Archive: Cooking Classes

The Alewife: an introduction to making herbal ales, beers and sodas.

In this class we'll learn the basics of making live culture sodas and ales from medicinal and culinary herbs. We'll learn about different natural sweeteners and different cultures: from kefir grains, to a ginger bug, to yeast, to sourdough, to kombucha and whey. We'll also learn which herbs make delicious beverages, and get to taste a range of different samples. We'll make an herbal soda in the class and take home a jar to ferment and drink later. Not for women only! Men can call the class The Ale-man!

The Locavore: Meals that celebrate the local harvest

This weekend workshop is designed to help you to eat more locally, simply and nutritiously.

Day 1, Saturday, we will tour two wonderful Bay Area farmers markets. We will meet in the morning at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco, tour and shop the market together, and eat breakfast. Then we will take BART to the Ecology Center farmers market in downtown Berkeley, where we will tour and shop some more. Jessica will highlight her favorite local farmers.

Day 2, Sunday, will be a cooking class covering strategies for quick, delicious, and nutrient-dense meals based on the locally-grown, seasonal ingredients we purchased the day before.

The Child with the Broad Smile: Nourishing foods for kids

Yes -- meals, snacks and sweets can be nourishing, delicious, and easy to prepare! In this class for parents and others with responsibility for feeding children, we will cover practical strategies for preparing nutrient-dense foods for young palates. The class will include some "compromise" strategies. (It is aimed more for the parent struggling to keep good food on the table than for the strict purist, or to those needing to adhere to special diets-but all are welcome!) Home-cooking and lunch-box foods will both be covered.

Day 1, Saturday, will focus on wholesome meals and meal-planning

Day 2, Sunday, will focus on wholesome snacks and sweets.

The Simmering Cauldron: Old-fashioned Meat-based Soups, Stocks, and Stews

Come learn the basic principles of creating mineral-rich, digestible, delicious and nourishing meals from humanely raised, free-range local animals. We'll learn more about the California ranches that offer ethical meats and the courageous ranchers who are protecting the environment, our health, and the welfare of animals through their practices.

Day 1, Saturday, will focus on good sources for meats and the basics of making broths that are flavorful and full of gelatin. Instruction will include beef, chicken, and fish.

Day 2, Sunday, will focus on how to use these stocks to create wonderful, quick and easy meals -- from brothy soups to vegetable purees to hearty stews and chowders.

Cooking on the Farm!

Join Jessica at Full Belly Farm in the Capay Valley for a class designed to teach you how to cook simple but nourishing meals from the fresh ingredients you'll find at the farmers' market or CSA box. There will be a special emphasis on the cool-weather vegetables many of us find most perplexing. Jessica will teach from 1pm - 4pm, and then we will sit down and eat the meal we have prepared. This class will take place in the kitchen of the straw bale house of Full Belly farmer Judith Redmond.

Full Belly Farm is one of the most successful small-scale ecological farms in Northern California. Visit their site for more information: fullbellyfarm.com.

The Bread of Life: Old-fashioned Sourdough Breads, Biscuits, Crackers, Pancakes and other Baked Goods

Whole grains have formed a nourishing staple for peoples around the world since the development of agriculture. Unfortunately, today's refined flours and quick processing yield breads and other baked goods that are lacking in nutrients and digestibility. In this class we will learn how to bake using a sourdough starter. All students will have the opportunity to take home some sourdough starter, learn how to feed and care for it, and how to use it in their kitchens.

Day 1, Saturday, will introduce the practice of keeping a sourdough starter and how to use it in baking bread. We will mix and knead our bread dough in preparation for baking the loaves on Sunday.

Day 2, Sunday, we will bake our bread and also learn how to use our sourdough starter for biscuits, crackers, fritters, pancakes, scones, and other quick baked goods.

The Sacred Grain: Old-fashioned Sourdough Breads and Biscuits, Wholegrain pilafs, porridges & pancakes

Whole grains have formed a nourishing staple for peoples around the world since the development of agriculture. Unfortunately, today's refined flours and quick processing yield breads, cereals and side dishes that are lacking in nutrients and digestibility. In this class we will cover the most nourishing preparations of grains, with an emphasis on how to bake using a sourdough starter. All students will have the opportunity to take home some sourdough starter, learn how to feed and care for it, and how to use it in their kitchens.

Day 1, Saturday, will focus on the processes of soaking, sprouting, and souring whole and freshly ground grains such as spelt, wheat, rye, corn, rice, oats, quinoa, barley, amaranth, and teff.

Day 2, Sunday, will focus on turning these grains into delicious breads, biscuits, crackers, fritters, pancakes, pilafs, and porridges.

The Bubbling Crock: Preserving the Harvest with Lacto-fermentation

While we all know that fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs are good for us, few of us remember how to preserve them in a way that actually increases their living enzymes and turns them into nutritionally-enhanced, potent and digestible old-fashioned side dishes, relishes and beverages.

Day 1, Saturday, will focus on how to make lacto-fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, pickles, chutneys, salsas, cortido, kimchee, sauerruben, and sourbeets.

Day 2, Sunday, will focus on learning how to make digestive and delicious beverages such as kombucha and old-fashioned ales and healthful 'soft' drinks using seasonal herbs, fruit, vegetables, and natural sweeteners.

The Bubbling Crock -- Condensed

A one-day version of Jessica's class on lacto-fermentation.

We will focus on how to make lacto-fermented vegetables using seasonal ingredients, including sauerkraut, kimchee, sauerruben, and sourbeets.

We will also cover kombucha, and discuss dairy ferments.

A Jar of Summer: Preserving Summer's Bounty -- and Its Enzymes!

Together we will make traditional lacto-fermented salsas, chutneys, pickles and slow sodas with the bountiful harvest of fruits, vegetables, and herbs grown by California's local sustainable farmers. You will be able to take home samples of all of what we make.

Fast and Fresh: Quick and Easy Summer Meals from the Farmers Market and CSA box

Learn to create delicious, nourishing, easy and fast meals that take their inspiration from the fresh seasonal vegetables found in Bay Area farmers markets and CSA boxes. Summertime offers a cornucopia of delicious produce: tomatoes, summer squash, corn, peppers, green beans, potatoes, eggplant, and more! We'll cover how to turn these gems into satisfying meals, and learn strategies for getting dinner on the table in a hurry after a busy day.

Healing from the Heart

In this lecture/discussion, Dr. Cowan will draw on the work of Dr. Weston Price, Rudolf Steiner and Viktor Schauberger to talk about the use of traditional diets and natural medicines to heal medical problems in our time. You will hear about the principles of nutrition elucidated by Dr. Price, Steiner’s radical insights into the circulation and the heart, and how this new understanding affects treatments for conditions ranging from high blood pressure to cancer.

Good Health, Good Food

In this four-hour workshop with Jessica Prentice and Dr. Cowan, you’ll learn how to apply the wisdom and traditions of the healthiest people who ever lived in your daily life, the right way to prepare nutrient-dense foods at home, and where to buy these foods in the Bay Area. You’ll also get to sample some of these foods in a simple lunch.

Dr. Cowan has studied nutrition for more than 20 years and uses food therapeutically in his private medical practice to treat illnesses ranging from cancer to chronic fatigue. He is vice president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism. He is also past vice president of the Physicians Association for Anthroposophical Medicine. His book, The Fourfold Path to Healing, will be published this summer.

Jessica Prentice conducts "Wise Food Ways" cooking classes and workshops, bringing together creativity and imagination with a deep respect for traditional cuisine and time-honored culinary practices. She is the former chef of Headlands Center for the Arts and founder of the Headlands Hearth Bakery and Cafe, featuring locally and sustainably grown food. She is a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York.

For upcoming classes, check out the Class Schedule.