Our onsite dining team has created these recipes with a focus on nutrition, whole-food ingredients, and sustainability. The team serves many of the recipes at the onsite cafes, and now through Food with Purpose, you and your family can make these delicious meals at home.
Minnesota Onsite Teaching Kitchen
Gain new cooking skills at one of the UHG Teaching Kitchens
De Pere Cafe
What inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts?
I truly enjoy the fast paced, creative environment that comes with working in culinary. I enjoy working with a team while still getting to do my own thing.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
I like working over an open flame. I’ve worked in a few places that cook through the use of wood fire which comes with its own set of challenges. It’s exciting.
How do you approach creating heathy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
Finding the right ingredients to pair together. Food is naturally flavorful. If you can pair the right combination of foods together, you don’t have to sacrifice nutrition for flavor.
Healthcare Ln Minnetonka Cafes
What inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts?
I used to watch cooking shows on PBS and was always interested in the art and colors of the food. It wasn’t until I made my first trip to Mexico that I began to have a passion for flavors of so many different styles of cooking. I decided to do an apprenticeship in Arizona then worked my way around the Southwest learning to cook with the local ingredients.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
Anything Seafood or Southwestern/Native cuisine. As far as technique, simple, simple, simple.
How do you approach creating heathy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
It’s all about simplicity and using herbs and spices. When using seafood as a protein, it is possible to recreate classic dishes while helping increase your intake of healthy fats versus bad fats.
Cafeleven Eden Prairie Cafe
What inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts?
My family members were always great cooks and had a restaurant of their own. I just knew that cooking was my passion. We would get together on holidays and cook together.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
Making soups and sauces I am very passionate about; I love trying different things in sauces and seeing how they turn out. I love using a Wok and trying different techniques. I also like making different dishes that I have never made before to expand my culinary abilities.
How do you approach creating heathy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
First, I break down the recipe and see how I can add flavor with fresh ingredients that complement it, like herbs that add no fat, sodium, or calories but lots of flavor and fit well into the dish. I also love using vegetables that will add color to make the dish pop and bring out wonderful flavors.
Cypress Cafe
What inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts?
I’ve always dreamt of having my own restaurant. My passion for wanting to cook started with helping my mother cooking when I was little. I have a passion to serve people and see them happy with what I served it to them.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
My passion is to do batch cooking, carving, and catering events, as well as signature dishes like Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip, Pan Seared Salmon with Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce, and Portobello Polenta Stalks
How do you approach creating heathy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
I like to focus on using fresh herbs and vegetables paired with oils and vinegars, not just salt and pepper.
Minnesota
What inspired you to pursue a career in dietetics?
I’ve always been active and have grown up playing soccer all my life, so I was inspired to better understand how to fuel my body to be my best during physical activity.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
I love to bake and am always eager to find ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into my baked goods. Whether it’s blueberry zucchini muffins or chocolate beet cake with chocolate avocado frosting, I love trying something new!
How do you approach creating heathy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
I am very passionate about amplifying your favorite, traditional meals to be more nutrient dense, such as making simple swaps with whole grains or adding a variety of vegetables to dishes you normally wouldn’t. For example, I love mac’n’cheese, but I always add roasted broccoli and cauliflower, so I am still getting the taste I love while adding more nutrients and fiber helping me feel fuller for longer!
Las Vegas Cafe
What inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts?
Multiple factors contributed to my inspiration. Notably, my uncle, a skilled chef, played a significant role. Witnessing his culinary magic and the joy he brought to others through his food sparked a desire within me to pursue a similar path.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
I must say, barbecue has always held a special place in my heart since I was a child. Mexican cuisine is also a favorite of mine. However, There’s nothing quite like tri-tip over some mesquite coals or the experience of smoking a brisket overnight using wood-burning hickory. The end result is simply mouthwatering, especially when you turn the burnt ends into tacos with some of mom’s salsa. Yes! Take me home!
How do you approach creating heathy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
In my opinion, the use of fresh ingredients is essential for achieving the best flavor in cooking. Having grown up in California, I have always had access to farm-fresh produce, which has made a deep appreciation for the quality and taste of fresh ingredients. Cooking from scratch allows for complete control over the ingredients and flavors used, resulting in that boom! Putting that can of stewed tomatoes down and stewing fresh tomatoes yourself or making hummus from scratch using chickpeas are just some examples to quality and authenticity in cooking.
9900 Minnetonka Cafe
What inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts?
I was curious about what my mom was cooking so she would give me little prep projects to help her out. As I got older, we would watch cooking shows on PBS on Saturdays and cook or bake whatever they were making. Eventually I would cook whole meals for the family. It was all just a lot of fun for me.
What are some signature dishes or cooking techniques that you are particularly passionate about?
Over the years I’ve always been interested and curious about French culinary techniques and French bistro food in general. I’m most passionate about how to get the maximum flavor and maximum beauty out of anything I’m cooking and that comes down to technique. Whether it’s a new sauce I haven’t had before, a combination of flavors and textures that really work together, or a new ingredient, everything that piques my interest will be somehow incorporated into my toolbox of techniques.
How do you approach creating healthy and nutritious recipes without compromising on flavor?
I’ve learned to use ingredients and techniques that add a lot of flavor without the added fats and salt and still remain satisfying: lemon juice, vinegars, fresh herbs, spices, roasting, reducing, grilling. It’s also about moderation and balance. I use traditionally unhealthy ingredients in less quantity such as butter, cream, and other animal-based ingredients. Here’s an example: I’ve seared off a nice piece of salmon and roast it in the oven to finish cooking, I want a sauce to go with it so after the salmon is done I’ll remove it from the pan, add some minced shallots and maybe some mushrooms and sweat till soft, deglaze with a low-acid red wine, reduce by 2/3rds, add some Dijon mustard, fresh herbs, and off the heat add a pat of butter and swirl till incorporated; I will taste and taste again maybe adding a squeeze of lemon and a little salt if needed.