Happy New Year … (and a secret)

Happy, happy, happy (and healthy) new year to you

I won’t take up much of your time. Everyone is busy today. There’s wine to drink, resolutions to write, and trees to un-decorate.

First, I’d like to congratulate you for being a subscriber. At some point you decided that you wanted to learn more about eating more veggies. Hooray for you

But I know that life is busy. Could you use a little help, motivation, and cool new veggie meal ideas?

I’ve got just the thing to solve that New Year’s Resolution problem that you’ve probably got. Did you dream up a goal for this year that includes “eat better, eat more meals at home, reduce soda, increase exercise, eat 5-9 servings of fruit/veggies a day like the food guide says I should.”

Let me tell you about The Veggie Club.

Imagine a private members’ only website where you can get access to whacks of recipes with veggies front-and-centre.

The step-by-step recipes save you money, too. Healthy AND inexpensive.

The illustrated recipe for Sausage Minestrone makes a spectacular dinner for $1.35/serving, and it’s 354 calories per bowl, with 18 grams of protein.

The recipe for Homemade Vegetable Soup is $0.88/bowl, with 101 calories and 1 gram of fat.

Anyway, I don’t want to spam you with a long sales letter tonight

(There’s wine to drink and trees to un-decorate, and I must get to both of those right now…)

But if you were perhaps thinking that maybe, probably, you were sort of hoping to ideally eat better this year, get more veggies into your diet, start to reduce your grocery budget, and be in a community of like-minded people… then you must might want to sign up for The Veggie Club tonight.

Do it right now before you make one more resolution. www.OneRoastVegetable.com/02.html.

OK. That’s it from me

I don’t wanna nag you. It’s just that I know that tonight is EXACTLY the right time to be thinking about the year ahead, your goals, how you want to be feeling come mid-June.

If I check back with you in mid-June, will you be able to say that you have been successful in your goals to eat better? I hope so www.OneRoastVegetable.com/02.html

All best, time to tackle that tree.
me

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu
Owner & Head Tomato
OneRoastVegetable.com / The Veggie Club

PS/ Here’s the secret. Glad you read right to the end

My secret is about the Back to Basics cooking class that’s starting soon … (http://www.oneroastvegetable.com/backtobasics.htm) Since this is the first time I’m holding this class, all of my Veggie Club subscribers will be able to take this class completely F’REE of charge.

So if you were smart, like I know you are, then you’d go RIGHT NOW and sign up for a Veggie Club Membership (I’d take the 3-month one or the yearly subscription if I was you). Then you’ll be a Veggie Club Member when it’s time to register for the Back to Basics class.

And you’ll be able to take the class for F’REE. It’s my New Year’s gift to you You gotta like that! www.OneRoastVegetable.com/02.html

Day #22 Gift > 3 free one-month memberships to The Veggie Club

Back on Day #12, I had a contest to give away a $25 gift certificate for Amazon.com  (.ca), and the winner was Sally.  Here’s her Christmas story:

A few years ago I had my first Christmas in my apartment. This was a turning point for me as I had always gone home for Christmas. I was living in Montreal Nord on Henri Bourassa Blvd. I am from Nova Scotia and my mother had come to visit me. I had thought of everything, almost. Being 20 years old, on my on and in the big city, I was not completely domesticated. I bought a turkey and all the trimmings. After we opened presents Christmas morning it was time to put the turkey in the oven.

Where was the roasting pan? In my mother’s kitchen in Nova Scotia…at the store…but not in my apartment.

Being a very resourceful person, my mother came to the rescue and we roasted the turkey in the only thing available….a muffin tin. I will tell you that in a pinch it worked great! All the drippings were collected in the muffin cups and we were able to make a nice gravy. And the turkey was very tasty!

Cheers, Sally

Congratulations to Sally for being the 12th person to send in a story that day.  And thanks to everyone who has been following along on these 29 days of giving… It’s been quite an experience for me.  At this time of year we’re often thinking of donations to others, but to continue to ‘give’ each and every day has been a gentle stretch for me that I have quite enjoyed. Some days I can’t think of anything to give… when really, we all have so much we can offer each other…

Today’s gift:

I have 3 free one-month memberships to The Veggie Club (value $9.95/month) to give away to the first three people who write me and tell me what their favourite Christmas (holiday) food is.  For example, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without homemade cranberry relish, or Gramma’s pumpkin pie, or cherry surprises?  So, let me hear from you.  What food tradition is the BEST part about Christmas for you.  Send me an email, I can’t wait to hear what you have to share.

All best,
Shelley

Day #14 Gift > One of each market item free

Today is the first day that the One Roast Vegetable “Fresh Market” is online and ready for action.

What is “Our Fresh Market”? It’s a market store. A place for cool things to hang out together. Imagine art, and cds, and books, and classes, and cookies, and t-shirts, and memberships, and even free classes. All that kind of stuff. It’s all together now on one page (some of it is still in progress … you’ll see when you swing by).

Yeah I know. OK. What kind of a “gift” is it for you if I open my “market” where clearly I’m going to ask you to part with some of your Christmas money?

Well, here’s my gift. The FIRST person to purchase each item up for sale will have their entire purchase refunded to their credit card. Be the first to buy cookies, and I’ll zip into my credit card company file, and refund you the entire purchase.

Some of the gifts are kinda big, so if you’re the first to buy one of those, yup, you’ll get that refunded too! It’s my way of asking you to part with some of your Christmas money AND giving back at the same time

Ready? The timer starts now.

The Fresh Market is here > http://www.OneRoastVegetable.com/market.html

All best,
Shelley

Day #12 Gift > 12 Drummers Drumming?

Today is Day #12 of my 29gifts. So today is supposed to be “12 Drummers Drumming.”

Well, I’m having a hard time getting 12 drummers into a little box suitable for mailing. Legs and arms sticking out, it’s just not going to work. Squish. Can’t get the top on.

So instead, for today’s gift, I’m going to give away a $25 online gift certificate for Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca) to the 12th person who emails me a little food-related Christmas (holiday) story from when you were a kid. Your favourite Christmas food memory, a story about your mom’s cherry surprises, the time your father served pickled fish, the time my grandmother made minced meat out of real meat… Whatever! I’ll post the best stories over the next few days.

Are you ready? Whoever is #12 wins. It’s like 12 drummers drumming… OK, not really. This is better. Email your stories to: shelley [at] OneRoastVegetable.com

Healthy eating ideas for this week…

Since I’ve already eaten today’s allocation of chocolate, I thought I’d better check out The Veggie Club site for something healthy to make for dinner.

Are you in the same boat? If so, here are some ideas based on Veggie Club recipes:

“Almost” Vegetarian Chili

Recipe 1.15 > “Almost” Vegetarian Chili. Healthy, lovely and cheap. It’s only $1.70/serving (and freezes well), and is a yummy meal to have on hand, AND is great as a leftover/lunch.

(To make a completely vegetarian version, leave out the tiny 1/2 pound of lean ground beef).

Trout with Fruit Salsa

Recipe 2.3 > Trout with Fruit Salsa. Especially now that the price of pineapples seems a bit more reasonable, I love making this recipe. I also secretly like having the mango/pineapple salsa with rice, just on its own, as a leftover. Have you tried heating up the salsa? It’s unusually good.

(This is a vegetarian meal if you’re a fish-eating-vegetarian. If not, make the fruit salsa and rice and serve with a veggie stirfry.)

Vegetarian Pizza

Recipe 1.20 > Vegetarian Pizza. Just today, right before I ate today’s allotment of chocolate, I said to André “we should have pizza for dinner.” My recipe uses frozen dough, so the whole thing comes together pretty quickly. Roast a few veggies for toppings — use up what’s in your fridge. I’ve got beets and yellow pepper and red onions. And cheese. And potatoes.

(This is a vegetarian meal if you use vegetarian cheese.)

Homemade Vegetarian Soup

1.6 > Homemade Vegetable Soup (better than Campbell’s). OK, I like to cheat and add chicken to this sometimes, but only when I’ve got leftovers in the freezer from when I roasted Recipe 2.1 > Roast Chicken with Rosemary. But you don’t need to add chicken, it’s great the way it is, and cheap. Err, inexpensive. (Now you’re thinking that cheap means it can’t possibly taste good!) Well, I can tell you, it tastes great, and there’s even a video of me making it here > http://theveggieclub.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/veggie-soup-video/

(To make a completely vegetarian version of this soup, substitute veggie broth for the chicken broth.)

Easy Bar Shortbreads

If you’ve been following my 29gifts, then you’ve also seen my recipe for Easy Bar Shortbreads. Stay tuned, I’m going to make a video to go with that recipe, and I’ll post it on the blog ASAP.

All best and happy Saturday,

Day #4 Gift > Bought lunch for a stranger

Hi there, just wanted to recap some of what’s been happening so far this week in my 29 days of giving.

On Tuesday, in return for giving away three one-month memberships to The Veggie Club ($9.95/month), I asked you to tell me what you could give away in return. The three free memberships went out to Amanda, Carolyn, and Nancy. And here’s a sampling of the great emails I got from all of you about giving:

JoAnn in Michigan:

“Just yesterday we gave some books to the library. Last weekend we had an elderly couple from church for dinner. We are taking a few bags of food for Christmas baskets to be given to the needy.”

Sarah:

“That is such a coincidence. I just bought flowers for a co-worker that helps me a lot with my day.”

Diana in Montreal:

“My way to give back for the next 29 days of December is 1) To take the time to read and apply most the information that you provide in your emails — to take full advantage of it and not let any of the info go to waste, and 2) to provide you with feedback so that you know how much I appreciate your work, your time and most of all your generosity; and 3) to pass on the info I learn from you on to others like me who are always looking to expand their knowledge in cooking and making them aware of your website.”

Isn’t that sweet? There are lots more, I got over 60 emails on Tuesday. I’ll share more of your comments in future updates.

Yesterday

I gave away three Swiss vegetable peelers to Alice in Ohio, Stacy in Alabama, and Karen in Pennsylvania. Then went off in the mail today, and when I told the postal guy that they had ‘peelers’ in the envelopes (for the customs declaration), he asked me if they were like the Willi Waller peelers…

If you’re not from Quebec, you’ve never seen this hilarious Tête-à-claques video. It’s in French, but it’s pretty understandable to anglophones, check it out here. At about 50 seconds into the video, you’ll see the comparison of the Willi Waller 2006 peeler versus ‘the other brand’. It’s quite something

Today’s gift …

I went for lunch today near Marché Atwater at a little diner. I ordered my lunch, read my book, and prepared myself to go back out into the cold and go grocery shopping. When I was at the cash register, I asked the waitress if she could do me a favour. “Yes.” It’s a little bit unusual, I said. “Yes?” I’d like to pay the bill for the woman sitting at the booth next to me. Waitress: “Pay for her?” Yes. She had a hamburger and a bowl of soup (grand total $9).

Then the waitress gave me the most unusual face. She asked, “do you know her?” No, I said. Just tell her when she asks for her bill that someone has already paid it, and say Merry Christmas.

The waitress still isn’t buying my story, so she points over to the woman (who is thankfully way across the restaurant), and says “do you mean her?”

She wasn’t very loud, but I got nervous. Yes, I said, not turning around. Her. I went quickly to the cash, paid for my lunch and the woman’s beside me, left a tip, and got out of there quick. I didn’t want to make the woman uncomfortable and I didn’t want her to think I was trying to ‘pick her up’

It’s kind of tricky paying for people like this, but once I strolled over to the market to do my shopping, I had this great feeling of “well that was something, now, wasn’t it?” It’s quite exhilarating this daily giving thing.

Tell me, have you also been giving? Do you have some good stories too? Please share

All best,
Shelley

Happy birthday to me …

Yes, it’s true, it really is my birthday today. So in fact I’m trying to get away with doing as little real work as possible.  I slept till 10 am, went for a run, had pizza for lunch, and I’m drinking tea right now.

For dinner, though, we’re having friends over and I’m roasting a chicken (of course), with little garlic potatoes and baked veggie mixture of beets, parsnips and … carrots? well, with whatever else I find in the fridge, maybe yellow pepper.

My real reason for writing today is to tell you that I’ve signed up at 29gifts.org which is a website that promotes acts of giving.  The challenge is to give one thing away every day for 29 days.  And since this is my birthday, and 29 days from now is New Years Eve, well the timing seems perfect.

http://www.29gifts.org

You’re thinking, “Why is she telling me this?”

For most of the 29 days I’m going to be giving stuff away TO YOU.

OK, on Christmas Day I’ll probably give something to André, and on my sister’s birthday coming up we’re flying her from Halifax to Montreal to see Duran Duran with us.  And I’m going to make banana bread for the homeless shelter.

But most other days, I’ll be giving away something here on the blog to One Roast Vegetable subscribers.  A recipe, a trick, a tip of some kind, something yummy, maybe a video, something useful.

I won’t email you everyday when I post my new ‘gift’ for the day, but you might want to bookmark this page and check back when you can.

Today’s gift:

I have 3 free one-month memberships to The Veggie Club (value $9.95/month) to give away to the first three people who write me and ask for them.  You don’t have to write anything fancy.  Just send me a quick message and tell me what you’d be able to give away to someone else near you, in return.  For example, do you have clothes you could take to the women’s shelter? Or books to donate to the library? Invite an elderly neighbour over for dinner?  Whatever suits you best.

I’ll post again tomorrow announcing the 3 winners, and letting you know tomorrow’s gift.

For the rest of today, I’m going to be hanging out with my feet up, watching Top Chef, and opening birthday presents.

All best,
Shelley

Last video > Even if you can’t boil water…

Hi there, it’s late (well it’s after 9:30 and I’ve been up for a while).

I’ve just finished uploading the last video for our upcoming cooking class on November 22nd. Even if you can’t boil water, this is the class for you. Did your mother teach you how to cook, hand down all those family traditions?

Mine didn’t.

By the time my mom was 25 years old she had 4 kids (and one of them was me, remember), so she was all about efficiency and not much about teaching or patience.

So I had to learn to cook at school, and by much trial and error.

If you’d like to have someone standing beside you, who can say “do it like this, yeah, that’s great, you’re a genius”, then now’s the time to register.

The class will remain open for registration until Wednesday noon at the latest, but of course since there’s only 3 spots, I expect the class to be fully sold out later midnight tonight.

I don’t much like teaching the same class twice, so if you were hoping to learn how to make some healthy, (very) low cost meals for your family … then you need to register for the class now.

Oh yeah, the video is here:

REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS NOW CLOSED.

All best & happy Monday,
me : )

PS/ Did somebody say ‘wine’?

Autumn Pumpkin Bread

First let me say Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Even if you’re not in Canada, it’s a good idea now and then to stop for a second and give thanks…

I’ve got many things to be thankful for: a happy life, good health, a husband who likes to clean the bathroom (which he did yesterday), over 6000 subscribers, and really good food. Last night for Thanksgiving dinner we had Grant’s Chicken (spicy roast chicken), and a vegetable casserole with sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, pear, and zucchini.  It was trial #1 of a French Provencial veggie side dish, and it turned out pretty well for a first try.  Just one of cool recipes I found while in Paris this past September…

And since yesterday was a holiday, and we were both at home, wondering what kind of trouble we could get up to… well, it seemed like a good day to pull out the video camera and make a little video of me making AUTUMN PUMPKIN BREAD.  It is nearly Hallowe’en, after all, and we’re sliding down into American Thanksgiving.  Pumpkins are healthy veggies, and usually pretty cheap and plentiful this time of year

Anyway, here’s a little video from the test kitchen of One Roast Vegetable…

To become a member of The Veggie Club, go here > http://www.OneRoastVegetable.com/02.html

If you’re already a member, and you’d like to log in, you can go here >> http://www.oneroastvegetable.com/members/login.php

All best, and many thanks to all of you for being one of my 6000 ‘vegetables’,

Shelley

Owner & Head Tomato
One Roast Vegetable / The Veggie Club
http://www.OneRoastVegetable.com/02.html

Let’s Get Cooking > Virtual Cooking Class #1

How about if we make Vegetarian Chili together? OK, it’s really called “I’m not ready to be a Vegetarian Yet” Vegetarian Chili and it goes well with the other recipe we’re going to be making: Smoky-Corny-Cornbread.

“I’m not ready to be Vegetarain Yet” Vegetarian Chili,
topped with a bit of grated smoky cheddar cheese

It’s yummy AND it’s a great deal, because for only $14.95 you can have all this …

1. You get the illustrated recipes for both the chili and the corn bread (pages of full colour, step-by-step instructions).
2. Then you’ll get a video of me making these two items that you can watch in advance.
3. You will also get a grocery list 3 days before, complete with alternate ingredients to suit
   your tastes.
4. THEN we meet on the phone on Saturday, June 28th @ 9 am Pacific / 12 noon Eastern, and we cook together.
   Yes, you might hear a pan clanking or the water running, but we’ll all be there – and I will walk you through both recipes, step by step, answering questions and cheering you on! Total time will be 1.5 hrs give or take.
5. As a special bonus, you get ONE MONTH F’REE membership at “The Veggie Club,” our private membership site. This one month trial is f’ree when you sign up for the cooking class. You can check out the other fabulous illustrated recipes, the archived expert articles, and lots more cool stuff. Your membership to The Veggie Club will continue after the one month trial for $8.95/month, but of course you can cancel at any time.

This recipe for Not-Quite-Vegetarian Chili keeps well, can be reheated later in the day for dinner, or you can divide it up and freeze it. The Smoky-Corny-Cornbread can be made in a muffin tin and individual ones can be frozen.

So even if you aren’t going to eat it right after we cook, you’ll still want to make sure you register for the “Let’s Get Cooking” Virtual Cooking Class. You’ll get the illustrated recipe, the video, the shopping list, and when the class is over you’ll get a link to download the audio from the phone call.

>> If you’re not a member of The Veggie Club, you can register for this cooking class here <<

If you are a member, the price is only $5, and you can register:

To register for this cooking class by following these steps:

1. Member’s login here > http://oneroastvegetable.com/members/member.php
2. On the RIGHT side of the screen, it says Add/Renew Subscription.
3. From the Membership Type list, choose: “Let’s Get Cooking” Virtual Cooking Class #1 ($5.00)
4. Then click on the “Order” button

All best,

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu
Owner & Head Tomato

The price of gas

This blog posting discusses very important topics.  Such as the price of gas. And homemade cookies.

You’ll have to read to the end to learn about the cookies (which I’m going to mail right to your door).

The cost of gas continues to go up.  It’s really quite wacky.  OK, me personally, I can drive a bit less, take the metro a bit more. I live in a city with a good metro (subway), and I live right downtown.

But if you have to drive every day, then you’re watching your pennies right now.

I’m getting emails saying things like “sorry, I love your site and your recipes, but with the cost of gas, I have to watch my money.”

Rats.

Then another email comes in:  “With money tight I need to justify to my husband that I am getting my money’s worth.”

http://oneroastvegetable.com/02.html

OK.  So, I got thinking.

One way to cut down on monthly expenses is to reduce the amount of take-out/delivery you’re eating, and to pack your lunch — in other words, cook more at home.  And not just boil-in-bag dinners, or microwaveable bags of steamed veggies! Those are way too expensive!

To save $$, you’re best off cooking from scratch.  It’s also way healthier.

One of the recipes on my membership site, The Veggie Club, is for Vegetable Corn Chowder. It’s $1.29 per bowl to make. From scratch. That’s a dinner-sized serving.  And it’s healthy.

I’ve also got a recipe for Sausage Minestrone, which is $1.35 a bowl. Jesse wrote: “OMG! I made your Sausage Minestrone last night. WOW! … It tasted incredible!”

OK.  So I got thinking some more.

For new members of The Veggie Club — the private membership site where you can find all these full colour, wonderful, illustrated, veggie-filled recipes — if you’d like to sign up but you’ve been worried about your budget, I’ve done two things…

THING #1 THAT I’VE DONE:   The regular monthly rate to be a member of The Veggie Club is $8.95/month.  But if you sign up for 3 months, I’ve reduced the price to $5.50/month.

And even better, how about $4.95/month? That’s your rate if you sign up for a year…

Let’s do the math.  Signing up month-by-month will be $107.40 per year.  Signing up for a year all at once will be $59.40. Hmm, I might be seeing cross-eyed, but that looks like nearly 50% less.

**No matter what it costs, though, it won’t make any difference to you if you’re not committed to eating better, to making more food from scratch, to eating more vegetables, and to eating more at home.

But if you ARE ready, then welcome to The Veggie Club.  Let’s get cooking

http://oneroastvegetable.com/02.html

THING #2 THAT I’VE DONE: I’ve created an affiliate program for members. It’s pretty easy to earn money here … If you refer people who become members of the site, you get paid money.  Nothing more complicated than that.  Payments go out every month. Refer a few people, they sign up, then your membership fees come out to zero.

Of course, if you’ve got lots of friends or a big list, or you live in a big neighbourhood, or your church friends are interested, then you might become a super affiliate like Christine who earned a big whack of money last month (no kidding, over $300).

If you’d like to become an affiliate, once you’re a member, send me an email and I’ll give you the secret handshake

http://oneroastvegetable.com/02.html

I know that you’ve got lots of things on your plate — lives are busy, kids are going here and there, your parents live with you, or maybe you’re struggling to cook healthily for one.

You’ve got lots on your plate … and I’d like to help by adding some yummy meals to your plate Being a home chef, and a girl from small-town Nova Scotia, it’s the least I can do!

http://oneroastvegetable.com/02.html

All best,

Shelley
Owner / Head Tomato

PS/ Bonus cookies, yikes I nearly forgot, I’m sending out a dozen homemade gingersnap cookies to the first 7 people who sign up for the one-year deal … cookies mailed right to your door.  Free.  Yummy.  Did I say homemade? http://oneroastvegetable.com/02.html