 Turning Leaf Merlot has a great pairing recipe with pizza, and they also have a new holiday hotline. What a great way to communicate with customers! I created and ran a Customer Loyalty Program at a large technology company, and I think Turning Leaf is doing a great job ensuring the right experts and content are represented.
Turning Leaf full-bodied Merlot has rich flavors with round and soft tannins. The wine opens with aromatic notes of boysenberry jam and juicy blackcurrant. Hints of chocolate combine with elegant notes of leather and spice to create a complex, lingering finish. Savor this one with a slice (or two) of veggie pizza. Try this spinach and mushroom pizza for a light, healthy alternative.
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbs Olive Oil
- 1 Clove Minced Garlic
- 1/2 Cup Fresh, Chopped Mushrooms
- 1 Cup Fresh, Chopped Spinach
- Pinch Salt
- Pinch Black Pepper
- 1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce
- 1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (Parma vegan parmesan)
- 1/3 Cup Grated Mozzarella (vegan)
- 1 premade pizza dough
Directions:
- Heat oil on medium-low heat in a large saute pan
- Add the vegetables and garlic
- Saute the mushrooms and spinach lightly until spinach wilts
- Add salt and pepper
- Remove pan from the heat and cool
- Evenly spread the tomato sauce on the pizza dough
- Layer spinach mixture evenly over sauce
- Layer the cheeses on pizza
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until the cheese melts
if you’re looking for a great resource for fresh ideas for at-home entertaining, try the Turning Leaf Holiday Hotline (1-877-TLWINE-3). Automated tips will be available 24-hours a day offering instant entertaining advice from experts on everything from how to pair wine with your meal to what to do when 20 people RSVP to your dinner party when your table only seats 10.
Turning Leaf Holiday Hotline:
· 24-hour automated tips: November 1 – December 31, 2010
A Study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology notes that when patients took a Curcumin supplement, a pigment in curry, the size and number of of colon polyps they had were cut in half.
Also, pair curry with black pepper to absorb 2,000 percent more of of its potent compounds.
A New Zealand wine has become the first in the world to display the carbon footprint of each individual glass serving on its label – laying bare to the shopper or drinker the full environmental impact of making and transporting it.
Each bottle of Mobius Marlborough sauvignon blanc – which takes its name from the highest peak of the range of hills above the town – will display its carbon emissions for a typical 125ml glass.
On the new label the relevant emissions, which are calculated to reflect the environmental impact of factors such as transportation and refrigeration, will be measured separately for every export market. So bottles sold in New Zealand, for example, will carry a figure of 140g CO2, whereas bottles shipped to Australia will display 190g.
A higher figure is due to be calculated for the UK market which will reflect the huge distance involved in shipping the wines here. Experts estimate that a 750ml bottle of wine at 190g CO2 per glass equates roughly to the carbon emissions released by a three-mile car journey. UK drinkers consume £7.6bn worth of wine imports every year, making the country the world's largest importer of wine.You can read the full UK Guardian article here.
 A Gratitude Gourmet reader, Robert Lee, just informed me that McDonalds was given the boot in Disney, Orlando and BabyCakes, a vegan NYC bakery, is opening in it's place! Here's the article.I haven't tried BabyCakes' baked items. If you have, share your thoughts with us!
Per No Limits.org's last e-newsletter, The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, designed to ensure stronger inspections and higher standards for the food we eat, had been stalled in the Senate . . . until now. Thanks for reaching out to your senators to ask them to support the bill, and there is good news.
Last week, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the bill by a vote of 74 to 25...meaning that the bill cannot be filibustered and that the Senate will soon have a full floor debate on the legislation before voting on final passage. That vote may take place as soon as the week after Thanksgiving.
*** To see who voted in favor of proceeding with the bill, click here.
Thank your senators who supported the bill and tell them to keep up the great work on this legislation that is so important for the health and well-being of all Americans!
 Krystina Castella has written a NEW creative cookbook called Crazy About Cookies with more than 350 recipes, and you'll be inspired by all the thoughtful recipes such as:
- Banana Oatmeal Cookies
- Mulled Wine Cookies (perfect for the Autumn Season)
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Apricot Cookies
- Fondant Snow Globe Cookies for the Christmas season, and as a Bonus:
- Templates for cookie constructions to help with some of the fun and unique design ideasHere's the Mulled Wine Cookie Recipe - Enjoy! :-) Mulled Wine Cookies Reprinted with permission of Crazy About Cookies, by Krystina Castella, copyright 2010, Sterling Publishing Co, Inc.
Type of cookie: Hand shaped 36 cookiesCookies2 cups red wine1 teaspoon anise seeds, crushed1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 cup sugar1 cup vegetable oil1 cup vegetable shortening3 tablespoons baking powder1 tablespoon anise extract6 cups all-purpose flourWine Glaze1 cup confectioners’ sugar, or moreif necessary1⁄8 teaspoon ground cinnamon5 tablespoons red wine, or more ifnecessary1⁄2 teaspoon anise extractThese cookies are based on the Spanish cookies called rosquillosde vino. The flavor varies drastically depending on the wine youuse. For a wine cookie tasting, try merlot, shiraz, cabernet, pinotnoir, and Chianti. For a pure wine flavor, omit the anise andcinnamon.1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line 2 cookie sheets withparchment paper.2. Put the red wine, anise seeds, and cinnamon in asaucepan, and cook over medium-high heat untilreduced to 1 cup.3. Combine wine reduction with the sugar, oil, shortening,and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the aniseextract and mix well. Gradually add the flour, stirringuntil incorporated; the dough will be dry.4. On a floured work surface, roll a handful of dough intoa rope 1⁄3 inch thick. Cut into 4-inch lengths. Form eachlength into a ring by making a loop and pinching bothends. Transfer to the cookie sheets, placing the rings 2inches apart. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until golden.Transfer to a rack, and let cool for 10 minutes.5. Make the wine glaze: Combine the confectioners’sugar, cinnamon, red wine, and anise extract, addingmore sugar or wine until the mixture is of thin icingconsistency. Dip the cookies in glaze and let dry on acookie sheet.VariationChampagne Cookies: Replace the red wine in both the cookies andthe glaze with champagne.
 Have you seen the Wicked Musical?
A recent Wicked e-newsletter has a very interesting tip about how much water and greenhouse gases are reduced by one less meat meal a week.
'Replace one beef meal each week to save 40,000 gallons of water and 300 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere."
This is an interesting image to forward to your friends.
Harmony is narrated by Prince Charles, and has its broadcast premiere 10pmET Friday, November 19th on NBC. Prior to its premiere, “Dateline” will air an exclusive interview of Prince Charles speaking with Brian Williams at 9pmET.
I was grateful to be on a conference call with the Executive Producers Julie Bergman Sender and Stuart Sender. In addition to the Video Preview above, here are Stuart and Julie Sender's comments from this week's conference call.
Per Stuart Sender:
"You know, when we started working on this project on Harmony people would understandably want to ask us about the Prince, you know, what is he like and what is it like to work with him? But, you know, what we really want to say from the outset is as the Prince of Wales has always insisted, this has never really been about the Prince but much more about what we’ve come to see as the principles. That said, I do want to take a minute to just say a few words about the Prince of Wales for people who may not know that much about his history.
Because this film grows out of 30 years plus of his work around combating climate change, 25 years of work as an organic farmer working on issues on sustainability, corporate social responsibility and being that is kind of lead up to his being named one of Time Magazine’s leaders and visionaries as a hero of the environment.
And so we really had a kind of, you know, extraordinary experience working with all of this material and creating a film that we hope will give people a kind of a different perspective, not just on the global environmental crisis that we hear about, but also about the way that that’s connected to real solutions that we can look at in terms of the environment and the economy are connected about how we grow and distributed our food, about how we can create new technologies that are inspired by really interesting entrepreneurs who are looking at nature and figuring out how to make - how to create solutions to some of the problems that we’re facing.
The Prince has an initiative called Dutchy Originals which acts a lot the way Newman’s Own does where natural and organic products are sold and proceeds are given to charities. And that was how we connected.
The Prince had made his own film called the Earth in Balance. All the way back in 1990 he made a film that dealt with environmental issues and climate change.
And I think he felt pretty passionately that a lot of these issues were not just still happening but that these were things that needed to be addressed with even more urgency.
You know, as he said, you know, we’re now dealing with a planet that has dwindling resources and real crisis that we’re facing. And a lot of this stuff that we continue to do we do with the awareness that we’re facing these challenges and that this was a time to issue what he calls in the movie a call to action."
Per Julie Sender:
"...I think, you know, the fact that he’s the Prince of Wales is in a way secondary to his passion about this issue, that he views his position in the world as a way to bring awareness and to bring support to people from all different economic, social religious, you know, environmental and sustainable workers and people who are suffering from climate change as much as people who are working towards making it less of a threat. He really does believe that this is his calling as a person"
Per Stuart Sender:
"The Prince has an organic farm that’s about 1200 acres. It’s quite an extraordinary place. And when you watch the movie you’ll get a little bit of a taste -- no pun intended -- of what that farm is like and why he decided to convert to organic as a kind of way of expressing his values in the world.
And..so we look at that as a kind of an example of what Harmony might be."
 The Republic of Tea has released some new flavors you have to try:
1. Raw Green Bush Tea Collection, the first unoxidized South African rooibos or Red Tea in the American marketplace.
The collection includes:
- Natural Organic, a smooth flavor with a hint of malt and fresh herbal character,
- Black Current Cardamom, juicy black currant with a dash of cooling cardamom,
- Mango Chili, tropical mango finished with a kick of spicy chili,
- Plantain Coconut, sweet plantain banana with a touch of fragrant coconut and
- Orange Red Carrot, zest of orange peel blended with sweet carrot and beetroot bits.
2. Organic Tumeric Ginger
The Republic of Tea blends exotic Turmeric, a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, with fresh organic green tea and organic ginger. Note there is honey in this. Turmeric is a spice derived from the rhizomes (root) of Curcuma longa, a small perennial herb native to tropical South Asia and a member of the ginger family. Curcuminoids are polyphenolic compounds that give turmeric its yellow color; curcumin is the principal curcuminoid in turmeric. Studies suggest turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that may help fight cancer. Research also suggests the spice may be a key to overcoming obesity, as turmeric may help answer medical questions indicative of diabetes and heart disease often associated with weight management issues.
3. Naturally Sweet TeaA premium naturally-sweet black tea with no sugar, no calories and no artificial sweeteners. The Republic of Tea used a rare and remarkable variety of mountain-grown Korean hydrangea (Hydrangea serrata) to create it. Processed in the traditional method, fresh, hand-harvested hydrangea leaves of this beautiful flowering plant are crumpled, steamed and dried with care, yielding dark brown leaves rich in essential oils that impart a lingering sweet flavor. The hydrangea leaves are then blended with premium black tea leaves.
Per Nicholas Perricon MD, author or Forever Young, says Chia Seeds available at most health food stores, "..are loaded with amino acids, which help cells repair themselves, for younger looking skin."
Here's another great bonus for you: Chia seeds are also very high in Omega-3 fatty acids, even higher than flaxseed... and you don't have to ground chia seeds as with flaxseed to achieve more health benefits.
Chia seeds also have magnesium and calcium. It sounds like a SuperFood to me, and I'll be going to the health food store to buy this!
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