My Experience in the Culinary Nutrition Program
Well, it’s done! I did it. I completed an amazing culinary nutrition program and did it all without a kitchen! I had no idea what a remodel would entail when we started. I thought I would have a great distraction by doing this program during it. The week that I started school was the week that my kitchen was demolished. I must be completely honest; it was tough. But I persevered through it. I changed one of my son’s rooms into a kitchen, living room, and dining area. I also had a kitchen in the garage because I soon realized that using an air fryer and certain other cooking tools in a small enclosed room was too much at times. I got a hot cooker, and midway through school, my program coach recommended an even better one that could heat food up more quickly than the one that I started with. It literally took me almost two hours to boil spaghetti noodles with the first one. Some dishes called for baking, though. When that was the case, I was blessed to be able to go to my mother-in-law, who was only 10 minutes away from me. The truth is, I could have gone to use her kitchen a lot more than I did, but it was an ordeal at times to carry everything, and sometimes I would forget things. So, creating a little kitchen and doing as much as possible at home was better than constantly making trips to the grocery store or returning home to get things I forgot.
The cooking school program ran for a three-month period. We met weekly for live Q&A and had to hand in our recipe homework weekly. I enjoyed those because our instructor would educate us on a certain topic and then would answer questions at that time about what we were learning. We even had breakout rooms and got to meet new people every week that were in the program! I was also assigned a program coach, and we had a text group where we could connect that way as well. My program coach is an actual chef, and she hosted live Zoom calls with us to share the recipe assignments and go over tips for how she would do them as well as answer any questions for us, which I loved.
Taking this course, being in the health and wellness field, was such a great refresher of all the things I have learned throughout the years. I believe even if you have no background in health, this course is such a great starting point for you to learn. One of the fun things about cooking school is being able to enjoy your homework by having lunch or dinner ready for your family. This school is dairy and gluten-free, which I did not mind because I know those two food groups are highly inflammatory, and removing them from the dishes was not a problem. I learned a lot and cooked up some amazing antioxidant, nutrient-dense dishes that I’d never made before. The culinary nutrition program also has a business course, which I added on when I signed up, and that is what I am going through right now.
There were so many amazing dishes that my class cooked, but my favorite dishes that I loved and will continue to make are the homemade BBQ sauce, kale salad, and sushi rolls. We were given recipes for homework and had to make recipes from Meghan’s cookbook. I highly suggest getting her book! Those three recipes are in there. Fun fact: I can’t really digest kale well raw, but the way she explains to make it, my digestion system was just fine. Mmm… I think I will make that salad soon! Overall, I enjoyed and learned a lot of amazing things. Would I have wanted my kitchen to be able to do this school?…absolutely! However, once again, I learned I can do hard things, and cooking homemade meals weekly is possible even with a homemade kitchen in a bedroom/garage. I believe the next school year starts in September, and I was given an affiliate link to share for those who are interested in taking a look. I know if you can join, you’ll learn some amazing things!
I almost shared a picture of the biggest project I had to do in the CNE program, but it didn’t make the cut for the blog. I put my husband in charge of taking pictures that I had to hand into the school with the project. I spoke on Pancreatitis and had to cook for a group. Annnnddd… the only photo we got was me mid-sentence!! Clearly, you can see why he was fired! Lol.
I hope this gives you a better idea of what attending a culinary nutrition program is like. If you have any questions about the program, you know where to find me – on Instagram and by email. I’m always happy to talk more about my experience if you’re considering taking the program yourself.
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