Elaina Moon
BS, ACE Certified Health Coach and Weight Management Specialist
Owner Healthy Eats Nutrition Services and Instructor/Owner of Healthy Eats Classroom
Elaina has owned Healthy Eats for the last four years teaching cooking classes and providing nutrition education to the Yakima community. She has a passion for helping clients and cooking class participants get inspired about healthy eating through creating delicious healthy dishes simple enough to make at home.
Most of her classes are hands-on with some demo style classes. All classes are plant focused and most are gluten free offering lots of options for those with food allergies and sensitivities. Classes range in topics and are always fun and educational! Check out more about Elaina in the about me page at http://healthyeatsnutriton.com/
Chef Shawn Niles
Fat Pastor Productions
Chef Series Cooking Class Instructor
Shawn Niles is Yakima born and raised. Working most of his life in church ministry, Shawn’s hobby of cooking turned pro when he was featured on season 8 of MasterChef where he heard Gordon Ramsay make a life changing statement: “Shawn, it’s clear you were born to serve your community; but it’s also clear you were born to cook.” That statement became the launching pad for a growing collaborative of chefs who ultimately began Urban Kitchen Yakima and Fat Pastor Productions.
Shawn and his incredible team have worked hard to bring new culinary experiences to the valley and bring their passion for creative food to fun family events and international cooking competitions. Through it all, the goal is to make Yakima a better place through food and service. Shawn is part of our Chef Series Cooking Classes and specializes in creating chef inspired dishes that are easily recreated at home. Find out more about Chef Shawn at
https://www.thefatpastor.us/
Chef Lara Bodine
Fat Pastor Productions
Instructor at Healthy Eats Classroom
After years of working in health food stores, a love grew in me for the way that food is healing for both our bodies and our souls. Incorporating that passion into cooking for both my family and as a chef with Fat Pastor Productions for catering and our popup dinner club, Bite Club Yakima, has been fun, challenging, and exciting.
Using the knowledge I’ve gained along the way, I look forward to helping you wherever you are on your food journey – while still being able to enjoy savory and sweet treats that don’t need a “cheat” day. Lara specializes in healthy baked goods and delicious treats that are easy to recreate but taste as good as restaurant quality desserts. Find out more about her at
https://www.thefatpastor.us/
Andrea McCoy
BA, Columnist and Food Blogger Essentials for the Home Cook Class Series Instructor at Healthy Eats Classroom
Andrea is a mother, wife, cook and writer. With a degree in journalism from WWU, she’s a weekly columnist in the Yakima Herald-Republic and regular contributor to Yakima Magazine. Andrea started The Salt and Stone blog several years ago combining two great passions: writing and cooking.
The food she makes is rarely fancy, but hearty and fresh. The recipes you’ll find are perfect for rustic meals meant to be shared. For Andrea, the rhythm of cooking; chopping and stirring, tasting and salting brings such pleasure. But it is in the gathering around the table, no matter how simple or elaborate, that is the very best part of cooking. You can find more from Andrea at
www.thesaltandstone.com/blog
Chef Gilbert Kalombo (AKA Lion Chef), Fat Pastor Productions
Chef Series Cooking Class Instructor
Gilbert Kalombo was born and raised in Zambia, South Central Africa. He spent half of his life in Zambia where his culinary journey began cooking with his father around the age of seven. He has spent the other half of his life in America experiencing food from many cultures.
In class he will blow you away by his ability to elevate the cuisine of Africa, again and again. But whatever you do, don’t confine him to only the cuisine of his homeland. His culinary skills cross cultural boundaries with a dramatic flair, expanding his abilities to create extraordinary dishes in the kitchen. Gilbert is part of our Chef Series Cooking Classes and specializes in creating chef inspired dishes that are easily recreated at home. Find out more about Chef Gilbert at
https://www.thefatpastor.us/
Chef Jason Patel, Culinary Specialist
Chef Series Cooking Classes, Instructor
Jason Patel had been the Executive Chef at Virginia Mason Memorial and currently a Culinary Specialist at the Humane Society of the United States. Jason has worked in a variety of positions at restaurants as a garde manager, hot line cook, pastaioli, Pastry Chef, Sous Chef, and Chef de Cuisine gaining a wide range of knowledge that he passes along in his training workshops. Focusing on plant-forward cooking fundamentals and techniques, Jason shows those in his classes that delicious food doesn’t always need to be meat centric. Jason enjoys football (Go Hawks!) and does plant-forward catering when the opportunity arises. Jason is on Instagram @movingplantforward where he shares photos, stories, and recipes.
