Meet Chef Rachel

Meet Chef Rachel Matesz

Who is the healthy cooking coach?
Hi, I'm Chef Rachel, The Healthy Cooking Coach. I teach people how to cook up healthier, more productive lives. From cooking classes to cooking parties and through cookbooks, one-on-one coaching, magazine articles, blogging, and speaking engagements, I teach people how to improve the way they shop, cook, eat, and look at food––so they have more energy for life! 

I am particularly skilled at helping people with special needs follow special diets, such as wheat-free, gluten-free, or dairy-and/or casein-free, corn-free, grain-free, peanut-free, egg-free, and preservative-free diets. Do you have a child on the autism spectrum, with ADD or ADHD, or frequent respiratory infections? Do you have Celiac Disease, food allergies or intolerances, an autoimmune disorder, migraines, PMS, a digestive disorder, acid reflux, excess weight, or other health challenges you would like to deal with holistically? Have you read about the benefits of a paleo or primal diet but been unsure of how to implement it?

Learning how to cook with new foods can feel overwhelming, particularly if you have a long list of foods you need to eliminate. I can help you make this transition go more smoothly. I can take you shopping, help you stock up with new foods, then show you how to cook with new foods in your kitchen. I can also share time-tested, family-friendly recipes, and help you modify some of your old favorites. I can do this with you one-on-one or encourage you to sign up for economical group cooking classes that will introduce you to new foods, flavors, and techniques that will make you look forward to eating healthy food. I can also coach you over the phone, answering your questions and directing you to resources that will meet your diverse needs.

What’s her background?
I graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and communications. I earned a certificate in Macrobiotic studies from the Kushi Institute of Great Britain in the winter of 1985. (FYI: I no longer practice macrobiotics or vegetarianism). From 1988 to 1989 I ran Rachel's Natural Foods Cafe in Seattle’s university district.

Over the past 24 years I’ve led more than 900 whole foods cooking classes in five states and had more than 225 articles published in national magazines and regional papers, including Natural Home, Living Without, The Herb Companion, Herbs for Health, Yoga Journal, Let’s Live, Oxygen Women’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Conscious Choice, Well Being Journal, Veggie Life, Vegetarian Times, Vegetarian Journal, and Macrobiotics Today. My articles also appeared in Fit, New Body, and Vegetarian Gourmet, which are no longer in print.

I wrote The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces (Planetary Press, October of 2008). I co-authored the award-winning book, The Garden of Eating A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004) with Don Matesz. I also developed 130 recipes for two books by best-selling author Barry Sears, including Zone Meals in Seconds (HarperCollins, 2004).

Where does she live and work?
I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I teach natural foods cooking classes in kitchen shops, private homes, schools, corporations, and for the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe. I conduct cooking parties, dinner parties, and healthy shopping tours. I coach clients in their kitchens and speak to groups about healthy shopping, cooking, and eating.

If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, you may have seen me on Channel 3’s “Your Life A to Z.” I was their healthy chef for more than a year, cooking up healthy recipes on air once a month. Now I'm on other stations around the valley, including a monthly spot on Channel 12 Mid Day

What are Chef Rachel's interests?
You mean besides blogging, shopping for food, cooking, eating, planning meals, and developing new recipes?  Reading, writing, taking long walks, hiking, swimming, yoga, photography, hanging out with my cats, and spending time with friends.

What organizations does she belong to?
I'm a candidate for the National Speaker's Association (working on professional status), and a member of Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce and Arizona Book Publishers Association (ABPA).

Comments

[Cathi L. Gross]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out how to make a low carb/gluten free Tortilla, that does not have Wheat, Gluten, soy or Corn mixed into it, which is most store bought Tortillas. I know I need something to bind Non Gluten flours together, but what? My favorite flours to use are Almond, and Coconut, and I have been looking at Chia Seed Flour for a possible mix for making Tortillas that I could used for Enchiladas. But my problem is binding the flours together. . .Would Konjac Glucomannon Flour work for this process? Could part of flours be Konjac? Thank you for the help.

Sincerely,
Catgross49
cathi@144web.com

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Cathi,

I think you'll have a hard time making such a tortilla. With coconut flour as with almond flour, you need eggs, and a lot of them, to bind. Tortillas are tricky since you have to make not a dough rather than a batter. Let me know if you come up with something.

Thanks for commenting on my blog.

[Kirsten]

Although these are not tortillas, these are some tortilla sub ideas I use...
fry an egg or two without the yolk, spread around the pan until thin, and cook both sides until it starts to get golden (it makes a crepe like thing) or use a piece of lettuce or bell pepper filled with whatever you would put in the tortilla. Also you can make a big hash brown to top with 'burrito stuff'. This would be filling. I am from San Diego, and tortillas were always a big part of eating. When I stopped eating wheat, soy, corn ect. I thought NO WAY on tortillas. first I switched to corn, and now I can just go without, and don't even think about them!