**HAPPY BIRTHDAY FANATIC DAD!**
Another great time at our local Whole Foods cooking with Chef Jesse!!
He gets all sortsa serious about cooking hahaha, obviouslyyyyy 
Guest appearances include Fanatic Mom (photographer), my girl Brittany from @eatingbirdfood as well as new blog turned friend Liz from @iheartvegetables! These ladiez rock 
Jesse really outdid himself this time around and packed the menu full of deliciously healthy treats to start off a new year…
Plus not only did I learn some new recipes/techniques, but also about a number of new-to-me products that I’m already excited to try again!
So I’ll let the pictures & recipes do all most of the talking from here on out…
“Warrior Breakfast”
A new Bob’s product for me! I eat their oat bran every day but really enjoyed this hearty 8 grain cereal.
Stone ground corn, oats, brown rice, soy beans, oat bran, millet, barley, sunflower seeds, and flaxseed.
Sautéed meatless Canadian bacon, walnuts, chopped dates and dried rosemary.
I’m not usually being a huge fan of “fake meat” products either, but I must say that this Yves Meatless Canadian Bacon was pretty darn tasty.
Vegetarian Pho w/ Tofu
Phở is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef or chicken, that includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, mint leaves, lime, and bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the person who is dining.
So basically you add your soup components, then let the hot broth do all the cooking right at the table. How fun is that?
This version of pho was vegetarian friendly and featured this new product: Pacific organic vegetarian pho soup base.
The soup base has various spices added which give it much more flavor than a basic vegetable broth.
Pho “phillings” <— no? womp wompppp 
- SoyBoy Tofu Lin – prebaked organic tofu
- rice noodles (cooked) – Pad Thai noodles here
- bean sprouts
- sliced onion
- fresh cilantro
- fresh basil
- sliced jalapeno
- fresh lime
Chef Jesse added the cooked rice noodles to the bowls.
Then topped with the baked tofu, bean sprouts, fresh basil and mint.
Before ladling in the hot broth to heat everything to perfection.
A fresh squeeze of lime juice and a few slices of spicy jalapeno really added an extra kick to this dish too!
Clean, simple, fresh flavors and oh so good
I most definitely want to try making this at home. And will probably top it with some spicy sambal oelek. And by probably I mean absolutely.
Because clearly I need yet another mechanism to get that stuff into my mouth.
Salmon en Papillote w/ Jamaican Sweet Potatoes & Garlic Greens
“en papillote” – a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. The parcel is typically made from folded parchment paper and holds in moisture to steam the food.
Fresh wild caught salmon.
Sprinkled with s&p, topped with sliced green onion, carrot & red bell pepper.
Then topped with a drizzle of seafood stock and squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Baked at 325F for only 10 minutes.
The liquid does all the work and steams the fish & veggies to perfection!
Chef Jesse also decided to let us get hands on this class. Wild guess here as to who volunteered to try it out first haha
Typical.
Making the parchment parcels was super easy too for how fancy-schmancy it sounds! It was the pepper sprinklin’ that clearly got me here haha…
Remains of my cooking adventures?
Ooops! Hey, sometimes cookin’ ain’t purty my friends
Garlic Greens: mustard greens, kale, swiss chard and bok choy simply sautéed in oil, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
Sweet Potatoes: mashed then spiced up with tangy pineapple juice and Jamaican allspice.
I loved the idea of adding pineapple juice to the sweet potatoes, reminded me of my Nanny’s recipe for easy sweet potato casserole
And I really enjoyed this method for cooking fish! It really brought out the fresh flavor of the fish and veggies and just tasted darn good.
Lastly, for dessert, a recipe with a name as unique as the ingredients!
Heady Goo Balls
Sounds kinda crazy, right? But trust me, these are DELICIOUS!
Don’t believe me (whaaaa)? Check out Brittany’s site, she’s already posted that she’ll be making them sometime this week!
These are basically a nutrient packed no-bake dessert option that taste like sweet dates and coconut. They are awesome and contain a stellar list of ingredients!
P.S. This makes like “50 to 70″ according to Jesse. That’s alot haha. Adjust recipe as necessary.
- 1 cup chopped dates
- 1 cup dried apricots
- 1 cup chia seeds
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1 cup oats
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 8oz. packages Amazing Grass Amazing Trio
- 4 tblsp Dutch cocoa powder
- 1 cup raw honey
- 1/2 cup bee pollen
- shredded coconut to roll finished goo balls in
Apparently bee pollen gives you energy too – who knew?!
See, dessert really can be healthy
Overall this class totally rocked. Everything was delicious and now I have a few new ideas and products in the ol’ cooking arsenal…
I’m already looking forward to next month’s class too: fresh pasta!
Jesse has already been experimenting with some fun ideas like these fresh pasta sheets with baby kale inside – how fun?!
So if you’re in the local Richmond area and want to join too, you can sign up at Whole Foods. Classes cost $15 & are held 3rd Monday of the month at 6:30pm.
Maybe I’ll see ya there 
So…is Jesse married? I think you two look cute together
Just sayin is all. Both the cereal and goo balls look and sound AMAZINGGGGGGG to me!
If I didn’t have to work I’d totes join y’all! Maybe over the summer sometime? Our local WF needs to start having these classes- I’m jealous of your tasty eats and cute company
P.S. Erica’s comment above is totes true- if he is single, go after it haha!
Your pictures turned out so well! Makes me less sad about forgetting my camera
That was SO fun! I can’t wait for the next one!
And I totally stashed extra heady goo balls in my work bag this morning for an afternoon pick me up. I’m so excited! haha
Wa, the closest Whole Foods to me is about an hour drive – so fun! I almost always slice fresh jalapenos in my soup broth – gives it an extra kick!
I’ve always meant to try the parchment paper baking method since seeing it at a demo years ago, but I always forget. Need to get on it!
Everything looks amazing! I really want to attend a cooking class, I should just research it already!
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Thanks for posting with pics ! The soup and the greens look fabulous. I almost signed up for this class. I might try to catch it next month. Kale is my favorite. Came over here from EBF.
You should definitely come to next month’s class, I think it’s going to be a good one with all the fresh pasta! Thanks for stopping by