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Journey to an Organized Kitchen
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Follow this series for in depth discussions about food science, meal planning, kitchen tools, and culinary lessons to take your cooking game to the next level.
Looking to save time at the grocery store? Follow these tips for a quick and easy grocery shopping routine!
Discover lunch ideas that are quick and easy to prep and pack on the go while still being delicious and interesting! Use bento box style lunches for your back to school routine!
Show off your confidence in the kitchen by cooking without a recipe!
When you are looking for quick, convenient meals, rotisserie chicken always seems to be there. But what if you’re tired of make the same few meals out of your pre-cooked chicken? It’s time to mix it up and add a few new rotisserie chicken recipes to your weekly meal plan. In today’s video, Chef Nakia shares over 25 lunch, dinner, and snack recipes to use up rotisserie chicken. These meals were crafted to make sure you can get a delicious, easy dinner on the table in no time!
Happy Earth Month! Incorporate some of these strategies into your food prep routines and reduce your at home food waste. The average American throws away between 30 - 40% of the food that they purchase. There are many ways to prevent food waste at home AND a lot of them are easy and convenient, too! Food connects us with our land and with each other. Respecting our food and protecting where it comes from leads to true nourishment. To show that respect, we strive to be intentional with the food we bring into our homes. It will help the environment and our wallets to eat up as much food as we can and avoid food waste!
Let’s be real; sometimes ‘joyful food’ means ‘I want to get dinner on the table with minimal effort’. For those days when a quick, nutritious, and convenient dinner is necessary grab one of these quick meals! With these recipes, you can reclaim your weeknight dinnertimes without all the stress and overwhelm. Nourish your family and cook with confidence!
Rice is a staple dish that can be made so many different ways throughout the world. Chef Nakia shares her favorite ways to cook 5 popular types of rice. We help you troubleshoot the 3 main mistakes people make when cooking rice and learn when to rinse your rice. After we talk about rice to water ratios and adjustments needed for cooking rice at high altitude, then we talk about reheating rice. And lastly we share some of our favorite meals to use up leftover rice.
So you'd really love to be able to cook at home more often, but you just don't have the time and energy for home cooked meals? With an insanely busy schedule it can sometimes feel impossible to actually enjoy your opportunities to cook at home. With this video, I'm sharing my favorite tips and tricks to making meal planning and cooking at home feel attainable.
Not all professional kitchens are the same. Your experiences will be different than mine AND you’ll continue learning and discovering new things while you are working in the culinary industry. These are six things that I wish I would’ve understood better before entering the culinary field. Note: These definitely wouldn’t have stopped me from becoming a Chef. I’m so glad that I took the career path that I did. I would’ve never realized how much I can help people become better cooks at home (and how rewarding it is) unless I had the experiences I had. In this video I also share four things to think about if you are considering going to culinary school. And we end the video with my top 5 most important things I’ve learned in professional kitchens that I use in my kitchen at home every day.
One of the best ways to set yourself up for a stress-free week of meals is to cook your protein once and then reheat it in different meals. This is one of my favorite meal prep hacks. Toss a pork shoulder in the crockpot with a beer and some spices to cook while you’re at work. Come home to quick, easy, and delicious meals for the rest of the week!
Leave the exhausting and stressful mealtime routine in 2023. This year conquer meal planning and meal prepping to truly fit into your routine. Create habit sandwiches to relieve the mental load of constantly answering “What’s for dinner?” and bring more ease into your kitchen.
Is it your first time hosting the holiday dinner? You want to make as much from scratch as possible, but you definitely want to have all the food ready when guests arrive AND still have some energy to enjoy the party. Hosting a holiday feast is an occasion of joy, celebration, festivities, and unfortunately, heightened stress. It’s lovely to host family and friends for a holiday meal, but sometimes the preparation can feel overwhelming. In this video, we’ll share some strategies for hosting a holiday party with as little stress as possible.
Feeling too tired to cook after a long trip? This is your ultimate guide to hassle-free meal planning and prep before your next vacation. Learn how to avoid going grocery shopping in the week after your vacation. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first family getaway, these tips will ensure you have stress-free cooking when you step back home.
“You eat with your eyes first.” In this video, I share my top tips and tricks for turning your dinner into a work of art. The basic design principles and food styling guidelines I share are just a starting point because this, as with all art, involves a lot of personal preference and creativity. Because at the end of the day, your plate design won’t matter much if you don’t actually enjoy the food you’re eating!
Keep your pantry stocked with these 5 spice blends to make throwing dinner together a simple, flavorful task. Of course there’s dozens of great herbs, spices, and spice blends. And some of you may have the space and desire to stock lots of spices and use the individually to create the flavor profile you want. For some people that sounds overwhelming. So these 5 spice blends will ensure that no matter what protein you’re cooking, you have a complimentary and dynamic spice blend to go along with it.
Are you looking for easy, flavorful dinners that you can get on the dining room table with very little evening effort? Crockpot meals are great dishes to add into your weekly meal plan. But sometimes we can feel stuck in making the same crockpot dinners over and over again. Get inspired to cook something new in the crockpot this week! Chef Nakia guides you through all the do’s and don’ts of crockpot cooking and shares ideas for how to make your very own convenience meals.
Here’s the cold, hard truth: Most of the time, our dinner parties are host to a bit more stress and chaos than we had hoped. Why? Because a lot of us skip the step of creating a detailed prep list and timeline for preparing for the dinner party. A timeline doesn’t have to be a strict schedule that ruins your fun. It’s actually a great tool to keep you on track so that you CAN relax and enjoy the party as it’s happening. Trust us, a detailed prep list with a timeline will make your dinner party way less stressful and provide you with the time and energy to enjoy the company you’ve worked so hard to curate.
So, you love hosting dinner parties, but could do without the stress and time management challenges involved? Every time you invite people over, do you find yourself answering the door and then rushing back to the kitchen to finish one more thing? Do you want to be more strategic with your time? Follow our recommendations to make your next dinner party stress-free with impeccable timing!
The average American throws away between 30 - 40% of the food that they purchase. There are many ways to prevent food waste at home - these are our top 5!
Charcuterie boards are quickly becoming one of the favorite foods to find at fancy dinner parties, potlucks, and special events. You can showcase tons of creativity in how you choose to build your charcuterie board. If you’re planning to prepare a charcuterie board for an upcoming event but you’re not sure how to start or even how much food you’ll need, we’ve got you covered. Check out the information below to get excited, get your creative juices flowing, and ensure everyone at the party has plenty to enjoy!
Learn how to identify your personal preferences in food and wine and how to use those preferences to make a great food and wine pairing.
Discover strategies to plan your meals for the week in a way that reduces your food waste, is realistic about how much time you have to cook, and makes you excited for the week ahead! ‘Follow the leftovers' and make meal planning a quick chore. We also discuss ways to plan for and utilize all those leftover part and pieces to prevent food spoilage!
Enjoying nature, sharing food, and connecting with loved ones - picnics are truly a trifecta of joy! Before you pack up your next picnic, check out our tips below!
In classic French cooking, there are 5 ‘Mother Sauces’ that build the base for almost any sauce you’ll make. Once you master the basics of each of these sauces, you can add additional herbs, spices, diced veggies, and your favorite ingredients to create your own unique sauce! Once you become comfortable and confident with the basics, your creativity and joy in the kitchen can run wild!
Do you ever struggle with capturing a photo that really shows off your beautiful, delicious food? In this video, we’ll introduce you to the basics of food photography. Learn a few basic guidelines to instantly improve your food photos! And stick around to explore a little bit about photo composition and ideas to take your photos to the next level.
No need for a recipe, learn how to make a meal by letting your palate inspire your dish.
How does your altitude and location affect how you cook and bake? Lucky for you, all of chefate’s recipes are developed and tested right here in Denver! But, what if you want to use a recipe that was developed at sea level? Chef Nakia explains which adjustments to make and the science behind why these adjustments are necessary. The more you learn, the more knowledge and freedom you have to successfully change recipes to fit your preferences!!
Is there a right way and a wrong way to organize your refrigerator? At home (and working with design flaws of many residential fridges) you do what works for you. But in a professional kitchen - absolutely, there’s a right way! Keep the following rules in mind and see how many you can implement into your fridge at home.
When you are cooking on the line, speed is key! You must have all your components prepped and ready to assemble so you can keep up with orders and avoid the weeds. When we bring that line cook mentality into our home kitchens, we can prepare ourselves for quick, stress-free cooking for the rest of the week. Learn how the experts do it and build these skills into your prepping and cooking routine!