Couples: Tacos & Tequila

When it comes to healthy eating practices, no one can argue the importance of including whole-food, plant-based ingredients on your plate. We’ve taken the Meatless Monday campaign and applied it to any day of the week. Learn how to incorporate more vegetables, whole grains and beans into your diet with ease. These recipes will take you beyond Monday with robust yet simple-to-prepare vegan dishes. We'll also discuss the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, the best sources for protein, and how to obtain important vitamins and minerals. On your menu: watermelon gazpacho with kale chips and avocado crème; French lentil and toasted sunflower seed burgers with red cabbage slaw and grilled summer squash, zucchini and portobello mushroom kebabs.

The sauces you will learn to make in this class are not just for special-occasion dishes you'll prepare once a year. Relying on pantry ingredients and reflecting the contemporary cook's lifestyle, they are meant to easily take a grilled meat or poached fish from simple to superlative with a pan reduction, beurre blanc or a pesto. You will master these techniques by making sauteed steak with red wine reduction sauce; poached salmon with beurre blanc and pasta with pesto.

Make the one-pot profusion of Spanish flavors that paella comprises --- seafood, chicken, chorizo, rice and more --- come to life. You'll learn to make masterful cuttlefish-ink paella and paella from Valencia, in addition to some spectacular Spanish tapas. Your menu includes: garlic shrimp; tortilla española; arroz negro paella; and paella valenciana (paella with shrimp, chicken and chorizo).

One of the world's oldest cultures, China has a complex cuisine, with a range of regional dishes often not found anywhere outside of the country. Some techniques, ingredients and dishes are similar throughout all of China; this Essentials class focuses on those, giving you a well-rounded overview of Chinese food and culinary culture. From stir-frying and braising to steaming and red cooking, you will learn to use traditional Chinese techniques to make a menu that includes: scallion pancakes with dipping sauce; red-cooked chicken with rice; dan dan noodles; and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.