Happy New Year everyone.  I hope you all enjoyed the holidays.  I know I did.  But I am truly glad to see them over.  Seems like all we did was cook and eat, and of course, shop.  But we are happy to remove the tree and lights and get back into the ‘real’ world.  

It is also time to get past….way past….all of the cookies, candies, pastries, etc. that we ate during the season.  If you’re like 75% of Americans, you are making resolutions to eat healthier in 2008.  To help you, see our information regarding Understanding Fats later in this newsletter. 

Congratulations -- Every time you attend a class I ask you to fill out a survey.  I thank you for your feedback and try to implement suggestions whenever possible.  Now it’s my time to thank you, too.  Our winner for the most recent survey drawing is Debbie Uremovich.  She is the winner of a free Simply Impressive cooking class.  Congratulations, Debbie, and we look forward to seeing you in 2008.

January Classes – Our Tuesday classes are held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., our Saturday classes return back to 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Our Thursday classes are from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.  Our Teen classes are on Friday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

On Tuesday 1/8 and Saturday 1/12 we are offering Healthy Italian Dinners.  We will make chicken parmesan that is not fried but is still crunchy and delicious.  Get your healthy eating back on track with this class.  Cost is $63 per person.

Friday 1/11 will be our first Teen class of the year.  We will be making Party Foods perfect for serving to friends or family.  Cost is $45 per person and children must be between 13 and 18 years old to attend.  We will make items that teens will love to make and eat. 

To keep you warm on our cold winter nights, we are offering our Lighter Dinner Soups class on Tuesday 1/15 and Saturday 1/19.  Menu is found at Lighter Dinner Soups.  Price per person is $63.

On Tuesday 1/22 and Saturday 1/26 we are offering our Healthy Eating – Chicken Roulade class.  The menu for this class can be found at Chicken Roulade.  Price per person is $63.

The Super Bowl is coming to Arizona and to help you prepare, we are offering a Super Bowl Entertaining class on Tuesday 1/29 and Thursday 1/31.  The menu includes lots of great items to serve at your super bowl party.  We will be making appetizers and a main dish that are perfect for munching during the game.  Cost is $63 per person.

Upcoming Adult and Kids Classes for February – February brings us a great variety of classes with several holiday classes and several ‘ethnic’ classes. 

On Tuesday 2/5 and Thursday 2/7 we are celebrating Chinese New Year.  We will make a Chinese meal that will make you feel like you are in Beijing, but without the long flight.  Cost is $63 per person.

On Saturday 2/9 and Tuesday 2/12 we are celebrating again, but this time it is Valentines Day.  We will make a simple, yet romantic meal to help in the celebration.  Bring along your sweetie to the Saturday class for a Saturday date night.  Cost is $63 per person.

Friday 2/15 will be our first Kids 8-12 class of the year.  We will be making Pasta…and what kid doesn’t like pasta.  Cost is $45 per person and children must be between 8 and 12 years old to attend.

On Tuesday 2/19 and Saturday 2/23 we will be offering our Chili 3 Ways class.  We will make a beef chili, chicken chili and a vegetarian chili along with some great side dishes.  $63/person.

Finally, our Eastern European class will be held on Tuesday 2/26 and Saturday 3/1. 

We will create some old country favorites from Poland and Hungary.  $63/person

Other Kids Classes – As you can see from above, our kids classes are back.  Please pass this information on to other parents so that we can continue holding these great classes for kids. 

Special Offers – For the month of January we have another great special.  Book and pay for 3 classes during the January thru March timeframe and get $15 off your 3^rd class. 

Private Groups – If you want to schedule a private class for your group, we can hold classes at your place or ours.  For private groups we can customize a menu perfectly suited for your group.  We have had great feedback on our private group parties held previously, and we would love to hold one for you, too.  

Methods of Payment – In December we started taking PayPal as an alternative payment method.  While we prefer checks, occasionally you must pay with credit cards.  PayPal allows you to use credit and debit cards without giving your card information to us.  If you absolutely must, let us know, and we’ll send you a PayPal invoice. 

Our website – Refer to our website often at www.simplyimpressive.com for the latest in class information.  Our calendar is now available through mid-March 2008 and will be updated through 2^nd Quarter 2008 soon. 

In the media – This is a busy month for our TV appearances.  It’s not quite January and this is what we are scheduled on already. 

Start the new year off right by watching Channel 3 morning news on Wednesday, January 2.  We will be making our white chicken chili soup.  It’s spicy and warm…perfect for this time of the year.  We will be on about 8:15 a.m.

Pat McMahon and his team had so much fun when we were there with our holiday baking segment that they asked us to come again on Friday, January 4 at 9:00 a.m.  This time they want to talk about various ways to thicken soup.  So if you like nice thick soups but don’t want them to taste like ‘wallpaper paste’, this show is for you.  Pat McMahon is on AZ-TV, Channel 13 on Cox Cable in the valley.   

The 3^rd installment of our Sonoran Living ‘marathon’ will be shown on Monday, January 7.  This segment features tofu where we make our ‘mock’ chicken salad.  If you don’t know how to prepare tofu in any way other than those ‘tofu squares’, you will want to see this segment.  Sonoran Living is on ABC15 at 9:00 a.m. weekdays. 

We will also be on Channel 12’s Arizona Midday on Monday, January 28 at 1:00 p.m.  We will make items that are perfect for your Super Bowl entertaining. 

Did you catch us on ABC15’s Smart Shopper Prime Time show in December?  If not, it was a great segment.  Our challenge for this segment was to make an entire holiday dinner for 8 adults for under $50.  It had to be quick, simple and it had to be tasty.  Watch the episode at Smart Shopper Holiday Dinner with Simply Impressive.  

Gift Certificates – A lot of you have received gift certificates for the holidays this year.  If you are new to Simply Impressive, welcome to our group.  If you’ve been here before, we look forward to seeing you again.  In either case, don’t forget to book your favorite classes so that you will not be disappointed. 

Understanding Fats

At this time of year, we all begin to think of ways to lose the ‘holiday 10’.  Many of us look at cutting out fat from our diets. 

Types of Fats:  Whether or not we are watching our diet, we do need to be aware of the amount and types of fat we eat.  Even when we try to eat low fat meals, our bodies require a certain amount of fat just to keep going.  Fat is a major source of calories or energy and helps with the absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K in the body.  Some diet experts say that your food should contain no more than 30% of its calories from fat.  With that in mind, here are some handy facts when deciding how to fit fats into your diet. 

Saturated Fats - These foods include high-fat dairy products (like cheese, whole milk, cream, butter, and regular ice cream), fatty fresh and processed meats, the skin and fat of poultry, lard, palm oil, and coconut oil.  Foods high in saturated fats tend to raise blood cholesterol and should be kept at a minimum. 

Trans Fatty Acids - Foods high in trans fatty acids tend to raise blood cholesterol.  These foods include those high in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as many hard margarines and shortenings.  Foods with a high amount of these ingredients include some commercially fried foods and some bakery goods.  The days of ‘margarine is better for us than butter’ are over!  It seems like for 2008, eliminating trans fat is the name of the game with many restaurants and fast food places removing trans fats from their foods. 

Unsaturated Fats - Unsaturated fats occur in vegetable oils, most nuts, olives, avocados, and fatty fish like salmon.  Unsaturated oils include both monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.  Olive, canola, sunflower, and peanut oils are some of the oils high in monounsaturated fats.  Monounsaturated fats usually remain liquid at extremely low temperatures.  

Vegetable oils such as soybean oil, corn oil, and cottonseed oil and many kinds of nuts are good sources of polyunsaturated fats.  Polyunsaturated fats remain liquid at room temperature.  Use moderate amounts of food high in unsaturated fats. 

Unsaturated fats (oils) do not raise blood cholesterol.  However, polyunsaturated fat can lower HDL (the good cholesterol).  Of the two, monounsaturated fat is better for you since it does not negatively affect cholesterol.

One word of caution – If you remember, several months ago we talked about high fructose corn syrup in our newsletter.  Lots of ‘fat free’ or ‘low fat’ foods have it.  While the food may not contain fat, your body processes high fructose corn syrup as if it were fat, so be really careful when choosing your low fat and fat free ingredients.

I would like to thank for your continued support of Simply Impressive Cooking School and we hope to see you in a class soon.  Have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.