Tag Archives: organic foods for children

Intelligent Luxury | My visit to Greenheart Organic Farms

It’s hard to trust anyone with the title organic.  Organic is now big business, and everyone is getting into the game.

Organic and clean foods are also a source of medicine for the body.  Genuinely sick people rely on the right nutrients from organic foods as part of their healing process.  Big businesses are messing around with people’s lives by claiming to be organic when they are not, and consumers are buying without research and with too much trust.  Some of the biggest cons in the market include agave syrup which is just high corn fructose in a nice bottle and pink himalayan salt which adds no value to your plate just your monthly expenses.

It’s pretty confusing for consumers as the bad food list expands to include burnt toasts, or anything that contains refined sugar (that covers a wide list of products found in supermarkets) and barbecue meats that contribute to cancers.  There is also so much research out there that it can be exhausting to sieve through food trends.

I watched a fabulous show on Netflix titled Cooked with Michael Pollan, an important food writer.  In one of the episodes, one of the world’s leading experts said, eat anything you want.  Eat apple pie with ice-cream and expand on that list.  There is nothing wrong with eating all of it but on one condition, he said, that you make it all from scratch.  Such an easy philosophy and yet how many of us struggle on a daily basis to prepare the three meals a day without succumbing to the ease of using tin or jar food, or readily prepared meals.  I know it is not easy.  The trend of the world hasn’t left us mums enough time to cook. The typical family in the US spends less than 30 minutes preparing food and in Europe and India they are starting to follow the same trend.  Big industries want to prepare everything for you – it’s big money.

We need to fight big industries and starting going back to basics.  We don’t have a microwave at home.  Just get a saucepan to heat up your food.  It takes 5 minutes to heat up vs 30 seconds when you zap all nutrients away.

Greenheart Organic Farms

You can imagine my delight when I got an invitation from Elena Kinane, owner of Greenheart Organic Farms to visit her farm in the UAE.  It’s the real mccoy.  I was blown away by what I saw.  I wasn’t sure if I was standing in the UAE or a field in England.

Compost

One of the most important aspects of organic foods is the quality of the ground that it is grown in.  Sand is not nutritious.  Therefore, to make it so, quality compost is key, AKA ‘black gold’.  This compost has to be added for the crops to grow.  It takes 6-months to produce compost, and there are no shortcuts.

Elena keeps 800 goats and chickens on her farm  – the most healthy looking goats I have ever seen with shiny coats from all the organic produce they are fed on.  The cockerel had the most splendid display of colours like a painting from the 1800s having only eaten organic all his life too.  Their manure and leftover crops are prepared for composting and none of the animals are killed for food.  Most importantly, compost should not have any smell, and surprisingly there are farms around the world who do not know how to compost making their produce susceptible to E. coli.

The fields are manually prepared so no heavy machinery is used to plough the fields, and the compost is scattered in straight lines, and volcanic minerals are added to further enrich the soil.

No chemicals

Elena does not use any chemicals on her fields, and uses old farming methods to swot away white flies, and she organises her fields using certain crops to protect other crops.  For example, the smell of kale protects the tomatoes from certain insects.

Abundance

Her fields are overflowing with kale, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, heirloom tomatoes, kohlrabi, swiss chard, basil, purple pak choy, rocket, lettuce, fennel, coriander and the list goes on.  Her pain staking efforts of manually shading each broccoli and cauliflower from the desert sun takes time.  Her specially designed papermache cooling systems for the greenhouses cost money and profits from her sale are reinvested into her farm.  There is so much hardwork and effort that goes behind the scenes for the production of an heirloom tomato.

Elena is really a champion at pioneering organic in the UAE.  It is no easy feat and she does it from a place of pure passion and love for her job.  A mother of two, a farmer, and a supplier leaving her little time for anything else.  Four Seasons Hotel and Freedom Pizza are some of her customers, and she has won multiple awards, as well as winning the respect of international chefs, Giorgio L’Ocattelli and Tom Aikens, who have both spent time on her farm.

I trust Elena.  I trust her brand Greenheart Organic Farms.  In this day and age, Greenheart Organic Farms is intelligent luxury.  Whilst, big business wants us to buy the designer clothes, handbags and plastic toys for our children, the luxuries in life will be clean food.

I truly believe in organic for the family especially my children.  It’s hardwork but I persevere.  Most of my monthly allowance goes into food. There are 84 meals in a month so it is expensive for a family of 6 and time consuming but for me it is worth it in this day and age to have health above everything else.  Every month, I learn that I don’t need to buy pesto in a jar or tomatoes in a can.  Just buy fresh and use a blender.

Social media has many downsides but there are also important benefits, and one of them is the exposure healthy food bloggers get from social media changing the way nations eat and in the last 2 – 3 years they have created a new landscape for healthy eating – I applaud them.  As consumers, we are also responsible for setting the tone for future generations to lead big industries and not let them lead us.

You can purchase Greenheart Organic Farm products from their website www.greenheartuae.com or visit their farmshop

Greenheart Organic Farm Store, The Light Building, Ground Floor, Shop 8, Arjan, Al Barsha 2, Dubai.

T : +9714 361 7010
M : +9714 (0)56 6407060
E : admin@greenheartuae.com

The Milkman has arrived in the UAE | Ordering Koita Milk Online to lighten your grocery load | Use your Seashellsonthepalm discount code to get 15% off

Offer: Seashellsonthepalm readers can receive a discount of 15% on a one-time purchase of AED500 or less and deliveries within the UAE are free.  Offer is valid for 30 days. Quote: SEA15p

Seashellsonthepalm has had a long working relationship with Koita because as a family we believe that Koita is trying to do something good.  It is an organically grown Dubai business although the key component to their successful enterprise, the cows,  live in Italy, a country with decades if not hundreds of years of experience in dairy farming.  I have always felt it important to educate families about certain choices, and to get the right information out there.

Online Delivery – new launch

Milk is one of the heaviest and bulkiest items on my grocery shopping list. With a family of 6, I will buy on average between 4 – 6 1L packs a week.  The milk is usually used for cereal, teas, cappuccinos, mash potato, pancakes etc.  Koita now delivers a wide range of milk making it easier for the weekly grocery shopping in terms of volume and weight.  The new online service will deliver cases of 12x 1L or 24x 200 ml from Lactose Free (non-organic), Skim Milk (organic) to Full Fat Milk(organic), as well as providing non-dairy solutions like Non-GMO Soy Milk (non-ogranic).  For more information about their free delivery service check out the link.  Koita Delivers.

Organic – what does it mean?

Organic milk means no added hormones, antibiotics, pesticides or preservatives. This means a lot to me as a mum to know my children are not being exposed to unnecessary toxins in their developing bodies.  I know it is always not possible to control what my children eat but I have an 80/20 approach to it all, and if I can remove certain chemicals from their daily intake I will certainly try.  Koita cows live in northern Italy and are fed on grass grown in volcanic soil.  The Koita Organic Milk range includes full fat, low fat, skim milk and for the occasional treat chocolate milk.  We usually buy the low fat or skim milk which are family favourites.  The organic chocolate milk we might keep in the fridge for the occasional ‘treat day’  – it makes a quick hot chocolate on a chilly Dubai day or you can freeze them in lolly containers to turn them into organic chocolate ice-creams on a warm summer’s day.

Lactose Free  – New launch

Due to popular demand because of a high number of lactose intolerant people from the Middle East, Koita has now created the first lactose free milk in the market that is free from added hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and preservatives, which is still produced in Italy.  The milk is created by adding a natural enzyme lactase to the milk to break down the lactose milk sugar into more easily digestible sugars, enabling people who are lactose-intolerant the ability take milk into their diet.  The Lactose Free milk is not organic but remains free of unnecessary chemicals and toxins, but cannot be declared organic only due to the feed of the cows.

Non-Dairy Soy Milk – New launch

Soy lattes and cappacinnos have always been popular, and for those who prefer not to have dairy in their diet can use the Koita Soy Milk which is an ideal substitute.  The milk is not organic but the soy has been created from non-GMO soy.  Non-GMO means non-genetically modified organisms that have been created in a laboratory using genetic modifications/engineering techniques.  Scientists, and many other groups including consumer groups have cited many health and environmental risks to consume foods containing GMOs.

For more information or to make your first online delivery go to Koita.com 

And don’t forget! Offer: Seashellsonthepalm readers can receive a discount of 15% on a one-time purchase of AED500 or less and deliveries within the UAE are free.  Offer is valid for 30 days. Quote: SEA15p

Cooking for my family | Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Soup Supercharged |Using my Greenheart Organic Vegetables

Did I mention how much I love Greenheart Organic Farms who are based in the UAE already?  This week I thought to share with a receipe that I use with the children using butternut squash and pumpkin!  It’s the LONG weekend so here are ways to get inspired to cook with the kids.  We have blended the concept from two well-known cookbooks, Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daugher, and Honestly Healthy by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson.  My son, Luca, is crazy about cooking so although he isn’t a fan of this soup, it is a way of making him like appreciate the ingredients and enjoy his ‘own cooking.’

The health benefits of these supercharged ingredients in this pot of soup are countless from high levels of Vitamin A in pumpkin, pumpkin can also reduce cancer risk, fresh turmeric can help with inflammation, butternut squash delivers ample dose of dietary fibre, has significant amounts of potassium and vitamin B6.

Ingredients

2 onions chopped

2 Cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of garam masala (or curry powder)

Half a large butternut squash chopped

Half a pumpkin chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 red chilli de-seeded

Fresh Turmeric

2 pints of organic vegetable stock

Coconut oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: Sprinkle with chia seeds before serving

Instructions

Sweat the onions in the coconut oil, then add the garlic, garam masala powder, fresh turmeric, carrot and chilli and fry until fragrant.  Then throw in the butternut squash and pumpkin and ensure that all the spices are mixed in well, and when they start to soften gently pour in the vegetable stock to ensure all the root vegetables are covered.  Then add salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer for 30 minutes, and cool for 15 minutes.  Then simply blend, and left overs can be frozen.

If you are cooking for children 6 months – 1 year, this can be mixed with brown rice, with no salt or chilli added.

Greenheart Organic Farms Opening Hours: 11:30am – 5pm except Fridays

For more information visit the website www.greenheartuae.com

Top tips for packing organic snacks for the holidays | Some super snacks to pack for the family | Greenheart Organic Farms

It’s the Easter holidays! We have been crazily packing all week, and we are still not done. Most importantly, I have also made a trip to Greenheart Organic Farms this week to pick up some dry foods snack items to take on holiday with us. I love organic and superfoods but having it whilst we travel is not always possible so a mini dry supply will do. In any case, we are heading to the beautiful clean mountains of Europe so we don’t have to worry too much as food quality and freshness is just out of this world. However, room fridge bars are still full of temptations, and I need to stock up on brilliant for the children and me.

#1 LoveRaw Bars

We are packing for the plane journey for the kids and ourselves the new LoveRaw Bars – 100% Organic Superfood Energy Bar made and packed at LoveRaw in Cambridgeshire, UK. The company started back in 2013 when Rimi, the creator of LoveRaw quit her intensive investment banking job to rebuild her health. A new concept was born on her kitchen table in the UK, and the bars were initially stocked at Whole Foods London, and they have now gone global. These organic bars are gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, and soy free. Some of the bars are also good sources of Magnesium and Omega 3+6, and there is no added sugar and low GI.

Flavours include:Cacao & Spirulina Organic Bar, Coconut & Chia Organic Bar, Cacao & Maca Organic Bar, Rosehip & Lemon Organic Bar and each one costs AED14.50.

Ingredient benefits

RAW CACAO is 100% pure and unprocessed. It’s full of natural antioxidants, particularly polyphenols (found in berries & oranges) and flavanols (found in red grapes and green tea). Raw Cacao can neutralise harmful free radicals in your body and promote overall health. It’s also a great mood enhancer!

SPIRULINA is an algae that is often recognised as the world’s most nutritionally rich superfood. It is composed 65% of protein and amino acids. Due to a high concentration of chlorophyll, spirulina is a great detoxifier

MACA is commonly known as the ‘Peruvian Ginseng’. Maca is potent in B-Vitamins and also provides Vitamins C & E.

CHIA is packed full of omega 3 fatty acids. These fats are important for brain & skin development. Chia is also high in antioxidants which have been shown to fight free radicals that contribute to the ageing process. An all round winner

ROSEHIP is a great source of Vitamin C, containing more than 60% than most citrus fruits. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant which acts by targeting free radicals that are harmful to your body. Rosehip is also high in Vitamins E & K which quicken the healing process for skin irritations and bruises.

LEMON has been traditionally used for centuries for its strong antibacterial, antiviral and liver cleansing properties. It is also used by many cultures for boosting immunity and aiding weight loss. Lemon oil is also naturally high in Vitamin C.

#2 Organic Sun Dried Mulberries

Other healthy treats that we are taking along include The Organic Sun Dried Mulberries from Sun & Seed. The Mulberry Tree is one of the oldest cultivated plants on Earth. The white Turkish mulberry are high in iron, calcium, fibre and Vitamin C and rich in anti-oxidants.

#3 Organic Sun Dried Inca Berries

Organic Sun Dried Inca Berries from the reputable brand Sun & Seed, are also known as Cape Gooseberries, Peruvian Groundcherries or ‘Golden Berries’. They have the same texture as dried cherries with a tangy flavour, and they can normally be added to a variety of foods but on this occasion they make a great snack for the children and me (probably a little too tangy for Daddy!). This super fruit from Peru are filled with high levels of phosphorous, potassium and protein.

#4 Pukka Herbal Tea Sachets

Finally for beverages we are bringing a few sachets of Pukka herbal tea to have in the room. Warm tea with snow outdoors. Couldn’t think of a better way to relax. Ideally I am dreaming of sitting by the warm fire with a cup of tea and a good book, but the reality will be slightly different with 4 kids. The cup of tea will do for now.

Most of these items can be delivered to your home, otherwise pop down to the shop and do a quick grab.

www.greenheartuae.com