cooking class experience

I taught my first cooking class at Great News Cookware and Cooking School last night. It was a fantastic experience! There were 30 people there including a couple of friends, Nicholas and Rebecca from Diego and Son Printing.

I was able to follow my passion for lean cooking and share several awesome recipes with all the participants. I got there a bit early at 3 for the 6 pm class. I had two terrific chefs, Corinne and Mia, to help me by doing all the prep for all 5 dishes I was going to be making. Together we made the Lean Cheesecake with Moroccan Twist Apple topping. Then they ran me through how the class works. How they set up one side while I'm cooking on the other side and talking through the recipes. How I'm not supposed to clean up, that they are little elves behind me doing all that while I continue to teach. The entire "behind the scenes" kind of stuff even though it's in front of the class.

Okay so other things I made that will be in my lean cooking cookbook out hopefully by 2009. Latin Heat Fajita Fritata, BBQ Sweet Heat Shrimp and Pineapple Skewers, Original Super Chunk Roasted Veggies, and Sweet& Spicy Turkey Meatloaf. All were great if I do say so myself. I always find things to improve upon, and with every cooking experience, there are always some adjustments that could need to be made. Like last night the meatloaf with very loose, juicy, like it had too much liquid, so we added more turkey and it came together. Everything tasted great, or so the class said. I think a couple of dishes may have been a bit on the spicy side and I noted adjustments for people to make.

Anyway I guess I just wanted to share with you all what a terrific experience it was. I really really enjoyed it and can't wait to do it again. Showing others how to cook better and easier is something I need to do to fill my heart.

Thank you. Jennifer

food for life & life for food

Well I keep meeting people that I talk to about food. They find out I own a gourmet food company and the conversation turns to good food, grilling, family recipes and so on. Food is so much more than what we put in our bodies to sustain us. It's love caring, time, creativity and then the taste, smell, texture and all that physical side of things. Good thing food. I hope this note finds you all enjoying your day of food and family and friends.

Jen
sauce goddess

worldfest LA

I did my first vegan festival last Saturday. It was a great crowd. They were okay with the fact that I am not a vegan but I can still make awesome products that happen to be vegan and that they can enjoy.

For those of you that don't know there are all different kinds of vegetarians. Some people eat fish, some eggs and dairy, some just dairy. Then there is vegan. My way of describing it is this (you vegans out there please correct me if I'm wrong) they don't eat anything that has any animal component to it. No dairy (comes from a cow), no eggs, meat, fish etc. So the odd twist that my Big Tangy Steak Sauce had a few of them thrown for a loop, but the way it tastes on a portabella mushroom if great and it's great on their mock steak sandwiches. And lastly those veggie burgers and dogs need a little sauce to make them extra tasty. It's just a great ketchup killer in my book.

So my message to those of you that are vegetarian or vegan (or those of you that cook for them), please try my sauces they are great and completely safe for those meatless friends. Also, please send me recipes for tofu and stuff. I want to add things like that to my site to mix it up. Thanks. Jennifer

my company is growing

I am so excited with the growth of Sauce Goddess. I don't know how many of you have personal goal and all that. I do. My goal for 2008 is to turn on as many people as possible to how easy and great it is to cook with Sauce Goddess.

Cool thing is I keep getting emails from people telling me how great my own rubs and sauces are. I'm not bragging here. I love to make it easy and really really tasty.

Like this email from my friend Erik at Happy Macs . He sent this to me over the weekend
"Latin Heat ! Oh my god!! Everyone loved the steak tonight!
:-)"

I will starting also be starting to email those of you that have purchased my products before or that I have met at an event and you have asked to be on my email "list". I am finally doing it.

That's all my thoughts for now. May your table be full of great food and plenty of smiling people.

Jen
The Sauce Goddess

continuing to experiment

I just had the most fun today creating some recipes for a tv spot on Super Bowl Sunday. New dip with blue cheese, cream cheese and my sweet & spicy grill glaze. yummy! It'll be on my site soon, but you can watch for it live on KUSI in San Diego or kusi.com. I'm pretty sure you can watch it on live feed.

Jennifer

holiday party ideas

How many of you are ready to cook for the holidays? Are you entertaining? Going to a holiday party maybe? Supposed to bring the "something to share". Well I have to tell you some small preparation and Sauce Goddess can help make it easy. Here's 3 of my favorites, BBQ Sweet Heat Shrimp, Latin Heat Dip with veggies or chips, and Sweet & Spicy Grilled Eggplant Puree with baguette for dipping or spreading. All 3 of these taste fantastic, and make a nice presentation. All of these reciplease are on our website-check it out.

Happy holidays to you!

Jennifer

saying thanks

It's so great when such a good thing can come out of something so bad. All of you around the country have heard of the nasty fires that have decimated parts of San Diego. Well some of us not affected as much have been volunteering, donating, helping out in any way we can. The generosity of San Diegans is unbelievable.

Yesterday morning I woke up to 100.7 Jack fm in San Diego, listening to Monique and the Man show (as I almost always do because it's a great way to wake up-nice positive show with fun music). They were talking about a huge donation that Outback Steakhouse and Westfield North County Fair were holding later that day. Outback Steakhouse and their suppliers donated 10,000 pounds of meat and salad and fruit to feed those displaced by the fire and to say a huge THANK YOU to the firefighters (many of whom have been in San Diego from Arizona, Oregon and other places for a week or so to help out).

I knew immediately that I had to be there. It was the perfect way to me to personally say Thanks to all the firefighters who saved my friends homes and lives. I could give them all sauce to take back to their firehouses. Sauce Goddess is a small company but I feel it's really important to do the things that move you. This day moved me. The cheers the firefighters got when just walking through the area was very very neat to see. All of them were just saying "it's my job, no problem", "it's what we do"and things like that. So modest for such a dangerous and giving career choice.

So I want to say thanks to Joe Gatto at Outback Steakhouse for letting me tag along and give my sauces to the firefighters. Thanks to Monique and Greg for waking me up yesterday and thanks to Kelly Nelson and her friendly staff at Westfield Shopping Towns for their generosity in allowing me to join in as well.

Thank you to all the firefighters for all that you do to keep us safe.