Day #20 Gift > Shortbread Video

Today’s gift to you is a video.  I know you all LOVE the videos.  Well, this one ties in nicely with some previous posts.

Remember when I was at Day #2 of this 29 days of giving thing, that was the day I gave you my recipe for Easy Bar Shortbreads.  I make them every year, only at Christmas time, and they’re easy and very yummy.

Right away, Veggie Club member Suzi tried the recipe, and then she emailed me: “I made your short bread bars for my work Christmas party… and they were a BIG hit.”

On Day #13 I had a preview lesson for the Back-to-Basics class that’s coming up in January.  The little lesson was all about the RIGHT way to measure flour, and there are loads of comments on the blog about that one, thanks!

So today, to tie it all together, I’ve got a video of me making the shortbreads that includes demonstrating the flour measuring part.

I’d be happy if you were to forward this email to anyone you know who might benefit from it, and encourage them to sign up at www.OneRoastVegetable.com to also follow along with the Back-to-Basics lessons (and other great veggie ideas).

Ready to start cooking? Don’t forget to leave a comment below

All best,
Shelley

Day #16 Gift > Back to Basics: Boiling the perfect egg

In January, I’m launching a Back-to-Basics class that covers all those things we (maybe) learned in Home Economics in high school school, but have since forgotten…

I hardly remember any of the calculus I studied, so is it any wonder that we can’t remember other things? (OK, hard boiling an egg is perhaps slightly more useful than rotating an imaginary object in space around the ‘z’ axis, but you get the picture).

Brandi sent me this email:  “If I had to pick something I struggle with, it would be consistently making the perfect hard-cooked egg. The photo of your eggs in the nicoise salad (photo a, below) are the hard cooked eggs of my dreams. Every time I need to make eggs like that, I need to look it up. So the ability to have a quick, printable reference would be fantastic.”

OK, so today’s preview lesson is how to hard boil the perfect egg. Yes, you can do it. Really, you can. You won’t look like an idiot. You won’t have to throw the eggs out. It’ll work. Here’s what I do, and it works every single time for me.

1. Start with a pot and some eggs and some cold water.  Place the eggs in the pot and ALMOST cover with them with cold water. A tiny bit if egg can be showing through the top of the water (photo b, above).

2. Now put your pot on the stove, and turn the heat to high.  When the water comes to a very hard, full boil, remove the pot from element completely, turn off the heat, and let the eggs sit in the water for 15 minutes. (I usually say 13-15, but you can go for 15 just to ensure they’re completely cooked and next time when you have more confidence pull them out at 13-14).  Go for 15 minutes if you want hard boiled eggs for sandwiches, and stop at 13 minutes if you want the yolk to be a tiny bit soft for a salad.

3. At 13 (or 15 minutes), pour off all the hot water, add in a bunch of very cold water to stop the cooking process.  Let sit until cool enough to handle.  Then you can peel and serve.

So to recap, start with cold water, do NOT cover with water completely, once they start to boil hard then you remove them from the heat all together, wait 13-15 minutes (don’t touch the pan). Then change the water to cold water (just until they’re cool enough to peel). Then you can peel and serve   OK, now you’re making me hungry!

All best,
Shelley

PS Lessons in the full “Back-to-Basics” class will include my tricks for making the best hard boiled egg sandwich, as well as foolproof soft-boiled and fried eggs… and oh yeah, I’ve got a really great (and dead simple) recipe for quiche that I can’t wait to share with you. Yippee, this is going to be so much fun!

Day #5 Gift > Veggie Audio Bytes CD

Hello from Day 5 of my 29 days of giving.

After I posted yesterday’s story about buying lunch for a woman in a restaurant, my father sent me this email:

“Sometimes I wonder whether you are aware that you may be re-living early childhood experiences.

Once upon a time, very long ago, we (you, me and other siblings…) were in a restaurant. You were perhaps 8 years old.

Next to us was a woman with a couple of small kids…my most dominant memory was of an audible, even pathetic discussion between her and them over what she could afford… they would suggest something and she would desperately try to redirect them, to something less expensive. Eventually they settled upon their choices and it was clear that she was very stressed about the potential total cost, which she was frantically trying to add up in her head.

I leaned over to you and asked whether we should offer to help and you (quite properly) said no because it would “make her feel bad.” I then proposed that we discreetly and anonymously pay her bill at the cash register when we were leaving and never say another word. You were so excited that you could hardly eat your food and I became worried that you were going to blow the whole thing because you kept looking over at them with this big smile on your face… more than once, I had to persuade you to stay focused on our table.

We managed to finish our meal without further incident (if we don’t count the inevitable ring of food on the floor surrounding two high-chairs, occupied by [your younger sisters] Karen and Christy).

We paid our bill and then we paid theirs too and off we went…”

Funny, I don’t remember this story at all, but I don’t doubt it’s true.  It’s just the kind of thing my father would have done (I think he’s over-emphasizing my role in the process).

Today’s gift…

Over the past few months, we’ve had some amazing teleclasses.  Did you miss any of them?  Well, I’ve put together Volume 1 of Veggie Audio Bytes on a CD that you can play in your computer and listen to anytime you like. Or upload the MP3 files to your iPod or other player.

Here are the audio teleclasses included on Volume 1 of Veggie Audio Bytes:

INTERVIEW 1 – Meal Planning and Motivation, presented by yours truly.  You’ll get access to this teleclass I gave that breaks down meal planning into a really easy, step-by-step process (1 hour audio + PDF meal planning charts) ($35.50).

INTERVIEW 2 – Cooking In The Dark: How to eat well in an emergency, with our expert Chef Anne-marie.  She talked in depth about her emergency food kit, how to make your own, and she answered questions from the callers. If you live in earthquake  or tornado country, or suffer from frequent power outages, this call is for you. (1 hour audio; $35.50)

INTERVIEW 3 – What you need to know about staging your home… Even if you’re not planning to sell or move anytime soon!, with Staging Expert and Realtor Ginger Pugliese from www.SignatureStagingandRedesign.com. She answered tons of listeners’ questions, including how can you give your kitchen a face lift for just a few hundred bucks. (1 hour audio; $35.50)

INTERVIEW 4 – What’s the best way to lose weight?, with Nancy Saunders, registered dietitian. Nancy’s approach to losing weight is all about awareness and behavioural change, and on our special call, she talked about how to get through the weekends with all the kid events, birthday parties, and “celebrations”, and how to get your family supporting your new healthy life. (1 hour audio; $35.50)

INTERVIEW 5 – What are your kids eating? Do you need help getting them to eat better?, with Chef Jill Houk from www.CenteredChef.com. Jill tells us how can we get more nutrition into our kids when their idea of a vegetable is a potato – and a deep-fried one at that.  And wait till you hear what she says about veggies and wearing a car seat… (1 hour audio; $35.50)

The CD with all 5 hours of interviews/teleclasses, valued at $177.50, is now on sale starting today for only $19.95 + shipping. ADD TO CART

Today’s gift is I’m giving copies of this new CD away for FREE to the first four people who email me their name and mailing address.

All best,
Shelley

Why bother cooking at all?

Bobbie wrote me and told me that she was saving all my recipes in a nice three-ring binder, but that she hadn’t made any of them yet.

And in fact she doesn’t do any cooking at all. She wrote: “I never cooked. I never found the need since I had/have no husband nor do I children or siblings, so all the reasons to cook a meal are not there for me.”

Well, I can think of a few reasons to make dinner, even if it’s just for one. Start by asking yourself these three questions:

Question 1: “AM I HAPPY?”

Are you happy with the way your life is going? Great. Or maybe somewhere along the line, the life you are living began to move away from the hopes you originally had. Is this the life you imagined for yourself? Are you happy? Because small adjustments can make really BIG changes in how you feel. For example, what if dinner was the most important part of your day, cooking for yourself (or your family) because you wanted to. Making a simple, stress-free nourishing meal is one of the ways you take care of yourself and your loved ones. I was single twice in my life for longish periods of time, and I still made dinner. Yeah, sometimes I ate popcorn. But 3-4 times a week I made a real meal for one (or for two, and invited somebody over, or I had the rest for lunch).

One of the easiest ways to impress yourself is to put a simple, healthy dinner on the table. And then say “Yeah, I made this!”

Question 2: “CAN I HONESTLY SAY THAT I LIKE THE FOOD I’M EATING NOW?”

If you’re not the one who is cooking your dinners, then I’d like you to honestly ask yourself if the food you’re eating is yummy.

If someone is cooking for you, do you like what they’re choosing to serve you? Is the chicken cooked how you like it? Skin crispy, or boneless/skinless? Everyone has their own food idiosyncrasies and if you’re cooking for yourself you can indulge them. For example, I think olives are poisonous and so I don’t cook with them. My sister doesn’t like orange flavoured food but is OK with lemon-y stuff. André doesn’t put salt on anything, even hard boiled eggs.

So if you’re cooking for yourself, you can have it “your way.” You can make what you like and you can cook it just-so. (And really, one of the joys of cooking for only one, is that you can do weird things … like Gary who puts molasses on his corn-on-the-cob… and no one will raise an eyebrow).

Question 3: “AM I AT A GOOD WEIGHT FOR MY AGE / LIFESTYLE?”

I’m not talking about fitting into your skinny jeans. And if you’re a gramma, you maybe want to have a bit of padding for cuddling grandkids. I’m talking about being overweight. Because if you have some pounds you’d like to lose, so that you can be living that happy life we were talking about above in Question #1, then cooking for yourself is the greatest idea. You can remove that chicken skin, you can cook with low fat ingredients, you can control your own portions, you can add a ton of veggies to that beef stew so that there’s more carrots and mushrooms than meat. You can put fennel and apple and leeks and chicken broth in the oven and braise them until you have a great side for fish.

===

So, here’s what I would say. Collect recipes, do your research, and take your time. But one day you should ask yourself the questions above: Are you happy? Is the food you’re now eating fantastic? Do you have some weight to lose?

If you’re doing OK with all of these, then maybe cooking just isn’t for you. But let me know if you think you could be happier, eating more yummy food, and a few pounds lighter. ‘Cause I’ve got a few ideas on how to make that happen

All best,

Shelley (Head Tomato)
www.OneRoastVegetable.com

PS/ In keeping with this theme, we’re going to be talking about motivation, cleaning your kitchen, and simple meal planning on next Friday’s teleclass “Kill Kitchen Klutter.” Watch your email for registration information early this coming week.

Membership site now closed to new members …

Over the past nine weeks 1,660 people just like you have contacted me looking for information on how to get more vegetables into their diets.

It’s amazing that 64 people signed up for this mailing list yesterday. At that rate, there will be 23,360 additional people in our veggie community in a year. There’s no place like this on the internet … a club just for people like us.

If you’ve been on my list for a while, you know that I’ve been selling an ebook called “Veggies Made Simple” and that we have a private membership site (PMS?) club where there are illustrated recipes and other goodies.

Well, about two weeks ago…

I closed the door to the membership site…

and I took down the sales page for the ebook.

You see, I’ve been listening to my subscribers. You’re saying “we wanna be part of this eating more healthy thing, but it has to be easy. Please make the recipes step-by-step and foolproof. Please make the articles and info and teleclasses useful so that we can easily integrate new ideas into our already busy lives.”

And a whole bunch of you said: “Shelley, please make it affordable.”

So I closed the door to new members.

And I’m changing a few things. First, the private membership site (PMS) is getting a new name … now it’ll be called “The Veggie Club.” Check out the new logo:

The new site will be launched April 1st (no fooling), and in the meantime I’m keeping you entertained…

1. Have you checked out the audio of our recent teleclass on Meal Planning and Motivation? It’s posted on the blog.

2. Coming up, I’m working on a video tour of the One Roast Vegetable test kitchen. You’ll get to meet me (well, nearly) and see where your recipe suggestions get turned into meals, where recipes get made and photographed, and if you’re lucky you’ll meet André (or at least hear him speaking French in the background).

3. I’m writing a lengthy case study on recipe development — I’ll be taking a recipe from start to finish so you can follow along and see the process that every recipe goes through before it’s shared with the membership site. I’m going to show you the original recipe that I found in a magazine, and then I will go through the steps to the final product (and all the adventures along the way).

4. I get lots of questions about what actually happens inside the membership site, The Veggie Club. So I’m going to produce an animated tour of The Veggie Club website for you, where you can look over my shoulder while I navigate around and show you the highlights, the hidden corners, and my favourite bits.

Anything else you’d like to see? Just post your comments below. I’d love to hear your ideas.

All best, Shelley (Head Tomato)
OneRoastVegetable.com
“Eat more vegetables”

Meal Planning & Motivation Audio

Earlier this week, I held a free teleclass all about Meal Planning and Motivation. Getting dinner on the table every night can be challenging. Maybe you’re cooking for one and you don’t want tons of leftovers. Or you live in a remote area where fresh produce is hard to find. Or you’re trying to eat better, and all the meal plans you see involve ground beef three times a week. I’m so passionate about this subject, I just love giving calls like this one. We talked about the main reasons why we don’t cook (or plan) meals often enough… and I talked about the eight easy steps to plan your week so you can eat at home, save money, be healthy, and impress yourself!

Usually our audio calls are not shared with everyone, and I only make the recording available to people who registered for the class… but this subject is so important that I want to make sure that you can benefit from this info, and I want to invite you to “listen in” on our conversation … it’ll be just like you were there! So, if you missed this call, you can LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE. It’s an MP3 file, 60 minutes long give or take, and the HANDOUTS FOR THE CALL ARE HERE.

Be sure to post a comment afterwards and let us know what you think

All best, Shelley (Head Tomato)
One Roast Vegetable
“Eat more vegetables”