FIRST DAY OF THE COOKING COURSE

 I put time aside this morning to review the course materials.  Last night I saved all the course materials and shopping lists from each course.  I am trying to be organized so when the course is over I will have all the materials to review and revert back to when I need them.  The course teaches how to cook vegan:

• Brunch
• Cheese
• Fine Italian Pastries
• German Classics
• Healthy and Easy Plant-based food
• Italian
• Japanese Sushi and Ramen
• Korean
• Mouthwatering Desserts
• Pastry Essentials
• Raw Food Essentials
• Raw Food Fundamentals
• Swiss Chocolate and Sweets
• Thai
• Vietnamese

Since the course is a  self-directed, on-demand course I can skip around depending on my time commitments and items I have available for cooking in the house.

I think I am going to be hung up the most by the grocery situation right now.  Today I can only make a couple of things in the course because I have so few items from the grocery list in the house.  I look at a recipe and I have all but one item.  Or I have all the items but I don't have the necessary tool to make or cook it.  So there will be some hurdles along the way that will have to be overcome.  Now I am glad I went with the year long course instead of the 6-month course.  

I will take photos and show the finished product whether the dish is a winner or an epic fail.  That is all the fun with cooking, trying something new.  

I was going to make Nut Milk today since that looked easy. I went to the cabinet and found that I only have a small bag of walnuts.  I used to have a large quantity of almonds and pecans but I guess I ate them.  It is obviously time to stock up.  I saved the walnuts for the Walnut Pesto I intend to make another day.

Now I am starting out with a dish that I have all the ingredients: High-Fiber Quinoa Bowl.  Not fancy but I have to start somewhere.  It is in my comfort zone since I make grain bowls a lot for lunch. This time I can't cheat and use bottled dressing and leftovers.  I am going to follow their recipe and see how where it takes me.  I am also going to make enough for two meals so I have lunch for tomorrow.  Part of what they teach is to plan ahead.

This grain bowl was fantastic.  I ate it hours ago and I am still not hungry.  It filled me up and tasted great.  It had carrots, kidney beans, lima beans and quinoa. Then there is a dressing that has tahini, lemon, basil and apple cider vinegar.  I thought the apple cider vinegar would be horrible but it isn't at all, it gives it a zing.  I made extra quinoa so I can have another grain bowl tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...