Families! Come cook with us in the Teaching Kitchen as we celebrate the beginning of Spring with delicious opportunities to cook together with your young chefs. This class is recommended for young cooks who can handle tasks like whisking, stirring, cutting with child friendly knives and following instructions around a hot stove with relative ease, so please be mindful when registering.

4/15/26 – Chocolate Mousse

Welcoming Spring, we will make Chocolate Mousse cups from scratch, garnish them with chocolate shavings, fruit and whipped cream and eat them together or package enough for two to take home.

4/20/26 – Fun with Fondue!

If you and your kid chef enjoy melty, delicious cheese, this class is perfect for you! We will have individual stations for the making of pots of cheesy fondue into which you will cut and dip your own assortment of crusty baguettes or bread rolls, crispy potatoes and cut veggies. If there’s time, Chef Oliver will also whip up a Chocolate Fondue fountain for us to dip fresh fruit and marshmallows!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Chef Oliver – [email protected]

Food and Poetry are Kindred Spirits.

~ Nicole Gulotta

Join us in the Teaching Kitchen this Spring for a moment of sweetness as we tenderly greet the change of seasons with spices, poetry, works or excerpts of prose, and a committed exploration of the delicious intersections of food and writing.

Each week we will read a poem from the book: Eat This Poem: A Literary Feast of Recipes Inspired by Poetry (Nicole Gulotta) and try our hand at some of the yummy recipes, included in the text, to start off our day inspired. We will also read some other suggested works chosen by Chef Oliver or selected as a group from member recommendations.

If you have any questions or want to put in a request for a book early, email [email protected]

As part of the Y Day of Giving activities, the Teaching Kitchen is hosting a Fish Fry! We will have delicious cod sandwiches for sale with optional sides of pierogis and slaw. We will also highlight the winner of our Pierogi Competition held earlier this month so be sure to sign up to enter!

Sandwiches will include:

• Fried Cod or Pollock
• Bun
• Lettuce
• Tartar Sauce on the side

Sides:

• Pierogis
• Coleslaw

Lead by Jayashree Iyengar of the Pittsburgh famous Popping Mustard Seed Indian meal kits, participants will learn how to cook various recipes of South Indian Cuisine with Jay.

For more information or if you have any questions about diet and etc., please email Chef Oliver at [email protected]

• The Perfect Dough: Learn the secrets to mixing and kneading a tender dough that is easy to roll and seal.
• Filling Mastery: Prepare traditional fillings like creamy potato, savory sauerkraut and even a sweet fruit option.
• Shaping & Sealing: Practice rolling out the dough and master techniques to create beautiful, leak-proof seals.
• Cooking Techniques: Discover how to perfectly boil your pierogi and when to give them a final pan-fry in butter for that classic golden-brown finish.

Take home a dozen of your own handmade pierogi, a detailed recipe, and of course we’ll have Pierogis for tasting.

Families with children 9-years and older who are able to handle repetitive tasks over a two-hour period are encouraged to register. 

If you have any questions or dietary needs email Chef Oliver at [email protected]

Join the CCAC Dietetics program in the Teaching Kitchen for snacks, occasional hands-on making, or visual food demonstrations, and discussion of the nutrition behind eating for the management of health conditions. We will also discuss core food groups to learn more about why your trainer or doctor is always telling you to add more protein or fiber to your diet. 

January 20 – Eat your Protein!

February 3 – Eating to Manage Inflammation

February 17 – Eating for Blood Pressure Management

March 3 – Eating for Bone Health and Osteoarthritis Management

March 17 – Eating for Diabetes Management

April 7 – Eat your Fiber!

Members: $10 Class

Non-Members: $25/class

For information or questions about dietary restrictions message Chef Oliver at [email protected]

Is your culinary creative kid the next Junior Master Chef? This class is for them! Kid Chefs! Join us in the Teaching Kitchen as we learn the FUN-damentals of cooking through a variety of recipes including quick breads, seasonal snacks, meals and surprising flavors from around the world. 

For information or questions about dietary restrictions message Chef Oliver at [email protected]

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE THE NEXT TOP PIEROGI!?

On Friday March 20th, we will be hosting our first ever Pierogi competition! Whether you swear by a traditional potato filling or create gourmet flavors of your own, we want to taste them! If you know your pierogis are the best in town, this is your chance to enter to win bragging rights as well as some top Pierogi Prizes! REGISTER TODAY!

🏆 THE COMPETITION GUIDELINES 🏆

• Eligibility: Open to all pierogi amateur experts, No Restaurateurs or Professionals! We will have two categories:
  • Big Pierogi (16 and up) and
  • Little Pierogi (Ages 8 to 15).
• Entry Submission: One Tray of 20 or more Pierogis. Enough for our panel of judges to taste twice in the event of a neck and neck taste to the finish line!
• Where: The Community Room at the Sampson Family YMCA from 11am to 2pm on Friday March 20th

• Authenticity: Pierogi must be made from your own unleavened dough wrapped around your own filling.
• Preparation: Entries must be boiled first to ensure the dough is properly cooked. They may then be fried, sautéed or baked for final presentation.
• Filling Varieties: We welcome all styles!
• Presentation: A standard entry should consist of at least 24 pierogis. Entries must be received in a disposable foil container by 12 PM on the day of the event, with entrant name and pierogi ingredients details.

• Taste: Overall flavor and seasoning.
• Dough: Texture and tenderness (cooked through, not raw or gummy).
• Filling: Consistency and flavor.
• Presentation: Shape, form of pierogi, seal integrity (no broken or blownout ‘rogis)
• Creativity: Your flare and personal touches.

• All food must be prepared in a clean, sanitary environment.
• Entries must be kept warm/refrigerated properly before drop-off.

Half the joy of a meal is sharing it with others; the other half is sharing the work of cooking together! Come meal prep with us in the Teaching Kitchen and explore delicious ways to easily create simple dishes that you can either set and forget or whip up in one pot. We will explore cooking a variety of ingredients and practice some easy prep to help when you just don’t feel like cooking but want to eat something tasty and nutritious.

Every week, we’ll make or prep a dish you can easily finish or warm at home in the oven, crock pot or Instant Pot, or freeze to finish another day from frozen. You always take home at least two servings! 

If you have any questions or want to make special dish requests, email Chef Oliver at [email protected]