Crystal Lake business can teach you how to eat healthier

Linda Matthias is hoping that her Randall Road business can help you stick to that tricky resolution to get healthier in 2008.

If you follow the cooking techniques used at Simply Homemade in Crystal Lake, she says, you'll at least have the healthy eating part done right.

In an effort to promote healthy eating and healthy cooking, Centegra Health Systems is offering a class this month devoted entirely to the topic.

Registered dietitian Meg Duellman will host the first part of the two-part class from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. Jan. 17 at Healthbridge Fitness Center in Crystal Lake.

During the session, she'll show you how cooking for yourself at home can be one of the best ways to control your health if you use healthy ingredients and cook in a healthful way.

The second part of the workshop will be at Simply Homemade, just off of Randall Road at 1500 Carlemont Court, Crystal Lake.

During that session, you'll actually cook three healthy meals that you can then take home and feed to your family.

You'll also get a chance to use healthier ingredients in your cooking and learn what to do when you cook your own recipes at home, Matthias said.

Matthias said Simply Homemade was chosen as the place to hold the class because the business has practiced what Duellman will be teaching since it opened last year.

"We automatically use those things like whole grains and low sodium," Matthias said. "That separates us from some of our competition. Here, we won't have to make any substitutions to fit into her program because we already run things the way she teaches them.

"Everyone says eat healthy, eat healthy. We are providing a convenient way to do that," she said. "This will show people what they can do."

To register for the class, call (815) 444-2900.

Thanks to the customers: The folks at Jewel along Randall Road in Algonquin would like to thank all of you.

Because of your high ratings of the store during surveys last month, the Jewel at Randall and Algonquin roads won its customer service competition.

Check it out:

It has many devoted fans already who've gone there for years and years on the other side of the river in Carpentersville.

Now, Village Pizza is hoping to attract a new customer base, as well as old fans who've moved west over the years.

The restaurant is now open in Elgin, on the west side of Randall Road, where you can dine inside the rustic interior or carry out your pizza to eat at home.

• Amy Williams' column covers all the news of business along the Randall Road corridor from South Elgin to Crystal Lake. Contact her at randallbiz@comcast.net or (847) 894-5036.