Having watched the phenomenon at first hand, the Sacred Chef readily identifies the surging popularity of cooking classes as part of a greater trend toward creativity and excellence in the home. Why sit in a restaurant and be treated like a spectator when you can learn to master the culinary skills yourself and take centre stage as an artist. The Sacred Chef’s new book House Therapy – Discovering who you really are at home recognises aspects of this world wide phenomena.

Cooking schools here on the sunshine coast  are seeing substantial increases in the number of attendees. They are also witnessing a new type of cooking class attendee, one who is better informed and more highly skilled in the kitchen. The number of cooking schools here in Maleny  has also increased and the range of cuisines being offered  is larger than before. Thai cooking classes are very popular; as are Spanish cooking lessons; Regional Italian cooking classes ; and more inclusive programs offering a mix of cuisines from different ethnicities.

Watching the pride participants take in eating their lunch or dinner, after the cooking class experience, is a real eye opener when comparing it to the passive consumption in restaurants and cafes by the milling crowds. People want to be involved, doing and creating, rather than just filling an empty hole by buying stuff. Learning a useful skill that you can share and take pride in the expression of – is what good cooking is all about!

Last Sunday we hosted the bride and groom, and his parents, for a truly delicious multiple course gourmet lunch and wine tasting. These particular Brisbane and Maleny based family members were proponents of an organic and locally grown menu for their upcoming spring wedding. As they shared with me, that it is sometimes not an easy thing to find a talented caterer with experience in this particular culinary realm.

With a rustic European style wedding feast in mind we worked out a menu that would elegantly fulfil these desires. Wedding guest tables will be laden with selections of wood fired roasted meats; organic salads featuring glistening pulses, grilled Mediterranean vegetables and the finest extra virgin olive oils; sour dough wood fired breads and local cheeses. Bio-dynamic and organic Australian wines will complement this alive and healthy menu. Tables will be set with antique crockery and glasses against  white table cloths.

The wedding reception venue will be in Maleny, the wedding capital of the sunshine coast south east Queensland. Here on Mountain View Rd, with the stunning Glass House Mountains as backdrop, the wedding couple will share their special day with friends and family. Beautiful organic food, cooked and presented in style by the Sacred Chef, will make this wedding day one to remember fondly forever.

Husbands purchased a Sacred Chef gift voucher for their wives and then we helped them select a yummy menu for the day. We made vegetarian Thai pastries with a cucumber sweet dipping sauce, rocket pesto, bacon and buffalo mozzarella thin crusted LSA pizzas; grilled pumpkin and baby spinach salad; slow roasted Thai style lamb shanks with jasmine rice; and dark chocolate tart with raspberry coulis and double cream.

It was a pleasure to meet five really lovely ladies and to serve them an array of sumptuous dishes. We toasted the good times with a morish Yarra Valley Pinot Gris. Sacred Chef cooking classes are a great way to discover new recipes, techniques and friends.

Sacred Chef Catering had supplied a waiter and onsite chef to assemble and distribute a selection of delicious canapés to the guests. Lovely, freshly made, teriyaki chicken and avocado sushi rolls; smoked salmon and lemon creme fraiche on mini toasts; roast pumpkin, Macadamia and goat’s cheese pastries; and basil pesto, oven dried cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella pastries were all on the menu. Maleny caterer the Sacred Chef also supplied a large quantity of salads to accompany the very impressive pig on a spit. Our onsite chef carved the pig and made the gravy, which I am sure all the guests enjoyed.

Sunshine coast caterer, the Sacred Chef, regularly provides party and wedding catering to the denizens of Montville. What a lovely part of the sunshine coast hinterland it is to hold a party or wedding – great views and lush green surroundings.

Each room in your home offers a chance to find out more about who you really are. House Therapy can show you how!

Meet your bathroom Queen and see what she has to say about you.

Do you have a special place, a special room, where you can be really you?

How do you sleep at night? Easily, or does it take a little while to unwind? House Therapy has some solutions and reasons why!

Would you describe yourself as an introvert or more of an extrovert?

Do you like to make a good impression on others?

Do you love or hate your home?

Find out what it all means.

House Therapy – Discovering Who You Really Are at Home, is now available to purchase online as an eBook. 155 pages of insights, self-help and interesting stories.

Available in ePub format for Ibook

PDF for everyone

or name the format or eReading device you are using.

Warm salad of roasted pumpkin,
snow peas & pecorino cheese
• 150g mixed leaves
• 50g baby spinach leaves
• 50g snow peas
• 50g baby rocket leaves
• 1 tbsp fresh basil torn
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin camellia tea oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• black pepper to taste
• ¼ Qld blue pumpkin chopped & roasted
• 100g pecorino shaved

Remove pumpkin from the oven & allow to cool for
10 minutes.
In a large bowl arrange your greens & basil leaves.
Toss through dressing ingredients. Arrange on plates,
then add pumpkin & top with shaved pecorino.
Serves 4.

©Sacred Chef.

Cooking school on the sunshine coast.

Green Paw Paw Salad

• 2 cups shredded paw paw
• 3 small dried chillies
• 1 tbspn tamarind water
• 2 tbspns lime juice
• 2 tspns palm sugar
• 1 tbspn fish sauce
• 1 cup green beans chopped 2cm segments
• 3 cherry tomatoes chopped
• 2 tbspns dried prawn
• 5 small fresh chillies
• 2 cloves garlic

In a mortar and pestle grind garlic, chillies and salt
until fine. Add prawns and puree. Add tomatoes and
beans and roughly crush, then add fish sauce, sugar,
lime juice and tamarind water. In a bowl mix
together with the paw paw and sprinkle with chilli
flakes before serving.

Grilled Prawns w Ginger &
Lemongrass

• 12 med-large prawns
• 2 tbspns finely chopped lemongrass
• 2 tbspns finely chopped ginger
• 1 tspns salt
• 1 tspn palm sugar
• 1 corander root
• 5 white peppercorns

Sauce

• 1 coriander root
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 green chillies
• pinch salt
• 2 tbspns lime juice
• 1 tspn palm sugar
• 1 tbspns fish sauce

Grind the lemongrass, ginger, coriander roor, salt
and sugar and peppercorns together and marinate
prawns in this for 30-60 minutes. Grill prawns for
2 minutes and serve with sauce.
In a food processor or mortar and pestle grind the
sauce ingredients: coriander root, garlic, chillies and
salt until fine, then add lime juice and fish sauce.
Serve in a dipping bowl next to grilled prawns.

©Sacred Chef

Hot & Sour Seafood Soup
• 1l Chicken stock
• 3 stalks Lemongrass
• 10 slices Galangal
• 8 Red Shallots
• 4 Coriander Roots
• 10 Kaffir Lime Leaves torn or sliced
• 6 Green Chillies pounded
• 4 Tomatoes chopped
• 2 cups Mushrooms sliced
• 500g White Fish sliced
• 1kg Mussels in Shell
• 200g Prawns
• 60ml Fish Sauce
• 4 tbspns Lime Juice
• 2 tspns Sugar
• 1 cup Coriander Leaves torn
• Salt to taste
In a large saucepan combine stock & salt then bring
to the boil. Crush lemongrass, galangal, shallots &
coriander roots in a mortar & pestle before adding to
the simmering pot. Add in fish, mussels, prawns &
lime leaves, simmer for 5-8 minutes or until mussels
are opened. Then add fish sauce, sugar and chillies.
Just prior to serving stir in your fresh lime juice &
coriander leaves. Taste and season with more fish
sauce or lime juice as required.
Ladle into bowls.
Serves 6-10
©Sacred Chef

Tammie and Sarah chose a yummy Thai menu with seven dishes, which included baby green lipped clams in chilli jam; snapper fillet Thai fish cakes; green paw paw salad; crab and ginger rice paper rolls; king prawns in lemongrass and ginger; glass noodle raw veg salad with mint and lime; and sticky black rice to finish. These were unfamiliar dishes for them and they bravely took their taste buds where they had not been before.

We all had a great time in the cooking class and a lovely lunch experience afterwards. Glasses of chilled white wine - Pinot grigio and Semillion. Shared stories about families and lots of laughs. Mother and daughter took home a goodie bag of yummy dishes to share with friends and family.

Sacred Chef Cooking school on the sunshine coast, south east Queensland.

These lovely Maleny party hosts had chosen ten canapé selections to delight their guests with on this special family day. Teriyaki chicken and avocado nori rolls; Thai duck and bean shoot mini wraps; smoked salmon, ricotta and dill on pumpernickel rye; asparagus, pickled ginger and lemon crème fraiche pastries were also on the menu.

Sacred Chef Catering arrives on time, with everything required, and leaves after cleaning up the kitchen, making this party catering deliciously easy for hosts and guests. Best value high quality catering on the sunshine coast!

sacredchef.com

Friendly and professional staff guarantee a well run and successful party or event. Sacred Chef Catering for all your function requirements here on the sunshine coast, in south east Queensland. Take the stress out of entertaining and let us make it deliciously easy for you!

Sacred Chef Catering has a wide selection of canapés, tapas and function menus for you to choose from. For good food on the sunshine coast and professional peace of mind – Sacred Chef Catering.

Email sacredchef@midasword.com.au

They brought some pink bubbles with them and glasses were handed around to help celebrate the evening. It was great to see these women, who worked together and had done so for some time, enjoying themselves outside of the workplace. Cameras were flashing and laughter continually broke out as friends found themselves in unfamiliar situations, rolling out thin crusted pizza dough and chopping up new ingredients. Math’s teachers were calibrating the tangents of patterns in the mandala of capsicum strips.

We made yummy vegetarian Thai pastries with a cucumber dipping sauce; red curry paste for our slow roasted lamb shanks; rocket pesto for our thin crusted pizzas with bacon and ricotta; a baby beetroot and asparagus salad; and a dark chocolate tart with raspberry coulis and double cream for dessert.

Sitting the ladies down at one of our dining tables, we began service, pouring glasses of wine and mineral water, and then bringing out platters of beautiful food, which we had all made together. Every guest received a card containing a message for the evening – I got “strength”.  The girls had a great night out and shared some experiences outside of the usual hum drum. They loved the tender slow roasted lamb shanks in a creamy red curry sauce with jasmine rice. Dessert was the star attraction with melt in the mouth chocolate tart, double cream and raspberry coulis.

Goodie bags with extra serves went home with them for hubbies and each Sacred Chef Cooking School participant also receives a recipe pack full of notes and articles. “I am going to make this tart tomorrow!” was expressed by more than one teacher, as they headed out the door. The Sacred Chef has written a book about Soul in the Home www.housetherapy.com.au  you can purchase this online and read it on your computer, as a professionally produced PDF or on your eReader.

Cooking Class Stars at Sacred Chefs

Giovanna and Peter chose a yummy Thai menu with seven dishes, which included baby green lipped clams in chilli jam; snapper fillet Thai fish cakes; green paw paw salad, crab and ginger rice paper rolls; king prawns in lemongrass and ginger; glass noodle raw veg salad with mint and lime; and sticky black rice to finish.

Working with a couple can be very satisfying as a teaching chef, as you can impart a great deal of information and target the areas of interest. On the day we used over 60 bowls during the class, I suppose when you treat every ingredient as sacred you just need a hell of a lot of bowls. We chopped red chillies, green chillies, galangal, coriander roots, turmeric, ginger, crushed and pounded our curry pastes. We also fried shallots, garlic, dried chillies and prawns, mixed in tamarind water, fish sauce, palm sugar and made our chilli jam. The smells were divine and the flavours peaking toward Thai nirvana.

Peter and Giovanna were then invited to sit down at one of our dining tables, and enjoyed a glass of wine, before being served a succession of the dishes we had been making together. The clams with chilli jam (pictured here) were the overwhelming favourite dish on the day. Conversation soon became animated as we realised that we shared similar views about good food, wine, eating out and the sunshine coast. Laughter rang out frequently and it was truly one of the best cooking class/lunch experiences I have had of late.

For a relaxed, informative and delicious day on the sunshine coast, here in Maleny, a cooking class with the Sacred Chef is a bit different but in all the right ways.

If the Sacred Chef has a best customer, this family would be favoured to take the prize. Regular Xmas bookings for banquets, repeat patrons of my cooking classes and their fine son now even turns an occasional hand to help-out with catering. This family is dedicated to good living and sharing the joy with friends and extended family.

We began by serving crab and ginger won tons in a Chinese chicken broth; before moving to a second course of roast pumpkin Thai red curry, Tapas style king prawns with fresh lime wedges, and honey and soy grilled chicken wings. Murmurings of approval emanated from the hungry table and oohs became aahs, as we brought out the fine roast leg of lamb studded with rosemary, garlic and lemon. A balsamic rocket and baby spinach salad accompanied some spicy Moroccan potato wedges and a mint yoghurt dipping sauce. They finished with a medley of desserts – citrus and ginger nut tart, French flourless dark chocolate tort, raspberry coulis and double cream.

For luncheon or dinner catering on the sunshine coast the Sacred Chef has a delicious and easy solution to your catering needs.

Sacred Chef Catering’s Max, the dashing young waiter, was on hand to offer Marion and Brian’s guests a selection of delicious canapés. These included Asian style pork belly on sticky black rice served on Chinese spoons; Tandoori lamb cutlets with fresh mint raita; Tapas style king prawns with fresh lime; Thai BBQ duck wraps with pineapple and bean shoots. Plus a selection of mini pastries with fillings like: rocket pesto, semi dried tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella; smoked salmon and lemon crème fraiche; baba ghanouj and mint mini wraps; and Chorizo sausage, tomato chutney and goat’s cheese.

With really lovely people, special hosts and sensational canapés, the day was a recipe for success.

For party catering in Maleny and on the sunshine coast, the Sacred Chef makes it deliciously easy!

We even clean your kitchen once we have finished.

sacredchef.com 

House Therapy – Discovering Who You Really Are at Home, is now available to purchase online as an eBook. 155 pages of insights, self-help and interesting stories.

Each room in your home offers a chance to find out more about who you really are. House Therapy can show you how!

Meet your bathroom Queen and see what she has to say about you.

Do you have a special place, a special room, where you can be really you?

How do you sleep at night? Easily, or does it take a little while to unwind? House Therapy has some solutions and reasons why!

Would you describe yourself as an introvert or more of an extrovert?

Do you like to make a good impression on others?

Do you love or hate your home?

Find out what it all means.

House Therapy – Discovering Who You Really Are at Home, is now available to purchase online as an eBook.

155 pages of insights, self-help and interesting stories.

Available in ePub format for Ibook & other eReaders

PDF for everyone

or name the format or eReading device you are using.

Comes from Greek diaita, “a way of life, mode of living.”

So changing your diet involves more than just amending what you eat, it means changing your way of living. For those who are embarking on a change of diet for health reasons, to lose weight or gain weight, I think understanding this broader meaning can help in making your changes more successful.

You may be thinking about becoming a vegetarian, or eating more protein and less carbohydrates, and you may be looking into doing cooking classes to learn more about that culinary dietary approach. I would advise you to remember that it is not just about learning new techniques and recipes - it actually involves a whole new philosophy. A new way of thinking about food, cooking and eating – a new way of being. At this time, if you wish to be successful in your new dietary approach, you need to open your mind and your heart to something beyond what you have been and known before.

Food and what and how we eat are all intrinsically tied up with our earliest beginnings, wound up with psychological spells from our childhood. Many of you would be familiar now with the term “comfort foods,” usually simple dishes or substances that provide emotional succour, by giving us the illusion of returning us to a time when we were little children feeling nourished and safe with mummy. In fact I see many people in the community seemingly permanently locked into these childish diets. The tradesmen still consuming flavoured milk and fast foods, even well into their thirties and forties. The receptionists still eating hot chips and drinking coke for lunch. The many people who are too scared to try anything new and still basically eat what their parents served them, when they were growing up.

You have probably heard the expression, “you are what you eat!” How we eat and what we eat defines who we are, as much if not more than any other factors within our lives. If you are eating mindlessly, processed foods made in factories, then you are not bringing a great deal of consciousness to your diet. My advice is to become aware of who is making your food, as much as what is going into the manufacturing of your food. To really revolutionise the quality of your life, learn how to prepare your own food and learn about good food and real foods. Take control of your life and your body.

The Sacred Chef cooking school on the sunshine coast is a great place to learn about good food and nutrition. We offer more than just new techniques and recipes, we offer an introduction to a new way of living, which is less dependent on processed foods from the supermarket. Making your own food means it tastes a hundred million times better than anything made in some factory for money and you know what is going into it. Awareness changes everything!

Beginning with blind folded sensory games, where participants were invited to touch, taste and smell a weird and wonderful selection of substances. Apart from being a bit of fun, the processes take the participants out of their cerebral selves and into their sensual bodies, which is important preparation for cooking. Prizes were awarded to those that could identify the most substances in each sensory category.

Corporate cooking classes are a great way to build team morale within companies and the Sacred Chef Cooking School, here on the sunshine coast, specialises in these stimulating days and evenings. On this particular afternoon/evening event team members prepared green pea ravioli and melon caviare in the molecular cooking studio – shiny spheres of pure flavour emerged from this kitchen laboratory. The green pea ravioli was matched on the plate by giant salmon roe and served as part of a 9 course degustation menu.

Lobster medallions were accompanied by fresh lime foam; chilled Andalusian gazpacho soup was served in shot glasses; fresh buffalo mozzarella was matched with turmeric & coriander panbreads & tomato & cumin chutney; oven roasted snapper fillets with roast garlic aioli; spanner crab fresh rice paper rolls with chia seeds & hoi sin sauce; and lots more.

A great day and night was shared by all – showing that you can have fun in Queensland indoors, despite the challenging weather!

For bookings and more information sacredchef@midasword.com.au

With all the recent debate about education it reinforces the importance about our involvement in educating our own kids. Teachers can only present and teach what they are trained in, they are not there to recondition our kids! Let’s all contribute to broadening the education of our younger generation.

These delightful young folk prepared an Italian meat stock, a leek & saffron risotto, arancinni balls, plus a chilled Andalusian Gazpacho  soup served in shot glasses; plus a dark chocolate tart with raspberry coulis and double cream. We also prepared local Mullet fillet crumbed in Parmesan & breadcrumbs & then panfried in olive oil & served with roasted garlic aioli!

We enjoyed a lovely meal and shared some secrets about real food!