upcoming class at Chicago Botanic Garden

New! Be the hostess with mostest—prepare your dishes in advance so you can have fun and enjoy your delightful bites along with your guests. August features some of the best produce of the summer with corn, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini at their prime. In this cooking class, you will learn to prepare a variety of do-ahead-of-time seasonal dishes: chilled cucumber soup; corn fregola salad with haloumi cheese; zucchini noodles with pesto, roasted eggplant, and tomatoes.

Greens and grains are anything but basic. These simple staples can be dressed up to make excellent meals on their own or can act as flavorful side dishes. Learn how to use fresh herbs to punch up the texture and flavor of a dish. You will learn basics of homemade salad dressing, fundamental knife skills, techniques for roasting vegetables, and how to prepare both lentils and quinoa. All new recipes include: red lentil quinoa with a mustard vinaigrette, roasted beets and delicata squash, and an autumn salad with beet greens.

Are you ready to shake up your lunch routine and want something that you can make ahead of time? A salad in a jar travels easily and pretty much mixes itself, while the colorful layers look appealing. You will learn knife skills, dressing basics, and how to cook beans in an instant pot. All new recipes include: cumin black beans, citrus-herb rice, vegan green goddess dressing, and a simple salad that will carry over in a jar for days.

New! Squash comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, which means they need to be prepared and cooked differently. In this cooking class, you will learn basic knife skills, find out which squash needs peeling and which does not, and explore a variety of heating methods (bake, steam, and boil) to prepare stuffed acorn squash, roasted delicata and spaghetti squash, and a butternut squash soup.

A vegetable-based lasagna is healthy twist on a traditional comfort food. In this cooking class, you will learn methods for creating a basic tomato sauce that is used in the lasagna and adaptable to other recipes. You will also gain basic knife skills and sauté techniques, learn how to roast vegetables, and explore creative ideas for different vegetable fillings.

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