03-26-10

Life Balance Challenge – Question #10

Here is this week’s Life Balance Challenge Question:

What is happening on April 22nd from 7:00pm – 9:00pm?

To Answer The Question:
1. Read this blog post.
2. Email the answer to rosereismanpg@gmail.com with the
subject line: Life Balance

The Prize: A 2 Day Food Sampler (3 meals and 2 snacks per day) delivered to your front door.

To Qualify:

1. You’ll need to be located in the Personal Gourmet Delivery Areas – click here to see the areas
2. You’ll need a valid email account so we can contact you (please include your phone number)
3. You’ll need to be a fan of Rose Reisman on Facebook

That’s all there is to it.

The cut-off to submit your answer is 5:00pm Saturday, March 27, 2010

Good Luck!

03-26-10

Spring Specials and What’s New!

We are very excited that Spring is here and the weather has warmed up. March break has finally arrived and its time to enjoy time with your family and friends. So make sure that you spend less time in the kitchen and grocery store and let us do the hardwork!

Spring Special:

1) Choice of Cookbook or Pickle Barrel

Sign up for 14 days or more and receieve your choice of Rose’s New Cookbook (just released) or a $28.00 gift certificate to Pickle Barrel.

All packages also include 2 free in house personal training from GFORCE.

All you need to do is email info@personalgourmet.ca after you sign up and mention which you would like to be included in your bag.

2) 60 Day Package

Sign up for a 60 day package and get both the cookbook a $28.00 gift certificate + 2 free in house personal training from GFORCE + 1 Free Day!

Call us at 416-721-0560 for more information or to sign up. Or check us out at PersonalGourmet.ca

*not in conjunction with any other promotions
** offer expires April 30th, 2010

Customer Appreciation Night: April 22nd , 7:00-9:00

We like to thank all our cusomers past, present and future, for all your support, over the last two years. Come join Rose and the Personal Gourmet Team for a cooking demonstration, light fare and cocktails! These nights fill up fast and will be first come first serve – so be sure to sign up at info@personalgourmet.ca. PG clients past and present are welcome to bring a guest.

Whats New: Spring Menu Items!

Our Spring Menu is about to spring into action, April 23rd! See some of Rose’s new menu items that are sure to be a hit! We also have added some new snack items and breakfasts! Please let us know what you think!

New Lunches:

• Tabbouleh with tomatoes, feta lemon dressing and grilled salmon
• Thai style shrimp salad over mango slaw, rice noodles and sesame vinaigrette
• Burrito with chicken, rice, cheese and avocado
• Chickpea and lentil curry with brown rice, min and cilantro puree
• “Heart Smart” corned beef sandwich
• Orzo salad with tomato, 3 cheese and chick peas
• Eggplant parmesan with tomato sauce, mozzarella and quinoa pilaf

New Dinners:

• Stuffed south west grilled pepper with rice, beans and charred corn
• White chicken chili with aged cheddar and diced tomatoes with grilled asparagus
• Calves liver with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes and sweet peas with julienne sundried tomatoes
• Pork loin, tomato and honey mustard sandwich
• Hoisin short ribs with mashed potatoes and stir fried edamamme

New Soups:

• Broccoli cheddar soup
• Red bell pepper puree soup
• Asparagus puree soup
• Sweet pea puree soup
• Miso soup
• Gazpacho Caramelized onion soup with parmesan cheese

And many more..

Introducing… Ready to Freeze.

Personal Gourmet meals are delivered FRESH not FROZEN to you in a vacuum sealed bag to retain maximum freshness. You can pick and choose the meals you want right away and then freeze the rest for later. Our packaging allows you to keep food fresh in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or to freeze for as long as you need. Click here to learn more.

New Programs

Nutrition Consultation

Learn how to:

• Supplement your current Personal Gourmet orders with healthy meals and snacks
• Maintain your weight loss after Personal Gourmet
• Time your meals and snacks and add appropriate foods to facilitate an exercise regime
• Ensure your are getting proper nutrients and calories for pregnancy and/or breastfeeding

Personalized Corporate Lunches

Keep your employees and co-workers happy and healthy by getting personalized fresh, gourmet meals delivered to your workplace! Ideal for corporate meetings!

Rates vary depending on individual needs
Please contact Azin Moinaddini for more information.

03-26-10

Breakfast Of Idols!

Love it or hate it, what ultimately makes the serial talent show, American Idol, so compelling is its unabashed approach to shaping its mainly 20-something, homegrown contestants into shapely stars. With each successive week, note how each of the contenders evolves—from hair, make-up and fashion to even shedding pounds. In our age of consumerism, even the most gifted voice doesn’t quite cut it without an equally quoiffed, sexy outward image.

So, it’s surprising to hear the show’s svelt, if not slick, Ryan Seacrest, proclaim this week that as a teenager he was “consistently embarrassed” about being overweight. Even today, he says he’s incessantly leery of what he eats, a result of rotten eating habits he developed growing up.

Admirably, Seacrest is putting his money where his mouth is (so to speak) officially teaming up with Brit chef and longtime school nutrition advocate, Jamie Oliver, to fight childhood obesity in the U.S. He’s even signed up the likes of Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, among other pop star pundits, to help target an increasingly portly, star-gazing demographic.

But childhood obesity is an equally alarming pandemic in Canada, where, for the first time as a modern nation, a disproportionate number of children shockingly are expected to live shorter lives than their parents.

From ages 4 to 16, kids spend 180 days at school—so, what they eat there sets the standards for a lifetime. Enter Canada’s very own, ‘Breakfast for Learning’, a nation-wide, not for profit movement whose vision it is to ensure every child in Canada attends school well-nourished and ready to learn. And as its National Spokesperson, Rose Reisman is helping spread the word, educating and inspiring school kids (and their parents!) across the country.

“As the first and most comprehensive organization dedicated to child nutrition in Canada, Breakfast for Learning and I share a passion and commitment to nutrition and healthy living,” says Reisman.

Research shows that well-nourished students show improved memory, problem-solving skills and creative abilities—overall, they perform better in school. Together with generous supporters like Rose’s Glow Fresh Grill and Wine Bar in Toronto, Breakfast for Learning helps to start and sustain over 5,000 child nutrition programs across Canada, serving healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks to more than 222,000 children and youth in a nurturing environment.

“Together, we can help ensure children have the nutrition they need to grow and thrive with a world of opportunity in front of them, it’s all about learning and engraining healthy habits early on,” says Rose. As the nation’s lead advocate for quality nutrition in schools, Breakfast for Learning is well on its way to helping raise awareness and educate communities about the vital link between proper nutrition and learning through ongoing program support, training, child nutrition education, resources and research. Any kid who is strong, healthy and ready to learn will reach as far as any idol!

To learn more about starting a program, applying for a grant, keys to success, research, resources and much, much more, visit, Breakfast For Learning.

03-18-10

Life Balance Challenge – Question #9

Here is this week’s Life Balance Challenge Question:

What is the ‘Healthy Food Radius’?

To Answer The Question:
1. Read this blog post.
2. Email the answer to rosereismanpg@gmail.com with the
subject line: Life Balance

The Prize: A 2 Day Food Sampler (3 meals and 2 snacks per day) delivered to your front door.

To Qualify:

1. You’ll need to be located in the Personal Gourmet Delivery Areas – click here to see the areas
2. You’ll need a valid email account so we can contact you (please include your phone number)
3. You’ll need to be a fan of Rose Reisman on Facebook

That’s all there is to it.

The cut-off to submit your answer is 5:00pm Friday, March 19, 2010

Good Luck!

03-18-10

5 Healthy Approaches For Frequent Flyers

Whether business trips have you hopping from city to city or you’re off to a sunny locale for spring break, traveling can no doubt be disruptive to even to the most disciplined when it comes to eating healthy. We present 5 core approaches to help you stay on sound nutritional track, despite the destination…

1. Your Personal ‘Mise En Place’
We adapt the theory behind the classic French cooking rule, ‘mise en place’ (literally, ‘everything in place’). Just as you need to have all your ingredients and utensils fully thought through before you start cooking a dish from scratch, so to when you travel, ensure you have access to as many of the items you use to prepare your meals when at home. First off, where possible, choose a hotel that offers an ensuite kitchen. We’re not suggesting you cook every meal in your hotel room, but even the most modest kitchen setup in an all-suites style hotel, with a fridge, stove and microwave, plus basic cutlery, can work miracles when on the road.

The goal here is to be able to at very least keep a stock of healthy foods readily on hand. So, if a kitchen isn’t possible, a fridge almost always is. If you’re room has a mini bar, in advance of arrival, contact the hotel directly to ensure it is emptied at your arrival and duration of your stay—that way, you make room for stocking some healthy foods and at the same time rid yourself of all those tempting salty snacks and chocolate!

2. ‘The Healthy Food Radius’
As critical to having the access outlined in #1 is having healthy foods, both raw ingredients and quality prepared meals at arms length. This is what we call ‘the healthy food radius’, that is, walking or short cab distance to a local grocery store, green grocer, fruit stall, and even health food store. Stock up on healthy snacks such as nuts, dried fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables. And with you’re basic kitchen, you’re able to at least cobble together a healthy breakfast, likely much more so than in the hotel’s restaurant.

3. Take A Mini Pantry Kit
Depending on your destination, where you’ll need to take border crossing restrictions into account, it’s always helpful to take along some key utensils and cooking products, such a small non stick pan, a good pairing knife, a tin of cooking oil spray, as well as potential nutritional supplements like protein powder and even a powdered veggies such as ‘Greens+’, particularly if you know that vegetables might be a challenge where you’re going. Choosing a small suitcase on wheels to use exclusively for your ‘mini pantry kit’.

4. Be A Menu Sleuth
In advance of your trip, and having chosen a hotel with a ‘healthy food radius’, you’ll want to also research your local restaurant options. You can do a great deal online, even downloading menus and reading local food critics picks. But also contact your hotel concierge service before leaving to ensure they have all the local restaurant menus on hand for your review by the time you check in.

5. Embrace The Local
Almost always, regardless of the destination, eating local is almost always more healthy, and certainly more interesting. At vacation destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean, for instance, skipping the transplanted North American chains and seeking out the highest quality, independent restaurants and cafes are typically not only far more healthy, but also more memorable. A small local restaurant is also typically far more amenable to responding to special menu requests and modifications.

03-11-10

Life Balance Challenge – Question #8

Here is this week’s Life Balance Challenge Question:

How much weight did women that consumed 30 grams of alcohol or more each day gain?

To Answer The Question:
1. Read this blog post.
2. Email the answer to rosereismanpg@gmail.com with the
subject line: Life Balance

The Prize: A 2 Day Food Sampler (3 meals and 2 snacks per day) delivered to your front door.

To Qualify:

1. You’ll need to be located in the Personal Gourmet Delivery Areas – click here to see the areas
2. You’ll need a valid email account so we can contact you (please include your phone number)
3. You’ll need to be a fan of Rose Reisman on Facebook

That’s all there is to it.

The cut-off to submit your answer is 5:00pm Friday, March 12, 2010

Good Luck!

03-11-10

A Glass A Day Could Keep The Pounds At Bay!

From Sophie Lauren to Katherin Deneuve to Penelope Cruz. Gorgeous, talented women with something else in common: they come from the three European countries that per capita consume the most red wine on earth.

But according to a compelling new study just out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, you don’t have to be from Italy, France or Spain to take advantage of what these leading ladies and their compatriots have known for centuries.

“Our study results showed that middle-aged and older women who have normal body weight initially and consume light-to-moderate amount of alcohol could maintain their drinking habits without gaining more weight compared with similar women who did not drink any alcohol,” Dr. Lu Wang from the division of preventive medicine at the Boston hospital noted in an email to Reuters Health.

Basically, the study suggests that light to moderate alcohol consumption, especially red wine, is not only good for a woman’s heart, it’s also good for her waistline. Further—engaging a sample of 20,000 trim middle-aged and older women—the study showed over time that women who drank alcohol in moderation put on less weight and were less apt to become overweight compared to non-drinkers. Various lifestyle and dietary factors that might influence a woman’s weight were taken into account in coming to their conclusion.

Women who did not drink gained an average of 8 pounds compared with 3.4 pounds for those who consumed 30 grams of alcohol or more each day. And while red wine seemed best at keeping weight in check, white wine, beer and spirits also had some benefit.

But beware, this and other health positive alcohol consumption studies stress moderation, that is, defined as a drink or two a day. Heavy drinking can definitely harm health.

So… as we stress at Rose Reisman… it’s all about life balance! Cheers!

03-04-10

Life Balance Challenge – Question #7

Here is this week’s Life Balance Challenge Question:

What is the name of Rose’s book where you can find an entire month’s worth of complete shopping lists?

To Answer The Question:
1. Read this blog post.
2. Email the answer to rosereismanpg@gmail.com with the
subject line: Life Balance

The Prize: A 2 Day Food Sampler (3 meals and 2 snacks per day) delivered to your front door.

To Qualify:

1. You’ll need to be located in the Personal Gourmet Delivery Areas – click here to see the areas
2. You’ll need a valid email account so we can contact you (please include your phone number)
3. You’ll need to be a fan of Rose Reisman on Facebook

That’s all there is to it.

The cut-off to submit your answer is 5:00pm Friday, March 5, 2010

Good Luck!

03-04-10

5 Tips To Satisfy Even The Most Time-Starved Families

There’s no question Canadian families are time-starved. After all, according to Stats Canada 65% of all women with children under the age of three, work full time. So, just how do mom and dad juggle life to maintain healthy nutrition for the entire family?

“It’s not easy,” says Rose Reisman. But having raised four kids of her own—while at the same time managing her several businesses, writing her bestsellers, participating in charity events and corporate speaking—somewhere in there she makes a lot of family meals.

Still, equally as important as nutrition for Rose is the importance of families taking time to stop all other activities and eat together. “The dinner hour is our only hope of catching up with each member of the family and finding out what’s going on in their daily lives,” she writes in her book, Weekday Wonders: Healthy Light Meals for Every Day.

So, to make eating at home with your family more than a weekend activity, we offer the following 5 tips and thoughts to help make mealtime a delicious and nutritious reality. Also, be sure to check out a litany of Rose’s wonderful recipes (which includes those referenced below, plus many, many more) at The Art Of Living Well

1. Curb the enthusiasm for fast food
Avoid fast food at all costs. “It’s economical to eat at home—fast food is not healthy or cheap,” says Rose. The cost of the very same raw ingredients are literally about 20% of what you’d pay for the fast food. Instead, try sly spins on fast food, “a wrap can be a quick meal,” says Rose. “Fast-food wraps are not so healthy. I’m just showing people you can do this stuff with low fat.”

2. And steer clear of grocery junk food too
You and your kids cannot be fueled by overly processed, empty calories. “All we’re hearing every day is diabetes, obesity, cancer,” Rose says. Most prepared retail meals are laden with sodium and fat.

3. Make wow factor meals, everyday
Nutritionally prepared meals needn’t ever forsake flavour… Rose’s wonderful recipes defy any perception that healthy be bland, boring and unsatisfying. “We are getting away from the meat and potatoes family,” says Rose, suggesting modern stand-ins such as main-dish soups and salads, one-dish meals, stir-fries like mango-beef and tuna with coconut Thai sauce, and vegetarian entrées.

4. Snacking is a good thing!
Kids who eat lunch at 11:30 are ravenous by 4:30 p.m. So Rose suggests either feeding them dinner at 4:30 (if you work at home) and let them have a little at the family dinner table later, or instead of dinner set out fruit or veggies. “When it’s there, they’ll gobble it up.”

5. Approach family eating as a life skill
We carefully plan and schedule hockey and band practice, but don’t bother to organize a week’s worth of menus. “We seem to wing it most of the time…people are still not putting it as a priority.” Do not let other activities get in the way of meal times, and as best possible, try to set times for snacks and meals. And to help hone your shopping list planning check out an entire month’s worth of complete shopping lists in Rose’s Weekday Wonders: Healthy Light Meals for Every Day (Penguin Books).