Inspire Culinary Academy

08/14/2026

Jaime from Jaime Cakes Eugene will be hosting 3 classes in September in our Florence classroom. Reserve your spot today!

Sat, Sept 12th 10-2pm Sacher Torte
Sat, Sept 19th 9-12pm Cake pops
Sat, Sept 26th 10-12pm Apple Hand Pies

Jamie Cakes in Eugene offers baking and cake decorating classes for all ages. Join us to learn, bake, and create!

08/14/2026

We concluded our Fast Food Remix week and the final day of our summer camp classes with our best dish yet: orange chicken, fried rice, and muddy buddies.

The students worked efficiently under a tight time crunch and high heat to prepare this multi-step meal. They marinated and fried the chicken by shallow frying, prepared the orange sauce from scratch, and sautéed the vegetables, eggs, and rice. They also made the muddy buddies dessert by coating cereal in melted chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. Despite having parents and guardians already seated, the students stayed focused, maintained clean stations between steps, and handled the pressure with impressive maturity.

Thank you to everyone who supported our program this summer and welcomed Will and me as the new owners. We have many exciting classes coming up soon, including a September baking series with guest chef Jaime from Jaime Cakes. Our website will be live within the next two weeks, so please stay tuned for more upcoming kids, teens, and community classes.

Best regards,
Stacy T

08/13/2026

Day 3 of Fast Food Remix was our burrito day! Each student started off pan-searing chicken drumsticks and dicing onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Once the drumsticks reached 165°F, they rested the chicken on the cutting board before being shredded, with bones and skins removed. While the chicken cooled, the students sautéed their veggies with pinto beans, chicken stock, and spices. While the burrito mixture reduced and simmered, everyone mixed up a batch of cheese sauce.

Finally, they assembled their burritos with shredded cheese, burrito filling, cheese sauce, sour cream, and cilantro, before rolling and wrapping them in foil. The younger kids made 4 burritos each, while the teens made 6 or more to take home as ready-to-eat meals for the week. After the burritos were finished, each class blended up a slushy: freshly squeezed lemonade slushies for the kids, and frozen blueberry, lemon, and limeade slushies for the teens.

Great job, everyone! 🌯🍗🍲🧋🍋‍🟩🍋🫐

08/12/2026

Yesterday was Day 2 of Fast Food Remix! The students started by washing, slicing, and tossing potato wedges in a blend of spices before baking them until crispy. While the potatoes were in the oven, everyone whipped up a fry sauce, washed lettuce, and sliced tomatoes.

Once the wedges were cooling, the students pan-toasted their burger buns and pan-fried their hamburgers, melting cheese on top before assembly. They wrapped each burger with custom labels to match their families' personal toppings preferences. After finishing their sack of burgers and plate of seasoned jo-jos, everyone blended up an Oreo frosty milkshake to cap off the day.

One of my students, Ava, made an adorable crochet chicken, everyone meet Beatrice, the classroom hen! 🐓🖤🤍🩶
She sells her crocheted critters at the FRAA studio, go check them out!

08/11/2026

Today was Day 1 of the Fast Food Remix camp, where we are focusing on meal prepping, batch cooking, and proper storage and reheating techniques to create healthy, grab-and-go meals.

The students did a fantastic job preparing batch egg McMuffins with Canadian bacon and cheese. After pan-frying the English muffins first, then the Canadian bacon, and lastly the eggs with melted cheese, they then assembled and individually wrapped each sandwich in foil. The younger kids made 4 sandwiches each and the teens made 6 each, which were labeled and stored in gallon Ziploc bags for easy breakfasts or snacks. To finish the day, they made strawberry smoothies using milk or orange juice, Greek yogurt, bananas, frozen strawberries, and honey, topped with whipped cream.

The students did a wonderful job today, and I look forward to the rest of the week!

08/07/2026

We concluded our Around the World culinary camp today with Middle Eastern cuisine. The students made falafel, hummus, and pita pockets from scratch, while mastering skills like blooming yeast, multitasking, and shallow-frying.

Despite initial skepticism about a chickpea and herb-focused menu, the meal was a hit, leaving us with many clean plates and full to-go containers.

Wonderful job everyone! Thank you for keeping an open mind during this fun week of exploring different cuisines.

08/06/2026

Day 3 of the Around the World camp featured Thailand! The students made Thai yellow curry with chicken, carrots, potatoes, onions, coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste, turmeric, and freshly squeezed lime juice and zest, served over hot jasmine rice and garnished with roasted peanuts.

During the session, the students focused on their knife skills, demonstrating proper techniques for cubing potatoes, slicing carrots thinly, and dicing onions. They also practiced searing chicken and sautéing the ingredients in a large skillet.

They did a fantastic job. Even the students who were hesitant about curry ended up enjoying the dish, expanding their flavor palates, and taking the extras home to share.

Once again, great job everyone! 👏

08/05/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to support the Florence Farmers Market today. We competed in the Local No-Heat Vegan Produce Challenge, featuring a professionally prepared watermelon poke by our 13-year old student, Luke.

It was wonderful chatting with so many of you. As promised, here is the recipe, we hope you enjoy it!

-Will C.

08/05/2026

Day 2 of Around the World featured Central America!

The morning class made chicken enchiladas and air-fryer churros, finishing with time to spare. The teens class also made churros but opted for pork tamales. Because this more complicated dish required an extra hour to steam fully, the teens will get to try their food tomorrow.

Both classes did a fantastic job, and although the teens didn't have a full meal, they still had a blast and even a couple snacks between tasks so they didn't go home hungry!

08/04/2026

The first day of our Around the World camp featured Swiss-French cuisine. The students did a fantastic job making chicken cordon bleu with a dijon cream sauce. They started off by pounding their chicken pieces flat, layering the ham and Swiss inside, rolling them tight, coating them in herbed panko breading, and baking them to an internal temperature of 165°F.

While the chicken cordon bleu was baking, they whipped up a Dijon cream sauce using butter, garlic, chicken stock, heavy whipping cream, Dijon mustard, maple syrup as a sweetener, and a cornstarch slurry.

For dessert, they made Kladdkaka, a decadent chocolate lava cake dusted with powdered sugar and served warm with ice cream.

Everything was delicious, and the students all had plenty of leftovers to share with friends and family.