Back and Flourishing!

Well, my friends, I started this blog quite enthusiastically but then stopped for a lil bit. I apologize! Shortly after commencing this blog, I started my very own personal chef business a few months ago and it has been named!

~ FLOURISH~ Thanks to my sis for that, she's great with words!!

[Flourish {ˈfləri sh}: to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, esp. as the result of a particularly favorable environment (for example, Mickey's vegan cooking). hehe

I should clarify that my business is 100% vegan, organic cooking. In that vein, it caters also to those also who require gluten free, or are raw foodist, macrobiotic, solely organic, or perhaps are trying to heal their bodies from illness or lose weight, get healthy or just want delicious vegan food but don't have time to cook it themselves. I'm trying to stick to the basics of delicious and pure foods in their wholesome organic form. I'm trying to help people FLOURISH! Are you flourishing??? Are you eating and living according to what your bodies truly need in order to thrive?! I know we all try, but that's why I'm here to help!

Alas, I've been quite busy! A personal chef business isn't as easy as it may sound. There's consultations, menu planning, menu development, a ton of emailing back and forth, shopping for food, the actual final cooking of food, driving all over accomplishing all of this.... and that's just for one client! Nevermind the business side of things..... but as is the ol' adage..."If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." I couldn't be happier doing this "work". :-)

With new clients, and everything else that a new business entails thus far, I rarely have time to cook for myself at home anymore, let alone document the event and then blog about it. Thanks to the nature of my business, however, I am still able to fire up my passion a few days a week! Therefore, I'm going to try and stick to just posting food menus, recipes, photos, etc.... of all of the food that I cook for clients. Which I think will be very interesting as they are all so varied in their tastes and what their different needs and likes/dislikes are. A sort of food reality show, if you will, but in blog form. I think I'm onto something!

Tuesday I will be cooking for the sweetest family, it will

be my 4th visit to their beautiful home in Del Mar. Raw food for mom, and gluten free and dairy free for the two beautiful little girls. What's great about it, is they're not actually vegan, but they want to eat healthy! I just come along every couple weeks and deposit some delicious meals and off I go! The rest of the time, they get their own CSA, have their own chickens at a friends house for their own eggs, and are even looking into a cow share! Only in California eh?

So today I shopped at the Hillcrest Farmers Market for their menu. It is THE greatest market around these parts in my opinion, as it has all of my favorite farmers on one street. Favorites being Sage Mountain, Suzies Farm, JR Organics, La Milpa, and Archie's Acres. There are many more, but those are the top for me!

The menu for Tuesday will be:

Gluten free roasted vegetable lasagna with pine nut "ricotta"- Roasted summer squash, sweet peppers, eggplant and mushrooms with gluten free pasta

Raw tacos with spicy sunflower seed "meat", guacamole, cashew "sour creme" wrapped in collard greens

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with cucumbers, fresh corn and basil

Here's a peep at the gems I walked away with!