May is here now and our hot summer weather is just about upon us.  Some of us are preparing to leave Arizona for the next few months while others prepare for what we know will be here soon.  My summer survival system is to bake less, grill more, and eat lots of cool dinners with chilled soups and salads.

We schedule a few adult classes in the summer, but our main focus is kids and teens.  We have a few adult classes during the summer, though, so if you need your ‘Simply Impressive’ fix, we’re still here for you.  We also schedule lots of private and group classes in the summer, so get several friends together and we can build the perfect class for you

We’d love to see you in a class.  Give us a call to register.  Don’t forget to take advantage of our monthly specials.

Food of the month – peaches.  There has been a lot of talk about fresh, Arizona-grown peaches lately.  If you would like to learn more about peaches, see choose fresh peaches for summers best offerings.  Schnepf Farms has a fantastic U-Pick orchard.  Our recipe of the month is Carrie Schnepf’s peach pie recipe which you will find at the end of the newsletter.  While you’re at it, take a look at the other articles we wrote about Have A Peachy Time At Schnepf Farms and Dinner in the Orchard. 

Granola -- Many of us are always looking for new ways to get more fiber into our diets.  I’m always combing the stores for products that have lots of fiber and other healthy ingredients in them.  Recently the folks from Bear Naked asked me to try a few of their products.  I fell in love with their granolas.  See Go Bear Naked for Better Health for my review.

Solar Cooking – We recently published several articles on solar cooking and also had a solar cooking class featuring local expert, Jackie Harsha.  If you have not seen our articles, and want to learn more about solar cooking, go to It's Easy Being Green.  You will learn about various types of ovens, cookbooks and even have a recipe you can make using the sun for your heat source.  If there is enough interest we will schedule another solar cooking class.  With the hot, hot, hot weather coming up, this is a great way to keep your house cool and your energy bill low.

Mesa Food Examiner -- If you haven’t seen our Mesa Food Examiner articles, check them out.  We are still posting lots of articles, recipes and cooking ideas several times a month so you can stop by often to see what we’re writing about.  Or better yet, subscribe to the Mesa Food Examiner so you will automatically see what we are posting.  It’s free and definitely SPAM free, too.  Just go to Mesa Food Examiner and click where you see ‘subscribe’ to get articles automatically. That way you can read what you want, and not have to keep checking for new things.  We publish lots of other articles than what you get within this newsletter.

May 2010 Classes – We are offering classes on Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. To see details, go to May Class Calendar and “mouse over” the class name

On Saturday 5/1 we will offer our Grilling Basics class for the last time.  In this class you will learn the proper way to use your grill to get the best results for everything grilled.  $63/person

On Saturday 5/8 we will offer our new class, Pasta, Sauces and More.  In this class we will prepare 3 different pasta sauces along with pasta and sides.  $63 per person.

On Saturday, 5/15 we will offer our Ice Cream class.  We will prepare ice cream dishes using homemade and purchased ice cream.  $63 per person

Our final class in May is our brand new Hawaiian Luau Entertaining class.  It will be offered on Tuesday 5/18 & Saturday 5/22.  We will prepare a Hawaiian menu perfect for any luau.  $63 /person

Upcoming Classes for June 2010 – During June we are offering both adult and kids classes.  This information pertains to our adult classes only.  We are offering adult classes on Thursday, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.   To see details, go to June Class Calendar and “mouse over” the class name.

On Thursday, 6/3 we are offering our all new Grilled Favorites class.  We will feature some of our favorite menu items to prepare on the grill.  $63 per person. 

Upcoming summer classes for kids and teens – Our kids and teen classes are scheduled this summer.  The classes and dates are:

·      Ages 8-12 – June 7 – 11; 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $245 week; $225 with early signup discounts – menu tentatively planned is brunch, pasta, party foods, Food Network favorites and build your own class.

·      Ages 8-12 – June 21 – June 25; 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; $395; $350 with early signup discounts.  Menu set as chicken alfredo, Mexican, pizza, Asian and ravioli along with recipes and fun educational information for the full day.

·      Teens -- July 12 – 16; 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  $260; $240 with early signup discounts – menu tentatively planned is grilling, Mediterranean foods, Party foods, Desserts and a ‘build your own class’ day where the students will pick what they want to make in this class.

There was a ‘method to our madness’ as we scheduled classes by ages as we did.  If you feel your child should be in a different class than what his or her age would dictate, please feel free to call and discuss.  Some children may be a better fit in different age groups.

Do you twitter?  If so, you may have seen discounts we tweeted about.  If you did not, be sure to follow us.  Our Twitter name is SimplyImprssve.  We offer special deals thru Twitter, so get ‘plugged in’ today at http://twitter.com/simplyimprssve

Special Offers – Our specials for the month of May are below.  Also, watch for our Twitter discounts as they are tweeted.  Be sure to mention the discount when signing up.  One discount per class, please.

Attend a class in May and receive $8 off of any adult class through August.

As mentioned in the kid’s class section of the newsletter, we are offering an early signup discount on kids classes until May 15.  Also, for those of you wanting to take a class, too, we will continue this offer -- sign your child up for any of our kids and teen classes and receive $10 off of an adult class for you.

In the Media – We filmed a segment on solar cooking with Nicole McGregor from Channel 12.  We do not have an air date yet, but will post the segment on Facebook when it is available. 

Recipe of the Month -- We have been doing a lot of writing about peaches lately and were lucky enough to talk to Carrie Schnepf, owner of Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek.  She gave us her recipe for peach pie.  I have not made it yet, but plan on picking peaches at her farm and making a pie soon.  See Carrie’s peach pie recipe Peach Pie from a Peach Pro.