More Cooking for Foodies!

Happy Friday, friends!  Hooray for the weekend :)  

I'm featured on Healthy Living Blogs today.  This is a great community of bloggers committed to, well, healthy living.  Go check it out here. 

And props to Tostitos for creating some most delicious chips.  I received these as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, and they are dee-lish!  I'd call them a grown-up version of Doritos - childhood taste for the refined adult palate ;)  They are wonderful with guacamole, salsa, hummus...anything, really!

I couldn't leave you hanging not knowing what else I made in my cooking class. That would just be mean!  The class ended up being a lot of fun, but how could cooking demos and eating delicious food not be fun?

One class (and honestly, probably my favorite!), we made vegetarian dishes with an Asian twist. We created a curry, fresh spring rolls, and tapioca pudding, so I'd say it was heavily Thai- and Vietnamese-influenced - two of my favorite types of Asian foods! I loved the vibrant flavors and all the fabulous veggies! Fresh ingredients really make such a difference. Wonderful herbs like fresh basil, fresh mint, and cilantro add that light, bright flavor that I love. I had never cooked with lemongrass before so it was quite fun to work with.

Here is our appetizer of Vegetable-Tofu Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce. I wish there had been leftovers!

A beautiful Spicy Mint, Cilantro, Eggplant and Cucumber Salad with Palm Sugar Vinaigrette.

Vegetable Green Curry with Jasmine Rice...two of my faves!

And last but not least, Ginger and Lemongrass-Infused Tapioca Pudding. We made a paste of ginger, lime zest, and lemongrass, cooked it in water, then cooked the tapioca in that infused liquid. Finally, we added coconut milk, coconut water and sugar, and topped it with fresh mango chunks. Hello, delicious!

Our final class took full advantage of San Diego's seaside location.  Calories were definitely not a factor in creating this meal, and I'm so glad! ;)

Here we have Creamy Polenta (cooked in chicken broth and heavy cream, if I might add) topped with a Pot-au-feu de la Mer = fancy way of saying lots of delicious halibut, sea scallops, and shrimp cooked in fish sauce, white wine, and tomato paste.  DIVINE.

To lighten things up on the side, an Herbed Mixed Green Salad with Proscuitto and Citrus Vinaigrette.  Light and refreshing!

And the creme de la creme of desserts, literally!  "Natilla" Spanish Style Custard with Cinnamon Puff Pastry Twists, with some strawberries for good measure.  I licked my bowl clean.

Wow...looking at all these goodies again is making me hungry and wanting to take another cooking class!  Anyone up for it? :)

In other news, my job is going very well.  I have my very own desk now!

My coworkers are wonderful people and I am enjoying my work - yay!  On the other hand, I miss you guys!  I miss not blogging more often and being in better contact with my blogger friends.  Please know I am thinking of you all and wishing you a lovely weekend.  I'm going to do my darndest to keep this up as best as I can, even if I'm not around every day.

Disclaimer: I received free samples of Tostitos Artisan Recipe Tortilla Chips as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.  The review is my own and I didn't get paid for it.  The end :)