“As early as I can remember, I had an Easy-Bake oven,” says Lisa-Marie Stienessen, who for the past eight years has been teaching one of the most popular adult education sections District 279 Community Education has ever offered. “I would try to concoct all sorts of things, not all of which ended up being edible.” Stienessen laughs, shifting her 2-year-old son from one arm to the other. We're sitting in the well-appointed kitchen of her Maple Grove home, watching her other two sons – ages 5 and 4 – dash around the house wielding toy hockey sticks. Stienessen is nothing if not a master multi-tasker.
The self-taught chef recently put those skills to use in a big way with her Once-a-Month cooking class, a winter-ready course that condenses a month of meals into a single day of cooking. “The idea is one big shopping trip, 30 recipes, one full day of cooking,” she says. “It's really about efficiency – if you're browning ground beef, why not do it in a big batch and use it in six or seven recipes?” All you need to pull it off, Stienessen says, is a bit of careful planning, 30 meal-sized containers, and a big freezer.
“I've been comfortable in the kitchen from the beginning,” she says. “It’s just something I always loved to do. Neither of my parents were big cooks, I didn't grow up in any sort of culinary tradition – we ate a lot of Hamburger Helper! I just have a passion for it. I'm really very unqualified!”
Her modesty belies her accomplishments. She got her start in the world of teaching when she teamed up with the Minnetonka branch of Michael's to offer cake-decorating classes back in 1998. Back then, she was employed elsewhere but couldn’t fight her passion for pastry. In the dozen years following those first, simple classes, she has taught the joy of sugar artistry to nearly 2,500 students in the Twin Cities area, consulted for Betty Crocker and Haagen-Dazs, and was named International Instructor of the Year by Wilton Industries in 2002.
Though she knows her way around a good flambé, her true calling has always been sweets. Cakes, truffles, cookies, pies, chocolate and candied fruit – Stienesson has done it all. “I guess I've always had a sweet tooth,” she says. “After I graduated from the Easy-Bake, the first thing I wanted to make was pancakes!”
Anyone Can Cook
Most of all, though, Stienessen loves meeting her students and spreading the joy of cooking. “I tell you what, if you can follow a recipe, you can cook,” she says. “A lot of people come to me very intimidated, very uncertain of their abilities. But when they find out just how easy it is, they end up kicking themselves for not having learned sooner!”
Maple Grove resident Michelle Cook enjoyed the couples cooking class she and her partner took so much that she hired Stienessen to host an appetizer-focused “girl's night” at her home. “She's very personable, approachable, and hands-on,” Cook says. “I've taken a lot of cooking classes that are more like demonstrations, but with her it was much more collaborative. We actually got to do all the things she way teaching us, right away!”
Knife skills and fancy techniques are not her primary focus, Stienessen says – learning one's way around the kitchen and a few great recipes is. “Ultimately, I want people to be confident and excited to cook, to look forward to it as a fun experience in and of itself!”
Get involved!
Lisa-Marie teaches a wide range of community education classes this fall.
11/7/11 – Holiday Appetizers
11/29/11 – Parent/Child Gingerbread Workshop
12/17/11 – Cookie Bake and Take
2/6/12 – Once a Month Cooking
Find out more at distric279.org or catchtheenergy.org
Upside-Down Apple Pecan Pie Recipe
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 pie crusts (homemade or store bought)
6 cups thinly sliced apples (use a variety of baking apples, such as Golden Delicious, Gala, or Fuji)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbls. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
- In 9-inch pie pan, combine pecans, brown sugar and margarine. Mix and spread evenly over bottom of pan. Place one pie crust over pecan mixture.
- Combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix lightly. Spoon into crust-lined pan. Top with remaining pie crust. Fold edge of top crust under bottom crust, press together and flute edge. Cut slits in top crust.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is deep golden brown. (Cover edge of crust with strips of foil after 15-20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning.)
- Cool pie upright in pan for 5 minutes. Place serving plate over pie and invert. Carefully remove pan.
- Cool at least 1 hour before serving.
Tip: Place a piece of foil on cookie sheet on the lowest rack of the oven during baking to guard against spills.
