Homemade Summer Harvest Ravioli

I want to start this entry off with an invitation to all of the people that think they know how to cook Italian food, or their great aunt whatshername makes "The best meatballs and gravy ever". The fact is that most Italian dishes are rustic, simple peasant like meals that were made with ingredients that are cheap or easily available. That being said, it is still my favorite style of food to cook. I have had long drawn out discussions with so many people about food from the north, food from the south, the types of tomatoes used, is it sauce or is it gravy? (Sorry folks but cooked tomatoes will always be sauce, If you add some sort of meat to the tomatoes while its cooking then I guess you can call it gravy). The bottom line is, regardless where any of your ancestors are from, good food is the only objective here. (My family comes from Naples, so we know everything lol).

This is a simple recipe for making ravioli and tomato sauce from fresh garden tomatoes (not pre cooked in a can), and some flour and water. The first thing is the "sauce". I found the best way to get the most out of your sauce is to dice up 3 or 4 tomatoes and get them into a pot with two finely chopped garlic cloves and a tablespoon of fresh basil. The next step is a bit of a short cut, but you get the same result faster. Now I have had some of my friends make fun of me for using this product and some that praise it as I do, but for years now I have used the "Magic Bullet" in my kitchen with no issues what so ever. I also have recently been using the "Bullet Express" which is the larger machine that is more like a food processor. Regardless of what you use, now is the time to throw as many tomatoes into your food processor as you can and crush them into a nice thick raw sauce. You can also add any other seasonings into the processor to save some time. I will stick with the herbs and spices I added earlier. Now add your raw sauce into your sauce pot, mix and let it simmer. You can cook out your tomatoes for about one and half hours due to the fact that they are fresh and not pre cooked in a can.

Now comes the fun part... Time to get floury, is floury a word? Anyway, the first thing you need to do, is make sure you have the room or counter space to roll out your dough, or else this could end up taking a real long time. Step 1. Mix your flour with water. Step 2. Chase whoever is near you around the house with your gooey swamp monster from a Scooby Doo cartoon looking hands and howl at them in a ghost like manner... You can skip step 2 if you like. You should mix you flour and water sparingly. If you over work the dough you start to create a higher levels of gluten, and will make your pasta a bit tougher. So the key is to lightly mix the two components together until all the flour is incorporated into the ball of dough. Some of you may have noticed that I never mentioned using eggs in my flour mixture...That's because its a summer ravioli, the egg would make the dough too heavy and dense. So to lighten the noodle you just use water. Out of a five pound bag of flour, I used about half for my dough. That rendered about 200 2 inch ravioli, with a big ball of dough left over (about 100 or more in that ball). That should be more than enough for any family. Now let the dough rest for about twenty minutes, this gives you time to apologize to any one you chased around the house, stir your sauce, have a glass of wine(your gonna need it). Now you can make the filling. The filling that I used for this dish is sticking with the summer theme. It's a mixture of ricotta cheese with grilled chicken, fresh basil, and lemon zest. The chicken should be shredded so it can be incorporated into the cheese without it being too lumpy. Now you can use any form of chicken you want. For this recipe I used two rotisserie chickens. They are easy to work with and have minimal fat, so you can use most of the bird and not have any greasy nastiness affect the filling. You can use both the white meat as well as the dark meat in your cheese mix. Finely dice up 1 cup of fresh basil(you can add some more if you like). The zest of two large lemons and the juice of one half lemon, and mix everything together. Cover and let the mixture set.

Okay,you have your sauce simmering, your cheese filling is mixed and the dough has been resting long enough. So, LETS GET READY TO MAKE RAVIOLI!!! That should wake the dough up a bit. First and foremost... Don't forget your flour. You have to flour everything. Your table, your rolling pin, your hands, your friends, your rolling pin again and again. It is of the utmost importance that the dough does not stick to anything. For years now, I have been using a plastic mold for folding the ravioli. The mold is a circle cutter on the bottom and it bends in half on the top to fold the little dough disc you just cut. These types of plastic cutters/fold and press devices are sold in most cooking stores. I also in the past have done the manual fold over technique, as well as the two sheet method , which is when you roll out a long sheet of dough, set your filling in individual little mounds all over the sheet, salt and water around the mounds...(I will explain the salt and water in a bit). Then roll out another sheet, place it on top of the first sheet and the mounds, manually press around the mounds, use a round cutter, add more salt and water along the edges, use the tines of a fork to further press in the edges of the ravioli and create a design pattern. That my friends is ludicrous. Now I know that before there was any form of advanced cooking technology, this is how it was done, but we live in the modern world, so use your gadgets if you got em. Now I can't tell you where the salt and water concept came from, but that method was taught to me to ensure that the edges of the noodle don't come apart. If you know the two spoon technique, then this will make sense to you. If you don't this might sound stupid, but I will explain it as best I can. The only way to truly understand it, is by trying it. The concept is simple, you use a spoon to scoop up the cheese mixture and use the second spoon to shape the mix into a more rounded mound. This will give an even amount of filling every time. You could also use an ice cream spoon if you are making larger ravioli.
Place the filling closer to one edge as opposed to the center of your disc so its easier to fold. With a small brush or your finger rub a small amount of the salt and water mix around the edge of the disc and fold. PRESTO!!! You just made a ravioli. Now repeat this 199 more times!?!?!?. Now fresh pasta cooks really fast, so make sure your water is boiling, and remember to season your water with salt, pepper, and anything else you want to add...(It's the last chance to give the pasta any flavor of its own before adding the sauce). The ravioli will float to the top of your water in about two to three minutes. Now since we have gone to all the trouble to make ravioli and sauce from scratch, it would be a bloody shame to just dump sauce over the cooked noodles and call it a day, wouldn't it? When you get a pasta dish in a restaurant, it is usually finished in a saute pan. You remove the pasta from the boiling water and place it in a hot pan while adding sauce. This technique is used to marry the flavors of the pasta and the sauce. It completes the dish. Again it would be a shame after all this work to just have an incomplete, lackluster dish, due to skipping what is in my opinion one of the most important steps if not the most important step in this whole process. I finished the dish with some grilled chicken breast, grilled broccoli. You can add any other protein you like.

A little side note ....
I wasn't planing on making this dish at all, when my wife turns to me in the market and asks if I feel like making fresh ravioli. That was at five o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. We ate at at eight thirty that night. It may seem like a long time, but considering the amount of food being made from scratch, I'd say that it was worth it.

This meal may seem a bit overwhelming to someone that has never made fresh pasta before, but the truth is... It takes a lot of time, it is physically demanding, and it can become frustrating for a myriad of reasons, but there is nothing that you can create in your kitchen that is any more rewarding than this meal. Sure it may take some time, but its all worth it when you and your family sit down to eat what you hand crafted for them.

Better late than never "Cedar Plank Salmon"

As per usual, I have been way too busy to write a new entry. But I assure you that I still found time to cook, and that is the point of this blog. I guess when people try to cram to many things into their daily lives we tend to overlook some of the small but important things. That being said I chose this recipe because its a great meal that can be cooked by anyone and also can be found pre prepped in many supermarkets and food stores.

The first step to this dish is the cedar plank. You must use cooking grade cedar that does not have any chemicals or that has been treated in any way. The cedar at Home Depot will probably make you ill if you try to cook with it. The plank should be submerged in water for about an hour so the wood expands a bit and for the water to integrate some moisture into the wood so it wont flame up on the grill...(Your salmon should not look like it's in the fiery depths of hell). I used a two pound fillet of a beautiful North Atlantic Salmon. Now how the salmon is cleaned varies based on personal taste. Some would rather the skin be removed prior to cooking,(If you don't know how to remove the skin properly, your fish monger can do it for you) I prefer to leave the skin on, I feel the skin helps retain a bit of moisture in the meat of the fish and it helps create a fat barrier between the fish and the wood.



Some of the wood will char a bit during the cooking process and will give the fish a great smokey smell. The salmon was rubbed with a mixture of brown sugar and finely chopped garlic, freshly cracked black pepper, the juice of half a lime and a tea spoon of olive oil. Rub both sides of the fish gently, aggressive rubbing might break down the fish too much. Let the fish rest for a few minutes so the rub can do its magic, this gives you time to clean and prepare the asparagus and the mushrooms. The asparagus is grilled, so all you have to do to it is brush it with a little bit of olive oil and some sea salt. The mushrooms are coked in a sauce pan and reduced down into a gravy with some butter, white wine, and shallot's. Pre heat your grill on high for ten minutes then add the salmon, close the lid of your grill and reduce the heat to medium high. If you are using a charcoal grill, move your coals to the back of your grill and place the plank towards the front to even out the temperature. Cook until the temp reaches 130 degrees internally and remove it from the grill, let it rest for about 5 to 7 minutes...(The fish will still be cooking internally for a few minutes, so let it cool down for a bit). While the fish is resting, you can throw the asparagus on the grill for a few minutes. It doesn't take long for them to cook. I finished this dish with some sliced avocado with a little lime juice and a fruit that if you can find it in your local store, you should try it. The New Zealand Red Tamarillo is one of my favorite side dishes for its tartness, color and texture. I choose to use the tamarillo in this dish due to the fact that the fish had a sweet brown sugar glaze and the tamarillo would offset the sweetness in a different way that some citric acid would. After the salmon cools, slice it in two inch pieces. Place a spatula or a thin knife under the fillet and try to remove the fish while leaving the skin behind, it should peel right off. Squeeze some fresh lime juice on top and sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the plate and serve. This is a fun and a not so ordinary type of salmon meal that will certainly impress anyone you are serving it to... Now go cook !!!!

Brown Sugar and Black Pepper Rub.
2/3 of a cup of light brown sugar.
1 1/2 Tbsp of cracked black pepper.
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped .
1/2 Lime (juice only).
1 Tbsp of olive oil .
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the dry ones, and rub the mixture on the fish. Let the salmon stand with rub on it for at least 5 minutes.

Mushroom Sauce
14 to 16 small to medium size white button mushrooms...(Or two 8oz pre sliced packages will work as well).
1 small shallot finely chopped.
1 cup of white wine.
3 Tbsp of butter.
Rinse and slice the mushrooms, add them to a pan with 1 Tbsp of butter and the shallot. Let the mushrooms sweat out for a few minutes then add the rest of the butter and the wine. Add some fresh parsley, cover and reduce the heat to medium low until the mushrooms reduce into a gravy like consistency.

If anyone has a question on this or any other recipe, please see the comment section on this page .

Thanks
Dan

World Cup Party ...

The people that know me, know that I have a big mouth. This time my big mouth had me cooking for about 30 people for the FIFA World Cup Final game between Spain and the Netherlands. It all started when I was at my friends son's second birthday party. I was discussing international soccer with some friends over a few cocktails....This is always the point when I open up my big mouth and commit myself to something. So I blurt out "I will throw a World Cup Final party, and cook dishes that represent the two teams in the final game". I immediately thought...what if the two teams in the final are Algeria and Ghana? I never tried to cook anything that resembles authentic cuisine from either country. So for the next three weeks that followed I struggled with what was I going to cook and what teams were going to be in the final. As much as I wanted Argentina to win it all(I cook a lot of Argentine dishes), it came down to Spain and the Netherlands. Spain was easy, there are so many dishes to choose from, The Netherlands on the other hand was a bit harder. Now I start doing research, and thinking about who I am cooking for, I realize that many of the traditional dishes from The Netherlands would not go over well until I discovered Slavinken (Bacon Wrapped Pork Parcels). I thought that this might work but I wanted to tailor it for my guests as well as put my own flair into it. I altered the recipe a bit by adding ground beef to the pork, also using a simple chimmichurri dressing to help bind the meats together. I choose to grill the parcels almost like a hamburger as opposed to cooking them in a pan. The grill allowed me to cook more at once and add a nice smokey flavor to it. I also put a cast iron skillet on the grill to cook the bacon, It added a real nice edge to the already smokey flavor of the bacon. To complete the dish I steamed white and green asparagus and baked (on the grill, in a roasting pan)red "new" potatoes and purple potatoes. A funny little side note...While my guests are watching the game and eating...(and I'm running around like a madman), one of my friends asks "Why are the potatoes purple?" The only answer I could come up with was "I don't know". Yes I admit it...I do not know everything, but now I do. They have the same antioxidant makeup of a blueberry, albeit taste and look like a potato. They were originally cultivated in Peru, but can be found all over the world. Finally with the help of a friend (Thanks Dan), we made a Hollandaise sauce for the asparagus.

Now on to Spain.

There are so many different things one could cook that are indigenous to Spain, and my first thought was Seafood. Now I wanted to cook a lot of food for a lot of people, but didn't want it to be to generic. My first choice was to use Cod fillets, but when dealing with fresh fish, you have to go with whats available. So I went with theses really nice Whiting fillets that I baked on the grill in an oval terracotta casserole that was given to me by a friend. Terracotta bake-ware is a traditional vessel for Spanish and Portuguese cooking. I used a simple dressing of olive oil, the juice of two lemons, 1 cup of "Vinho Verde" (A very dry Portuguese white wine), and 1, 11 oz jar of capers. I let the fish slightly cook in the marinade for a few minutes, then took out the fillets and placed them on the grill for a quick sear and returned them to the casserole. Simultaneously I had two large stock pots with 50 giant Northern Cherrystone Clams steaming in 3 cans of beer, 4 tbsp of butter and some fresh Thyme. Over the years I have come to realize that not everyone is willing to experiment with food or be willing to try something different, so I also threw on some chicken breast marinated in the same chimmichurri dressing on the grill, as well a some traditional Bratwurst. So I unfortunately did not get a picture of the Whiting with the clams,(there was too much traffic around the table to try to plate at that time). Everything was served family style due to the fact that there were too many people to seat, and everyone was focused on eating and watching the game at the same time. Now just to keep up with the theme of this blog... Everything I cooked is all natural whole foods, I only used organic fats (extra virgin olive oil, and organic butter), all the seafood, meat, and poultry as well as the produce was fresh. Some of our guests asked if they could bring something such as an appetizer or snack...I said sure as long as its a healthy non processed dish such a fresh cheeses, artisan breads, and a vegetable platter. Yes this was a long day of cooking, but anyone of these meals can be prepared in less than an hour individually. Actually the amount of time I spent cooking, with some help was about two and a half hours, for all that food that's not too bad. Of course the clean up is the worst part.
If you're anything like me, and let your big mouth get you into situations like this one...Don't stress, keep your focus and go cook something!!!!


Dan

Directions for Slavinken.

4 lb ground pork (preferably 80%/20% lean)
4 lb ground beef (preferably 80%/20% lean)
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp fresh marjoram (or 1 tbsp dried)
1 cup of Chimmichurri Dressing

Directions for an authentic Argentine Chimichurri Sauce.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup freshly chopped Oregano
1/2 cup freshly chopped Parsley
4 Garlic Cloves very finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

3 16 oz packages of bacon or prosciutto
(you can never have enough bacon !!!)


Mix the ground pork, beef and herbs. Add salt and pepper (don't add too much salt, because the bacon is salty).
Wet your hands and form small sausages with the ground pork and beef mix.
Brush grill grates with olive oil and place parcels evenly. Cook over a medium flame for about 5 minutes per side, remove from the grill and let them rest for 5 minutes. Wrap bacon strips around each one .

Directions for Hollandaise Sauce.

3 lbs butter (clarified)
6 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly minced parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in the top of a double boiler. Stir in butter and beaten egg yolks. Whisk together. Add salt and lemon juice. Cook over boiling water in a double boiler until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and beat with a whisk until light. Stir freshly chopped parsley, if desired.

Directions for Whiting in white wine and lemon sauce

6 lbs of fresh Whiting fillets (boneless and skinless)
1 cup of white wine (Vinho Verde)
1 11 oz jar of Capers in water
4 tbsp of freshly minced parsley
The juice of two Lemons
4 tbsp of olive oil
salt and pepper

Cook the fish in a oval terracotta casserole (if you don't have one, use any other type of high heat bake-ware) for a few minutes. Remove the fish from the sauce and place on the grill for a quick sear. Return the fish to the casserole for a few more minutes and serve. You can add some more fresh parsley, or lemon zest at this point.

All the recipes are for making large amounts of food, you can adjust the ingredients based on how much of the main ingredient you are using.

This is a quick and easy recipe that has interchangeable parts that compliment the main ingredient. So this weeks main ingredient is Yellowfin Tuna . I used 6oz. tuna steaks that are about 3 to 4 inches wide and about 1/2 inch thick . As with any recipe, you can substitute most of the side ingredients, for example you can replace the asparagus for broccoli . The mushrooms and onions can be replaced with a potato or rice of some sort . The list goes on and on, but all the ingredients in this dish seems to work quite nicely together. The sides are steamed asparagus , saute baby bella mushrooms and vidalia onions, and my favorite side...Kumato tomatoes. The Kumato is a brownish green like tomato that has an exceptional flavor and can be found in most supermarkets . If your sick and tired of generic tomatoes that taste like cardboard, give Kumato a try its a nice change from the ordinary. So with three pans on the stove you can cook this meal in twenty minutes from prep to table. You need a steamer of some sorts, I use a rather inexpensive bamboo steamer with two levels. place it in 12 to 14 inch pan and fill the pan up half way with water. Set on high flame, cover and let steam, takes about 5 minutes. Next add a little olive oil in a saute pan with some garlic and add your sliced up vidalia onions and baby bella mushrooms. Cook them on a medium flame until the onions clarify . Now you start your fish. Remember, Prior to cooking the tuna you should wash it gently with cold water a pat it dry with a towel.(make sure its dry before putting it in your pan with hot oil, or else it will splatter and could be dangerous). I feel the mixing two different fats in preparing a meal is perfectly OK. I used olive oil to cook the fish but then added a pat of butter at the end to give it a silkiness and round out the flavor of the garlic and herbs.

Directions for cooking the Yellowfin Tuna Steaks .

4. 6oz Yellowfin Tuna steaks. (boneless and skinless)
4. Garlic cloves
1. Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
2. Tbsp of butter (2 pats)

Season the steaks with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat up a non stick pan add the olive oil and finely diced garlic . Place the tuna steaks evenly around the pan and cook at a medium heat for about 1 minute and a half to two minutes per side. (you will see the steak change color up the side to a lighter gray). Add the butter close to finishing the second side, pour the melted butter with garlic over the top of the steaks. Garnish with diced parsley and a shot of fresh lemon juice .


Don't be afraid of cooking fresh fish, it's is fast and easy and worth every penny when done right .
Now go cook something ...

Dan

OK, let me start this entry off by summarizing the past eight days. We had our annual "Dance Recital". last week of music classes, student appreciation day and various other time consuming responsibilities ... And I still found time to cook some great meals that are restaurant worthy.

First we'll start with Friday morning. I had a late night and got up way to early. Realizing that there wasn't much in the way of breakfast food available to cook, I decided to cook the last three eggs in the carton. Now there are a million different ways to cook an egg,but my preferred technique is "basted". The "basted"technique is just a fried egg, or also known as "sunny side up". The difference with a basted egg is that you use steam to cook the vein or top of the egg as if it was cooked "once over". So I start my pan off with 1 teaspoon of butter and thin little slivers of garlic. Add the eggs....(A side note. Crack your eggs on a flat surface as opposed to the edge of your pan or mixing bowl,so you avoid getting bits of shell or as I like to call it "shrapnel" in what you are cooking). I lowered the heat to medium and I started collecting the rest of my ingredients. I finely chopped fresh Basil and threw in a sprinkle of Ground Coriander. A little salt and pepper and I am ready to baste. Using 1/2 an ounce of chicken stock ...(if you don't have a way to measure 1/2 an ounce , use a standard shot glass and fill it half way!), cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat off . The eggs will be perfectly cooked and you won't have to turn them over . Shave some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on the top , add some sliced tomatoes and avocado and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top. Garnish with some finely diced parsley and basil and serve with a fresh cup of coffee.
I cooked this dish in less time than it took for the coffee to brew . And this is how I started the beginning of the "eight days of insanity" .....





Now onto Sunday nights dinner. The menu was what I would consider a typical Sunday meal in the winter months but I felt like making pasta sauce albeit the middle of June. Now I know making sauce is not as easy as 123. It does take a while to cook, but if you've already committed your self to spending that much time in the kitchen, then you can cook some other things that are also time consuming... So I had a bit of a mishap that I am sure has happened to some of you. I was adding salt to my tomato sauce and the rotating selector cap on the top of the container fell off and a small mountain of sea salt is now on top of the sauce itself. This is a perfect opportunity to freak out considering how much time was invested into the sauce already. Luckily I was in the company of some friends that were willing to run to the store and grab me a couple of cans of crushed tomatoes. I tried to skim off as much salt as I could and then split the contents of the sauce into two pots . I added the fresh cans of tomatoes and about the equivalent of eight ounces of parsley. After some reducing I added a cup of red wine 2 pats of butter and let it slowly do its thing, this allowed me to start a garlic and herb risotto that was what the sauce is for. If you never cooked risotto, it is a labor intensive process. You have to stay on top of it or it will get away from you. Once your "In The Weeds" with your risotto, there really is no way out. Once the sauce and the risotto were near completion, I threw some sirloin steaks on the grill that where marinating in an authentic Argentine Chimichurri sauce and placed a whole peeled Vidalia onion on the top rack. Once the steaks were almost medium rare, I took them off the grill and let them rest, this gave me the opportunity to finish the risotto and cut up the onion. When it was all said and done, The entire meal from prep to table took about an hour and forty five minutes. Yes you can cook tomato sauce in a short time, it just comes down to manipulating the heat and neutralizing the acidity with a generous amount of parsley . I have made it a personal mission as a an "amateur chef" to dispel the myth that you need to cook tomatoes for hours on end to make them less acidic and edible . I listed everything you need to make this dish below, please post if you have any questions.

Now go cook something !!!!!

Dan

Directions for Tomato Sauce
4-28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
2-28oz cans of tomato sauce
4 cloves of garlic
8 ounces of finely diced parsley
8 ounces of finely diced basil
1 cup of red wine

Add one table spoon of extra virgin olive oil in sauce pot and add thinly sliced slivers of garlic . Once the garlic becomes aromatic add the tomatoes and stir in half the parsley and basil let simmer for about a half an hour, then add the cup of red wine. Add the rest of the herbs, and with an immersion blender liquefy everything in the pot . Lower the heat and let reduce .

Directions for Garlic and Herb Risotto
15 ounces of high quality Risotto
1/2 Vidalia onion
34 Ounces of chicken stock
1/4 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup of white wine
1/2 cup of shallots

In a large saucepan, saute 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots in 2 tablespoon of olive oil until softened, but not brown. Stir in 1 cup rice. Stir in 1/2 cup white wine until absorbed. Add 5 cups of hot broth, in 1/2 cup additions; stirring at a brisk simmer until rice is creamy and tender. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 tablespoon of butter. Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions for an authentic Argentine Chimichurri Sauce.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup freshly chopped Oregano
1/2 cup freshly chopped Parsley
4 Garlic Cloves very finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

P.S.
Since Saturday was the Recital, There truly was no time to cook...So we kept up the annual tradition of pizza. At least it was from a reputable and authentic pizza joint, not any of those fast food frozen pizza places that I can't stand. When you have eat out, try to eat smart and eat fresh.

Weeknight Madness ...

OK, just so everyone understands this entry, let give you some insight on myself. I am a career musician, I have spent most of my adult life playing, performing and recording music which eventually lead me to teaching music on a professional level. Soon after meeting my wife who is a professional dance teacher, we decided to open our own music and dance school and work for ourselves doing what we love. Fast forward ten years and that brings me to today's topic. Its the end of our school year and things are hectic with last minute recital preparations and so on, so I get a phone call that one of our dance teachers needs me to edit one of her songs tonight. The recital is this weekend ...... Oh well it will have wait until after dinner. Now in my household there is no set dinner time, due to our crazy schedules and being business owners, were lucky if we eat before 8:00 PM.
So I invite our dance instructor to join us for dinner and then we will proceed with editing her music. As we are eating, she complements me on dinner and proceeds to tell me that she wishes that her family cooked. Her mom is a good baker, but no one in her family cooks which started the discussion about fast food,and how so many people in our society depend on the "Quick Fix" for sustenance as opposed to cooking something yourself and feeling good about creating a healthy meal. For example ... The meal that I prepared for four people took me less than 45 minutes from prep to table, most people spend more than an hour diddling around on a social networking site and neglect the fact that you should eat a well rounded meal. So I encourage all of you to get in your kitchen and try to be creative or follow a recipe to the letter, but most importantly cook something.




Dan