Native Foods Blog

Top Six Things To Have In Your Kitchen Cupboards!

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

 

I had a great night last night in Anaheim Hills at the Fairmont School speaking at their Chalktalk series. Families, great staff, some Natives and some future Natives were in the crowd.

Chef Tanya with two future Native Foods Cafe regulars!

 

We discussed healthy eating tips and we realized it's not what your kitchen can do for you, it's what you can do in your kitchen. These six things I thought everyone with kids (and without) should have in their arsenal and always close at hand to keep eating well a simple task.

 

1. Oatmeal-Quick for a snack, a great breakfast with some berries and walnuts for you and the kids.

Chef Tanya throws rolled oats in the Boogie Bars at Native Foods Cafe.

2. Legumes-These are lentils, garbanzos, black and red beans. Keeps your engine on. You can use to make ethnically diverse dishes. Think Mexican black beans, East Indian Lentils, Middle Eastern garbanzos, etc.

Oooohhh garbanzos... in the new Italian Wedding Salad on the Native Foods Cafe Winter Menu.

3. Dark Leafy Greens-Steam them, saute them, chop them in salads, add them to your cooked beans for a hearty soup.

It is easy to have a love affair with kale... just ask Gandhi or the Greek Gyro, on the menu at Native Foods Cafe.

4. Fresh Berries- an easy to eat fruit, kids can snack on them and they go good in the oatmeal.

Fresh blueberries top the decadent Native Cheesecake...

5. Avocados-The California wonderfood. Slice them, spread them, guac them.

Oh avocade... you are so creamy and dreamy.  I'd add you to just about anything...

6. Olive oil-Ready to make a fresh easy salad dressing or saute some onions and garlic for a flavor base for your grains, legumes, veggies and soups.

  Olive oil makes a great hair conditioner too!

 

Chalk one up for healthy kids and parents!

Chef Tanya Petrovna of Native Foods Cafe doing her thang!

Turtles, Tough Love, & Toxic Liver!

by Holladay Allen

Native Foods Cafe Tribe Member

Turtles are funny.  They seem to shy from the limelight.  You never here reports of turtles attacking!  Or turtles being attacked!  Or turtles as a delicacy, thank goodness! Well actually, now that I think about it… when I was young, I was watching one of those made-for-TV movies about a family who was sailing in the middle of somewhere and their sailboat/ pirate ship sank and they ended up on a lifeboat for like a month (wow.  Was that a run-on sentence or what?)  So while trying to decide whether or not to drink each other’s urine, they also were trying to catch whatever they could eat out of the ocean, and ended up catching a giant turtle. 

ummm... you're really going to try and eat that?  gimme a break.

They ate it raw, except the liver!  The dad was adamant about not eating the toxic liver! Yuck.  Raw turtle could not possibly sound appetizing to anyone, even Andrew Zimmern.  And I couldn’t find any info on that being true, the toxic liver part that is.  But just to play it safe, I have a gut feeling that all turtles, every part of them, are toxic to humans… So don’t eat them! Ever!

Oh man! Talk about cramped living quarters.

 

Turtles have this Zen-like quality about them… they just kinda lay low under that built-in-roof they call a shell, and move slowly through life… just taking it all in.  When I was really little, and we lived in the blue house across the street from the park, I had two turtles.  My godmother, Jackie, created a little terrarium within a used MacArthur milk carton, snuck them through security, and flew them down to Key West one summer.  She handed me the milk carton with a big smile on her face, and said, “I got you something sweetie!”  I couldn’t believe it!  What an unexpected, wonderful surprise.  I peeked inside the carton and saw the tiniest little baby turtles staring up at me. 

They were about this tiny... uncontrollable adorableness.

 

I immediately converted an old baby pool we had in the storage area into a turtle wonderland… and named my new friends Silly Sam and Sally.  We had some good times together.  They didn’t really do that much in the form of entertainment, which I expected as a child, but I still loved them and their slow, peculiar ways. 

They were healthy little buggers cause they just kept growing and growing.  Soon the pool that once seemed like an entire ocean to them became like an overcrowded dorm room.  I refused to see their rapid growth as any sort of a problem and made construction plans in my head of waterfall ponds in our small backyard.  My parents had other plans unfortunately.  One afternoon, they sat me down and told me that it was time for Silly Sam and Sally to move into an even bigger pond than the one I had dreamed up for our backyard… The Blue Hole on Big Pine Key, otherwise known as "where the alligators live."  I was distraught.  We drove up there the following weekend and with tears in my eyes and an extremely heavy heart, I set them down on the sandy edge of the Blue Hole. 

It was kinda like this, but a lot more sobbing on my part, and they were much bigger.

And much to my dismay, instead of slowly and hesitantly moving toward the giant lake in front of them, turning their heads back every now and again to glance longingly my way, they high-tailed it toward the alligator-infested sinkhole that lay in front of them.  They were gone forever, and even though I couldn’t recognize it at the time, they were on to bigger and better things.  I tried to not think about them becoming a midnight snack for one of those gators, and instead starting a turtle family and making friends with other turtles and iguanas and herons.  And I realized that while they seemed content in that faux-aquatic world I created for them behind the blue house on Virginia Street, they wanted something more, and when they finally got it, they were never looking back.  I love you Silly Sam and Sally… and despite the heartbreak you caused me at the time, I am grateful for the life lessons I gained from you. 

Look at some really cute turtles eating stuff here:

http://www.turtleseatingthings.com/

 And another cute turtle picture here:

HaHaHaHahahahaha!

Easy and Off-the-Wall Homemade Gift Ideas

by Christopher Arnett

Native Foods Cafe Tribe Member

1.   Have an old jar or bottle lying around that you’ve filled up with loose change? Voila! Instant gift.  I know it seems like something Grandpa might give... but that makes it like a "vintage" gift, right?

2.   Find a picture of Santa Claus and his reindeer, or any other wacky image of your choosing.  Photoshop (fancy) or cut & paste (a little more rustic) your friends’ and family’s faces onto the heads of Santa and the reindeer. Frame. Give. Giggle.

3.   Get some small pots sowed with the seeds of Spring flowers. When the season arrives, just add sunshine and water.

4.   Give an anti-fruit cake! Bake a pan of cornmeal filled with beans, peppers, onions, and smothered in enchilada sauce (Ok. So it’s more like a tamale pie, but calling it an anti-fruit cake is way more fun!)  Check out Chef Tanya's recipe for Weird Al's tamale pie veganized from our blog archives!

 http://blog.nativefoods.com/nativefoods/2010/08/weird-als-tamale-pie-recipe.html

5.   Create sachets of winter herbs and spices (allspice berries, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, dried orange peel, nutmeg).

6.   Send an e-carol. Record yourself singing your favorite Christmas songs and send them to friends.

7.   Jingle-gourds! Pick the ones that have the best rattle ( I mean jingle, hehe) and paint them with holiday imagery. Great for hanging on the tree or resting on the mantle.

8.   Make homemade ornaments of yourself. Glue some pictures of yourself onto different colors of construction paper and cut into winter shapes, leaving a colored trim around the edges. Add a paperclip or ribbon at the top, and you’re done.  Mom's gonna love this.

9.  Make some homemade spiced almond milk! Add spices like nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Who needs eggnog?

recipe:

1 cup almonds, soaked 6-8 hours, rinsed well

3 cups water (add more to taste and viscosity desired)

dates to taste

pinch sea salt

1/8 tsp cardamon

1/8 tsp cinammon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Blend the almonds with the water. pour through a cheese cloth on a mesh strainer When you get to the point where most of the liquid is through, wrap the cheese cloth around the remaining almond pulp and squeeze. Put the liquid back in the blender with the remaining ingredients and blend. Store in the fridge 2-3 days.

10.  And last (and probably least), a good old-fashioned rubber band ball. Hours of entertainment for pets, children under four, and the easily amused. The bigger the better.  Enjoy.

 

Thankful Chickens!

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

October 11, 2010 was a day in Kansas to be remembered. It was a day one young student named Whitney Hillman stood out from the pack as she stood up for her chicken. She couldn't kill her chicken.  

Freshly back to school after a fun summer vacation, Mr. Hamilton gave his class a project.  Each student to pick out, raise and then slaughter a chicken. This was aproject that changed Whitney's life forever. 

Whitney named her chicken Chicklett.  She groomed Chicklett, cleaned up after her, and could identify Chicklett out of the rest, even without the magic marker the students were told to use to mark the chickens.  On October 11, 2010 Chicklett Chicken Hillman could not be found to be slaughtered and Whitney failed her project...or did she? Whitney turned in an essay instead of her chicken and has been making the news all over Kansas. 

I loved that Whitney saved her chicken and that she is actively pursuing the school to have a policy where slaughtering of chickens is mentioned in the class description before one signs up (this was not mentioned in Mr. Hamilton's curriculum), and that permission slips be submitted for slaughter activity.Permission slips are widely used for field trips and for watching R rated movies in history classes, not because of their sexual nature, but for their blood and violence.

Chicklett is now living safely hiding out at a farm which will not be named, but rest assured Chicklett is running the ranch!  Here are some other chickens running the ranch as well...

You can read Whitney's essay and learn more about Chicklett Chicken Hillman on FaceBook www.facebook.com/chicklett.chickenhillman

Happy Thanksgiving Whitney and Chicklett! May your compassion be contagious to Kansas and the world and God Bless You Please Mr. Hamilton-Chicklett would love you more than you would know- oh ho ho..

Here is the letter Whitney wrote to the School Administration.  This girl seriously rocks.

Whitney Hillman 
10/11/2010 
Chicklett

At the beginning of the semester we were told we were going to be buying baby chicks, raising them for 5-7 weeks, and then slaughtering them. When we were told this is was too late to transfer classes. Assuming we didn’t have enough funding for the project I wasn’t too concerned. Then all of a sudden we have boxes filled with baby chickens, and we were told to pick our own chicken. Obviously, I think this is wrong in many ways, and my intent in this letter is to explain why I did what I did. I believe this is wrong because we were never asked to fill out a permission slip, we were told to raise our own chickens, and I believe there should have been a choice.

Permission slips are widely used within school systems, mainly for field trips and movies. History classes are big on this because we watch rated R movies. These movies are not rated R because of their sexual content, nudity, or language, but rather, because of their blood, gore, and violence. What is involved in chicken slaughtering? Blood, gore, and violence. So I think that’s a pretty good reason for a permission slip. Also, some parents might object to this all together! Maybe they don’t want their children to have to experience this, or perhaps they are a vegetarian family, and don’t believe in the slaughtering of animals for food. Whatever the reason, like it or not, parents do have a say!

When the word raise is brought to mind, what do you think of? When I hear the word “raise,” I think of taking care of something or someone because they cannot do it on their own. This involves animals; they cannot raise themselves, especially not in a cage. So, we chose our chickens, gave our chickens names, and found ways to remember which chicken belonged to each person. While everyone else was covering their chickens in permanent marker, I was looking at my chicken’s color. My chicken had an orange head instead of yellow, which is what all the other chickens had in my group. So I could distinctly tell the difference, but Mr. Hamilton made me color mine anyway. I didn’t want to color my chicken with a permanent marker because it felt wrong; if coloring the chicken made me feel bad, how do you imagine killing it would make me feel? So, instead of coloring my chicken, I put a purple dot on his foot; it still felt wrong, but it was a lot better than covering his feathers in purple marker. So, I had chosen my chicken, given him a name (Chicklett), and now it was time to raise my chicken. Helping the group feed and water the chickens every day, and sweeping the messes off the floor, weighing my chicken every week to make sure he is properly gaining weight.

I took pictures of my chicken as he grew, and still without marker, I can tell him from the rest. My chicken has become a loved one; no matter how stupid that sounds, he has. I am an animal lover, I have a dog and he’s like my son, I go to the zoo and it makes me cry because the animals look so depressed and lonely. So, yes I have, in fact, become attached to Chicklett, and could not participate in his death. If you cannot understand my perspective, let me put it in perspective for you. If you have a pet at home that you love dearly, or if you have ever had a pet that you loved then look at it like this, someone throws your pet in a cage with 4 or 5 others, and says in 5 weeks you are to cut off its head, pull off its fur, clean out all the guts, bag and freeze the meat, and take it home for your family to enjoy, what would you do? Would you not do everything in your power to keep a loved one safe? Are pets not loved ones? So, please do not judge what I did on the grounds of stupidity and bad behavior, but on the grounds of love and empathy for another living being. I have raised my chicken. I will not kill him, but skipping the killing wasn’t enough, I had to save him.

Dissection is a major part of science, but there is almost always a choice of doing an online version, or watching. We are told that we must do some part of the slaughtering. My job is not cutting the chicken’s head off or boiling it in hot water to make the feathers easier to pull out nor do I have to gut the chicken. My job is to pluck each feather from my chicken, and other chickens’ dead bodies. Close your eyes and imagine having someone cut off your head, and then stripping you naked, not a fun image right? Yes, it is just a chicken to you, but to me it’s a living being and has just as much right to live as we do. There is a choice in dissection, why not in the slaughtering of an animal you raised?

So I will gladly accept any punishment you give me, but I will not apologize for what I have done, I will not regret it, and I would definitely do it again if I had to. I will not say that Mr. Hamilton shouldn’t do this for future classes, but ask that it say that on the registration sheet. I also ask that he would make permission slips. If they write on the registration sheet “chicken slaughtering involved” then there is no need to create an online option or worry about future students doing what I have done, because your option then is to sign up for a different class.

I will not be telling where my chicken is, but that he is safe. I will gladly pay any cost that is asked of me, because I did take the chicken, but please, all I ask, is that you understand why. 

Whitney Hillman, October 11, 2010

The Demographics of Candy: How to Maximize Your Yield, Time & Efficiency

by Holladay Allen    

Native Foods Cafe Tribe Member

 

So the big weekend has arrived… every child’s dream of collecting and devouring an obscene amount of sugar and processed “stuff” compacted into brightly colored, expertly marketed packaging may come true on Sunday night.  This, of course, depends on a well-planned-out route, size of bucket, or bag, used for candy collection and the quality of the costume.  First off, if you head into an upscale neighborhood where the houses are large and the incomes even bigger, you face a couple obstacles, if you will.  You are going to have to walk more for less.  The houses are larger, more spread apart, and you run a greater chance of encountering empty houses, as these people are more likely to be traveling, because they can afford it!  Also, I'm pretty sure there is some sort of evidence to back this up, moms in the fancier hoods tend to be focused a little bit more on healthier eating than the mid-income, 9-5 mom who just does not have a lot of time or help on her hands.  So chances of you winding up with a sack of apples, granola bars, and fruit leather are 75% greater in these neighborhoods.  My advice, skip the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s house and head over to the Brady Brunch’s pad.

 

Choose you bag or bucket wisely!  Large and easy to carry...

The mid-income neighborhood offers a few solid advantages.  To begin with, the houses are closer together, so you already have a higher yield coming your way.  Secondly, you are going to get a lot of variety.  From apples to Mambas, the mid-income neighbor houses the borderline-rich to the borderline-poor.  So you have the moms who fret over everything that enters their child’s mouth, to the moms who rely on frozen dinners and powdered chocolate milk.  The mid-income neighborhood also offers a certain level of safety, which is pretty important depending on the size of your group and level of supervision.  Now, if you are ready to eschew safety and well being for highest yield, best overall earnings, and the pure, raw ruckus of a rowdy Halloween, head straight to Roseanne’s neighborhood.  The candy is top-notch (in terms of desirability based on sugar-content and cool packaging), the houses are even closer together, and you can hit up ungated apartment complexes for maximum yield.  Front doors are mere feet from one another!  Also, there are going to be a lot more peeps hangin’ out in Roseanne’s hood! 

The better the costume, the more candy they will drop in your bag, cuz they'll be so distracted by your cool costume.  Guaranteed.

Just remember to keep your Native Foods Café Vegan Candy Guide on hand at all times to help you navigate through that sugar-coated haze of a night.  And don’t overdo it, even on the vegan candy!  Stomachaches are no fun and crashing from a sugar high is the pits. 

The more bright, crazy colors... the bigger the stomachache.  I'm just sayin'.

So where did these sugar bombs we call candy come from anyways?  Well, it all started with people eating honeycomb straight from the beehives to get their sugar fix. (And no, technically honey is NOT vegan, but that is another blog coming your way shortly…)  People then started rolling nuts and fruits in the honey, creating the first confections so to speak.  In the beginning, due to the high cost of manufacturing sugar, candy was very expensive, so it was a treat only enjoyed by the wealthy.  But eventually, the process became standardized and hard candy found its way into the open market at very reasonable prices.  Now there is a surplus of candy for all!  At least here in America.  So enjoy yourselves this Sunday and please be safe and courteous to all your fellow trick-or-treaters.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  WE LOVE YOU!  BE SAFE!

 

 

Pumpkin Carving Contest... Look Here... Vote on Facebook!

by the Tempeh Spirit

Native Foods Cafe

The Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns dates back many centuries, when the lanterns were actually hollowed out turnips or gourds rather than pumpkins.  Legend has it that a man by the name of Stingy Jack double-crossed the devil by tricking him into turning into a silver coin in order to pay for Jack’s drink (living up to his name!).  Instead of using the coin to pay for the drink, Jack slid it into his pocket next to a silver cross he had picked up earlier that day.  The powers of the cross prevented the devil from changing back into his original form.  Eventually Jack agreed to free the devil from his pocket only if the devil promised to never take Jack’s soul.  Through the course of his life, Jack played a few more tricks on the devil, which only angered the devil more.  When Jack finally died, God would not allow such shady soul into heaven; and the devil kept his promise to never let Jack into hell, so Jack was left with nowhere to go.  The devil sent Jack into the endless night with a lump of burning coal, which Jack put into a hollowed out turnip to create a makeshift lantern.  He then became known as Jack of the lantern which was later shortened to jack-o’-lantern.

So here is your chance to vote on these modern-day jack-o’-lanterns!  They were carved by Native Foods customers and we need help choosing some winners.  So pick your favorites for these three categories:

MOST CREATIVE

SCARIEST!!!!!

BEST OVERALL

Then post your selections on our Facebook wall!

http://www.facebook.com/NativeFoods

Pumpkin #1

 

Pumpkin #2

 

Pumpkin #3

 

Pumpkin #4

 

Pumpkin #5

 

 

Pumpkin #6

 

Pumpkin #7

 

Pumpkin #8

 

Pumpkin #9

 

 

Pumpkin #10

 

Pumpkin #11

 

 

Pumpkin #12

 

Pumpkin #13 (Lucky 13, that is!)

 

Pumpkin #14

 

Pumpkin #15

 

Pumpkin #16

Return to Facebook to cast your votes on our wall!

http://www.facebook.com/NativeFoods

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

EAT-The Senate Passes School Lunch Nutrition Bill! It's been lingering  since the spring but got a little push from the White House and it was well passed by Senate and food manufacturers. This is the legislation Michelle Obama was pushing to help reduce childhood obesity and will add foods to school lunches that are healthier choices, limit junk food sold, and help more kids get free lunches. So Yeah! Though we still have to ...

PRAY-Now decisions will be made on what foods will be sold and this will be left to the Agricultural Dept!  So now we have to send ...

 

LOVE- that all decisions are made with the kids and health in mind and not special interest groups or companies that promote vitamin water as a healthy choice instead of sodas. You've all read John Robbins Blog on that yes? If not do so I think you'll find it interesting....http://tinyurl.com/24x5p33

Eat Peace,

Tanya Petrovna

Executive Chef/Founder

Native Foods Cafe

A Dog Gone Night to Remember!

By Holladay Allen
Native Tribe Member

 

So it has come and gone… and here we are, left to reminisce on such a lovely Native gathering.  It twas indeed a perfect Palm Springs early summer evening, with the notorious dry heat of the California desert hovering at just the right temperature.

PS Animal Shelter had adorable puppies and kittens for adoption

  We arrived as the sun was beginning its descent into the Pacific, and what a lovely light was cast upon the quaint desert town of Palm Springs.  This was my first visit ever!  And boy was I excited to see Native Foods’ flagship restaurant! 

Mary and Joe have been coming to NFC for 16 years!!!!
 

The place was abuzz when we arrived.  The crowd was munching on crudités and Baja Surf Tacos while sipping on Watermelon Sangria (get ready for the new menu my friends!).  Mia wandered through the crowd, with mic in hand, providing the melodic vocals for the night while everybody gushed over the adorable animals available for adoption from the Palm Springs Animal Shelter.

  After a couple hours of mingling, the birthday gal, Chef Tanya, took the mic to announce the very lucky raffle winners, with prizes ranging from a luxurious spa trip to ceramic art work to a stuffed bear that moonlights as a rapper! 

 
Brian Bergstrom who over 10 years ago helped Tanya start the Cooking Demos with a class of 8...now we have 400 coming Saturday!  Thank you, Brian!

There were also several arts and crafts tables, including one where you could design your own dog or cat food bowl.  Yay!  And for those of us who were feeling lazy or swindled by the desert heat, there were two lovely young ladies who happily decorated our bowls for us and did a magnificent job.

At the end of the night, some of the crowd slipped into the restaurant for a late dinner while the rest of the partygoers watched the fire performers.  Chef Tanya and the animals were by far the highlights of the evening!  And it is so wonderful to see so many Natives come out to support the animals in honor of Chef Tanya’s birthday!  What a great night.  Thanks for everything Tanya.  You are the best!  Happy Birthday to my favoritest Gemini Rat!

Left:  Maggie Downs, a fellow vegan and animal lover who writes for The Desert Sun.

 

By Ashleigh Perdue
Native Foods Tribe Member

 

Chef Tanya’s birthday bash in Palm Springs this past Tuesday to raise money for the finishing touches on the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. The puppies were a-mazing and I did everything in my power not to scoop them up and take them home, too cute.
Tanya with her dad, Peter and Laurie, our restaurant designer and friend.

There were kittens, music,  a station for making dog bowls, new menu item samples, sangria, and people ga-lore. Still being an alien to California it was my first time to the desert and I fell in love.
I was afraid I was going to sweat out and drench my clothes and everyone within 10ft but it was surprisingly pleasant and the water mist at every corner was refreshing as well. Jerry and his crew were awesome getting everyone accommodated and cooled off.
Our vendor friends were terrific donating raffle items for the PS Animal Shelter!

 The raffle was my favorite part, such generous organizations and people. Everything from cookbooks and mugs to pilates and spa packages.

It was also great to be around people who have followed Chef Tanya from the very beginning and have grown with the company, a party indeed. I met her best friend from second grade, a fellow native crew member, Chef Tanya’s father, the kitchen staff, and most of all being in the presence of the people who make Native Foods what is both old and new all together for a great cause. It was awesome seeing everyone and I’ll be back!!! Fabulous recycled art....more on this fascinating artist in an upcoming blog!