It’s No Secret! Personal Chefs Bring Magic Back to Mealtime at Our Valley Cooks Recipe Challenge!

March 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Two members of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of The United States Personal Chef Association LLC (USPCA) are excited to showcase their unique services to residents of the Valley at the Our Valley Cooks Recipe Challenge and Food Expo to be held at the Mr. Anthony’s in Youngstown on March 6, 2010. Their intent is to bring notice to a special segment of the service industry and to help their clients find the time to bring restaurant quality, affordable, healthy and nutritious meals back to their dinner tables.

With spare time becoming more the exception rather than the rule and time that used to be spent around the dinner table is now time spent running from one obligation to another with fat and preservative laden foods being consumed on the run, the need for using the services of a Personal Chef is on the rise.

Personal chefs come to their client's homes to prepare custom meals for a wide range of clients and situations, including home meal replacement, dinner parties for up to 30 people, cooking classes, interactive cooking parties and menu consultations. Clients using this special service represent active households, seniors and individuals with restrictive or special dietary needs.

Chef Tim Hering, president of the Western PA Chapter of the USPCA and owner of Dinner Magician Personal Chef Service (http://www.dinnermagician.com) and Chef Jo Ann Bohonik, owner of My Secret Chef Personal Chef Service (http://www.mychefsite.com/secretchefjoann) are each based in Lawrence County, PA and serve areas in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana Counties as well as bordering counties in Western PA.

The two chefs will be passing out samples as well as be doing cooking demos in their booth during the event, which is to be held from 10 am to 8 pm. They will be speaking with show attendees about the benefits of having their own personal chef, be it for providing enough meals to get through several weeks or for services such as interactive cooking lessons, dinner parties or even corporate team building events. Chef Tim will also be giving a 30 minute demonstration on the vendor stage during the event.

Chefs Tim and Jo Ann will also have information for people who may aspire to start their own personal chef business. For more information about the show, which benefits Meridian Services of Youngstown, please visit their website at http://www.ourvalleycooks.org.

The direct tangible benefit to hiring your own chef will be the time saved in the actual meal preparation and the associated shopping, while still enjoying palate specific meals at a surprisingly reasonable cost. Those who choose a chef to cook for a dinner party will no longer need to spend countless hours in the kitchen and will have more time to actually enjoy their party and the company of their guests. The time and money saved as well as the health benefits of having preservative free meals at your fingertips is incalculable.
With the rising popularity of cooking shows, personal chefs can also provide in home cooking classes and interactive cooking parties to those who love to cook but want to learn more as well as be able to taste the recipes being shown them.

According to Chef Tim, no two clients have the same menus and each client determines the frequency of service. “Private Cooking Lessons and Interactive Cooking Parties are becoming more popular with clients these days. Many people enjoy cooking but find themselves cooking the same things week after week. Hosting your own interactive cooking party not only gives them a fun event to do with their friends and family, but it helps them learn new recipes that they can easily take and put into their family recipe box.”

He says, “As a personal chef, I plan customized menus, shop for groceries, and prepare nutritious dinners for people in their home and offer a wide variety of customized meal solutions in a multitude of situations. I can cook anything from a typical comfort foods menu, such as Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes, to more gourmet items such as Rotisserie Roasted Beef Tenderloin with an Orange Teriyaki Glaze.”

Chef Tim continues, “I only use the freshest ingredients and try to buy as much local products as are available.” He offers a free consultation to determine food preferences and any dietary requirements as well as discuss any budgetary concerns so he can come up with a plan which is customized to the client’s needs and fits into their budget. With more processed foods being marketed cheaply and more people having less time to cook healthy meals at home, the need for this type of service is growing.

Locating a personal chef in the Valley is as easy as going to http://www.westpachefs.com and clicking the "Member Chefs" link in the top menu bar of the page. Finding a personal chef in other parts of the US and Canada can be accomplished through http://www.hireachef.com, the largest search site for personal chefs.

Personal Chef Tim Hering has been cooking for 28 years in various restaurants and is now bringing his culinary experience into people’s home kitchens. In addition to being a Premier member of the USPCA and president of the local chapter, he has been published in Personal Chef Magazine and is a graduate of the Culinary Business Academy.

His interactive cooking classes have been featured on 21 WFMJ by Healthy Living Reporter Susan Campbell and he is also the chef instructor of the Little Chef’s Family Cooking Class at the New Castle Community YMCA where he features using healthier ingredients in everyday, kid friendly, family recipes which are typically made at home. This class has also been featured on 21 WFMJ by Ms. Campbell.

For more information, call Chef Tim at Dinner Magician Personal Chef Service at 724-498-0434 or visit the chapter website at http://www.westpachefs.com.

# # #

Personal Chef providing In Home Meal Solutions to Western PA and Eastern Ohio residents in Lawrence and Beaver Counties, parts of Mercer, Butler and Allegheny Counties in PA and portions of Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana Counties in Ohio.