The Best Gift Ever....

Today's the last frenzied day of shopping for those who celebrate Christmas and I had a moment of quiet this morning to reflect upon this year and the gifts I've given and received. Though it's nice to share a few specially selected gifts on Christmas morning, my family's tradition, like to many others, used to be a gorging of gift giving that was over the top. Like candy, gift giving is good for the first few - after than it can start to be a bit sickening. Though I've scaled way back over the past few years as have many others - both out of necessity and out of a new consciousness - I still looked around this year and saw the signs of frenzy starting back up. It's like the past few years have been a forced austerity that people are ready to be done with. The problem is that we can't go back to the way things were - they weren't sustainable nor were they particularly good. However, there is something wonderfully sustainable that has come from all of this -

People have started to look at what is of value in their lives. I know I have. Having started a business right before the floor of our economy collapsed beneath us, I've had my share of sleepless nights, worried days, exhausted emotionally wrung out weeks. Sure, we could have claimed to be too far under and simply closed the business - but we chose to hang in there and see where this path lead us.

So, in the quiet of this morning, I saw clearly the gifts given me. The gift of friendship where I least expected it; the gift of support from complete strangers; the gift of good cheer (and just a bit of cheerleading) from close friends who simply gave me encouragement when all seemed bleak. In return, I provided a bit of my own cheeleading to them when their days were dark.

A good friend of mine moved her family 2,000 miles to take advantage of an opportunity that presented itself to her family. In the midst of the move, she wondered about her choice and worried about her sanity. It happened to be at a time that things were on a bit of an even keel for me. I was able to return the favor of support, even at a distance, of just being there.

I think about others in my life who've turned to me for support, assistance and cheerleading and hope I've been as good a friend to them as they have to me. After all, that's the gift exchange that matters.

So, this Christmas, I'll open a few gifts but more importantly, I will acknowledge the help I got all year long as the best gift ever.

Thanks to my family, friends, loved ones and perfect (very perfect) strangers for all that good cheer for the past 364 days. Here's to the best gift ever.

Now, go just out there and share the love.

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'Tis The Season...For Less, Not More

The flurry of advertising on TV and in the last vestiges of newspapers around the country is amazing this time of year. Who knew there was still so much appetite for stuff? Well, I guess the advertisers knew (or hoped), but still, it was surprising. I guess Americans are a bit like drug addicts when it comes to buying stuff...and now that we've had a forced "dry spell" due to abysmal economic conditions, well, we're ready to get back to 'normal'....but wait, what IS the new normal these days anyway?

I was recently in Florida helping my mother move to Arizona. She's essentially trading hot and humid for hot and dry - so it's not a big change from that perspective. But she is also paring down and going from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 1 bedroom apartment. The process of helping her go through her belongings and decide what to keep, what to give away, what to recycle and what to simply toss was a very eye-opening experience. For every drawer and closet door we opened, I imagined a similar drawer or door at my own house...and I thought about how much stuff I've accumulated over the years. I'm not a major shopper, but I still have more stuff than I need or can use.

As we were sorting through my mother's things, I said "Hey, Alex would probably really like to have this," or "If you don't want this, I wonder if Leslie would like to have this." It reminded me that re-gifting can actually be a wonderful thing - making use of items we no longer want. It's not actually re-gifting, I guess, since it belongs to someone who is giving it away - so it's perhaps the 'new' gifting?

We sorted and made piles - one pile of things was headed to a woman who was sending clothing to Haiti; another to my niece who appreciates nice scarves and interesting earrings; another pile to be given as gifts during the holidays - framed family pictures my mother was ready to hand on to the next generation. Some items were set aside as lovely gifts for family members - not with the intention of pretending they were new, but just new to them. Think of it as recycling and reuse rather than re-gifting - the new green holiday tradition!

For me it was also a good reminder that this time of year really shouldn't be about the stuff, but about the relationships in our lives we hold dear. In our family this year, we're forgoing all but small gift giving and instead spending time together.

And, for those of you who have family situations that are more challenging than you can handle this time of year, volunteer for a day at an assisted living facility or a food bank or a shelter. Give of your time and you have given a priceless gift.

This holiday season, share the love.

Happy Holidays from all of us at shopOrganic.com.
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Five Rules For Holiday Baking...Stress-free

In my last post, I mention it was ridiculously hot, even for Tucson in October.... Well, the weather has finally cooled a bit and that, for me, means more baking.

Back in '07, just before starting shopOrganic, I spent a week at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. It was an amazing week learning about baking and making things I'd always wondered about but never tried - focaccia, doughnuts, chocolate and more...but I digress. It's time to get down to some serious baking. Here are five rules to follow for stress-free holiday baking.

Rule #1
Never try a new recipe in a high pressure situation.
If you need to bring four dozen cookies to a school party, don't try out a new meringue recipe. Pull out your old tried-and-true recipe. Sure, it might be a boring old chocolate chip cookie, but hey, at least they'll be delicious! (Same goes for holiday cooking as well...).

Rule #2
Use the right flour for the recipe.
While you can get away with a lot using a high quality all purpose organic flour like Giusto's Organic Unbleached Baker's Choice Flour, choosing a specialized flour for certain baked goods will enhance the final result and your friends, colleagues and bake sale customers will be oohing and aahing over your tasty treats. Here's a quick breakdown:

High protein flour
A high protein flour has between 12% and 15% protein. These are sometimes referred to as high gluten flours. These high protein flours are preferred by bakers for bagels, pizza and other breads that require a strong texture. If your recipe calls for all purpose flour and you use high protein flour, you will probably find your final product to be a bit tougher than desired. On the other hand, if you don't have high protein flour available, you can beef up your all purpose flour with some vital wheat gluten.

Medium protein flour
Generally between 10% and 12% protein, like the Giusto's organic flour mentioned above, these are considered all purpose flours. They'll perform well in most applications, but better results can be obtained for specialized recipes using higher or lower protein flour.

Lower protein flour
Lower or low protein flour yields the opposite result of high protein flour. It helps develop a soft, delicate texture for pastries and cakes. Cake flour is usually about 8% protein whereas pastry flour is usually even lower in protein.

Cake and pastry flour will absorb more liquid and is typically must softer when mixed than higher protein flour.

Whole grain flours
Whole grain flours can be tricky to work with - their protein content and flavor varies with the type of grain or the mixture of grains. If your recipe calls for all purpose flour and you want to add fiber and nutrition boost by using whole grain flour, I recommend you either start by substituting no more than 25% of the flour called for with whole grain or use a recipe on the whole grain flour package to begin with. You'll need to adjust your liquids upward a bit when substituting whole grain flour and you'll find the final result will be denser than a recipe that uses all purpose flour. The flavor enhancement from using whole grains, though, is well worth a bit of experimentation.

When I was at the CIA, I noticed they used Giusto's flour almost exclusively. I was impressed by the results and looked for Giusto's when I got home. I was unable to find it and for a long time, Giusto's did not have an organic line available to the general public. However, that's changed and shopOrganic.com just picked up the whole line of Giusto's organic flours - just in time for holiday baking.

Here's a link to all of Giusto's - links to the individual products are above.

Rule #3
Baking is chemistry and if you want to substitute ingredients, think about them as dry and liquid.
The ratio between dry and wet impacts the final result as does the amount of leavening used. Look at your original recipe to understand the basic ratios and then substitute keeping these ratios in tact. And always go back to Rule #1.

Rule #4
Always let your bread products finish cooling fully before cutting.
As much as diving into a warm loaf of bread may seem, the structure of the bread needs to set before you slice it open. If it's just for you or your family and you don't care, slice away. If it's for company or a bake sale (slicing date bread into sell-able servings, for example), let it cool fully.

Rule #5
Enjoy.
Baking is a relaxing, creative process. Allow enough time to enjoy it fully. Be present - consider it your moving meditation. Infuse all your joy and love into those baked products and you'll share the love long after the oven has cooled.

Happy holiday baking!

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Going Green At Home - Part 5

If you've been following the progress of my home gardening project, you'll see that things started to sprout nicely about a month ago. (If you haven't been following and want to start at the beginning, start here). Since then, Tucson's had some unseasonably warm (ok, it's been hot) weather, and the "winter" plants I put in were not happy. I kept them watered and hoped they could hold on until the hot spell broke - which is finally did.

The tomato plant was purchased as a starter, just about everything else came up from seed. There is one mysterious square toward the front, center of the box that has been planted twice but nothing has sprouted - kind of funny given that the rest of
the plants are growing so well.

These plants are grown in this organic soil and I've used nothing else but water. I can't wait until I can harvest the first whatever from this garden - I'm guessing I might have kale or chard soon.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share two winter recipes using vegetables I'm growing would be a great way to get us thinking about ways we can use winter produce.

Kale, by the way, is a delicious winter crop but for those of you who have never used it, here are a couple of tips. First, use your kale quickly. If you harvest it from the garden, use it the same day. If you purchase it at the store, use it within a couple of days otherwise it can get spongy and bitter. Also, cut the center stalk out and toss it (into your compost pile or your trash, but not into your soup). Use only the leaves from your kale.

First up, simple easy delicious kale chips. Skips the potato chips this football season and try kale chips. Even folks who think they don't like kale will love these.

KALE CHIPS
1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Wash and remove the stem from a bunch of kale, pat dry.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Lightly coat kale in olive oil and arrange on parchment.
5. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. (I use velvet salt, it's great on popcorn too and you can use far less than traditional salt due to the fine texture).
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, adjust salt (and pepper, if desired) to taste.


Here's a quick and simple recipe for kale and cauliflower soup. It's a great meal by itself or a perfect side to a grilled cheese sandwich on a fall day. Give this one a try from your organic garden vegetables.

QUICK AND EASY KALE AND CAULIFLOWER SOUP
1/2 cup diced onion
2 TBS minced garlic
3 tsp organic olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups of organic vegetable stock or organic chicken broth
1 head of organic, fresh from your garden cauliflower, cored and chopped
1 (lightly packed) cup organic, fresh from your garden kale, thinly sliced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp organic lemon pepper
1 TBS organic honey (the lemon gives it extra depth of flavor)

In a large pan over medium low heat, saute the the onions and garlic in olive oil. (Hint: don't overcook the garlic when it gets too brown, it gets bitter). After a few minutes, the onions should be translucent. At that point, add the wine and continue to simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

Add the chopped cauliflower and your stock (vegetable or chicken). Bring to a boil then reduce your heat to medium low and simmer until the cauliflower is soft - about 20 minutes or so. Add the kale and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off, put your ingredients into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. If you have a sprig or two of tarragon or rosemary, you may want to drop that in your soup for the final simmer for added flavor, but the soup stands on its own without that, too.

For a more rustic texture, you can use anything to mash the mixture leaving smaller pieces in tact. (This is also handy if you don't have a blender or food processor or don't want to drag them out of the pantry).

Return to pan and simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of non fat organic yogurt or sour cream and some rustic whole grain or cracked grain bread - smear the bread with a bit of olive oil and put under the broiler for a couple of minute to brown.

Have a recipe you want to share? Post it here.

As always, shopOrganic.com is your trusted online source for organic food and natural products. We have a wide selection of hard-to-find, unique, gourmet and everyday foods for your culinary pleasure. See you there! Now, go out there and enjoy your day.
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Want To Lose Belly Fat? Strike A Pose

A researcher from Harvard recently concluded a study and found that certain "power positions" not only reduced stress, they reduced cortisol levels. People with high stress have high cortisol levels and high cortisol levels are associated with belly fat, which is an indicator of higher risk for various health issues...the short of it is this - if you want a quick way to reduce stress and cortisol levels, strike a power pose.

According to Harvard researcher Amy Cuddy:

Subjects in the high-power group were manipulated into two expansive poses for one minute each: first, the classic feet on desk, hands behind head; then, standing and leaning on one's hands over a desk. Those in the low-power group were posed for the time period in two restrictive poses: sitting in a chair with arms held close and hands folded, and standing with arms and legs crossed tightly....

Controlling for subjects' baseline levels of both hormones, Cuddy and her coauthors found that high-power poses decreased cortisol by about 25 percent and increased testosterone by about 19 percent for both men and women. In contrast, low-power poses increased cortisol about 17 percent and decreased testosterone about 10 percent.

Want to read the whole article? Click here.

If you're feeling stressed out, try these power poses (after all, it can't hurt). Stand up and lean over your desk to read a report, contract or your email. Close your door, put your feet up, close your eyes and take a few powerful deep breaths. Feel better already, don't you?

Of course, you can also reduce stress through exercise like walking, running, weight training, yoga and tai chi (to name just a few) and through eating healthy, organic foods (you knew that was coming, didn't you?).

Click to visit shopOrganic.com - your trusted source for organic food and eco-friendly products online. First time shoppers save 10% using coupon code GRGDS. How great is that?!
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Going Green At Home - Part 4

If you haven't read previous posts on this topic, you might want to jump back and start with Part 1 to follow the progress of my amazingly easy green-my-home raised bed garden project.

I don't have a lot of time to monkey around, so I needed this garden project to be easy, fast and successful. As you can see from previous photos, the box, soil and grid went in quickly. We did this over the course of a few weekends, but total time spent on this was probably three or four hours total.Though we did want to start most of our plants from seed, I wanted some instant hits of color for the porch and some basil (since my bird friends have decimated my back porch potted basil plants). I love making my own organic pizza from a rustic crust, simple tomato sauce, organic mozzarella and yes, basil galore. So, basil will be a starter plant.


I chose marigolds for their color and natural pest deterrent properties and salvia for a bit of height and gorgeous purple flowers. The basil also went in along with starter greek oregano and cilantro.

Next up, we planted seeds for several varieties of greens including black seed simpson lettuce and rocket (aka arugula). Broccoli went in - just a couple of seeds in the middle of one square and four days later, I had a green sprout.

Last night I sparingly harvested a few leaves of basil for a pasta dish because, well, I needed that splash of green, that deliciously licorice-y basil flavor to give the dish depth. Perfect, my first harvest.

Stay tuned for what we planted next.

Until next time, go out there and green your home. Take "eat at home" literally! Read more!

Going Green At Home - Part 3

In Part 1 of Going Green At Home, I talked about deciding to use a front patio space for a raised bed garden. We left off at having put the 8 x 5 x 1 frame in place. Now, let's get down and dirty - let's talk soil.

First, you need to do your math to figure out how many cubic feet of soil you need. Next, you need to decide on the mix. In Tucson, where's it's pretty dry most of the time, a soil that holds moisture is vital to success.

You can go to any garden center and buy a soil mix, usually they carry something appropriate to your area. However, you can also mix your own. In our case, we did the math and figured out we could save about $60 on soil by creating our own mixture - and the added benefit was we could control exactly what went into that mix.

We chose to add a lot of vermiculite - (make sure the vermiculite you choose is asbestos free). Vermiculite holds moisture and acts like a sponge, releasing moisture slowly. Of course, we added organic compost and other soil components to develop a nutrient rich soil mix.

The trick in mixing your own is that you have to deal with bags that are different sizes - some come in 1 cubic ft., 2.2 cubit ft. and so on. Once you decide that you want a soil mixture of say, 30% vermiculite, you need to calculate how many cubic feet that is and then how many bags you'll need. (All I can say is, do your math a couple of times to be sure you're correct and save your receipt).

If you're going to mix your own, make sure you either mix it in place (which is a bit tricky) or have a tarp of some sort. We found that by mixing our soil in three batches and rolling it back and forth in the tarp, we got a good distribution of the various components and had a beautiful soil mixture. We dumped it into the raised bed and repeated two more times until the bed was full. If you find your bed is full after two rounds, just return the unused (and unopened) bags (which is why I highly recommend you save your receipt).

Once you've got your soil in, you can start watering (to hydrate the soil to it doesn't suck the moisture out of your seeds or starer plants). However, we decided that putting a grid in would help - most container gardening books recommend it so you can remember where you planted what - so we used lath to demarcate the sectors. You can make them whatever size you want, we stuck with the standard 12" x 12". The result was an organized grid system that we can track what's been planted where and when.

Next up - planting, growing, marveling.
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