Foodie’s Guide to At Home Cuisine (and a Classic Cooking Course)

A night in can be cozy, calm, and filled with delicious cuisine. Not from takeout down the street but instead found in your fridge. Here is a guide for staple foods and other tasty treats for modern foodies.

A Lil Bev:

Lovely Bunch

Ditch tipsy day-drinking for a childhood throwback with adult sensibilities. Grab a chilled can of Lovely Bunch, an apple juice drink that is made from the freshest apples from Vermont and New York. This small batch apple juice brand offers canned juice from organic fruits. Whether you’re tapping into your classic apple juice from childhood with the still juice or looking to be a bit classy sip on the sparkling juice, you’ll find crisp and clean tastes with Lovely Bunch. Hydrate with Lovely Bunch this spring at the park, beach, or late-night subway ride to Pier 17.

Pantry Party

Pasturebird

In a pinch? Make a chicken dinner with Pasturebird. A chicken company that offers tours to see their farms in Georgia, came across my rader while I scrolled through Instagram and have eventually found their way onto my plate. I got a selection of chicken cuts like their breast meat to make a lemon and curry chicken dish for a dinner party. For an evening with friends I used the Party Wings to craft buffalo bites with homemade ranch sauce.

I love the easy delivery of the meat. I popped the chicken in my freezer until I was ready to use them. Every bite of chicken was moist and flavorful. I contribute the flavor to my great cooking (shout out NYT Cooking page) but also the free range birds who are not treated with hormones or GMOs. Pasturebird states there’s 3x more omega-3s, 21% less saturated fat, and 50% more creatine compared to regular birds. They offer a customizable subscription box so you never go without your favorite meat for at-home dining.

Flour + Water Foods

Everytime I walk upon the pasta section at the grocery store I am overwhelmed. I could go cheap or fancy or gluten-free or some other variety (black ink pasta is a thing, y’all!). Recently I’ve been feasting on Flour + Water Foods pasta. Their Organic Bronze Die Pasta variety pack has been on my dinner table for a weeknight quick dish and weekend get-togethers with loved ones. Their method of Bronze Die allows for “ noodles with a rough texture that absorbs your sauce, enhances the texture, and produces the flavors”, according to their website. I made some homemade mac and cheese with elbow pasta, a mushroom dish with the Campanelle, and salmon and cream with the penne. Flour + Water Foods partnered with Zero Foodprint, which “supports farmers through their transition to renewable practices” and helps to combat global warming. Pasta fans, eat your heart out, with Flour + Water Foods.

Sweet Nibbles

Pastazerts

Sweet pasta…?! It might sound weird but hold your judgment until you taste Pastazerts. A chocolate ravioli stuffed with tasty fillings. I feasted on the fig flavor, which is filled with a puree of fig-gy gooey goodness. It is an easy dessert to pop in the oven for a few minutes, plate, and serve. I pair my ravioli with Pastazerts’ pina colada sauce. Together the combo is a magical little bite of fruity-tropical-chocolatey soiree in my mouth. Pastazerts offer multiple flavors of ravioli like PB & J, strawberry cheesecake, and pina colada. To my sweet tooth babes you’ve met your match with Pastazerts.

True Primal’s Ona Cookies

Healthy desserts don’t have to be boring with True Primal’s Ona Cookies. Their variety pack offers 2 pouches of Brownie-Style Cookies, 1 pouch of Cinnamon Raisin Cookies, and 1 pouch of Maple Pecan Cookies. Each pack is gluten-free, keto, grain-free, and sweetened with maple syrup and/or honey. The brownie is a delicious over vanilla ice cream and Cinnamon Raisin cookies compliment my morning coffee. My favorite is the Maple Pecan Cookies, with its warm and sweet taste while binge watching Abbott Elementary.

The Caker

Got a birthday? How about a baby shower? A life celebration? Or a normal Tuesday? Whatever is going on I am ready to party with something sweet (read: that means cake and lots of it). Thankfully Jordan Rondel from The Caker, a Kiwi baker, understands me and has created a line of box cake mixes that are easy, unique, and crowd-pleasing. Bring a few eggs, butter, and milk into the mix and you got a moist and beautiful dessert to enjoy for the day.

I got the Flourless Dark Chocolate Gold Leaf Cake Kit for my niece’s birthday which came with edible gold flakes (she went gaga over it). I simply added wet ingredients to the mix, baked it and got to decorating. The texture was like a super rich brownie from an upclass bakery in the Village.

For a spring bash I got my hands on the Matcha Cherry Cake Kit. I only had to supply eggs, milk, butter, and cherries (which I grabbed all from the farmer’s market for less than 20 dollars). I spent maybe ten minutes on prep and set my batter off into the oven. Once it was finished I added some roses on top for decor and invited my friends over to enjoy a day of mocktails and cake. The matcha was slightly bitter and herbal which offset the sweet-tart combo of the cherries. Overall I would definitely get my hands on The Caker mixes for future birthday parties or potluck outings.

Get Out There and Cook!

Photo Credits by Sonjirose Chin

Staying home and cooking the same recipes over and over can be relaxing (almost meditative– despite my tears while I chop onions). But sometimes it gets monotonous and since variety is the spice of life, why not spice it up with a cooking class? I browsed online for an opportunity to prove my culinary chops and came across cooking classes, Chestnut Underground with Jordan Chestnut. Jordan Chestnut is a personal chef and cooking instructor located in Washington, DC. His approach to cooking is filled with fun, adventure, and lots of laughter. I recently attended his cooking class where I learned the classic art of pasta making.

Photo Credits by Sonjirose Chin

During the two hours my classmates and I played with flour and eggs to create dough, chopped onions for red sauce, filled cheese into pasta sheets to construct tortellini, and crafted garganelli pasta from scratch. My favorite part of the class, besides eating of course, was the pasta machine. As a group, we all took turns putting lumps of dough through the machine to transform into pasta sheets. The experience was like tapping into my inner childhood memories of pretend cooking with Play-Doh.

Photo Credits by Sonjirose Chin

In the end I feasted on garganelli pasta with spicy tomato chicken ragu and tortellini with parmesan garlic cream sauce. My final thoughts: the class was informative and I could translate what I learned into my own kitchen. It was enjoyable and made cooking feel more like a hobby and pastime instead of an obligation. I recommend a class for a solo date night or a birthday outing with your foodie friend.