See Jane Cook Personal Chef Service

Tucson's Answer for Made To Order Eclectic Cuisine

(520) 360-2299

Jane Cherry
 
CPPC Accredited Chef

Email Chef Jane

Chef Jane creates delicious, healthy meals for you!
See Jane Cook prepares delicious gourmet meals
  Press and Publications
     
   
Healthy, hearty dinners by Chef Jane

 

 

   
Delicious home cooked meals by Chef Jane    
Meals prepared with the freshest ingredients

 

 Bon Appetit, December 1986

The Cook's Exchange, Bon Appetit, December 1986

"Even here in sunny Arizona, a good hearty stew is welcome on those occasional cool days we do have. And, in keeping with a southwestern theme, this variation includes zippy red chili and plenty of garlic and herbs. It makes either a great one-pot lunch or, with a crisp salad and warm bread, a really well balanced dinner."

Jane's Southwestern Beef and Vegetable Stew      (Makes about 8 cups)
  • 3 T. olive oil
  • 1 pound chuck or other beef stew meat, cut into 3/4" cubes
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 28 oz. can tomatoes, chopped including juice
  • 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
  • 4 stalks celery, sliced
  • 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut julienne
  • 1 zucchini, sliced
  • 1/2 cup Italian parsley, minced
  • 1 dried red chili pepper
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • 1 tsp. dried Mexican oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. dried sage
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Delicious meals made with the freshest ingredients

 

 

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef, onion and garlic and cook until meat is browned, about 8 minutes. Mix in remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight for best flavor. Serve stew hot.

Tucson Citizen, September 2001 (excerpted)

CUSTOM CUISINE
Mindful of special needs, personal chefs whip up and freeze your favorites, and the cost might surprise you.
By Rogelio Olivas, Citizen Staff Writer

Once a month, when Kendall Soresby’s [pseudonym] food is running low, someone comes into her kitchen, cooks all her favorite foods, and puts them in containers and stores them in her freezer.

No, it’s not the work of elves. It’s just her personal chef, Jane Cherry, doing her job.

Like many Americans today who are too busy to cook for themselves or who are tired of the hassle, Soresby has opted to let someone else slave away in the kitchen for her.

“I was bored with my own cooking,” says Soresby, “I don’t like to cook and I was not eating well enough.”

“These people work a lot of hours,” adds Cherry. “They don’t have time to do their grocery shopping and plan their meals. But all of them want to eat well; all of them are concerned about what they eat”.

Soresby especially has to be concerned about what she eats because she has various food allergies. When she and Cherry met at a networking event in October, they discovered a business relationship between them could benefit both equally: Soresby wouldn’t have to cook and shop as often, and Cherry could expand her base of clients with special dietary requirements, a group whose needs she specializes in now.

As she does with all her clients, Cherry first filled out a very thorough questionnaire with Soresby about what foods she likes, dislikes, and is allergic to and what special dietary needs she has to meet. They then reviewed sample menus and came up with some alternatives specifically for her.

For Soresby, who is a vegetarian, the variety of nutritional value of the meals is what makes them special.

“It’s all kinds of things that I wouldn’t make – and I mean that in a good way – food that I would not take the trouble to make myself,” she says. “The thing about Jane is she’s really good about researching, so she comes up with some really interesting menu items.”

It’s this customer satisfaction that motivates Cherry, who became a certified personal chef after her mother had read an article about the industry and suggested she try it.

The hard work and long hours of owning a restaurant or catering business never appealed to her, so those weren’t career options. Since people had always told her what a great cook she is, she decided to try her hand at it professionally and enrolled in a training course.

For Cherry, becoming a chef has allowed her to fulfill both professional and personal goals. “I’m helping people. I’m a very giving person and this falls right into that,” she says.

The flexibility of the job isn’t bad either. In summer she works two or three days a week and spends four to six hours in the kitchen, depending on how many people she’s cooking for. In winter it’s three to five days a week. She has seven clients and cooks for most of them every other week.

Most times she never even sees them. She has keys to most of their homes and lets herself in and prepares their meals while they’re away. So when her clients come home, their freezers are filled with all their favorite meals.

“The misconception is that you have to be an Oprah Winfrey to have one,” she says, but that isn’t the case.

Soresby, who isn’t wealthy or extravagant, says the money is well spent. “This is a great service for people who want to feel better, who want to have certain diets taken care of and who don’t mind investing in their health,” she says. “It’s not extraordinarily expensive when people add up what they spend (on food),” she adds, pointing out that her food bill has dropped about $150 a month since she hired Cherry in January. “Do it. You’ll feel like a complete princess.”

CNNMoney.com, July 2004 (excerpted)

Read the entire article here
Cooking up a new career

Many members of two-breadwinner families have neither the time nor inclination to make home-cooked meals every night. That's where the personal chef comes in, often providing a week's worth of meals that can be frozen.

Many personal chefs are mothers who can get their jobs done before the kids return from school, according to Wendy Perry, co-founder of the Personal Chefs Network.

Jane Cherry of See Jane Cook (www.seejanecook.com) in Tucson went into the business four years ago when her son was four-and-a-half. She cooks for eight or nine clients, which keeps her busy "eight to 14 days a month" during most of the year, she says. During Arizona's sizzling summers, many of her clients depart for cooler climes and she works less.

Arizona Daily Star, December 2005 (excerpted)

The article in PDF format

Download Adobe Reader

Going out or staying in
Couch potatoes and club-hoppers have plenty of ways to say so long to 2005
By Jennifer Duffy and Sarah Mauet

Did you ring in 2005 on the living room couch — eyes glued to the television until the ball dropped in Times Square?
If you prefer spending New Year's Eve in the comfort of your own home, but want it to be more fun or meaningful, we hear ya.

Staying In: For the Whole Family
Chef Jane Cherry plans to spend her New Year's Eve warming by the fire with her 10-year-old son, Grant, and husband, David. The family makes savory appetizers and rents a few movies, too.
"I just don't like being out and about on that night. It's too scary for me because everybody is drinking," the 47-year-old said.

Cook together. Cherry, a personal chef, recommends appetizers for New Year's Eve — and small bites that can be picked up with toothpicks are a hit among children. A great alternative to hot apple cider is wassail, a spiced punch served hot.

 

See Jane Cook Personal Chef Service

(520) 360-2299

Email Chef Jane

 

Website design by

Web Masterwerx - Website design, implementation, and upgrades

All content on this site is Copyrighted 2005 ~ 2007.

Read the entire article here