Vegetarian Times featured Ann’s recipe for South American Squash and Vegetable Ragout on the October cover! Check it out, along with the rest of her delicious recipes!
May 14th, 2010
Healthy Eating for Kids!
As I’ve spent the week preparing for my talk at this weekend’s You Are What You Eat event, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to get kids to the table and enjoy healthy and delicious meals with the family. As I thought back on strategies that I’ve used with my kids, I remembered this GEM of an idea, given to me by Mary Hartzell, who is an early childhood educator and ran the nursery school both by children attended. Mary suggested to always have one consistent dish on the dinner table that the kids could eat, no matter what. If they are picky or fussy and don’t want to eat what I have prepared, there is always one dish that they can eat.
When I cook, I cook what my husband and I want to eat (and what we WANT our kids to eat) but, lets be honest, what parents like eating vs what the kids want to eat is often not the same thing! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told Halle and Walker, that our home kitchen is not a restaurant! So in addition to what recipes I am preparing for that night’s dinner, I always prepare a whole grain dish, usually quinoa or brown rice. That way, the kids know there’s one nutritious item being served that they’ll WANT to enjoy.
I hope that there may be some of you out there who are able to make it to Brea tomorrow. There promises to be a full day of talks and discussions on this very topic, which I know is one that most mothers grapple with regularly! Even if you can’t make it to Brea, please feel free to share any thoughts or questions you have in the comments section, I’d love to start a dialogue where fans of RFD and REAL FOOD can talk about how to make the best choices for you and your families.
Click here for more information on You Are What You EAT. I hope to see you there!
May 4th, 2010
Superfoods to save the day!
I recently had a great opportunity to work with the folks at MSN’s Practical Guide to Healthier Living, a health and wellness site dedicated to showcase easy, everyday tips for ways to improve your quality of life and improve your overall health and wellness.
I was asked to share my thoughts on superfoods, and why it’s so important to incorporate these nutritional powerhouses into your daily diet. I was thrilled, because this is a topic very near and dear to my heart. Often, people think that “Superfoods” are just the exotic items like Goji or Acai berries, and neglect to think of the everyday items that really pack a nutritious punch. Foods like spinach, soy, avocado, and blueberries are all items that are nutrient rich and loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients. By simply incorporating these foods into your daily meals, you will get an extra surge of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients that will produce results for your body that you can see and feel, inside and out.
Check out my full video interview, as well as my article on superfoods on the MSN website, and let me know your thoughts! Are there items that surprised you on the list? Are there foods we left off? Let us know!
April 8th, 2010
Eat Well, Chew Well
At Real Food Daily, we make sure to let everyone know that we are LA’s top spot for organic vegan cuisine. What you might not know is that RFD’s original menu was founded on the principles of macrobiotics, and we still keep a core devotion to the macrobiotic diet with our Real Food Meal and our daily basics such as whole grains, beans, greens, and vegetables both land and sea as well as nori maki and miso soup.
Macrobiotics is a concept that gets an occasional burst of media attention as one celebrity or another endorses the diet, but in truth, Macrobiotics is more than a diet—it is a lifestyle based on the principles of balance and harmony, dedicated to the pursuit of living life to the fullest.
While there are many facets to the Macrobiotic diet, one good place to start the discussion is to talk about chewing. Before you get caught up in what to buy, or how to cook it, let’s talk about The Chew.
Macrobiotics teaches that how we eat is just as important as what we eat. This may sound crazy—especially when you read on and discover that some gurus recommend chewing 100 TIMES before swallowing – and that’s per bite, not per meal! Chewing, it’s core, is a practice in mindfulness.
According to practitioners, benefits associated with chewing well include: improved digestion, more energy and endurance, eliminating more toxins, promoting deeper relaxation, and cultivating patience and self-control. Once you begin the practice of mindful eating, you may even begin to experience feelings of enlightenment or event bliss! (Some attribute this experience to the fact that the brain receives about 20 percent more oxygen when chewing well.)
Ultimately, what you eat, and how you eat it can have a profound impact on your daily happiness. At your next meal, start by chewing each bite as many times as you can—when you start it will probably be only 8 or 10 “chews” before you feel compelled to swallow. But keep at it! This practice will help you to be more mindful as you eat, and will encourage you to be thoughtful and conscientious about how you feed your body.
Eating well gives you three chances every day to make good decisions for your body and your soul, so embrace the opportunity to eat and chew well!
April 7th, 2010
Driven to a Greener Future
We were so fortunate this year to be a part of the 2010 TED Conference in Long Beach, as participants in the Lexus Eco Village, and now I have big news: I am a finalist for the Lexus Prize!
At the Eco Village, TEDsters were invited to share their ideas for small but powerful ways that we can all reduce our carbon footprint. My idea is very simple: Eat Green! A vegan diet is an easy and delicious way to reduce your carbon footprint, and I’ve made it my mission for the last 17 years to share that message with the work we do at RFD.
Watch my video here, or see it online at Articulate-SF.com
February 9th, 2010
Prius lovers going veg
One of my final jobs as an actress was playing in a Miller Beer commercial. I was paired with a ‘real’ live rodeo star, Steve? and we filmed in this honky tonk joint (which was really My Father’s Moustache on Montana Ave in Santa Monica.) I was the waitress (I nailed the audition because I knew exactly how to play this role from all my years in restaurants.) The scene is at the bar; I was serving rodeo rider, Steve his Rib-eye dinner. My big line was, “Here’s your steak, Steve” delivered with a Southern sassy flair. By then I was a hard-core foodie in the arena of veganism and macrobiotics. This was the perfect finale to my acting career.
A lot has happened since I served Steve his steak. My interest in healing foods and conscious eating has widened to include the connection to how our food choices effect the environment. In the past decade there has been so much information to digest. The facts about global climate change directly related to agriculture through the loss of wilderness to farmland, methane released from animals, energy-intensive fertilizers, polluting pesticides, and food processing and transportation were not lost on me.
And as a restaurateur, I’ve been noticing that my restaurants fill up with people who aren’t vegan or vegetarian full-time. These are people who are thinking about their health and their impact on the environment. With new knowledge, their interest in adding plant-based meals to their weekly repertoire seems to be growing. They have a hunch that driving a Prius but eating a steak dinner is missing the point on environmental responsibility.
These past few years has seen the launch of many awareness campaign like the one Sir Paul Mc Cartney and his daughter Stella have spearheaded. Meat Free Monday, aims to persuade people to go veggie once a week to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s livestock to the United Nations and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health echoing the connection between the consumption of meat and the deterioration of our environment. Vegetarianism is has moved into the mainstream.
When I opened RFD 17 years ago, I was way ahead of my time. The choices I made came out of a deep connection to the Earth and my own body as well as intuitively knowing that eating ‘real foods’ was sensible, do able and the right thing to do. I would have never dreamed I would own a restaurant much less one serving exclusively an organic vegan cuisine. And yet, here, I am at the helm of two successful, ground breaking, eating establishments that show people that eating lower on the food chain can be exciting, satisfying and can change not only you but the world.
I’ve always been a gal with a mission. I’m pumped up about these environmental issues. So, I thought what better way to express myself then to pull these thoughts together in a book. Of course, that would be a book with recipes.
January 7th, 2010
A Vegan Peg in a Meat Eating World
So it’s a couple days into my adventures in veganism, and I have found such great support from my co-workers, friends and family, all of whom I expected to be super skeptical about my embrace of the challenge (ok, not my co-workers, I knew they’d all be stoked). Across the board, most everyone I’ve encountered has acknowledged that it’s a big undertaking, and that they can’t wait to hear how it goes. (I wouldn’t be surprised, however, to discover that they have a pool going behind the scenes on how long before I cave to the power of parmesan on my pasta…)
And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must confess that the first couple of days, I took the easy route, and relied on eating at RFD for lunch and dinner. I love the food, and when you’re eating things like the RFD Club or the Not-chos, let’s be honest– there’s nothing to miss. I was feel cool, confident, and secure in my ability to sustain my commitment to a plant-based diet.
Until dinner last night.
I have a standing weekly date with a friend, where we find a new restaurant, get some wine and snacks at the bar, and play catch up for the week. This week, we decided to check out The Tasting Kitchen, on Abbot Kinney. A gorgeous space, a great cocktail and wine list, and then I saw it: they have a brief and wonderful cheese list. This was it. My moment of truth.
We ordered, and I managed to pass on the cheese, “Just bread and olive oil for me, thanks.” To which he replied, “Actually, I think the bread might have eggs in it…” WHAT? I have to be careful about bread, too?? Thankfully, the baker assured me: Just flour, yeast, salt, and water. Phew.
While there aren’t many options for strictly vegan items on the regular menu at The Tasting Kitchen, I have to commend them on their willingness to accommodate specific dietary needs. The restaurant features a daily fixe prix menu for $40, and if you order that, the chef will make you a fully vegan plate. (Caveat emptor: they will not modify menu items that are on the regular daily menu.)
This dinner fully impressed upon me the “challenge” element of the “21-day Challenge”, and I would love some feedback from any vegans out there reading this blog on how you handle the challenge of eating vegan in a carnivorous world. Do you stick to restaurants that cater to the vegan set? Do you ask if you can order off-menu? As a girl who loves almost nothing more than dinner out on the town, I’d love some advice from those of you out there who know the ropes and have recommendations for a newb like me. Post a comment or find us on Twitter @realfooddaily. I’d love to start a dialogue!
January 5th, 2010
2010 and the 21-Day Vegan Challenge
Hi! My name is Beth Griffiths, and I’m the newest member of Team RFD. I joined up with Real Food Daily in December, and I came on-board to help with communications and community outreach. I am a long time advocate for environmental and sustainable food systems, and cannot believe my good fortune at having found a job that combines my experience in food service with my dedication to the green movement.
Now that I’ve started the job with Real Food Daily, one of the questions I get most often has been, “but are you a vegan?!” To which, I’ve had to shake my head and admit, “no, I’m not.” Not only am I not a vegan, but I’m actually something of an expert on artisanal cheese and charcuterie. I love cheese, I love meat, but the reality is that I also love the planet, and at some point I realized that the planet needs everyone to embrace a little moderation on the “meat and cheese” front.
So, in taking the job, my philosophy was, “come for the organic, stay for the vegan.” Well, it’s been six weeks, and I am overwhelmingly impressed with the restaurant’s dedication to organic and sustainable food, and now I’m here for the vegan.
I’ve been following news of the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, which is spearheaded by the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, and I thought it seemed like a really great way to challenge my cheeseburger loving soul to embrace the full culinary philosophy of Real Food Daily.
I’m looking forward to blogging about my experiences during the next 21-days, as well as discussing motivations, facts, information, and even some recipes and cooking tips from the helpful team here at Real Food Daily.
I have had such good fortune to meet and interact with so many of the wonderful and committed fans of Real Food Daily, fans and guests from all walks of life– from carnivores who just can’t get enough of the Not-Chos, to die-hard Real Food Meal aficionados who have been with us since the opening in 1993. I am looking forward to joining them in the dining room for the next 21-days, and if the meals I’ve enjoyed at RFD so far are any indication, I strongly suspect that the 21-day mark will be just the beginning.
November 21st, 2009
Sunny Thanksgiving
Back in LA, to more sunny days. Thanksgiving sneaking up, my, how fast time is moving. At RFD, we are counting our faux turkeys, one by one as we add up TG-togo
Meals we are serving the day before Thanksgiving. This is our 16th year of offering this incredible meal and deal! The seed for TG-togo was planted in year one. Those were the days, when I was working the floor at RFD-SaMo. One of my regular customers asked me if I could whip up a little something for a Thanksgiving dinner. He would be eating alone and wanted to keep it healthy and clean. Within three days, the core meal we still serve today was created. We wanted to close on Thanksgiving Day, so the brilliant idea to offer it the day before was born. Year one we must of sold 16 meals. By year two with a little more planning and marketing, we jumped to 80 meals and in year two we reached over a 100. By year 4, we were serving close to 200 plus meals and in year five when the second RFD in West Holly opened, they each ran neck and neck serving 228 full meals EACH. All for no turkey necks being broken!
November 13th, 2009
Eating in NYC
How apropos that I write my first blog while in New York. NYC is the place where I started my culinary journey.
I flew on Virgin America for the first time and it won’t be my last. I raise my carrot juice to Richard Branson. Forward thinking! His airline will become the standards of air transportation. Comfortable, quiet, my own private TV screen, free Wi-Fi, compliments of Google. I even got a tee shirt that says, “I hooked up @ 35,000 Ft.”
Two hours after I arrive, I’m chowing down at Souen on 13th street eating dinner with my dear friend Pablo Vela. Pablo and I go back a long way to our days at Goddard College. We have kept up through the past three decades. He has led an amazing life as a theatre artist from teaching to acting to working all over the world. Food at Souen was scumcious as always. I went right for the kimpira as an appetizer and their cabbage salad with the famous secret carrot dressing. It’s hard to find anyone preparing burdock in LA except at a few Japanese places. Burdock is a medicinal food, it warms the body, strengthens the blood. I can feel its power bolting through my veins. This macrobiotic restaurant has been going strong for 30 years in Manhattan with several downtown locations. The Souen menu has a great explanation of the macrobiotic way, ???
On my first morning, I awake to marching bands outside my window. I love the fanfare, but I remember it’s Veteran’s Day. By the time I get on the street, a dozen bands are lined up waiting to march down Fifth Avenue. I thought I saw the Hell’s Angels but it was firemen lined up on their bikes ready to roar. It’s a hoot, especially the cheerleaders with pompoms. New York just liked I pictured it.
While I grabbed lunch at Angelica’s Kitchen, I got to visit with Leslie the proprietress and the love and energy beyond this landmark. I had the wee dragon bowl, with soup and cornbread and spread. Damn that cornbread slathered with tahini miso spread, something about it is amazingly satisfying. I was at Angelica’s on the first day it opened in the late 70’s. I remember I was fasting so I didn’t eat anything. Ha, I have to laugh on that one.
From the lower east side I high tailed it up to Columbus Circle to visit friend and RFD shareholder, Jane Velez Mitchell, TV personality, author, vegan and animal activist. Link to her site. Jane while LA based for the past decade, now is living in the city while hosting her show for CNN. She is joyously spending precious time living with her 93-year-old mother who is in great shape from years of dance and movement and eating vegan. Wow, I want to be like her when I grow up.
Back to Souen, this time the location in SoHo for dinner with another dear friend Margie. I mentioned the famous carrot dressing that for 30 years everyone has been trying to get the recipe for. At this location it was perfectly made, thick and sweet and you want to pour it on everything.
Following day, I trek through the rain and white to the Upper East Side to stop by Candle Café. I run into a RFD long time customer. Yummy split pea soup and nice salad of millet and black lentils. Take food for the plane ride back. Baked sweet potato, slow cooked grilled onions, braised tempeh, and sautéed mustard greens that were so deliciously bitterly good.
Good for you.