Back to School with President’s Choice Cooking School #GuidingStarsCA #PCStars

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m on a journey to make more healthy choices for my family. Eating healthy is what I strive for, yet I find myself struggling. I’m using #PCGuidingStars program to help me get on track, by monitoring my purchase habits. My next step was to go to the President’s Choice Cooking School. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a cooking class, and I’m wondering why I waited so long!

President’s Choice Cooking School offers options to suit all tastes, includes demonstration as well as interactive classes for Adults and Children. The most difficult part was to decide which class to take! Scrolling through the list of available courses, I realized that school can be fun with classes like Nutrient Boosting Seeds – More than just for sprinkling, More Italian Seafood Sensations, and Stir Fry 101. For kids, they have fun classes like Going Nuts for Noodles to Hawaiian Vacation. They also have seasonal themed classes like Flavours of Fall Hors d’Oeuvres and Holiday Entertaining with the PC Black Label Collection.

I decided on a What’s For Dinner demonstration class as the menu Sweet Moroccan Style Chicken Stew and Couscous with Pine Nuts and Raisins was a chance for me to try a new cuisine. It’s also a great introduction to cooking classes if you’ve never tried one. For $10, you get a cooking class, a meal to taste, a recipe and a $10 PC gift card! What an amazing deal!  All the PC Cooking School classes are well priced ranging from $30 to $55.

The cooking classroom is located on a sunny second floor room, airy, spacious, with a great ceiling view mirror to watch everything the chef was doing. Along with the professional chef, was the in-store dietician, who had lots of additional tips about the food and ingredients used in the dishes.

Here’s what I learned in one hour:

• You can improvise in cooking, don’t be afraid to add in your own touches or preferences by increasing or decreasing a spice or item. For example, you can replace leeks with onions if you prefer a stronger taste (or if you don’t happen to have any leeks on hand!)
• Chicken thighs are a great choice, as they have lots of flavour and are less expensive than breast meat
• Couscous is a great time saving option that can take the flavour of anything. To prepare this dish, the chef sautéed Shallotte’s in olive oil, added chicken broth, stirred in the couscous and then put a lid on the pot to let it absorb the liquid for 10 minutes.
• Adding dried fruit to meat stews adds a sweetness that compliments the flavour through the natural sugars in the fruit. But don’t replace fresh fruit with dried in recipes as the texture and flavour will not be the same.
• Prepping food before cooking eliminates missing anything – and it also makes you feel like a professional. I know I’m going to go get some funky prep bowls to add to my kitchen tools.
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• Keep your pantry stocked, most of the ingredients in this recipe are items I already had (ok, I didn’t have dried prunes and apricots). I forgot how sweet and satisfying they are to eat plain.
• Leftover tomato paste? I’m not sure I’ve ever used a complete can of it on one recipe. The solution, freeze the remaining portion!

And here is the final dish.  The  Sweet Moroccan Style Chicken Stew was delicious. While, I thought that this would be heavy for a summer meal, but the couscous is light and fluffy and the apricots and prunes really provide a light and refreshing element to this recipe.

The most amazing thing about President’s Choice Cooking School is that it is located inside Loblaws grocery stores. Make sure to leave yourself enough time to stop in to pick up some items to help you recreate your dish at home.

I did a quick run through the store to pick up what I needed to recreate the Sweet Moroccan Style Chicken Stew.

It was great to learn that on the #PCGuidingStars ranking system, the boneless, skinless chicken thighs have three stars, and the pitted prunes have one. That makes me feel good!  We tasted the prunes during the cooking demonstration and they are a nice sweet snack option as well.

I also chose the PC Free From Organic chicken thighs, as  I try to buy Organic products when I can.

I was so motivated by what I learned. The fun, casual format of the classes are great for girl’s night outings, or a fun thing to do with your mom and sisters. And of course, the children’s cooking classes are great for all your budding Food Network Stars! Find a PC Cooking Class that suits your interests today.