G is for Gardening

 

 

This post will be a little different, growing your own food can bring you back to basics in a wonderful way!

•  Stores like Trader Joes, Whole Foods and even Jewel sell potted herbs that you can take home.  Rosemary, basil, thyme, chives, parsley and cilantro.  This is a small way to stay in touch with your own food.
• Railing boxes are also great for herbs in the nicer months of the year.  You could also plant radishes in them since they don't grow deep and grow very fast.
• Planter boxes/barrels that sit on your balcony, are great for tomato or pepper plants, my Mother-in-Law has a virtual farmer's harvest each summer.  She never has a summer salad without cherry tomatoes beginning about July 15th.
• My favorite gardening suggestion is hydroponic/aeroponic gardening.  Have you ever heard of Tower Gardens?

We have begun a crowd funding campaign to get our own Tower Gardens in our catering kitchen.  We are using a new crowd funding site called MUMZY.  They are helping us in our efforts.  Will you help?  Click here to see the campaign.

                  O'Hare Airport, in Chicago, has a wonderful Tower Garden Aeroponic Garden.

When we host our Underground Supper Clubs, the clientele varies.  The younger guests often take out their phones, snap some pictures and enjoy their meals.  I love it when I get to see what happens next...here are the perspectives of some of our guests at our January and February dinners.

A photo posted by Loni Diep (@paperfragment) on Jan 23, 2016 at 3:04pm PST

A photo posted by Loni Diep (@paperfragment) on Jan 23, 2016 at 2:11pm PST

A photo posted by Loni Diep (@paperfragment) on Jan 23, 2016 at 2:24pm PST

A photo posted by Loni Diep (@paperfragment) on Jan 23, 2016 at 2:48pm PST

A photo posted by Vi Phan (@vi_phan) on Jan 22, 2016 at 8:57pm PST

A photo posted by Nourhy (@mojoowl) on Feb 26, 2016 at 5:54pm PST

Gift Certificates for shared experiences make great gifts!

All Natural Chicago hosts an Underground Supper Club on the 4th Friday of most months.  Our communal seating and open kitchen space offer a wonderful culinary dining experience.  We have had a few Italian/pasta driven events.  Our first, PastaPalooza can be found here.  Ravioli, lasagna, handmade pastas, oh my!  The next pasta focus event was APastalype Now!  They are not always Italian driven, but our dinners allow Chef Micky to have a creative culinary outlet.  We love catering social events and corporate meetings, though Supper Club gives Chef a chance to exercise his culinary muscles. We want to invite you and your friends and family to participate in these dinners.

Our Underground Supper Club will return in January.  We are offering gift certificates this holiday season.  When you don't want to buy someone you care about more stuff, offer them an experience and have one for you to share at a discount!  With the purchase of a gift certificate for $120, you receive 2 seats to an upcoming Underground Supper Club and 50% off your seat to the same or another dinner.  Dinners range from $60 to $75 per seat, depending on the menu and offerings.  Our exclusive email recipients are notified of these events. They occur on or around the 4th Friday of most months.  Sample menus can be found here.  Consider offering your friends and family an experience this holiday season...to be enjoyed in the new year.  

     

 

We all have events to celebrate in our lives.  Sometimes, we just want to get some friends together and enjoy their company.  All Natural Chicago has begun hosting events that run the gamut of reasons.  We have hosted sporting event viewing, baby showers, bachelorette parties, customer appreciation events, moms looking for a night out to color and have cocktails, and don’t forget Underground Supper Club (Click here to view).  If you have a reason to gather more than a few people, and want chose the volume of the music, menu that is served, how the seating will be arranged - considering a space like our catering kitchen is a great idea.  Thanks to Red Tricycle and a recent blog post (check out the article here) we have gotten quite popular.  Baby shower brunches are lovely in our well lit space.  You can include a Mimosa bar if you like.  Non-typical bachelorette parties have included belly dancing lessons and stand up comedians.  If you can imagine it, we can pull it together.

There are many facets to planning an event.  You need to consider a date and time, a location, decorations and menu.  Then there are the invitations, will you chose digital or send them in the mail?  Tess and her sales team can help you plan the perfect event.  All Natural Chicago can offer linens in colors to match a theme.  Pipe and Drape to line the walls, chafing dishes, special glassware, highboy or bistro tables, you name it, we can provide it.   Below you will find some images captured at different events.  You can see how the feel of the room changes with the time of day and the accents that are included.  Contact All Natural Chicago today, we will help you plan and execute a wonderful event.  Then we will do all of the clean up. How nice is that?!?

 Lastly, menu planning is essential.  From the right kinds of food to the proper amount, the planners will help you every step of the way.   Fresh, healthy and delicious are what we strive.  Your guests will remember your event.  Perhaps they will remember who else was there, but they will certainly remember the food you served.  You can check out our sample menus (Click here to view) but consulting with our staff will help you chose a menu you are excited to share with your guests.

     

Our catering services bring us to many parts of Chicago and under many circumstances.  We have been hired to cater a charity event on October 15th and while the food will be a great, the cause is worth talking about. Our mission to educate, provide and protect the food supply for as many people we can, is in line with all parts of this event....

The Catholic Charities’ Ayudando Nuestras Familias/Helping Our families Cocktail Reception will take place from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm on Thursday, October 15, 2015 at Perillo Chicago, are $85* and include an assortment of hearty appetizers by All Natural Chicago, beer, wine, soft drinks, and margaritas to celebrate the evening. Proceeds and donations will benefit our Casa Catalina Basic Needs Center in honor of its 10th Anniversary. Located in the Back of the Yards community, Casa Catalina provides over 525,000 meals every year to families experiencing food insecurity. *Reservations will be $95 after Monday, October 5, 2015.

Here is a link to sign up to attend...

It may be a leap that falling gas prices caused a spike in restaurant sales.  Lower prices at the pump are thought to have loosened up funds for car owners so they now go out to eat.  Americans are spending less money at grocery stores.  It appears that just 10 months ago, the amount of money spent at grocery stores exceeded restaurant sales by $1.6 billion.  This is when gas prices began to decline.  By December of last year, the gap had reversed and restaurant sales exceeded grocery store sales for the first time, EVER.  By the end of April, 2015, restaurant sales outpaced grocery store sales by $1.5 billion.  It took just 10 months for the pendulum to swing that far in the other direction. This data was compiled by the NRA (National Restaurant Association) read the full story here.

We asked ourselves what that meant to our business.  We are not a place you could just grab a snack or pick up dinner on the way home.  We are, however, a food service business from which you could feel good about ordering.  Corporate catering is our focus.  If you don't bring a lunch to work and your office orders from us, you can be confident that our food is good for the body.  When you are catering a party and don't want to spend all your time tending to the food, calling All Natural Chicago will allow you to be proud of the food you are serving.  It will allow your guests to feel good about the food they are consuming and you will be spending your money on food that gets eaten!  We support local growers and producers, so the money you spend stays here in our area. 

We felt like people were on the verge of taking back the food table.  Instead, they voted with their dollars, on restaurants that may not offer transparency of their food origins.  We really hope that the pendulum swings in the other direction someday.  Big agriculture and their trampling of the food chain will have lasting effects.  We don't know what they are yet.  We can only do our part and hope our clients will learn from us.  Again, we source local product.  We buy it as fresh as possible.  We make the food to order.   Our food tastes great and works great for your body. If you are going to spend food dollars outside the grocery store, we hope it's at companies with sound philosophies. 

We catered a beautiful birthday party dinner on Friday evening.   The home was spectacular, the guests were fun and energetic and the service was impeccable.  Shortly before the first course, I went to make sure every one was seated and ready.  The guests were sort of looking at each other quietly.  I wasn't sure what was going on.  A few moments before, cell phones were out, photos were being taken.  There was a jovial vibe in the room.  Now, quiet, people were getting up one or two at a time, and heading toward the front door.  I made my way over to that area, only to discover the beginning of what became a large collection of cell phones amassed in the front hallway.  It began with one guest, thoughtful enough to leave their cell phone next to their umbrella on a shelf near the front door.  The host had gone to close the door and discovered this kind gesture.  It moved her enough to say something to the table.  Her words were not meant to shame, only to compliment the thoughtful guest and thank them for their consideration.  Apparently, the other guests shared her sentiment and decided to become engaged in the atmosphere and company of the evening.  

By the time the soup course, which was first, hit the table, the jubilation had returned and the guests were in the swing of celebration.  It was the kind of evening that if you did not have fun and enjoy yourself, it was your own fault.  The food courses came out timely.  I know I am a little biased, but the flavors were spot on and the guests really seem to enjoy them.  Every course was designed around the guest of honor's favorite foods.  We began with Mushroom soup, served with a brioche crouton and shitake bacon (stay tuned for a future post about this).  The second course was orrecchietti in a Parmesan infusion with asparagus and artichoke hearts.  The main course was braised short rib with red onion jam garni, served over creamy polenta with green beans.  Before all of the plates were served, the guests were asking if there were seconds of this dish.  Dessert was birthday cake and chocolate covered strawberries.  I thought I would share the menu, but as I did, I had the thought that I bet every guest could have told you what they ate.  Until the drinks had been flowing nonstop, every person was engaged in the conversations, the food and the ambiance.  Alcohol may have made the evening fuzzy, but at least it wasn't being viewed through the screen on a cell phone... 

Green City Market's mission statement states that Green City Market is a nationally recognized marketplace model for distributing, promoting and educating about local sustainably-grown food.  In serving that mission, they also include local chefs to help the education process.  Today, Saturday, March 1st, our Chef, Micky Kearns, has the honor of demonstrating his knowledge and enthusiasm for using the freshest, highest quality ingredients and elevating them to their greatest potential.  Whether you came out today to see the demo, heard about it and decided to tune in here, or just stumbled upon this post, we really hope you will visit your local farmer's market and try making this dish.  Your friends and family will marvel at how much flavor you can achieve with simple vegetables. 

Bacon Jam makes an impact on the NBC News team today.

It is important for Chef Micky to create and demonstrate dishes that work.  If you have ever used a cook book that left you feeling like a failure because your dish never looked like the picture or tasted like the description explained, it can be frustrating.  This short demo is a snapshot of our signature bacon jam.  The best way to try it is to give us a call but here is how you can try it at home.  There are a few ingredients and of course, you can adjust the recipe to your taste.

• 1 pound of bacon
• 2 onions - use any combination of sweet (vidalia), white, yellow (spanish) or red onion to develop your flavor
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 t brown sugar 1/4 t ground allspice 1/4 t chili powder1/4 t ground black pepper
• 1/4 maple syrup
• 1/2 cup coffee
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Method of production:  Chop the onion finely -  food processor works fine. Mince the garlic.  Grind the bacon into tiny bits - the food processor works for home cooks but this can also be ground in a meat grinder.  Cook bacon in sauté pan until all of the fat has been rendered.  Separate bacon from  fat and reserve the bacon bits (The bacon fat can be saved for other dishes like biscuits or fried potatoes).  Sauté onions until they caramelize, when there is about 5 minutes left before brown onions, add the minced garlic and saute until aromatic.  Once onions and garlic are done, add back the bacon bits, add dry ingredients (spices and sugar).  When they have been incorporated,  add the liquids.  Reduce to syrup like consistency then call everyone you know to come over to enjoy your new dish.  Spread it on sandwiches or a bagel with cream cheese to give them that extra UMPH!