Potato Cobb Salad with Cilantro Buttermilk Dressing

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Here's the latest recipe from chef Jill Fisher! Jill, a licensed Personal Chef, teaches cooking classes at Conejo Valley Adult School and Williams Sonoma in Thousand Oaks and has written articles for local food magazines such as 805 Living. In December, Jill and her friend released their cookbook "i found my sanity in...My Best Friend's Kitchen."

CLICK HERE for other recipes from Jill published here on Conejo Valley Guide!

Happy March everyone!  Since the Irish always seem to steer me towards thinking of potatoes, here is a great take on potato salad – Potato Cobb Salad!  Fill up your platter with rows of beautiful salad fixings and toppings and let your guests pick and choose what they like.  Serve with a side of Cilantro Buttermilk dressing for a real crowd pleaser – maybe even Oscar Party worthy!  Enjoy! -Jill

Potato Cobb Salad

 3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes

¾ tsp salt

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Classic I Love Lucy Vitameatavegamin Scene

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The other day I posted the hilarious I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode which brings a smile to face every time I see it. But this scene from the 1952 "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" episode is probably the most popular I Love Lucy segment of all time.  In this episode, Lucy insists on doing a commercial on a TV show Ricky is working on. Long story short, she finally gets the job of promoting health tonic "Vitameatavegamin" but after repeated rehearsals the 23% alcohol tonic gets her drunk. Lucille Ball was a comic genius.

Local Ojai Resident Son/Father Team Up to Publish "The Promise Doctrine"

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Craig Womack / Jason WomackJason Womack is a local Ojai resident known for traveling around the world training people how to master workplace performance (in fact, a previous employer of mine hired Jason to train our management team and to teach productivity at a large conference). Craig Womack has nearly 40 years of executive experience in the consumer product industry. This father and son team combined forces to publish "The Promise Doctrine," an easy to read guidebook help us keep our commitments!  I asked them 10 questions about the book and Craig provided me these answers.  For more information and to buy the book, check out www.thepromisedoctrine.com.

1. Tell me what The Promise Doctrine is about in 1 sentence.
The Promise Doctrine is a guidebook and system that readers can use to choose, manage, and accomplish what they are truly committed to, in life and at work.

2. Why did you decide to write The Promise Doctrine?
We came up with the idea for The Promise Doctrine as we listened to our peers, employees, friends, and family discuss how “hard it is, to do it all.”  

3. What prompted you to team up with your dad in writing the book?
When we took on this project, a writing collaboration between father and son, we knew that we wanted to explore the dynamics of promise keeping. Publishing our book was the best way we knew of to share the importance of promise keeping with the world. First, we see each other as equals, with distinct strengths to share and learn from. Together, we were able to merge our backgrounds in business and in education, and bridge a generational gap that drives most people crazy. We did this through honest communication, regular check ins and meaningful acknowledgment of milestones along the way. These are principles we share and have lived by in our executive and teaching lives.

4. Is the book geared towards certain people or ages in particular? In other words, who should read this book!?
Our enthusiastic answer is: “EVERYONE should read this book”. We geared the book towards four broad target audiences:

  • Results driven individuals and leaders who realize the power of a promise made and a promise kept
  • Executives who lead successful companies
  • Leaders and teachers who promote sustainable communities
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Valentine's Day Recipe - Chocolate Bread Pudding with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

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Here's the latest recipe from masterful chef Jill Fisher! Jill has a B.S. in Food Science and Nutrition and is a licensed Personal Chef. She teaches cooking classes at Conejo Valley Adult School and Williams Sonoma in Thousand Oaks and has written articles for local food magazines such as 805 Living. In December, Jill and her friend released their cookbook "i found my sanity in...My Best Friend's Kitchen."

CLICK HERE for other recipes recipes from Jill published here on Conejo Valley Guide!

From Jill: With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here is a simple yet elegant dessert to share with the ones you love.  You noticed I said “ones” – kids love it too!

From Conejo Joe: ANY recipe with the word CHOCOLATE in the title not once, but TWO times, is automatically good. In fact, if forced to, I'd be willing to eat this without the bread and walnuts!

Chocolate Bread Pudding with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

4 cups 1-inch cubes egg bread with crust (about 6 oz)

1 ¼ cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, divided

½ cup walnuts, toasted, broken into ½ inch pieces

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Confessions of a Germaphobe: Ten Things I Like Least About All-You-Can-Eat Buffets and Salad Bars!

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Don't get me wrong. I LOVE all-you-eat places! I'm a big fan of Souplantation and visit the Camarillo location at least 5 times a month (also in  in Simi Valley).  They have a huge salad bar, a wide variety of soups, breads and pastas and a dessert selection that includes frozen yogurt machine (mmmm!).

Recently Souplantation introduced an automated hand sanitizer at the salad bar line.  I applaud them for that. Most people don't seem to use it (I did and it squirted so much foam into my hand that I had to wipe the excess off on my pants), but is a nice gesture for those concerned with the spread of germs. 

I'm a bit on the germaphobic side myself and the sanitizer brought to mind...Ten Things I Like Least About All-You-Can-Eat Buffets and Salad Bars...based on my wealth of observations and experience at the local Souplantation.

  1. Tong Tosser:  The servers all wear gloves yet the 974 people visiting the salad bar all handle the tongs with their bare hands. So when pimply Joe Teenager flings the tongs completely into the rice pilaf, I generally move on to the next item.
  2. The Snacker: The snacker can't wait to eat. He's tossing olives, sprouts and garbanzo beans into his mouth, crunching, smacking his lips, talking and spewing little bits of food as your appetite shrivels. There goes my appetite.
  3. Kiddy Loiter: It's great bringing kids to the salad bar!  But yechh, please keep their icky (and I say that lovingly...I've got kids myself) hands outta the croutons!
  4. Boogie Man: Picking your news is OFF LIMITS at the salad bar. Yeah right, that was more than a
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Quick and Easy Avocado and Goat Cheese Sandwich Recipe

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Yet another recipe from Master Chef, Kirk Leins. These Avocado and Goat Cheese sandwiches look delicious!  Maybe I can get my wife to watch this! Get more cooking videos and free recipes at www.NoTimeToCookDinner.com.

-       (1) 5 oz. package of goat cheese

-       1 large ripe Haas avocado, seeded and peeled

-       1 sourdough baguette (about a foot long)

-       1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced

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Credit Cards that Help You Pile Up Frequent Flier Mileage and Points!

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This is a guest post from Mr Credit Card of www.askmrcreditcard.com. Mr Credit Card is going to take a leaf from his best credit card recommendations section and list some cards that will be useful for folks who want to earn frequent flyer miles or points.

Based on the east coast, Mr. Credit Card will be highlighting credit cards for certain airlines that fly east coast to west coast (and vice versa), including United, Continental, Frontier, American Airlines and US Airways.

Frequent Flier Miles/Points credit cards can be sorted into two groups. The first group is cards that allow you to earn points that can be transferred to multiple airline frequent flyer programs. The second group consists of cards that have their own reward program and allow you to use them for travel expenses. So below are my recommendations.

Cards for those with multiple frequent flyer memberships

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card - The Starwood Credit Card is probably the highest rated card for frequent flyers. Why? Aside from having a great frequent guest program, the SPG Starwood Preferred Guest allows you to transfer points on a one on one ratio (mostly) to over 30 airlines. Furthermore, they will give you 5,000 bonus miles when you actually transfer 20,000 points into air miles. This is one card frequent flyers have in their pockets.

American Express Gold Card - Another card to consider earning air miles is the American Express Gold Card. The Membership Rewards program has over 17 airline partners that fly from the East Coast to Los

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