Chef Ed Says....

Holiday Tips




Tips to avoid a stressful Holiday




Keep it Simple!


Sometimes taking a few great ingredients and mixing them up just write, produces the most excellent explosion of flavors.




First Get a plan.



Organize! Plan your meals with similar ingredients so you will not have to purchase extra products.



If you know you need gumbo twice in the same couple days make a double batch and freeze the rest.


Smart Shopping


Watch the weight of the item you are going to purchase. Beware one brand may be cheaper but it has less product in it.


Only buy what you need if you end up with too much left over how much did you really save?


Support your local farmers and shop as close to home as possible. When you shop close to home the money stays closer.


Wine may get expensive during the Holiday season but instead of buying chef wine to cook with keep left over bottles wrapped tightly in the fridge.


Finding you bird


Always pick a nice size bird that look clean and fresh if not visible push on the plastic to ensure Ice crystals have formed between the skin of the bird and the plastic.


Large birds may get tough and small ones may leave you with less meat then expected.


Three days before the big day place it in a drain able pan and ice lightly with fresh ice daily.



Be careful not to place the raw meet under fresh vegetables or any other ready to serve food.

Its another bussly Thursday durring baseball season the sceduel is as follows:

4:00p.m. leave work
4:30p.m. Pick up little brother
5:00p.m. Home to get ready and leave the house
5:30p.m. Practice/ Game starts.

At 4:45 the oldest calls with the wife's phone and says :"Dad I don't want to play today"
"I'm too tired", "Can I skip?"

With a deep pause I said with a firm yet calm voice, "If you do not want to play your brother and I will stay home and play out-side."

and with out a sound the phone gets passed to my Wife.

Five minutes latter the phone rings

"I'm gonna hit you a home run!"

We'll be there!

Why can't we clean up this oil?
I am always so amused watching the country scramble in crisis mode.
How do we spend a week focused on a guy who locks him self out of a vehicle with a couple bags of fertilizer and some fire crackers and let millions of gallons of oil spill into the Gulf.
Makes you wonder?

Mondays are great way to start Fresh!
Clean up last thing on Friday and walk in to a new week.