Finding the time to cook healthy foods becomes more of a necessity.

It was with that foundation that Char Leberer created the Natural Foods Chef class, which teaches people how to make meals for specific health conditions. The cooking class aims to train chefs who are focused on preparing meals for special needs, including diets for preventing cancer or staving off heart disease.

"Each individual is different," said Leberer. "What we do is figure out which nutrients are going to help a specific condition, such as arthritis. Then we put those nutrients that are specifically therapeutic for those conditions."

The 16-week course offers lessons on cooking for both personal needs and professional ambitions. To find out more log onto the Natural Foods Chef class website at www.ntischool.com.

Here is one of the recipes shown Thursday, May 8 on 4:00pm at 9NEWS:

Summer Salad
By Beth Leabch

Prep time: 20 minutes
Category: cancer prevention
Servings: 4

Ingredients

-½ lb. dandelion greens

-½ lb. spring greens

-6 oz. blackberries

-¼ red onion – sliced thin

-½ honeydew melon – cut into bit size pieces

Dressing

-3 tbsp. fresh orange juice

-1 tsp. grated orange rind

-1 tbsp. rice wine vinergar

-½ cup olive oil

-1 tbsp. expeller-expressed
Flax oil

Instructions:

Place all the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and stir vigorously with a wisk. Combine salad ingredients in a bowl, add dressing and toss.