to take home. Like SERIOUS leftovers, enough to feed me for at least 3 days. Amazing.

For more information about the learning center and a full list of current classes at HLM, click here.