Back to School...So What's For Lunch??

Its almost time to get the kids up early again and rush them out the door to school before we ourselves must get ready for our own day of work. As a kid, I can remember having a hot breakfast a couple times a week and cereal the rest. My mother was like a machine at that point. My bagged lunch was usually made before I got up, along with the rest of my sisters. How about you? What's your fondest memory of morning rituals before school?

Someday your children will be answering that question about what you used to do for them. So now is the time to create those answers. What is it that you want your kids to say about you? Is it that they got a breakfast hot pocket and a few bucks for lunch or maybe it will be something about the care you took in choosing the right foods for them to eat that are healthy and nutritious. Who knows, maybe even a good breakfast will help them pay attention in class without dozing off from the sugared cereal crash.

Breakfast is an important meal, sometimes overlooked, but probably one of the meals of the day that's within our control. What happens when we send our kids off to school with some lunch money? What is it they are going to eat? Keep this in mind, schools are short on funding, always have been and probably always will. Its unlikely that each school is going to spend the money on preservative free foods, locally grown and so on. Instead, they are trying to cook for the overcrowded schools on the smallest budget with the least amount of labor possible. So convenient, labor efficient, highly processed foods are the common answer to this equation. Schools are cooking for thousands of kids a day, however you may only be cooking for a few, perhaps only one. There are plenty of simple meals that can be prepared the night before or quickly the morning before you send your kids off to Camp Sugar for the day.

If you do chose to take advantage of the school cafeteria, demand that your school feeds your kids something healthy and nutritious, tell them you want your kids to eat brain food, not the pork and beans we used to eat as kids. 1 in 10 people in the United States are pre-diabetic with a majority of that number becoming diabetic within 10 years. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A DIABETIC. If you are diagnosed pre-diabetic, it can be turned around with diet and exercise. Your chances of becoming diabetic are incredibly less by dropping 7% of your body weight. Don't wait till its too late and don't let your kids tell people that their parents fed them Diabetes for breakfast and lunch... Love them instead, care for their health now.

Chef Live...sort of, it was recorded

Check it out!! ChefLive on http://www.hulu.com/ keyword search ChefLive and watch the "Last Minute Vegetable Minestrone" This is one of several episodes that I filmed, promoting eating organic and healthy. It was filmed a while ago when I was still at DragonRidge, so I was promoting how the country club is (then and now) committed to serving healthier food to their members. Something that today, I continue to do in my own shop.

Slowly but surely people are catching onto the "Daily Diet" plans. Maybe I should clarify some of the details of this plan.

First off, it could or couldn't be a "diet" plan. It can be for pure convenience as well. Secondly, the menu is customized for you. Each person has his or her own likes and dislikes and also each may have their own diet criteria. Maybe you are on 500 calories a day, maybe 1200. Perhaps you have an allergy to Gluten or sunshine, others avoid fats oils and elevators, but their trainers want them to eat meat and potatoes instead. Point is, what ever your needs our, you and I will sit or stand, definitely not over a jog, discuss it, create a menu, you pay me and I deliver food, to you, fresh, daily or maybe twice a day, three times? even better.

When my air conditioner was leaking, I called a heating and cooling tech. When I needed power run for my mixer, I called an electrician. Even though I flip a light switch 500 times a day, doesn't make me an expert on how it works, so, just because you've eaten your whole life, doesn't make you an expert on how many calories in 5 stalks of asparagus or 4oz of chicken. If you have dietary needs, let me help you get healthy and stay healthy, worst case, you'll feel better, best case, you'll lose weight, be in a better mood and reduce health problems, you might even become younger and grow more hair. Highly unlikely but if that's what you want me to tell ya' no problem.

A Jazzy Opening

If the world was all about me, you would have read the headlines by now that said "Ghione's Go Fresh Throws an Opening Bash!" Thanks to Renato Lebron of Trader Joe's www.tjwineguy.com (and check him out on Twitter) also special thanks to Martin Mancusso, Jazz Musician www.martinmancusso.com , we christened the Go Fresh Kitchen in style. Great Food, Wine and music was the setting for nearly 100 guests in this small venue. We featured Organic Wines from the Trader Joe's inventory to compliment a variety of organic foods that represent the best ingredients on the market used in our recipes. Stacey Escalante invited many of her former reporter colleagues from Channel 3 as well, many guests from other networks joined us in the event that consumed over 50 Pizzas!! Besides the Pizza, we served about 20lbs of the Organic Farmers Market best fruits, including Plums that taste like all natural Sugar because they are sooo sweet and also Peaches, Nectarines, Figs, Dates and Watermelon. Many sandwiches and roasted vegetables marinated in Balsamic and Herbs made an appearance. The saxophone wasn't the only thing making noise because people kept talking about the mini portions of the "Moo Moo" which is our Roast Beef Sandwich with marinated red onions, cucumbers and cream cheese.

With so many people in attendance, it was a great time to discuss our capabilities to cater to any diet and special needs, 7 days a week. Many people have begun taking advantage of the convenience of home delivery and customized menu's to maximize their medical weight loss management programs.

To hear more about Ghione's Go Fresh Kitchen, you can watch Channel 3 news this Sunday morning at 9am and I'll have more to say about our commitment to make eating healthier in Las Vegas more convenient.

New Opportunities at the Cost of Las Vegas

Recently, I got a call from a company that owns the two restaurants that are my "competition" in town. Coincidentally the gentlemen lives close by and he found out about us from a door hanger we left on his house. He is looking for someone to take over their business, they have other investments that perform much better than these two stores. So, at very little cost, I could take that business and with some TLC it would perform wonderful, its a great location.

I'm disappointed though. I say its a cost to Las Vegas because I want to see MORE organic or restaurants trying to do things healthier as is the case with this place, no LESS. For me, I don't see them as competition, I see them as another venue trying to do the same thing I am, making eating healthier in Vegas more convenient. The more places like that to eat, the more exposed and educated the public is and the more likely they are to change their lifestyle to eat better.

I have no secrets from other business owners. I haven't invented Organic Food and if anyone needs recipes or ideas to open a business, I'm open to help. Try and open an organic restaurant right next to me and I'll kick your butt, I've got a family to take care of. A few miles away, I'm all about helping you succeed.

So, if anyone would like to see another Ghione's Go Fresh Organic Kitchen on the North West Side, please send a check to 2540 Anthem Village......just kidding.

Go Fresh Kitchen

We've been open just over a week and the local support is growing. Its a wonderful thing. Our menu started out with Pizza, Salads and Sandwiches, but we are quickly growing. Within 1 week, we blew through 1,000 menu's handing them out to customers and potential customers. So with the new round of menu's just in, we've added four incredible entrees. You won't find any cream, butter or potatoes on these dishes and our Chicken, Salmon, Shrimp and Eggplant Cannelloni are keeping with the all-natural and organic theme. With every dish that has something cooked, we add something raw...no, we are cooking the vegetables and serving raw chicken. Its just the opposite, cooking vegetables reduces the valuable nutrients so even though some of our dishes contain cooked ingredients (why? because its gooood!) you'll often find something that's raw, could be peaches, could be creamed corn, point is, (John Travolta in Look Who's Talking) everything is prepared with your health in mind.

I also have a "Retail" produce cooler set up, come in, shop what I got. Our Peaches, Plums and Nectarines came right from the Organic Farmers Market in LA on Wednesday. My produce buyer calls me while he's there and says what's hot and what's not.