Organic Summer

It's funny, I have always loved summer, but loved to escape Miami for as long as possible during it. We would pack the 4 boys up and head out. For a few years we rented a place in Vermont, then spent a lot of time in North Carolina, Utah beckoned next.

As the years pass we seem to be in Miami more though. The reason being we need to work around our kids jobs, internhips, sporting camps, -in other words we are no longer running the show,  they are running ours. Like so much in life the tables have turned. 

Of the past  couple of summers when we have been here I have loved it. The idlesness, lack of schedule, the feeling that Miami is pretty empty and you are one of the few.

 The heavy air I now embrace,  I love the tropical, sensual smell that fills my senses. I love the clothing that by necesity becomes so loose and light, so tropical. I love the sight of the pure casualness we all excude here in these steamy months. My blow dryer gets put away all summer and my crazy curls come out. Make up? Forget it, it just melts in our heat. 

So like many things in my life I feel the need to mark it, invite it in, plan for it,  and so it goes with my organic summers. Every year of late I have had new themes to each one. This one I especially needed to as I say,  go back to my organic roots. Slow down in my thoughts,  and begin my meditation practice that has grown lapse,  get my skin back to its glow.  I decided action was necessary,  I have been back to accupuncture to get the stress out, sleep back, and working on my digestion.

To that end I have decided to be vegetarian for the summer and that began last week. To mark that as its own beginning I had a colonic done today. Talk about feeling fresh and clean-nothing like a great colonic. Here in Miami/Miami Beach I wouldn't use anyone but Naima, at Nirvana Spa. You will meet someone it is an honor to be near, she works on your body,  as your spiritual side is centered. She is a gift. I am skipping out of the gym this week focusing on getting the great feeling of the sweat and release nothing gives me like yoga. How do I feel?...Growing happier, more content and peaceful by the moment, and summer has just begun for me, can't wait for the kids to finish school and join me in my state of bliss. 

xo ginny

My gift to you- an incredible way to start each and everyday

Blend up and drink it- this is your breakfast-you will be glowing in a week.

1 head dark green of your choice. Switch it up. Maybe one day kale, another spinach or arugula

1/2 a cucumber

1 apple

1/4 pineapple

1 banana

1 TBL ground flaxseed

water-around 1 1/2 cups.

Vitamix for this is perfect!

Lunch is Served

Lately on Saturday afternoons, instead of running out for a family lunch, when my men return from boot camp and I come back from yoga  we have been settling in to beautiful lunches at home. As my husband always says of late, "why go out when we have much better quality than what is offered in most restaurants and we cook it simply to our taste - clean food at its best." He's right, as long as he pitches in and we all do it together!!
This Saturday we made salmon grilled in a marinade of oranges, lemons and grapefruit juice all fresh  with chopped mint, olive oil, salt and pepper. Seared the salmon with great lines three minutes each side then a slow cook to medium- I like it cooked through.I served it with a great side dish of cous cous and heirloom tomatoes. This time of year the tomatoes are amazing and my garden is producing such a beautiful array!

Cous Cous and Fregola  Tomato Salad:

Cook cous cous and Fregola separately according to package directions  (Option you can just double either grain, I like using both)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Use 8 large vine ripened tomatoes and 1 1/2 cup yellow cherry tomatoes halved, (or any variety you prefer) as well as any other beautiful large tomatoes you  find in heirloom variety, look for purples and orange colored ones- so sweet.
If you get excited when you see tomatoes just dbl the recipe-it only gets better over a couple of days! Think bruschetta, tomato sauce etc.
To the tomatoes add:
1/2 Cup Olive oil;
3/4 tsp brown sugar;
1 TBL good balsamic vinegar;
2 TBL chopped oregano, tarragon, and mint;
1 garlic clove, crushed; and
cook tomatoes for 15-20 minutes...
Allow the tomatoes to cool,  add to warm grains,  season to taste with salt and pepper.
Optional- add some feta, goat or parmesan cheese to top- Yum!

Add some gorgeous grilled asparagus, and lunch is served!

xo ginny

What is Failure?

I met my husband when I was barely twenty-one.  And it was on our second date, that he told me his future wife would never work.

That she would be adored, loved, cared for but never work. I kind of felt at the time, that this future wife of his, the future Mrs S. would be incredibly loved, but with some terms! I wondered how in that time period could he be so chauvinistic? He was raised this way. But why did I so easily accept his way? I too was raised by a dad who wanted me to be loved, cherished and taken care of. In the back of my mind (or maybe in the front) I wanted the white picket fence, the kids- lots of them playing with a couple of dogs. It was a dream of mine.

I know I am so blessed by a husband who truly gets me, quirks and all. He just loves me from the bottom of his heart. He is equally loved, but twenty-four years later, I broke the terms he laid out on that second date- that has remained unspoken between us all these years. I was his wife and decided to build my dream of making this world just a little healthier by opening the door to my creative side.

Now the world of Mindful Organics is all unfolding happening and either I will fall flat on my face or I will show my sons, how their mom can go out and take risks. I so truly believe that failure comes from indecision. Failure is not when something doesn't go your way, it's when one does nothing at all.

I had two different conversations with my sons tonight, about their personal lives so I won't go to deeply into the issues, but they were similiar in different ways. One boy is having a girl issue. He wants to ask her out but is so worried she will turn him down. He is frozen. So not my way to be so tentative or hesitant- I feel like shaking the confidence into him...but I can't, so I keep teaching life lessons, building his confidence, and loving him so hard.

The other wants something in his sports world very badly, but is also afraid of rejection, though he claims otherwise.  He is thinking that he is content so I don't want to push. However with the wisdom of age does come the acknowledgment that regrets do come easily... But I do want him to live to the fullest, without showing too clearly, what I feel he should do. But I bite my tongue as I want him to come to make his own judgement call.

I just want to make sure that they don't become bystanders in life. I want them to live it with gusto. For to me, that is living!

As for myself I continue to do the best I can. I told them the story of a cafe in my neighborhood of sunny South Beach. I wanted so badly for ginnybakes to be sold there. I felt that my health-minded target market were there and that if ginnybakes were sold there it would be huge for my growth. So I worked really hard, worked with them, on their terms, and finally got their okay to put the product in there. I only had delivered for one week, then they decided we were "too small of a company" and didn't want to take a risk with me. I was a local. And great customer- so I was shocked, and hurt.  But you know what? I am glad it happened. It was the first example that I pointed to, and talked to my boys about tonight when I was talking about failure. Sure the rejection hurt- but only for a day or so. Then I got up, brushed off my knees and decided that obviously it wasn't the right place for ginnybakes. Their loss not mine.

I have always believed in the power of helping others- and that when some doors close, bigger ones open. Since that cafe closed their doors on us, Epicure Market- an infamous Miami Beach epicurean institution- has embraced us. Ha!

So if some doors haven't closed in your face, you have not lived. To live is to understand that failure is truly being too afraid to leap forward.  You will fail with inaction.

Let's all take a leap of faith and go for our dreams as life is so rich in possibility that way.  xo ginny

Smoothie Operator

My youngest two high-school sons walk into the kitchen every morning at 6:53am and leave by 7 (why and how they have both coordinated a tandem 6:53am walk in- I have no idea!). Then at the end of each day, one of two arrives back home at 6:30pm and the other, not until 8:45 pm- after practice. I can't really push for them to be in any earlier since they are up late with homework anyway.

My joy and responsibility is to get something into them that is highly nutritious, and quick for them to take down. Most days- it's a great smoothie. I wish I could serve it green, so the kale or spinach could announce its emerald green beauty in the glass, but my boys will revolt!

So, I am sneaky and smooth. I cover the green with a bright colored fruit such as raspberries or strawberries, and only after they happily drink it do I tell them what was in it. I do this so they understand and become more open to foods they perceive to be awful tasting. Many a masked-green smoothie later- are they slowly learning that certain foods are actually becoming part of their world. When they finish their last sips- I tell them all the wonderful vitamins, minerals and nutrients that just entered their systems. Do they always pay attention? No. But 6:53am is pretty early, and the seven beautiful moments/minutes I have them in the morning are oh so fleeting. But oh so blissful for me.  Have a beautiful, healthy day M and K. Love you!  xo Mom

My Secretly Green Smoothie
1/2  organic Haas avocado
2 leaves organic kale
1 cup of organic orange juice
1 cup organic strawberries, fresh or frozen
1 organic banana
1 tbsp ground flaxseed (for some omegas and protein!)

1. Throw all ingredients into a Vitamix or high-speed blender- and blend until everything is liquified.
Enjoy!!!

Processed Food...Not Good for You Not Good For Fido.

In early December, some of you may recall that I wrote about Miss Bear's detox. Miss Bear is our Newfoundland-Lab mix dog. She is 5 years old and is absolutely the sweetest thing ever. She has always battled allergies- but now I am happy to report that the lovely Miss Bear is looking so beautiful.

Her coat is shiny, she is so physically active, moving around like a young pup. Her secret? Her diet. She now thrives on a diet of raw ground organic beef, chicken, salmon and duck. Added to it is the discarded raw pulp of vegetables and fruits from my morning juicing. Miss Bear's diet keeps me very disciplined and happy knowing her health is tied to mine. Her weekly menu also consists of any combination of raw eggs, avocado, greek yogurt , sweet potato and a limited amount of quinoa or brown rice.

Spoiled? No! Healthy? yes!

Too often as pet owners we are lured into the notion that pets eat pet food. Out of convenience we opt for kibble then sometimes wonder why Spot is overweight, itchy, anxious or unhappy. I too played for years with various versions of hypoallergenic bagged foods before I got up the courage to take her health and well being as seriously as I do my own.

Within one week of cutting the bagged foods and feeding her simple real foods- her scratching stopped. Cold turkey. Coincidence, I definitely think not. And so this brings me to today's great article in the Dining section of the New York Times titled "Eat Table Food? Some Owners Say Pull Up a Chair".  The article further justifies that feeding your pets a natural diet of real foods vs. processed bagged/canned foods makes a world of difference to them.

Furthermore- if only we could realize how simple this formula is for our own health. As soon as we rid our bodies of processed, packaged foods- we will begin to see amazing results. Our energy increases, our skin glows and we feel happier. I guarantee it. It's not a matter of dieting. It's a simple matter of eating clean, real, foods.

Read the article and commit to getting your pets and yourself on a track to better health and vitality and think what wonders it can do for your own health.

Miss Bear gives the article two happy, healthy paws up!  xo ginny

DETOX SHOPPING LIST

Here is the official 3-day Detox shopping list! Print this baby off and get thee to the grocery store! PS. I always choose to buy all organic produce- to keep things as clean as possible.

What you will need:

- a strong blender, or a VitaMix or a good juicer

What to buy:

- 1 bag of Carrots

- 2 bunches of Celery

- 1 bunch of Watercress

- bag of Spinach

- 4-5 Apples

- a good bunch of Kale (Lacinato variety)

OR Swiss Chard works too

- 1 English Cucumber

- 1 good sized Beet

- 1L Almond Milk (I like the 40calorie Unsweetened Vanilla Flavor by Blue Diamond)

- 1L Coconut Water (I like Vita Coco or ONE)

- 3 Mangos, cubed

- 1 Orange

- bunch of Parsely

- bunch of Broccoli

- ice

- 2 avocados

Optional, but strongly recommended items:

- 1 Bottle of Flaxseed Oil (a good quality oil will be refrigerated, in store)

OR 1 Bag Ground Flaxseed

If you have any questions, post to our Facebook wall and I will respond.

Recipe for Day 1 juices will be posted later today.

I recommend you blend your juices the morning of- and make sure to keep your juices cold and refrigerated and ready for the prescribed times at which you will drink your juices.

9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm.

day 3 detox

You will have these juices at: 9am, 12 pm, 3 pm and 6pm.

Day 3 consists of two different juices. Let's call them Juice 1 and Juice 2. You will drink 2 of each, at set times. For example: Juice 1 and 9am and 12pm, and Juice 2 at 3 and 6pm.

Juice 1- Yields 2 juice servings
6 carrots
2 apples
1 orange
1/2 large beet
2 stalks of celery
optional, but STRONGLY encouraged, flaxseed oil or ground flaxseed 2 rounded TBL

Blend all together in a high powered blender or Vitamix, until smooth.

Juice 2- Yields 2 juice servings
4 kale leaves
2 bunches of parsely
2 handfulls of watercress
8 broccoli spears
1 pineapple
optional, but STRONGLY encouraged, flaxseed oil or ground flaxseed 2 rounded TBL

Blend all together in a high powered blender or Vitamix, until smooth.

Remember to listen to your body. As you have been nourishing your body only with pure, clean fruit and vegetable juices and cleansing itself of toxins and heavy foods- you may (0r may not) be feeling lightheaded or tired. If you do- then let yourself rest. Practice slow-moving stretching or Yoga poses while focusing on steady, deep breaths.

Drink plenty of water between juices. Add lemon to the water for flavor- and even feel free to drink decaf- natural herbal teas.

If you are hungry- then eat only either a 1/2 avocado, plain, or 10 almonds. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly and mindfully.

xo ginny