Students gain confidence in cooking while learning simple recipes

Matcha energy balls and soba noodle salad jars were just two of the many meals created with the Cooking with Casa series on Feb. 19.

The event occurs once a month and allows students to learn cooking skills.  

Within the three hour workshop, Basic Needs Student Success Coach, Jillie Varona taught students recipes like how to make soba noodle jars.

“(They are) something that you can make ahead in the week, a balanced meal with fats, carbs, proteins and vegetables,” Varona said.

She spoke about how meals made for convenience can still have benefits that you wouldn’t normally gain from snacks that carry little to no nutritional value.

Varona hopes students will utilize these recipes and new found cooking skills that are gained with Cooking with Casa, outside of class. 

^{Matcha energy balls made by LBCC students at the Cooking with Casa event on Feb. 19 are displayed, along with their recipe. The event was hosted by Basic Needs and Student Health Services. (Dezaray Jimenez)}

She hopes to provide “a space for people who either love cooking or don’t know much about cooking” to learn. 

Certain students like Nadia Franco came to the class despising cooking, but ended up leaving with the intention of furthering the skill and with excitement for the next class on March 25th.  

“I wanna gatekeep so it can be all for myself, but I would totally tell my classmate,” Franco said. 

^{Students prepare matcha energy balls during a Cooking with Casa workshop on Feb. 19. The event was hosted by Basic Needs and Student Health Services. (Dezaray Jimenez )}

The recipes in the class were neither tedious or challenging for students to understand. 

Viking student Imani Moses expressed how she would make the recipes in this class again at home to her own adjustment. 

“I’ll most likely add a little bit more, a little bit less of something. I would end up making it at home” Moses said.

While each participant worked on the same recipe, Varona encouraged students to make and adjust it to their own personal preference. 

The recipes taught in Cooking With Casa provided LBCC students with an alternative to expensive take out. 

With simple recipes, the workshop provided students with the confidence to prepare their next meal.