{Date Nights Worth the Babysitter} Chef Alyssa's Kitchen

If you're a parent there are two things that are hard to come by - first healthy
tasty dinners, second date nights worth paying the baby sitter for. Enter Chef Alyssa's Kitchen in Atherton Mills Market. Chef Alyssa's offers fun, innovative cooking classes where you learn, prepare and enjoy meals together - kid free.

We picked out a bottle of wine and headed off to Chef Alyssa's ready to don aprons and enjoy a much needed date night. My husband looks so cute in an apron ;) Chef Alyssa's is situated inside the trendy organic-friendly Atherton Mills Market that I've blogged about before here. 

The atmosphere is inviting, with stand up butcher block tables abutted by flat cook tops and all things kitchen supply at the ready. The kitchen has a cohesive upscale feel,  I loved how they incorporated their business colors, lime green and blue into their decor, appliances and utensils.

Andrew, their marketing and planning guru introduced us to Chef Alyssa, a home grown Charlottean. She's a local who keeps the produce and meats she uses locally-sourced, fresh and healthy. She started us off with delicious bolognese-topped sautéed veggie pasta - I'm going to be breaking out the Veggetti to make that tasty creation!

Here was our menu for Healthy Weeknight Meals.

• Braised Chicken Cabbage "Tacos"
• Grilled Marinated Steak with Arugula and Apple Salad
• Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Gratin 

I'm not going to lie, when I first saw the list of meals I wasn't so sure how it would hit my palate. But I'm SO glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone of grilled chicken and baked potatoes and tried something new. Each dish was delicious and Alyssa dropped some chef knowledge on us about some of the important cooking basics. For example, how to rock a chef knife to slice and dice, how to keep your onion in place for chopping, a secret to getting the juiciest steaks and how to incorporate coconut oil into your cooking as a healthier option.

We prepared the marinade for our steak by toasting the spices and herbs and crushing them with the heavy skillet - not only was it aromatic it developed into a fully-flavored steak. We learned how to blanche purple cabbage that played the role as our crisp and tender taco shell. My absolutely favorite dish was the sweet potato and cauliflower gratin - I wasn't sure how those ingredients would meld together but WOW - it tasted more decadent than healthy!

It was relaxing to sip on a glass of wine as my husband and I cooked and laughed together. We enjoy working as a team in the kitchen - but usually it's done under the dire circumstances of hungry impatient children. We really enjoyed ourselves, and both felt like we learned so many things that we didn't know about how to refine our cooking techniques to create tastier, healthier meals for each other and our family. 

Chef Alyssa's Kitchen isn't only a great date night option, it's also a unique girl's night out, group or corporate event and they also offer summer camps. Their summer camp information is here and offered to kids ages 8-12 and 13-18. What a great gift to provide your kids with life-long kitchen skills! I enjoyed our experience so much that I'm putting together a neighborhood cooking event in a few months.

You can check out all of their classes here - they do book up quickly so if you see a class that fits your needs you'll want to snap it up. They range from $60 - $65 per person. Wine, Beer and appetizers are BYOB but they provide cups and water. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes because you will be on your feet as you cook.

Keep up with what's cooking in Chef Alyssa's Kitchen by following them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

We were invited to participate at Chef Alyssa's Kitchen free of charge, but all opinions as always are my own. I only share what I love with my readers - and this experience was top-notch and I'm excited to share it with you.