Do you have ‘mystery meat’ in your freezer?

I feel like Autumn is the beginning of a new year, even more so than January. It’s the ‘back to school’ phenomenon … new pencils, new clothes, new backpack. Everything is shiny and brimming with possibility.

So now’s the time to take a ‘back to school’ approach to the kitchen. It’s time to get organized, get rid of habits you don’t like, adopt some new ones. Over the summer, you may have been eating more take-out meals than you’d like, or one too many frozen dinners. September is the perfect time to get adopt a new regime and break the take-out/frozen meal habit. And I’ve got a few tricks that will help 🙂

Don’t know where to start? Have a look at what’s in your house.

Start by clearing your clutter. Go through your cupboards and your fridge. I think that it’s probably a good idea to throw out the stuff you know you’re not going to eat. I find it very demoralizing to open the freezer and see something that I put in there (that I didn’t really like when I made it). Then every time I open the freezer thinking “what’s for supper?” – I see that thing, and I say to myself “oh, I don’t want that.”

If you don’t want to throw out food, you can always give it to the homeless shelter in your town. I did this recently – I’m afraid to tell you – I got married last year and we had a reception here at the house where we had cake and champagne. I made three chocolate cakes, and only half of one cake was eaten. I cut the leftovers in half and froze them, and thought “someday we’ll eat them.” And six months later they were still in my freezer, kind of depressing … so I took them down to the women’s shelter with cans of frosting, and they were super thrilled to see me. It was going to be the treat for bingo in the afternoon.

While you’re looking through your house for food you know you’re not going to eat, at the same time you can make an inventory of what you DO have that could be turned into a meal. For example, if you have pork tenderloin in the freezer, we could put that on a short list of “let’s find a way to use it up this week.” If you’ve got some pasta, for example a box of spaghetti, we’ll find a meal for that. Start with what you already have in the house so that you’re not buying every ingredients for all of your planned meals.

Sometimes I’ve got a box of lasagne noodles that’s been there for 2 weeks, or 3 weeks, or 4 weeks. And I’ll open up the cupboard and think “those noodles, better find a way to get rid of those noodles.” Or it could be a single can of coconut milk, and that reminds me of the Thai curried chicken recipe that I like to make, so that’s what I’m going to make this week because it uses up an ingredient that I already have.

Check your pantry, and your deep freezer. If you have a half-pound of ground beef, or a pound, or a piece of pork tenderloin or a chicken breast – let’s find a meal to use that up. I’m sure there are lots of people who have deep freezes full of mystery meat!

 

 

This week’s cooking letter has been extracted from Step #3 in the “Eight easy steps to plan your week so you can eat at home, save money, be healthy, and impress yourself!” This 17-page Special Report #1 > Motivation and Meal Planning is available by PDF download now.

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback. Just hit reply to this email and drop me a line 🙂 You can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu,Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

“I won’t pay for recipes!”

Lise in England writes: “There are a lot of cheap people out there. And there are so many free recipes online that people won’t want to pay for them.”

I understand Lise’s point. There are in fact billions of recipes online. Let’s take meatloaf as an example. If I go to epicurious.com, and search for meatloaf, there are 48 recipes. Yikes, how could I pick one? I start reading through the first two or three. The first recipe uses oatmeal (yuck), the second one has a list of ingredients as long as my left arm including white wine, and the third recipe also uses oatmeal (what’s the matter with these people?) and calls for something called ‘meatloaf mix’. Now, I don’t know about you, but without a definition, I’m not exactly sure what meatloaf mix is …

Now pretend you’re my ex-boyfriend for a minute, you can picture him – he’s the one with lots of disposable income but for whom cooking wasn’t one of his greatest strengths, although eating in restaurants was. Imagine you’re him, this guy with cash, who finds cooking to be a chore, who says “let’s just order in.” His favourite at-home meal? Meatloaf. But he can’t cook it himself. Never learned how. So, if you’re him, and you go to epicurious.com, and you start looking for a meatloaf recipe, you’d be overwhelmed in about 2.5 seconds.

OK, so to get back to Lise’s email. What she sees as a downside, I see as a problem to be solved. Indeed, the problem is that there are soooo many recipes online, but are any of them any good?

Are these recipes fully illustrated with step-by-step instructions, foolproof, with full colour photography? Do these millions of online recipes come with the email address of a breathing human where you can send your questions if you get into trouble?

Try to imagine if Martha Stewart actually cared if someone could follow her recipes and successfully get dinner on the table night after night. Imagine if Martha Stewart created recipes that used only regular grocery store ingredients. Imagine if every recipe included how much it cost to make per person.

And what if LOTS of the recipes included a mini-recipe version… how to adapt the ingredients and timing to make the same meal for one (or 2 people) (instead of the 4-8 people most recipes feed).

The new book by http://www.OneRoastChicken.com isn’t a cookbook. It’s a cooking school. It isn’t even called a cookbook. It’s called “Successful Home Cooking.” Because I actually want you to be successful, and I’ve done everything in my power to design and create the best product for you so that you can be successful.

Here’s what Priscilla said after she made the meatloaf recipe in “Successful Home Cooking”:

“I really should enter therapy because of my meatloaf and grisly bologna experiences as a child.

I made your meatloaf tonight, Shelley. It tasted unlike any other meatloaf I have ever eaten in my life …… GOOD ! It was more like paté than the chunky dry square hamburger I usually concoct …

I got a little worried when I started your recipe – it started off really smooshy and then all of a sudden it all glued together like really light bread dough. Must have been a combination of some sort of chemical reaction, patience, and following the recipe. I have always balked at the idea of smothering meatloaf in ketchup – but your “spicy” ketchup has a little more class. And it worked for the potatoes too.

I like the details you give: the REASONS for doing things and EXPLANATION of why you do something. (Like don’t reheat in the microwave unless you want to eat sponge.)

I can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow and for more recipes.”

To make this recipe and more…

Check out OneRoastChicken’s new cookbook, “Successful Home Cooking” which is now available for order. This is not another cookbook. This is a cooking school in full-colour delivered right to your kitchen. All recipes include pages of colour photography and step-by-step instructions. And to keep you on budget, every recipe includes the price per serving. How about Meatloaf with Spicy Ketchup for $1.32 per serving? Or Chicken Tandoori for $1.81? Order your copy of “Successful Home Cooking” now…

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu,
Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

---

Cooking disasters and cooking success

Everyone has a great cooking disaster story. And they happen from time to time. Double a cookie recipe but forget to double the sugar. Results are inedible and end up in the garbage.

I used to be really sad when this happened. Think of the waste, the cost, why am I such an idiot? I remember once when I was about 20 years old, and not a very experienced cook, I attempted to make a pork stew using my aunt’s recipe. The whole thing was a giant disaster — pork too tough to eat (she must have used pork tenderloin, where I had picked something tough and cheap). I remember shedding tears as I threw the entire meal in the trash. Waste. Cost. Idiot.

Since then, I’ve discovered a few secrets to successful cooking.

1. A great recipe with step-by-step instructions.

Don’t you love recipes that help you succeed? How about recipes that let you follow along with pictures so you can see if you’re in the right place, getting the right results. Recipe 1.5 > Dutch Apple Pie is a perfect example.

2. A real person who can explain the tricks to making the recipe successfully.

This could be your mom or your neighbour.

Or it can be me! Send me an email, I’d be happy to answer your questions.

I believe that every recipe has a “recipe gremlin” — a little trick that if you don’t know about, the recipe won’t turn out as well as it could. And most people don’t tell you about the recipe gremlins… They say peel and core the apples, but do they remind you check the insides of each apple section for that plastic-like piece of apple core that you DO NOT want to find in your pie? (In the photos above for Recipe 1.5 > Dutch Apple Pie, this recipe gremlin is explained in step #4).

3. A great cheering section who’ll support your attempts, and who’ll eat your recipes, no matter what!

This can be your husband, wife, grandkids – anyone who’ll say “that’s great” even when it isn’t. And when you burn the potatoes he’ll say “I like them that way” when probably he doesn’t.

 

And while I still sometimes have kitchen disasters, I’m more matter-of-fact about it now. If you cook often enough, sometimes it’s not going to work out as planned. I try to have a sense of humour about it.

My cheering section says “ce n’est pas grave” (literally: it’s not grave, but really what he’s saying is “it doesn’t matter.”) And finally, I’m starting to believe him.

Do you have a kitchen disaster story?

Just post a comment. Got pictures? Send those, too.
You can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu,
Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

These are a few of my favourite things … Potato peeler

Right there in the kitchen. In a prominent place on the wall. Next to my measuring spoons. Ready for me to grab at any second. My bright fluorescent green potato peeler.

When André and I started dating, he took one look at my old rusty potato peeler and went straight out and bought me a shiny new Henckels peeler. Didn’t like it. Hard on the hands. Wasn’t sharp enough.

This new one, this green one, I found at a huge kitchen store while on vacation in Seattle. It cost about $3. I occasionally do volunteer work in a restaurant kitchen, and this kind of wide blade peeler is the only kind we use. It’s good for right and left handers, and it’s really, really sharp.

Of course, it’s not only a potato peeler. I think it’s called a vegetable peeler. Carrots. Stalks on tough broccoli.

It has earned its own place on the wall in the kitchen. Right underneath the art.

Subscribers write in >

My last article about “favourite things” was about a bamboo stick [if you want to read this or any cooking letter again, you can get your collection of the first 20 cooking letters here…]. I invited you to tell me about your favourite kitchen gadgets.

Here’s what Roberta (Vancouver, BC) had to say:

“I have the most glorious tool. It is a jar opener my mother bought for me in Hawaii many years ago and I am lost without it. It is basically a bar of wood with a heavy duty plastic loop attached. You fit the loop over the jar lid, then use one end of the bar as a lever against the jar lid which the loop is holding. I have round rubber things that call themselves jar openers, but they only open SOME jars. My little loopy thing opens all jars – have never met a jar yet it would not open. I have not tried those pliers-looking jar openers – but then I don’t need to.

What I also love about my jar opener (and why I never leave home without it when I go out photographing), is that I can use it remove the ball head off my tripod if I need to, and I can use it in reverse to tighten the ball head onto the tripod good and secure as well. There are no metal bits to damage the tripod head and it gets things on much tighter than I could by hand – very important when you are carrying big lenses on a tripod over your shoulder in rough terrain.”

Now, how many of us have a bottle opener that works as a photographer’s tool? How cool is that!

In this series of articles, to mix in with the recipe adventures and the meal planning and the research on the BEST ham and cheese pasta … well, in this series called “These are a few of my favourite things…” I’ll share some of the things that make my life as a cook just that little bit easier. Future articles will include the story of my special Dorothy-goes-to-Kansas chef shoes, and my potato ricer.

OK, what do you think?

Do you have a tool that you think everyone should know about? As always, I’d love to hear your feedback. Just post a response here or you can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

---

The first 20 cooking letters from OneRoastChicken.com > I have created a little booklet of the first 20 emails you’ve received … although I can’t really call it ‘little’ because it’s a whopping 48 pages long. And I can’t call it a ‘booklet’, either, it’s too comprehensive. Think of it more as a reference manual, a time capsule, a perfect snapshot, a collection of ideas and recipes and feedback and full-colour photos. A present from me to you. Visit this page to read all about it…

---

Subscriber feedback > A packed lunch is like a jigsaw puzzle…

Several months ago I wrote a weekly cooking letter about how making a packed lunch was like a jigsaw puzzle made up of 5 parts: drink + meal + veggie/fruit + sweet + salty. https://oneroastchicken.wordpress.com/2006/12/05/a-packed-lunch-is-like-a-jigsaw-puzzle/

My musings about making lunches and how to get yourself organized sparked a couple of great letters from One Roast Chicken subscribers.

Jennifer (Maple Ridge, BC) writes:

“I make lunch for Brendan every Monday and Wednesday night for preschool, so I love your 5-step jigsaw puzzle idea. I have to avoid nuts, so PB&J is unfortunately out, so I often struggle to find something that he will eat, and not the same thing each time. Cheese sticks are a common part of the puzzle for us… I like your suggestion to buy small milk containers rather than the juice boxes, although I usually give him a juice box (preferably with 25% less sugar) PLUS a sippy cup with milk in it. I’d love to see André take a sippy cup to work!

I usually make up a container of low-fat veggie dip (sometimes it goes well with chips, too J ) and I put some in a small plastic container along with the left-over cut-up veggies I served with dinner.

Philly makes light cream cheese dips like “Light Garden Vegetable” which is good as a sandwich spread instead of mayo (and surprisingly less fattening). That also takes care of the cheese part of a meat sandwich (one less step to worry about). Or sometimes I buy pre-sliced cheese at the deli counter when I’m buying lunch meats. I buy the big bags of sugar snap peas ($9.99 for a family pack, but I think it’s worth it), which is a very easy and healthy crunchy snack, with or without dip.

Now I’m going to go and see what to make for Brendan’s lunch tomorrow. Thanks for the inspiration!”

Irm (Victoria, BC) writes:

“I like your contemplations on lunch. I hesitate to mention, but think you might find it interesting to hear about making lunch for four different people each morning. One refuses to eat mayonnaise, will eat almost any kind of fruit or vegetable, but is picky about cookies (they’d better not be the least bit stale!); another loves loads of mayo but won’t eat liversausage, any kind of whole grain bread, or fruit that has gone the least bit brown or mushy; another likes mayo, but not with liversausage, is the only one who will eat fig newtons, and likes apples but not oranges; then there’s the one who likes sandwiches as long as they contain at least two condiments and three other toppings, but doesn’t fuss about much else. I won’t mention myself, although I do pack my own lunch, too.”

OK, what do you think?

Do you have any lunch tips you’d like to share with us? Any particular challenges? Need help? As always, I’d love to hear your feedback. Just post a comment or drop me a line 🙂 You can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

Sneak Preview: Collection 1 > The first 20 cooking letters

Dear Subscriber,

I’m thrilled to share with you that the Collected cooking letters booklet is back from the printer and I have to tell you, I’m impressed!

OK, I know. I wrote the letters, one by one each week, sending them off to you. Topics from cinnamon ice cream to cooking for one…

But when the book came back from the printers, I was truly surprised.

IT’S BIG!

I knew it was 48-pages, full colour, with a nice card stock for the cover.

But I didn’t think it would feel so SUBSTANTIAL.

Have you ordered your copy yet? Some have already gone out in the mail this week. Was one of them yours?

This collection is only available to senior subscribers — and based on how quickly the orders are coming in, I’m not sure how long this limited print run is going to last me 🙂 Yikes, I’m going to have to order more!

If you don’t want the print version (although if you could see it, you’d change your mind), you can always download the PDF version for $3.99 (Cdn).

But I know my subscribers pretty well. When surveyed, more than 50% of you want things sent in a PAPER version so that you can hold it in your hands. The print collection is full-colour and will be shipped to you by mail no matter where you live. I’ve created three postal categories (Canada, US, and International). You just have to figure out where you live (I know you can do it), and then you just order your copy which includes shipping.

To see a preview copy of the entire 48-page collection, click here [PDF file].

And once you’ve seen how fabulous it looks, you’ll want to order your copy by clicking here.

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback.
You can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.
Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

Food Treats in Paris

On a recent vacation to Paris, I sat on a sunny patio and wrote lots of notes about all of the great Parisian food bits I had discovered, because I knew I’d want to share them with you once I got home. Here’s part 2:

acations are great for getting us out of our food ruts. You usually can’t eat the same things that you have at home. Of course, the further away from home you go, the bigger the adventure. When travelling, the adventure of eating is as big and as great as you want to make it. I’m not talking about eating live reptiles (or even cooked ones). It’s more about having your mind opened to new possibilities.

Being married to a guy who doesn’t speak English has some advantages. For example, we’ve been to Paris twice, and are currently scheming our way back for a third trip. And when I’m being nosy and want to know what exactly is in the cream sauce served with our lasagne, André can ask for me. The answer is béchamel sauce — remember back when I thought white sauce was yucky?

We had a lot of great Parisian food adventures, both large and small. Here are some of my favourites:

1. The food adventure really began on Air France, where we were served a full meal with real silverware and wine that we didn’t have to pay for! We had an appetizer of marinated chick peas and tuna. Also of note was the free champagne, and the woman who came around with the bread basket (twice) so you could have little baby baguettes with your meal.
2. While there may not be a giant grocery store near your hotel in Paris, you will find — every few blocks — a corner store that sells fresh fruits and vegetables, lots of snacks, and corkscrews.
3. One rainy afternoon, we sat on a covered patio across the street from Notre Dame Cathedral. I read a cool book about life in France (A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle). We drank beer and ate 4-cheese pizza that included Roquefort. I would never have ordered this at home. I’ve always avoided blue cheese on principle. On this particular pizza, on this day, it was fabulous and salty and added a new dimension to the simple combination of crust + tomato sauce + cheese.
4. When you get back to your hotel room late at night after a concert, and you’re starving, the only thing open might be the corner store (see #2 above). But they sell tuna “saladières” in nifty packages with pasta and olive oil. It’s not exactly low in fat, but it makes for a very satisfying munchie. We bought extras and kept them in the little fridge in our hotel room.
5. There are restaurants that specialize in tartine, which literally means ‘slice of bread’. Open faced bread, with oil and seasonings, and then different toppings. Some are heated under a broiler, some aren’t. I had ham and swiss. André had chicken and bacon.
6. At the outdoor weekend food market, we found salt-water caramels, and herbes de provence. We learned that you can buy your beets raw or cooked, and that the squash is so giant you can buy just a slice if you like. This particular market also sells underwear, kitchen utensils, and fresh cheeses from all over France.
7. The grocery store sells a kit with all the ingredients necessary to make pot au feu, including celery, onion, carrots, leeks, and a spice package. Just add your own beef.
8. I discovered braised leeks. Really, who knew you could cook leeks and turn them into a silky side dish? These leeks were served as an appetizer next to grilled fish, the sauce a light mix of dijon, mayo, and perhaps tarragon. This was one of the great finds of the vacation, these braised leeks. They were perfect and opened up a whole new world for me. Adding to the novelty was the fact that they were served in a rotisserie restaurant that had a house cat, who roamed around beneath our feet the entire evening. I’ve got a picture of the cat, too, if you want to see it.

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback. You can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

Making recipes work for everyone > Metric New Zealand

ow I love to get email from One Roast Chicken subscribers. And this week, boy did I get a great one. Michele signed up for Recipe 1.1 > Roast Chicken with Rosemary, and within minutes she had unsubscribed.

Now, some people do sign up for the lovely free recipe, admire the photos, get excited about the possibilities of a roast chicken dinner … and then they unsubscribe. But, no kidding, I think it’s only happened once. Most people stick around to see what happens next 🙂 .

Not Michele.

She reviewed the first recipe and then she unsubscribed. And she wrote me a nice note:

Lovely recipes, but not in metric (for New Zealand). Could be converted I know, but makes it more difficult for a novice.

Wow. I am very lucky that she took the time to write me this brief message, even on her way out. Yes, I had realized (thanks to Elmira) that I needed to include fahrenheit, celsius and gas mark settings for oven temperatures. But before Michele from New Zealand wrote to me, I hadn’t fully opened myself to the truly global reach of One Roast Chicken, and how everyone was going to come to ORC with their own needs and requirements.

I also realized how important it was to me that all subscribers have a positive, successful experience with all of the recipes. Especially beginning and inexperienced cooks.

So I wrote Michele back:

You’re absolutely right. In upcoming recipes I’ve begun to address the issue of pounds / kilograms / cups and fahrenheit / celsius / gas mark — but I haven’t yet gone back and updated the first recipe for Roast Chicken. My apologies. I’d be happy to fix that tomorrow and send it to you. Your honest feedback is just the sort of thing I need to ensure that all of my subscribers are getting their specific needs met; I really appreciate it.

Michele was glad to hear from me. She wrote:

Wow, lovely to hear from you. Unfortunately, we metric users miss out on so much from overseas with regard to recipes. I would love to get the updated recipe when you get a chance and appreciate you offering to do that. I actually have a friend in mind who would greatly benefit from your service. She doesn’t cook at all, and is a very busy business woman, but she has a desire to start cooking. She wouldn’t have the knowledge or time to spend converting recipes, so the simpler the better.

I got busy and I have now updated Recipe 1.1 > Roast Chicken with Rosemary to include metric measurements. If you signed up for ORC before March 2007, then your recipe does not have the metric equivalents. If want to download the updated version, click here.

What do you think? Is there anything else I can do for you to make your life easier?

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, Owner & Head Chef
www.oneroastchicken.com

Transcript > Reading labels

My last update was a short audio update called “Reading labels > Instant beef soup.”
[The audio is available here: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/Wd6KRWHQ%5D

In case you have any problems listening to the update (it might be a bit slow if you’re on a dial-up internet connection), I had the update transcribed, and I wanted to include a copy of it here, so that you don’t miss out.

All best wishes,
Shelley

=====
Reading labels > Instant beef soup
=====

Today’s update is about reading labels. In an effort to keep costs down, when we were packing lunches, we had started adding an instant cup-a-soup to André’s lunch, to keep him from buying a bowl of soup from the daily canteen. (He likes to have soup for his coffee break, I guess it’s like his breakfast.)

So we were trying to keep costs down, so we picked up some instant soups in a cup, the kind where you just add boiling water, and they were really cheap, less than about 60¢ each sometimes.

He ate them very happily for several months. I would put one cup in each lunch every day, no work, very cheap, life is good.

Until I read the nutritional label on the side.

I’ll admit that I don’t read nutrition labels very religiously. Sometimes, if I’m standing in the grocery store and I can’t decide etween two boxes of crackers, I might check the fat or the sugar content.

Buy this instant cup-a-soup has 11 g of fat.

For comparison, that’s the same as a medium-sized donut, or two pork sausages. But if a regular can of Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup has 2 g of fat, how are they getting 11 grams into instant soup?

So we open up the top, look at the ingredients, what do you see? Noodles, it’s kind of salty, a few bits of dehydrated vegetables. That’s it. I pulled out some raw ingredients, similar ones, and I check the labels. Chicken broth? No fat. Beef broth? No fat. Instant Chinese noodles? Again, no fat.

It turns out they fry the noodles first before dehydrating them. I can’t tell you why. Unless it makes them taste better. It certainly doesn’t make them any more healthy.

I thought I would try to figure out how to make this beef noodle soup from scratch. It took me one or two trials to get the mix of ingredients just right. It’s hard to replace the very salty-MSG flavour, but the new version is super healthy and has 1 g of fat.

Now, on Mondays and Wednesdays after supper, I make up a batch of this soup, because each batch makes enough for two days. I don’t want to make too much in advance as I think the noodles would get soggy and weird, but maybe I’m just being careful. After it’s cooked, I divide the soup into two small containers, leave it on the counter to cool until bedtime, then I put them in the fridge.

Slightly more work, but cheap ingredients, and much more healthy.

=====
Homemade instant beef soup
=====

2 cups beef broth made with concentrate or powder (I use Bovril)

1 cup chicken broth (I use homemade from Extended Recipe 1.1, which has a tiny bit more fat than commercially prepared, but tastes better and has more body)

2 squares instant Chinese noodles

handful frozen peas

handful frozen corn

Put all ingredients into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit approximately 15 minutes, or until the noodles are soft and fully rehydrated. Divide into two plastic containers, let cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate.

—-
Because I don’t know about you, but when I want grams of fat I’d really rather have a donut than an instant soup.

This is Shelley for One Roast Chicken, and I’ll talk to you again soon 🙂

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu
http://www.OneRoastChicken.com

Questions (and answers) from One Roast Chicken subscribers

Here are a few of the questions (and answers) that have recently been sent to me at OneRoastChicken.com (they’re both from people named Mike, what kind of a coincidence is that?).

If you’d like to submit a question, just send me an email and get busy typing.

===

Question (from Mike in Halifax, Nova Scotia):

On the subject of herbs and spices … (I don’t know which are which), I have five in my spaghetti sauce recipe: oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. I would normally buy them (dried) in little plastic bags at the grocery store but I think they are also available in a fresh state. Is this preferable?

===
Answer: Thanks for the great question. On the subject of herbs and spices, according to science.enotes.com, “spices are aromatic (odorous) seasonings obtained from the bark, buds, fruit, roots, seeds, or stems of various plants and trees. Examples of spices are cloves, cumin, and black pepper. Herbs, on the other hand, usually come from the leafy part of a plant. Examples of herbs are oregano, basil, cilantro, and bay leaves” (source).

Fresh herbs are great when a recipe calls for rosemary or basil, both of which are completely different fresh-to-dried. Fresh basil would be great for your spaghetti sauce recipe, but not entirely necessary. I use dried basil for spaghetti sauce with great results. I save fresh basil for pasta that has only a few ingredients and when I need the basil flavour to really shine. Welcome to One Roast Chicken and thanks for writing.

===

Question (from Mike in Orlando, Florida):

I think I make an OK spaghetti sauce, but I need a better one. When I make mine, I use three cans of plain sauce for every small can of tomato paste. So I might use 9 cans of sauce with 3 cans of paste. I sauté onions, and garlic. I broil country ribs, and sausages, and sometimes I buy frozen meatballs. I add basil. What I can’t figure out is when I should put the basil in… while it’s cooking for 3 hours, or 20 minutes before it’s done? My sauce is missing that certain taste that I can’t explain. Maybe you could help?

===
Answer: Thanks for this request, I’d be happy to create a really great, simple, and tasty spaghetti sauce for the One Roast Chicken website, what a great idea! I’ll let you know when it’s ready … and I think you’re on the right track. Maybe canned sauce has too much salt and sugar, so we might be better off starting with whole canned tomatoes, and build up the spices from there… yummy, I can’t wait! I’ll keep you posted on the recipe research and thanks for the fabulous request 🙂

===
OK, I can take a hint! I’ve added spaghetti sauce to the list of requested recipes. I will work on creating a foolproof, easy, step-by-step recipe, using only grocery store ingredients with lots of full-colour photography. And I’ll let you know how to freeze it AND reheat single servings. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

===

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback. Drop me a line 🙂

You can always reach me at shelley@oneroastchicken.com.

Thanks and bon appetit!

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, Owner & Head Chef
http://www.oneroastchicken.com

====

To view recipes for download, visit this link. Have you downloaded your meatloaf recipe yet? This complete recipe includes a complete meal for 4-6, as well as a separate mini-recipe for creating individual, single-serving, baby, mini meat loaves. Do you need to impress a boyfriend? Girlfriend? You need to download this Meatloaf with Spicy Ketchup recipe right now and get cooking!

===