Tag: cooking classes

Best Online Vegan Cooking Classes — Plant-Based and Zero Waste

Posted in Blog.

The Art of Teaching Cooking

Ever since I started teaching vegan cooking classes in 1999, I’ve loved the art behind choosing the class theme and crafting the menu, whether it’s based on:

First and foremost, of course, is the fact that everything I teach is vegan, but after that, a world of possibilities awaits! I’m inspired by different cuisines and cultures, spices and flavors, textures and techniques, but mostly what I desire is to inspire someone to get into the kitchen to create food that will nurture, nourish, and delight.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau teaching virtual vegan cooking classes

Engaging the Senses

Cooking is a sensual experience in that all of our senses are engaged, and our experience of eating begins long before we start chewing — what a dish looks like, what the kitchen smells like, what a recipe is called, what a food sounds like during preparation or cooking, and what it feels like to touch it with our hands, our teeth, and our tongue. What memories are evoked.

I consider all of these factors when developing my recipes and crafting my classes, and the greatest gift for me is to know that one — even just one — of my recipes may become part of someone’s repertoire. That they will follow instructions I’ve carefully considered. That they will make culinary tweaks and tickles to adjust it to their liking. That they will enjoy the process as much as the result.

Online cooking classes are fun, interactive, and enjoyed globally

Join a Class in 2023

The first half of 2023 is scheduled out, and I hope you can join me. Click on each to book your spot, and enjoy a discount when you book more than one class.
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𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘: Cozy Colorful Soups ⁠(Purple Kale and White Bean Soup, Six Shades of Red Soup, Brazilian Black Bean Stew)

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇: Classic Northern Italian Cuisine ⁠(Saffron Risotto (Risotto alla Milanese), Homemade Gnocchi with Pesto Sauce, Polenta alla Spianatora)

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋: Simple Southern Italian Cuisine ⁠(Stuffed Shells with Marinara Sauce, Spaghetti with Lentil Meatballs, Eggplant Caponata)

𝐌𝐀𝐘: Homemade Tofu and Soy Milk (Save money, eliminate packaging, and increase your cooking skills!)⁠

𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄: Plant-based Food and Wine Pairings (Join me and my partner-in-wine (i.e. my husband) for this special class in which we provide a comprehensive lesson for the best red, white, and rose wines and the plant-based foods they pair with.)⁠
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If you can’t decide, remember 𝐆𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 are also available!⁠

The classes are fun, interactive, and live in real-time! This means, I see you, you see all the other participants, and you see me cooking in my Oakland kitchen and answering your questions. What’s more: you receive all the recipes in advance of the class and a video recording of the class after it’s over. 

Visit JoyfulVegan.com to join a class today

What type of cooking classes or recipes are you looking for? Comment down below.

The Healing Power of Cooking

Posted in Blog.

Connecting through food

“These classes have been a balm during this very difficult time,” wrote a recent cooking class student.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s been incredibly healing for me to focus on food and cooking at this time — one of the most fundamental ways we nurture ourselves and each other.

And it’s been a gift to share that with you. Thank you for creating the space and opportunity for me to do so. This past week’s pizza class saw 40 people from all around the world — from California to Florida, from the UK to Dubai! 

The recipient of this past week’s online cooking class donation was Planting Justice. They employ teams of gardeners and landscapers who plant edible permaculture gardens in the Bay Area, encouraging people to grow their own food. They teach landscaping skills to people in prison, and then after release hire them to work as gardeners and pay them a living wage.

WHAT ELSE STUDENTS ARE SAYING:

“Such a great class Colleen. What I loved about it most was coming away with a new skill. You’re a great innovator and teacher; looking forward to more learning from you soon.”

“I love Colleen’s classes. They are so much fun and interactive. Colleen’s decades of vegan cooking and entertaining come through in her classes. I always learn something new.”

“It was such an honor and a thrill to meet Colleen online. Also, even with participants from all over the world, I was able to connect with a woman from my neighboring small town of Sequim WA. This was such a wonderful surprise!”

“Fun and interactive. Can’t wait to take another class!”

“Colleen is a wonderful teacher, activist, and inspiration. I highly recommend all her books and her online cooking classes!”

“Colleen’s classes are so much fun, and I learn something new each time! You can ask questions, comment, cook alongside from your own kitchen. The recipes are fabulous that you will want to make again and again!”

“Not only are the classes fun and you get to connect with Colleen and other like-minded individuals, they take the mystique out of cooking vegan dishes and that makes it seem like something even a novice like me can do!”

Join a class today!

Tools for Making Homemade Pizza

Posted in Blog.

Here are some of the tools I use for making pizza at home. 

PIZZA STONE

Technically speaking, you CAN make pizza without a stone, but you will get the most authentic homemade pizza with a stone because of the heat it absorbs and generates. There are many out there, but here is one I like a lot by Pizzacraft. I really like the size — it’s 16.5″ round, though you can use rectangular as well.

PIZZA PEEL

First and foremost you need a pizza peel. This is what you build your pizza on and use to slide it in and out of the oven. For years, I used only a wooden one, but now I use both wooden and metal. The raw pizza dough sticks less to wood than to metal (even with the cornmeal on it), so I prefer the wood for building the initial pizza on. However, the metal is just so much easier to slide underneath the pizza once it’s cooking on the stone — in order to turn the pizza as well as to pull it out of the oven. You’d be fine just using the wood for everything, but I thought you might like to know my technique. 

IMPORTANT: Do NOT cut your pizza on the peel! Once you slide it out of the oven using the peel, transfer it to a large cutting board for cutting!

Metal Pizza Peel. My 1st choice is Pomodoro and the one I have (I like that the handle folds in for easier storage), but there are lots out there. Another choice would be 

Wood / Bamboo Pizza Peel. I like this Fiery Chef Bamboo Peel for the same reason as the Pomodoro metal one above. The handle folds in making it easy to store. However, if that’s not an issue for you, I do tend to like having one solid piece as a peel, such as this New Star peel. It just feels sturdier and more stable. 

PIZZA CUTTER

Whereas you can use a knife for cutting into thicker Sicilian-style pizzas or focaccia, you’ll be very happy using a proper pizza cutter wheel for Neapolitan-style. As above, I prefer all metal. 

BOWL SCRAPER

Perhaps not essential for you, but I like being able to use the scraper to get the dough out of the bowl (the dough scraper above is a little too big for that, and this bowl scraper is a little too small to manage the dough on the countertop). So…here’s a bowl scraper I would recommend. 

KITCHEN SCALE

Those of us in North American tend to measure rather than weigh our dry ingredients, but weighing is SOO much more accurate. In my recipes, I will always provide measurements in cups, but I really like being able to talk about weight in ounces, as well, especially when it comes to separating out the pizza dough / balls. So, do consider getting a kitchen scale. It will change baking for you. Here’s one I’ve had for years.  

…and of course, a pizza class! (Join my virtual cooking classes for fabulous recipes and a fun, inspiring, energetic hour!)

 

 

Fluffy Okara Pancakes

Posted in Blog.

In one of my recent virtual cooking classes, I taught my students how to make homemade soy milk. As everyone learned, when the milk is done, what you’re left with at the end is okara.

Okara is the name for the soybean pulp left over when making soy milk. It has a delicious nutty flavor and can be added to smoothies, baked goods, and oatmeal — adding flavor, texture, moisture, and nutrients. It can also be used to make these delicious fluffy, oil-free, fat-free pancakes!

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup nondairy milk
1/2 cup okara
Dash of salt

Directions

Add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, and thoroughly combine. Then add the milk and okara, and stir / whisk until thoroughly mixed into a pourable batter. 

Heat up a nonstick skillet with or without some oil or nondairy butter, and ladle some batter onto the hot pan into the size pancakes you prefer. Repeat until you use up all the batter. 

Serve with your favorite nondairy butter, syrup, and fresh fruit.

Yield: Makes about 6-8 pancakes, depending on the size

Recipe by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Joyful Vegan, copyright 2020. Please provide credit when sharing.

Other recent posts you may be interested in:

10 Favorite Countertop Appliances

Homemade, Vegan, and Zero Waste Online Cooking Class

Online Vegan Cooking Classes Are Here to Stay!

Posted in Blog.

As you know, I taught cooking classes in Oakland for over 10 years, along with classes for PCRM’s The Cancer Project (now called Food for Life) and Dr. McDougall. I stopped teaching classes because 

a) they’re an incredible amount of work

b) they’re an incredible amount of work

c) to focus on writing 

and because

d) they’re an incredible amount of work

You get the idea.

Over the last couple years, however, I’ve talked often about how much I miss teaching. I mean…I’ve never stopped teaching…in my conferences, with my books, in my lectures, and even in my regular live videos on social media. But I missed teaching cooking classes. 

Nonetheless. Whenever I thought for just a second of resuming the classes, I shivered, shook my head, and pushed it out of my mind. They just required so much time, work, and bandwidth.  

I never dreamed I’d be teaching virtual classes. Of course, none of us ever dreamed we’d be facing a deadly pandemic that would compel us to protect ourselves and each other by physically distancing from one another and staying safe in our homes. 

I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to teach cooking classes again, and while they still require a lot of work — deciding the class theme and recipes, putting the recipe packet together, creating the graphics and event page, marketing the classes, shopping, prepping, teaching, and cleaning up — the virtual online classes are so much more manageable and sustainable than when I taught in-person classes. Plus, people can join from anywhere in the world (and they do)! 

How awesome is that? 

I don’t know what the coming weeks and months will bring for any of us. We will be changed. We will be stronger. We will have lost. We will have gained. But I do know that I plan on continuing teaching for as long as you’re interested. And I do know that the classes themselves will continue to be virtual. 

Of course, there will come a day I’ll be able to speak to live audiences again, host in-person conferences again, and travel around the world with you on our vegan trips with World Vegan Travel again, but I’m 100% certain the cooking classes will remain virtual — enabling me to provide people with the tools and resources they need to eat compassionately and healthfully in a way that I can manage and in a way that you can enjoy from anywhere you live — even when this virus is abated. 

I look forward to seeing you in our upcoming classes. You can always view what’s coming here.

WHAT TYPES OF CLASSES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE? (PLEASE COMMENT BELOW!)

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