Changes are a comin’….

We have been hard at work planning a number of changes here. Plans have been completed and work has begun on our new display kitchen! We are really pumped up about this new addition to our business! We’ve been doing cooking classes for a couple of years now, but this new kitchen will take things to a whole new level. We will be teaching some of the classes, and we have firm commitments from several local chef’s to do guest chef classes too. Stay tuned for details!

Another exciting development for us is that we have begun to make the transition to all locally grown fruits and vegetables in our ready to cook entrees, and our salads. We had a great visit Sunday with Brian and Dawn Gotreaux of Gotreaux Family Farms. Their passion for nutrient dense food has inspired us to really look at what we are serving and figure out a way to get better. Our transition won’t be overnight, but it is coming!

Here is to health, happiness and lots of great food!

Billy

Kids, cooking and family…

Well, we are winding down our latest cooking series for kids, and it has been a blast.  This go round, we changed things up a little, and actually taught knife skills, sanitation skills and real, honest to goodness cooking.  Two things I have learned through this series are that kids and knives are not a good combination (although we had no injuries), and kids either love cooking or absolutely hate it.  For years, I was a cooking hater. Running restaurants or multiple restaurants resulted in me avoiding the kitchen at home, at all costs. Thankfully, things do change.  I get great satisfaction out of preparing a great meal for people who don’t have time to do it themselves or just don’t want to .

Just thinking about how our culture has changes in the last two decades, it is no wonder people have lost interest in cooking.  On every corner, there is a place to get something to eat, usually very quickly.  Growing up, we rarely went out to eat.  It wasn’t that we couldn’t afford to, we just had meals together at the table, with the TV off, at home every night.  As kids, we didn’t know any other way existed.

Several years ago, Lori and I decided that we didn’t like the fact that we weren’t having a family meal together, so we decided to change.  Although I worked many nights, no matter who was home, we had dinner at the table, TV off, and we talked.  That became the most enjoyable part of the day for Lori and I because we actually had good conversations with our kids about what was going on in their lives.  We missed the family dinners, and decided to bring them back.  You can too!

If you are already having family meals together on a regular basis, enjoy them.  That special time is something your family will never forget.  If you aren’t but would like to, I challenge you to start small.  Schedule a once a week family meal at home, as see what happens.  I think you will be glad you did.

Here’s to good eating!

Billy

One month in…

It’s been a little over a month since I started the journey for fitness and health.  I wish I could say its been smooth sailing, but hey, we’re all human.  One thing I’ve learned pretty quickly is if I mess up, I just get over it and move on.

A friend on our face book group suggested that I try spinning, and though I was very intimidated at first, spinning has been a great workout that I really enjoy.  If you are not familiar, spinning is riding a stationary bike in a class setting, with an instructor.  The work outs are interval training sessions set to music. Tough stuff, but invigorating.  After spinning for about four weeks, I have decided to start running/jogging again.  The spinning has really strengthened my legs, and and helped me with my running.  Now I don’t feel like someone hit me in the knees and ankles with a baseball bat when I am done. I think my training is on track.

Nutrition is another story. I am having a really tough time with food, even though I have all of this healthy food around me.  I have a bad habit of waiting too long to eat then really pigging out.  Beginning to day, I am going to eat meals when I am supposed to, instead of when I feel like I could just dive into the refrigerator.

I decided in my quest for better eating that I would share some of my favorite healthy recipes that we make here at Cena!  This super easy to prepare dish is one:

Cena’s Tuscan Chicken

3-4 boneless chicken breasts -you can use bone in, but don’t eat the skin!

Mix together 2T olive oil, kalamata olives, capers, garlic, a couple of dried prunes, 2T any white wine, 2T balsamic vinegar, a couple of sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 t Italian seasoning, and black pepper to taste.

There are two ways you can cook this:

Pure all the ingredients over the chicken breast and bake, or saute the chicken in a saute pan until lightly browned on each side, then pour ingredients into the pan with the chicken, reduce heat to med/low and let simmer until done.  Either way, the sauce reduces into a delicious balsamic reduction that goes great with whole wheat or multi grain pasta. Add a salad, and you have a easy, delicious meal.

Here’s to food and fitness!

A New Me

It’s been two and a half years since we moved back to the big LA, and during that time I have managed to pack on 30 lbs.  That is pretty remarkable.  In my mid thirties, I began working out and managed to stay fairly fit for ten years.  In two years I have  undone most of that.

Our business is selling healthy foods, but even with good food right in front of me, I quit paying attention to what I was eating.  Bad mistake. While preparing to open the business, fast food became my friend again.  And, that’s how it all began.  Two and a half years later and an extra 30 pounds, I was feeling like crap.  That is about to change.

Enter Facebook.  A friend on Facebook commented that she was not motivated to continue her weight loss regimen.  That reminded me of how I jump started my fitness and health the first time around.  I entered a 90 day challenge and worked my butt off.  After much back and forth, we started  our own 90 day challenge, and created a Facebook group called Facebook Fat-Off.  We use the board to motivate, inspire and complain.  I have had several comments on the name, but hey, it is an in-your-face name for a reason.  After one day, we have over 30 members, and the encouragement has already begun.  The main rule of the group is NO POLITICS.  Save that for your own Facebook page.

What I have learned, or re-learned, is that good nutrition takes some planning.  With just a little fore-thought, eating healthy is within everyone’s reach.

Stay tuned as we talk about food, feeding your family, eating healthy and whatever comes up (except religion and politics).

Here is to eating healthy and planning what we eat!

Billy