Tasty Tales: Eating Healthy Seminar

We held our first-ever Eating Healthy seminar yesterday – and what a great success it was – all credit goes to our chef Bethanne Kashkett, her husband Kenny, and all of you who attended.

Quite amazing – on a dreary, rainy Sunday – all 27 of our registrants came out – that’s right, perfect attendance!!

After a short, staggered intro by yours truly, Bethanne neatly led us in a moment of silence to connect within and create a sentient space without. Thereafter it was not long before Bethanne got us going with all kinds of tasty edibles accompanied by great information and instruction. Everything was based on organic, vegan / vegetarian fare.

The event was structured around a mock day: Breakfast -> lunch -> dinner -> dessert. And what a day it was – quite yummy indeed.

Breakfast featured a variety of raw foods such as sliced apples with raw almond butter, soaked oat groats with fruit, frozen banana and berry smoothies, coconut milk yogurt, freshly baked blueberry tea scones, crispy rice cereal bars, mochi (traditional Japanese food of steamed, pounded brown rice) and jam. Along the way we all tried rice milk, hemp milk and almond milk.

As if that was not enough, we all got to try these delicious breakfast quesadillas: sprouted corn tortillas with soy cheese and mixed chard greens.

And that was just breakfast!! And believe me when I say there were a few items I neglected to mention.

Then Bethanne segued us into a wonderful lunch and dinner combo. At that point things got a little more participatory as various people came up to help steer the ship. They cut, stirred and engaged in other elements of food preparation.

Here is Bill Whitman, husband of Elsie, giving Bethanne a hand with things. Others who came up to help included Lindsay (she was gracious to share LOTS of time), Denise, Steve, and others.

The lunch / dinner combo included a variety of tastes and samples from a wonderful immune building soup spiced with turmeric, ginger and a host of health-supportive herbs and flavorings plus a variety of greens such as a kale / tahini salad and cultured veggies.

The grand buffet bar at the end included a wide array of main dishes from around the world including, but not limited to: coconut brown rice with cauliflower/ potato curry, tortilla pie (wheat tortilla layered with refried beans, quinoa, black beans, salsa, and veggie mix), whole grain pasta with tempeh marinara, veggie fried rice, sprouts, holiday wild rice salad w/ pomegranate dressing, kale salad, and salad crunchies (sprouted buckwheat, sunflower, sesame, and hemp seeds).

There were so many tantalizing tastes, unique food combinations, interesting ingredients – all prepared with an experienced hand and a loving heart.

And then there was dessert – wow! – which was an event all its own. To say there were six different desserts would be an underestimation. Let’s see now there were: ginger snap cookies with holiday pumpkin/soy cream cheese dip, gingerbread, tea poached pears, jam bars, crispy rice balls, alternative ice cream, beat cake, as well as a candle to celebrate Elsie’s birthday!!

Amazingly, the entire event neatly fit into the 2:30p – 5:30p time frame and everyone got to take home plenty of food in their tupperware containers.

Certainly there is more to say about the program so I heartily welcome those in attendance to share their thoughts and experiences.

Of course, all readers, yogis / yoginis, foodies, and members of our universal human family are invited to share and comment.

Bethanne please do correct me on any errors, either of commission or omission, with regards to the names of the various scrumptious dishes that were presented.

Finally, thanks so much to Krista for helping serve & clear and taking photos, and to Alisha for her tireless and good-natured support in the kitchen. While I lazily strolled the hall with a dish rag over my shoulder as if I was really working(!), Alisha kept everything in order: neat and clean.

Thanks again to everyone for attending and I look forward to seeing you for the next round in the spring!!

Please watch for the gallery of photos from this event soon to be posted on our website.