There are very few things in this world that will make me leave my house on a dreary Sunday afternoon. Food, specifically eating, is at the top of that list. Cause there’s a difference between going out to eat and going food shopping.

When my email dinged less than 24 hours before and it was an invite to attend a cooking session with TV host, Healthy Chef and Wellness Expert Charles Chen I knew I would be putting the weather forecast out of my mind as I’m always down to eat rain or shine.

This exclusive invite only event took place at Freshmade NYC and hosted by Charles Chen and Talent Jungle and the purpose of the event was to teach people how simple it is to make fresh healthy vegetarian meals at home. The menu consisted of 3 courses. He would teach me how to prepare dumplings, sushi and a simple dessert.

First up were the dumplings. The tables were filled with various types of fillings. I chose corn, cabbage and a meatless substitute (which is delicious considering I’m a die-hard cow eater). As usual I had no clue as to what I was doing when I chose those ingredients, but I felt they were safe choices and it would be impossible to muck this up.

And I was right! After boiling them for about 5 – 7 minutes or til they became a little translucent they turned out GREAT despite the fact I had never made a dumpling before in my life.

The second course would teach us how to make sushi. Now I can openly admit that I am not a fan of sushi. My limit is California Rolls, which to most doesn’t even count. But hey, it’s what I like and what I chose to make. Which meant that I would need to invert my roll, meaning the seaweed goes on the inside and the rice is on the outside.

If you’re a newbie to rolling sushi then get ready to roll up your sleeves cause this is a doozy. The keys to having it come out halfway decent is remembering to keep the sushi mat wet and to not pack it with so much rice or other things. If you make it too fat it will be hard to keep it together. Mine looked like 4 California Rolls rolled together to make one mega roll. It too was good but way more than I could chew.

And lastly, we dipped fresh strawberries in melted chocolate and sat them in the freezer for a few moments. Talk about delicious…and filling.

It may not seem like it was a lot of food but trust me I was full for the rest of the day. Whoever said you needed large portions to stay full is telling you lies. I happily did not look at another meal it was dinner time.

This event was awesome and shout out to Charles who not only was super helpful the entire time, but he also changed the way I see myself in the kitchen. I say I can’t cook but I truly did better than I expected. There’s no excuse why I can’t recreate these quick and easy to prepare meals for my own family.

I didn’t take many pictures as I was too busy eating and Snapchatting, so check out the video from the entire event.