IVINS - Surrounded by 16 increasingly hungry people watching his every move, Dale Van Sky moves expertly around a demo kitchen, chopping, sauteeing and dispensing advice.
"Work on your accuracy first. The speed comes later," he says, his knife slicing deftly and rapidly through little piles of garlic, carrots, zucchini and fresh sage. Then Van Sky holds up a large white onion and points to its stubby root. "Cut that root out, because that's the [part] that'll make you cry."
While preparing and serving 16 portions of vegetable rice soup, hummus and saut?ed cajun chicken breasts, Van Sky keeps the tips coming: Cayenne pepper helps fight cancer and other illnesses. Broth soups are ready after just 25 minutes on the stove - longer than that and you begin to lose nutrients. And fresh herbs require even less cooking time.
"Most people overcook their herbs," he says, as his audience murmurs and nods. "Most herbs take only about 30 to 45 seconds to start releasing their natural flavors."
The occasion is a low-fat cooking class at Red Mountain Spa, an upscale resort in this mushrooming desert suburb northwest of St. George. Destination spas like Red Mountain have long served low-calorie meals to guests looking to shed a few pounds during their stay. But spas are increasingly supplementing their menus of facials and massages with sophisticated cooking classes that don't just help guests lose weight but give them the tools to eat healthier once they return home. Cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes also are offered at nearby Fitness Ridge Resort & Spa, which places more of a structured emphasis on guests' weight loss.
Culinary programs, combined with diet and nutrition advice, are a fast-growing trend at spa resorts, says Michelle Kleist, executive director of the Destination Spa Group, a marketing organization that represents 25 top spas in North America and Thailand.
"Resorts have always had the Spa Cooking 101 class. But now it's turning into daily classes and in-depth programs with gourmet chefs," Kleist says. Don't worry - that doesn't mean long, dry lectures, or, heaven forbid, homework. "The classes are supposed to be fun," she says. "We don't want it to be a clinic."
At Red Mountain, guests can attend daily cooking demonstrations such as Van Sky's, which are included in the cost of their stay. Offered five days a week at 11 a.m., the classes cover basic topics such as baking bread; soups, salads and appetizers; healthy grains; seafood; and poultry.
More ambitious students can enroll in the spa's weeklong culinary school, which is offered only six weeks during the year (the next one runs June 15-20). The school includes 10 hours of in-depth personal instruction on braising and saut?eing entrees, making dishes such as risotto, and baking low-cal desserts. The final class of the week usually is a chili cook-off, in which each student gets a pot and a list of ingredients and competes with classmates for top-chef bragging rights.
The principle behind Red Mountain's culinary-education program is twofold: 1) give people a core of fresh, healthy ingredients from which to work, and 2) encourage them to improvise. The spa calls this "template-based cooking."
"It releases you from the handcuffs of having to follow a recipe," says Chad Luethje, Red Mountain's executive chef. "And it encourages you to use all your senses. How does the food look? How does it smell? How does it taste?"
This approach extends to the spa's restaurant, which serves healthy meals that are low in carbs, sugar and fat. The breakfast/lunch buffets and dinner menus all list the nutritional contents of their dishes; most entrees are in the 200-calorie range. To compensate for the flavor that is lost by cooking without, say, butter, chefs emphasize fresh herbs and spices.
"When people think of spas, they're probably thinking along the lines of [bland] nursing-home food. No sodium, that sort of thing. And it can be that way," says Luethje, who also has worked as a chef at resorts in Jackson, Wyo., and Sedona, Ariz. "But here it's more like healthy gourmet. It doesn't have to be a boot camp."
griggs@sltrib.com


Red Mountain,
Fitness Ridge

* Red Mountain Spa and Fitness Ridge Resort & Spa are just northwest of St. George, about a four-hour drive south of Salt Lake City.
* For more information on cooking classes and programs at Red Mountain Spa, call 877-246-HIKE or visit www.
redmountainspa.com/ healthy cuisine.
* For more information on cooking classes and programs at Fitness Ridge Resort & Spa, call 888-870-2639 or visit www.fitnessridge.com.

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_8741379