The coach put me in the game today, Thanksgiving will be at my house this year. I thought it might be fun to take the next week or two and go step by step with you, doing my planning process.

As I alluded to a couple days ago, now is the time to start planning. The first choice will be traditional, upscale or unique. Being a chef I wanted to opt for the upscale and unique, after talking it over with my wife I will be doing traditional and sneaking in upscale and unique.

OK now we must decide on buffet, family style or plated. Family style and buffet are basically the same, with family style all the food being on the dinner table and buffet style the food being on a separate buffet table. I think the buffet style is easier on the host, works great if yo have a small dinning table and can make a nice presentation. Yet you lose the family interaction of passing the food among each other and it is less embarrassing to go for 3rd and 4th portions when you can just reach instead of having to get up from the table.

Plated is much more work for the host, yet is much more upscale and elegant and show cases the food. I still need the night to think this over. I will let you know the answer tomorrow.

Best of cooking,

Chef Jeff

P.S.Please do not forget to take a video tour of the website at http://www.30daycookbook.net/blog.html

P.P.S. A great resource for beginning cooks can be found at

http://www.30daycookbook.net/charley.html

For many trying to cook fish usually has a bad ending. An ending where you would rather be out fishing then in the kitchen with dried out fishy tasting mush.

Yes you say, but I hear fish is healthy and I want to cook healthy for my family. Great, I have heard over and over eating salmon weekly if not daily is one of the best thing you can do for your health.

Step one is the fish must be wild salmon, farm grown salmon is not only lacking in some of the most vital benefits, farming fish is terrible to the environment.

Step two if you are just learning to cook fish, buy some that is already marinated, seasoned or stuffed. This will make you look like a great cook from day one.

Now bake the fish, until it just flakes apart. Depending on what you purchased the butcher will give you an idea of how long to bake it for. Remember it is better to under cook it and put it bake in for a couple minutes then to over cook the fish and have it dried out.

Best of cooking,

Chef Jeff

P.S.Please do not forget to take a video tour of the website at http://www.30daycookbook.net/blog.html

P.P.S. A great resource for beginning cooks can be found at

http://www.30daycookbook.net/charley.html

If you open your refrigerator and a deafening smell strikes out at you from some unknown place or container, it does not take rocket science to know your chicken (or some other product) has gone bad.

The question is how do you know if something is going bad and should not be eaten. Chances are if you have kept the food refrigerated and does not smell, bubble or have major discoloration you will not get sick. Oh yea and is less than two weeks old. The deal is if you are concerned chances are the food will not taste very good and certainly will have lost its health benefits.

If I am not sure I always toss it. The key is to be proactive to save the food. I know this is often difficult since after you are done cooking and eating clean up is often a chore. Yet a few minutes wrapping and freezing something will not only save you the money from tossing it out, you will now have a quickie meal in the freezer when you need it.

If you are buying marked down chicken or meat, remember it is marked down because it is the last day the store can sell it. So either cook the meat that night or freeze it that day.

So if your goal is healthy tasty food, be proactive. Ideally you would cook food the same day you buy it, but who has the time to go to the store everyday. And that six month old jar of mayonnaise. Recycle the glass but trash the contents, air and oil do not mix.

Best of cooking,

Chef Jeff

P.S.Please do not forget to take a video tour of the website at http://www.30daycookbook.net/blog.html

P.P.S. A great resource for beginning cooks can be found at

http://www.30daycookbook.net/charley.html

While looking through some old files I found an article I wrote several years ago. It seems a good topic to repeat so here goes.

As I laid thinking on the floor of the Urgent Care room, well maybe I should explain how I ended up on the floor. It was early Saturday moring and I must of been wearing my stupid hat. I was in a hurry and decided to use the wrong piece of equipment to slice tomatoes, so I wouldn't have to clean the slicer.

The rest as they say is history. Not only did I slice the tomatoes I managed to remove part of my thumb. Anyway it was nine hours before I could get to Urgent Care for repairs. The nurse had me sitting in a very high chair to soak my thumb. After she had left the room I became dizzy, so I just lied down on the floor. I guess the doctor was a little shocked to walk in and find me on the floor, but it made me feel better and gave me time to reflect on the accident. Thus a short list to kitchen safety:

1. Never rush when using sharp tools.
2. Use the right tool for the right job.
3. Work on safe, stable work surfaces.
4. When cutting with a knife, cut waway from your body.
5. Use a serrated knife for soft food such as bread and tomatoes.
6. Use a serrated knife for extra hard food such as bagels.
7. If used properly, sharper knives are safer, since they cut easier & do not slip
8. Never ever leave knives where some one else may accidently touch them such as at the bottom of a sink.
9. Always keep a first aid kit near the kitchen just in case.
10. Avoid using knives while taking pain pills from a previous wound. Two cuts are not better than one.

Best of cooking,

Chef Jeff

P.S.Please do not forget to take a video tour of the website at http://www.30daycookbook.net/blog.html

P.P.S. A great resource for beginning cooks can be found at

http://www.30daycookbook.net/charley.html

This will be the first of several holiday post to come. I know it is only September yet cooking magazines are already running holiday meals on their front covers.

My reference to a turkey eating you is based on your anxiety level eating away at your nerves as your holiday meals get closer and closer. You have a few choices in picking your holiday menu. You can stick to the typical safe traditional menu or try something completely different or possible a combination of the two.

Being a chef I opt for the completely different yet always end up with a combination. Some people just expect the traditional and will not be happy with out it.

The key here is to start marking, recording or tearing out recipes and pictures of entees or sides you find appealing over the next month or so. First it will save a huge amount of time when it comes to working out your holiday menu, instead of having to go back and search for articles you remember seeing. Second even if you do want to spend the time searching, you will never find all the articles you saw. Somehow they just vanish into thin air.

Ok, what I have been trying to say is, start preparing for your holiday menus now and save a lot of stress later, when you have better things to worry about, like cleaning the house.

Best of cooking,

Chef Jeff

P.S.Please do not forget to take a video tour of the website at http://www.30daycookbook.net/blog.html

P.P.S. A great resource for beginning cooks can be found at

http://www.30daycookbook.net/charley.html