Ready, [Re]set, Go! My First Two Weeks at Rouxbe

What’s happening in this picture? What does it make? Why am I doing this?

This is from a mise en place exercise, based off one of my “go-to” dishes, and is one of the first tasks I’ve immersed myself in during my first two weeks at Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Professional Online Certification Course. Before I reveal what it is, you may be wondering: how does an online cooking school work?

So far, very well! The technology behind Rouxbe’s platform is user-friendly, seamless and well designed. The construction of the platform allows you to navigate to and digest each piece of it easily to make learning as approachable as possible. The course is set up into units, and each unit contains smaller lessons, while each lesson is comprised of tasks. A task can simply involve reading information, visual learning, quizzes or watching a video, while others require an action like preparing a dish or learning a hands-on technique. So far for me, opening each task has been kind of like unwrapping a mystery package: it’s always fun to see what’s inside! Some of my “action” tasks to date have included “resetting” my kitchen space, which has involved cleaning out and reorganizing my kitchen (I had no idea how disorganized it was), basic knife skills (I finally know how to slice and dice an onion correctly!) and sampling and describing the taste of selected food (which is harder than it sounds).

The majority of tasks this early on in the course have been centered around thinking differently and more critically in the kitchen—with the focus on learning prep techniques behind recipes and why they are important. What I am learning at Rouxbe circles back to why I love cooking so much in the first place: there is always something to learn, a skill to improve upon or something to discover. And the support from instructors and opportunities to engage with other students taking the course via live webinars and student discussion forums has added a new dimension to the learning process.

But most notably, what I’ve experienced and discovered during my first two weeks at Rouxbe is:

• I know more than I thought I did in some areas (thanks self-assessments and hello confidence!),
• there are amazing prep techniques I never knew existed, but now can’t imagine not knowing and learning more (and practicing+perfecting them!), and
• Chef Chad Sarno has designed incredible course content that expertly shares his deep knowledge of and experience with the foundational principles of plant-based cooking. Absorbing this information has been fun and challenging, and I’m looking forward to learning more in the coming weeks and months.

If you’d like to see what I’m up to at Rouxbe in between my Olives for Dinner posts, follow me on Instagram! I’ll be documenting some of the tasks there as I proceed through the course.

But if you are ready to learn how to become a better cook, take a positive step towards making healthier food choices or hone your already fabulous plant-based cooking skills, now’s the time to sign up! Rouxbe is offering $300 off full tuition for their May 7 seating between now and March 10. Sign up here or click on the picture below for more information.

And stay tuned for another update some time in March—I can’t wait to share with you some of the things I’ve been up to at Rouxbe in the coming month!

* It makes one of my favorite weekday recipes, a heavily modified-over-the-years tofu and mashed potato dish with kale.