It’s Organic Produce Delivery Service and Homemade Paleo Dinner!
Every other Tuesday, I receive a box like this from a company called It’s Organic Delivery! They are one of a few produce delivery services available in the greater Sacramento area.
Here is a peek of what comes inside an all-vegetable box. It serves a family of 2-4 and costs $34.99 per delivery or $31.99 with promo code.
A mixed fruits and vegetables box serves a family of 2-4, is $34.99 per delivery or $29.99 with a promo code, and contains between 10-12 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables.
A fruits only box serves a family of 2-4 costs $34.99 per delivery or $31.99 with promo code and is packed full of organic fresh fruits.
As a reader of cakegrrl.com, I’d like to offer you the promo code to enter when you sign up! It is “organic5off”
If you are still considering a produce delivery service, but aren’t sure what to do with a lot of things that come in the box, please stay tuned to my website because I’ll be throwing out lots of ideas for you!
To sign up to receive your produce from It’s Organic, please follow the link here.
There are many reasons I have gone organic for nearly all of my fruits and vegetables. Yes, it is a little more expensive, but I believe that buying organic will eventually pay off in the long run. I hope I don’t have to tell all of you how toxic pesticides are. If you are trying to be healthy and getting in all your servings of fruits and vegetables, what is the point if they have loads of poison on them from pesticides? It is so very important to avoid putting chemicals into your body. The best thing I heard today that really puts things in perspective is… “if they have to wear gas masks to grow your food, what are you supposed to eat it with?”
Beyond that, buying organic is important because it creates a demand for organic. Why is this important? Have you considered the farm workers who harvest your fruits and vegetables and their daily exposure to toxins in the pesticides? What about the fact that when you buy local and organic, you help to stimulate your LOCAL economy? 🙂
And, yes, you DO have to actually wash, cut and MAKE SOMETHING out of what is in the box, but the best part is that they deliver it straight to your door! It’s kind of like Christmas Day for me when my produce box arrives. It’s fun to play a little game of Iron Chef and make meals out of whatever comes to me for the week.
 Taste of History Dinner at Sutter’s Fort = History Tastes Delicious!
On September 25th, the Annual Taste of History Dinner at Sutter’s Fort was held. I attended with a fellow food blogger and we enjoyed an evening of music, conversation, and eating a multi-course dinner outdoors at a beautiful table settings inside the fort walls.
The evening began with a reception with appetizers by Whole Foods and Selland’s Market. Whole Foods made pear “hand-pies”, cider with sparkling water, and also sampled pistachios and yellow watermelon. Selland’s offered little cups of corn soup, cheese and honey served on cedar planks, and tiny pot pies with vegetable filling. Around the corner, Ten22 was serving fresh fried corn tortilla chips and mole sauce.
While we were waiting to be seated, we ventured off around Sutter’s Fort and looked into some of the exhibit rooms. There are recorded guides to inform you of your surroundings and the purpose of each room.
This was the first course, a Chicken Mole Salad prepared by Chef Jay Veregge of Ten 22 in Old Sacramento. It was paired with a River City Brewing Vienna Lager.
The third course, was quite possibly my favorite and sadly I don’t have a better picture of it. It was a slow cooked Beef Brisket with shell beans, corn, and Del Rio Farms herb salsa prepared by Scott Rose. For those of you in Paleo land, I didn’t eat the corn, but did have a few delicious beans. 😉 This course was paired with a wine from Bogle.
Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook: Making Paleo Accessible to Everyone
Last Friday evening, I stopped by my condo to check the mail and found a copy of the Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook waiting for me to review. What an awesome surprise! I quickly flipped through it and realized that if it did not say “Paleo” on the cover, I would not have known at first that it was a Paleo cookbook. What does this mean? Well, it means that these recipes are a collection of super delicious meals, snacks, and desserts accessible to ANYONE, even those who are not following a Paleo diet.
What is Paleo? Well, if you have never heard of the Paleo diet, I am glad you are here. The best way to explain it in a nutshell is that it is a diet rich in proteins and fat. A typical day for me is grass-fed beef or organic chicken, a TON of vegetables like broccoli, onions, and cauliflower, butternut squash (and any kind of squash you can think of for that matter, including PUMPKIN!!), a little avocado, bacon on some days, coconut milk, coconut oil, treats like cashews and dates, fruit (berries and citrus). I do have cheese (raw milk blue is my favorite!!), but I am going to dial that back in the upcoming weeks as I would like to lean out just a little bit more. To learn a little more about my diet, you can click here.
When I tell people that I don’t eat bread, processed grains, or dairy other than raw milk cheese, I get a lot of resistance, almost like they are horrified at the thought of ever giving up those things themselves. I guess maybe it is a big deal to some people, but I am not sure why there is not more of a demand for clean and healthy food that doesn’t make us sick. I am not sure why most people take medicine if they have heartburn or high blood pressure when they should first simply take a look at what they had to eat over the last month or year or even at their last meal and maybe ask themselves how long has it been since they walked or jogged a mile? I’m not trying to be a jerk, I’m just merely making a suggestion.
I am so puzzled by people who continue to shove known poison into their bodies for the sake of “it tastes good”, “it is cheap”, “it is convenient”. I kind of have a rule for myself as far as what I eat now… usually if it has a commercial or a marketing campaign, I don’t eat it. This pretty much means anything that comes in a package. If it has bright colors or loud fonts, that’s another red flag.
Ah, I rant therefore I am.
The thing is, I am not going to convince someone who is already gulping down transfatty donuts and eating bags of chips and cookies (and oh yeah, those cute little sugar as crackpipe cupcakes I used to make not so long ago) and boxes of Little Debbies (WTF is in a “Star Crunch” anyway?!?) already on the crazytrain fasttrack to heart, colon, pancreatic, liver and kidney diseases. I guess if you are happy living that life, go for it.
But, if you are tired of feeling sick and tired, constantly on a diet and feeling starved all the time (with little to no results), and just frustrated with CONSTANLY CRAVING SUGAR and never feeling full or satiated…well, try dropping a few things from the rotation like the morning cinnamon roll… 😉 Even the evil Weight Watchers has it in for you with their little processed snack cakes. I don’t care if it is only one “point”. 😉
Oopsy, ranting again…
The Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook is a great resource if you are already Paleo, or if you are just starting out. It has numerous meal ideas and tips, tricks, and even kitchen equipment suggestions to help you make the most of your Paleo cooking. You have no more excuses to eat poorly.
You can buy the Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook here on Amazon. So many great recipes in one place for under $20. What a bargain for your health and your loved ones who might resist the idea of giving up certain foods. This book is a great transition into the Paleo diet without the feeling deprived.
Just read some of the recipe titles: Bacon Wrapped Dates, Chunky Guacamole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Fried Chicken… does that sound like deprivation to you?
By the way, I made the “Paleo Spiced Nuts” on page 62 and took them along to 2 different parties over the weekend. Guess what? I didn’t have to say, “Oh, these are Paleo” or “Oh, I made these because they follow my diet plan” I made them because I knew they would be freaking delicious!! Just take a gander at the recipe below (I added golden raisins to the mix, they were not a part of the original recipe):
1.5 teaspoons cumin
.5 teaspoons chili powder
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
.25 teaspoons cayenne pepper
4 cups raw nuts (NO PEANUTS! They are beans, far less nutritious, and not Paleo.)
Nuts to include the following: cashews, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, brazil nuts.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coconut oil or organic butter
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup red wine
1. Simmer the raisins in the red wine to plump them up and drain them in a sieve. Set aside.
2. Mix the spices in a bowl and set aside.
3. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Add nuts and toast until lightly browned, be careful not to burn.
5. Add the oil or butter and vanilla and toss to coat, then sprinkle your spices over the nuts and stir until well combined.
6. Spread the nuts out on a lined cookie sheet (easier clean up this way) and speckle them with the raisins–just place them wherever in little bunches on the sheet amongst the nuts. The raisins give a little sweet to the spiciness that I just love.
7. I set the cookie sheet back in the oven at about 150 to keep warm until I was ready to serve them. Be careful once again not to burn.
You can like Paleo Comfort Foods on Facebook here or follow them on twitter here. Thank you, Julie and Charles Mayfield, what a great book and what awesome people you are. Saving the world one meal at time…
If you are Paleo and looking for mealtime inspiration, or if you are the opposite of Paleo, I encourage you to check out this book.
Fabulous 500 Gala Takes Place on Saturday, August 27th
You won’t want to miss the party of the year!
The Fabulous 500 Gala will be Saturday, August 27, 7:00pm at Willis Estate in Granite Bay.
Gala guests will have the opportunity to bid on amazing auction items, enter exciting raffles, sample the finest local restaurants, enjoy top-shelf cocktails and dance to live music – all while enjoying the ambiance and impressive view at this exclusive estate.
Tickets are now $250 per person
an incredible value for the impressive venue, top named entertainment,
best of the best restaurants, and all the local who’s who.
*Special Discount – buy two for $300 or $150 each for two or more*
The theme this year is “Fly Me to the Moon”. The gala committee is thrilled that Mark S. Allen has recently agreed to support the “Fly Me To The Moon” gala as the guest auctioneer. Emmy Award winner, Mark S. Allen is well known for his work with “Good Day Sacramento,” Mark@TheMovies and NOW 100.5 FM.
Restaurants set to appear at the Gala are Source Tapas, Sienna Restaurant, Crush 29, Mas, Chocolate Architect, Pete’s, Cupcake Craving, California Caramel Company, Outback, Land and Ocean, Paul Martin’s American Bistro, and Vaiano Trattoria.
NEW Benefit For Gala Sponsors:
Sponsors $5,000 and above receive private VIP limousine transportation to and from the event in addition to four tickets, signage recognition, web site promotion and advertising visibility.
All event proceeds help the FUTURE Foundation of Sacramento.
Your support will help provide volunteer mentoring and scholarship funding to local underprivileged students in support of their college education. In addition to providing each student a multi-year college scholarship, FUTURE provides eight years of guidance through mentoring. (FUTURE is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation.)
To learn more about the gala, and learn about sponsorship opportunities, visit www.Fab500.org
RSVP and purchase your tickets now!
You can find the FUTURE Foundation of Sacramento on Facebook here.
Photos from last year’s event are courtesy of Tia Gemmell of Riverview Media Photography.
The Fabulous 500 Gala is brought to you by MGE Events.
My Audition for Cupcake Wars… and things that were edited out of my audition… ;)
If you could watch this and “like” the video on You Tube, share it with your friends, leave a comment, etc… I would be so very happy!
UPDATE!! Here is the new video!!
Thank you to Donahue Photography 😀
Yard House and Train at Thunder Valley = Love
The newest place to be in Roseville is Yard House, which recently opened in the Fountains at Roseville shopping and dining strip.I visited last Saturday with my roommate before we headed to Thunder Valley for an AWESOME Train concert.
Yard House is a chain restaurant that began in Southern California. The restaurant was founded by Steele Platt (along with partners Harald Herrmann and Carlito Jocson) who wanted to create a restaurant that would offer one of the largest selections of draft beers, and a vast menu of American fare. The first Yard House opened along the Long Beach waterfront in Southern California in 1996.
Yard House is obviously famous for all those beers on tap, but here is a quick snap of the wine they serve by the glass. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it).
The view from where we were seated… in a booth large enough to lie down in.
This Caesar salad came out with our entrees (we each got one this size). My favorite part of it was the parmesan crisps. I didn’t even need my croutons or dressing.
 Healthier Fare at the California State Fair!
I love going to the California State Fair every year. I visit several times during the duration of the fair, and enjoy the exhibits (especially the California county exhibits), the wine garden, the concerts, and just people watching in general. 🙂
This year, I have changed my focus a little with my side business and this website. I no longer make cakes or sweets or anything that I shouldn’t be eating. Well, anything I shouldn’t be eating I certainly don’t want to try and sell to you.
So now, I want to report more on healthy living… or at least making healthier choices. In this post, I will show you that YES, there are better food choices at the fair. You can make it out alive without having a “deep fried” anything. No one is forcing you to eat a funnel cake, ok? If you are currently on a diet or have been advised by a doctor to stay away from sugar and excess fat, you don’t have to avoid the fair altogether. Read below for some information on vendors I visited that carry lighter food choices!
After I obtained my chicken kabob, I headed over to the wine garden to try some award-winning wines and to taste the wine of the day. Tip: Buy a souvenir wine glass for $7 and when you buy a glass of wine you actually get more like a glass and a half. The volunteers at the wine garden are very nice people and a lot of them are pretty knowledgeable about wine without being snooty, so if you are a wine novice, feel free to ask questions and really get dialed in to a wine you like before you buy! 🙂
Also, don’t miss this coming Friday’s (July 29th) wine event at the fair. The Taste and Celebrate the Best wine event (formerly California Grape & Gourmet) is the culmination of the Golden State’s premier wine competition. This special celebration of the State’s world class wine industry will include a tasting of California gold medal winning wines as judged at 2011 California State Fair Wine Competition. Proceeds from the Taste and Celebrate the Best event will benefit the Friends of the California State Fair Scholarship Program. You can buy tickets here. (scroll down to the Taste and Celebrate the Best event).
cavegrrl.com 