Shortly after the nation shut down nearly two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, members of the staff at Beacon Place tried to find ways to keep the families availing themselves of its life skills enrichment programs engaged.
Ernie Sadera, the organization’s finance manager, was talking with his colleagues and suggested a cooking show. Joining Beacon Place after retiring from a career trading derivatives on Chicago’s exchanges, his cooking skills were established long before that, after college.
“I started cooking after college when I got tired of eating frozen pizza and fish sticks,” he said. “My mom was a good cook. I asked her for recipes, and started to build a repertoire. I’m the cook for my family.”
Along with preparing meals for his family, one Thursday a month Sadera conducts a virtual cooking class, “Cooking With Ernie,” with as many as 20 teens from Beacon Place, showing them how to prepare that night’s dinner for their family. It started in May, 2020.
When Sadera and other members of the Beacon Place staff discussed the potential kinks in the program, it evolved into a way to feed a family monthly. After he develops the menu for the evening, everything needed is purchased and delivered to the participants.
“We buy all the groceries and ingredients, and deliver it to the home free of charge,” Sadera said. “We let the kids cook dinner for the family. It’s not like a cooking show where the food comes out of the oven in a few minutes. We cook in real time. They’re cooking while I’m cooking.”
Since there is only so long the class can last per session, Sadera said he makes sure the entire meal can be prepared in no more than two hours, limiting the time everyone is online.
Knowing the family may not have all the kitchen utensils to make the meals on Sadera’s menu, when he deems it necessary, cooking equipment is delivered with the groceries. Those have included things from a cast iron skillet to measuring cups and spoons.
“We’re building their kitchen arsenal,” he said. “We’re providing what they need to cook the meals.”
Along with offering a variety of dishes, Sadera said he is trying to teach multiple cultures through food. Selections have included shrimp and grits, lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, risotto, peanut butter noodles and bibimbap, a Korean rice dish which can include meat and vegetables.
One of the students in the class is Stephanie Lamas, a Waukegan resident and now a College of Lake County freshman. She started when she was still in high school. From a Hispanic family, she said she has not only enjoyed the class, but also the cultural education, particularly the bibimbap.
“It was just oozing with vegetables on the side,” Lamas said of the bibimbap. “I’ve always liked fettuccini Alfredo, and we learned how to make it from scratch. It was really good. It does taste different from the bottled sauce. I liked it very much.”
Andres Vara, a Waukegan resident and sophomore at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, is another student who likes “visiting different countries through food.” Peanut butter noodles, an Asian recipe, was the most unique meal he prepared.
“Making something with peanut butter and noodles was really different,” he said, describing the dish of noodles in a peanut butter sauce with garlic, soy, sesame seeds and green onions. “It was really different.”
Lamas said she also likes cooking the meal for her family consisting of her, her mother and father. It provides a variety of benefits for them.
“It felt good making dinner for my family,” she said. “It gives my mom a break from the kitchen. It’s nice to have my family try something different as well.”
While Lamas gives her mother a night off once a month, Vara said he is already the cook at home for his mother and two sisters. He likes giving them the chance to try something new and different.
“My sisters are pretty picky eaters,” he said. “My mom is pretty open to trying new things. They all liked the peanut butter noodles.”
Desserts are part of the program too. Lamas said before she started taking the class, she was more into baking than cooking. She now knows how to make apple pie and peach cobbler from scratch.
“Apple pie is one of my favorites,” Lamas said. “I’d never heard of peach cobbler before. It’s really good.”
