Spring is coming!

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I love the change in the seasons here in Chicago! I know everyone is ready for the warm weather that is just around the corner because I am getting calls and emails regarding our 2013 schedule! The Glass Rooster will be adding classes this year, and by popular demand….Pressure Canning will be here! I will be speaking on this very topic at the Good Food Festival on March 16th at the UIC Forum in Chicago. Stop by and see me.

If you are not on our email list, please get in touch as it looks like there will be a lot of changes for The Glass Rooster this year and we would like for you to join us. Hope to see you this canning season!

~Laura McLaughlin, Founder

Another Great Season

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Thanks to all for another great year of teaching, and learning, the fine art of food preservation. We had some great community partnerships with Whole Foods, New Trier Extension, Center on Halsted, Logan Square Kitchen (we miss you!), and Cooking Chicks Chicago. Our new location for some home classes in Ravenswood was great fun and produced a lot of pickles for some Chicago pantries.

We will be working on some classes that were highly requested, primarily pressure canning, as well as an early spring “Plan Your Pantry” class that will help to ensure a well stocked, flavor filled pantry that you, your friends and your family will be able to enjoy all winter long.

Feel free to contact us any time if you have any question about up coming classes or if you find yourself in the middle of a winter project (January is the season for marmalade!) and have a question. We are always happy to hear from you!

Everything Pickled!

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By popular demand. Pickling 101 is here. This is the oldest form of food preservation and according to some palates, the tastiest. In this class we will discuss the various forms of pickling and why it is a safe way of preserving and adding great flavors to some of our garden produce. From fermentation to brining, sweet to dill we will cover many of the various types of foods that can be pickled. This is a great place to start a new tradition for your pantry.

Check out our classes page for more information and to sign up for this great class!

1st Canning Class for the 2012 Season

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"Strawberry Goodness"
“Strawberry Goodness”

Strawberry jam it is folks! We have a fantastic recipe that allows this scrumptious spread to really pop with all the great flavor that our local strawberries are known for. Our berries really ripen up mid to late June so let us show you how to get the most from our delicious, but short strawberry season. We will cover all of the basics of jams, jellies and fruit spreads, sugar and the substitutes and available pectin’s as we teach this all hands on class. We will provide all that is needed and you will go home with fresh strawberry goodness to share (or not) with your family.

Class price is $65.00, and will be at the Logan Square Kitchen. Space is limited to make this a more intimate learning experience. Please see our classes page for additional information and to save your spot today.

Wow….2012!

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The Glass RoosterYes folks, the new year is here, and in Chicago anyway, that means we have a few more months to enjoy the bounty from last summer and begin to look forward to spring. Seed catalogues are out this month and many of our farmers are thinking about what and how they want to plant. This means it is time to start thinking about next year’s pantry as you continue to empty the goodies from last year.

The Glass Rooster will be planning some new classes this year and has again partnered with Logan Square Kitchen to make sure that your skill set and confidence level in preserving the freshest that the Midwest has to offer is also at its peak! So this means…. more classes, new class tracks and expanded opportunities for those with special recipes that deserve to be ‘shared’. You may even become that entrepreneur with the latest and greatest flavor that we might find on Chicago’s store shelves!

So get ready my fellow foodies, get in touch, like us on facebook at facebook/theGlassRooster.com and let’s make 2012 a year of new friends, new skills, new opportunities and new beginnings.

To preserving the bounty
~    Laura McLaughlin, Founder

It’s Apple Season!!

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Hello all! We have exhausted most of our tomatoes for the season for our 101 course, but for those of you that still have the desire to learn we have developed a great class with apples! Not only will you learn the process of preserving your own seasonal produce at home, you will have some of this year’s finest apples to use for a tasty apple crisp, a nutritious addition for oatmeal or my favorite, chilled in the fridge and straight from the jar! October fills up fast so please contact us as soon as you have an idea when you would like to schedule so we can save your date! We will teach as long as our farmers have great apples or through the end of November, whichever comes first!!

The final stretch – a few spots left!

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We have the making of a great class going and have a few spots left! We really do have limited space so take advantage of this class in time for the opportunity to put up the ‘most preserved fruit in the midwest’ and sign up now.

I also have to take this opportunity to let all of you gentlemen out there know…..what can be more impressive than knowing how to use the food you preserve yourself to impress that special someone! I think that could be a ‘wow’ moment and make for some great dinner conversation.

If you are wanting a Saturday class for your own home-based class, let us know as these too are filling up!

Class is Scheduled!

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Canning is no longer a concept practiced only in the country. Chicagoans are realizing that the best pantry gets stocked with the freshest summer produce and people all over the city are learning how to “put food up.”

With kitchen space newly acquired, we have finally begun to offer community based classes at Logan Square Kitchen. The classes will kick off at the kitchen space on August 13, 2011 and are designed to encourage beginning canners to develop the confidence to stock a great pantry. However, we are still offering home-based classes for those who want a more intimate and smaller setting.

Participants will be in the kitchen, learning firsthand how to preserve a Midwest favorite, the tomato. Along with the hands-on portion, there will also be an informational session that will cover a variety of topics including food borne illnesses.

“There is this real sense of empowerment when you have the knowledge to can your own food” says Laura McLaughlin, founder of The Glass Rooster, “It is creating this sense of accomplishment in my clients that I find so rewarding.”

Each person will leave the class with take home materials to help them remember what they have learned and a jar of produce made that day. They will also go home with the knowledge and confidence to be able to preserve the best the season has to offer.

The August 13 class starts at 1 pm at Logan Square Kitchen. The class is $65 per person and class space is limited. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve a spot in the Canning 101 course.