RNC Small Business Directory Interview by Nancy Schramm

August will be a very hectic and exciting month for businesses, large and small, in Tampa, Fl. In case you have been media deprived over the last few months and did not know it, the Republican National Convention will be held here. Like most small businesses, we at Flowers to Eat are looking forward to putting our community's best foot forward welcoming all the visitors who may be making their first trip to the Tampa Bay Area.

Recently the Host Committee published their Small Business Directory. Over 500 small businesses of all types are included in the directory, making it an excellent resource for event planners, hosting hotels, restaurants, committee members, delegates, the media and everyone else associated with this major event.

Bay News 9 interviewed Flowers to Eat on the day that the availability of the Small Business Directory was announced. When you have a chance, please click on this link to watch the interview. Thank you Bay News 9.

http://baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/video.html?clip=http://static.baynews9.com/newsvideo/bn9/arc/RNC_Small_Business_Directory.f4v

Do You Know a Leaper?

No, not a Leper, although there are fewer and fewer people termed 'leper' with the availability of today's medical treatments. A Leaper is a person born on February 29th.

Today's local paper had a feature story on a woman who will be having a baby, by C-section. She has chosen to have the birth take place tomorrow, Leap Day. I guess that means that once every 4 years her child with have a very large birthday party. Most Leapers celebrate their other birthdays on February 28th.

Interesting facts for individuals born on February 29th.
1) Most life insurance companies computers cannot accept a birthdate of February 29th. Leapers have to put their application birthdate as March 1st.

2) There is no excuse for not knowing when a U.S. Presidential election is to be held because they are always held in Leap Years.

3) Signing a one year contract on February 29th means that it expires when, February 28th or March 1st of the following year?

4) There is an Irish tradition that says if a man receives a proposal of marriage on February 29th, he must accept it.

I titled this blog entry, Do You Know a Leaper. While I have 6 close family members with February birthdays, I personally do not know a Leaper. Here are a few famous people who were born on February 29th.

• 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
• 1792 – Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (William Tell, The Barber of Seville) (d. 1868)
• 1896 – Morarji Desai, former Indian prime minister (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
• 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player
• 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, former president of El Salvador
• 1960 – Anthony (Tony) Robbins, American motivational speaker

If you are lucky enough, or unlucky enough as is thought in Scotland, to be born on February 29th, I hope you have a very Happy Birthday tomorrow.

So good, I had to repeat it!

We are at the height of Strawberry Season here in Florida. The Plant City Strawberry Festival will be starting in just a few weeks, and Strawberry Shortcake is on the dessert menu of nearly every restaurant in town.

I put this Strawberry Tart recipe on our blog last year but it is so good, it is worth reposting it.

I hope you enjoy the quick, easy and delicious results!

Easy Strawberry Tarts

Use your favorite pastry recipe for the tart shells or buy frozen tart shells at the grocery store.

Ingredients:

1 small package of French Vanilla Instant Pudding

1 ½ c. whole milk

1 c. whipping or heavy cream

¼ c. confectioners sugar

1 pt. of strawberries

Wash, hull, and slice strawberries in half.

Follow directions on pudding package to make the French Vanilla Instant pudding using 1 ½ c. of whole milk instead of 2 cups.

In separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until light and fluffy. Add ¼.c of confectioners sugar slowly, and continue beating until it holds soft peaks.

Fold ½ of the whipped cream into the pudding mixture, and divide between 4 – 6 tart shells (depending on the size of each tart). Top each tart with several sliced strawberries arranged decoratively. Add a dollop of whipped cream to each.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve

Valentine's Day Thanks to Driscoll's

Our strawberry supplier, Driscoll's has once again provided Flowers to Eat with the freshest, sweetest strawberries for the busiest single day of the year. While our undipped fruit bouquets are very popular on this day, we create almost twice as many chocolate covered strawberry arrangements for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is hands down the single busiest day of the year for fruit arrangement companies. We need our fruit and chocolate suppliers to be flexible and reliable in meeting last minute additions to our usual orders. Thanks to our suppliers and our terrific in-store team, Flowers to Eat was able to dip, decorate, assemble, and deliver 100% of our customers' orders on time, on this super-busy day.

Driscoll's has been the primary supplier of the berries that enable our customers to 'See and Taste the Difference' in the Flowers to Eat product line. And we want to publicly thank them for the excellent product and service that we have received from them over the years.

Thank You Driscoll's!

Pomegranate Juice

Many magazine articles and health journals have expounded upon the benefits of drinking Pomegranate juice. Not only does it taste good, but it is so good for you! An older article, published in a 2004 issue of Clinical Nuitrition, has associated drinking just 50 ml. of Pomegranate juice each day with some fantastic results.

We have heard about all the benefits that the anti-oxidants in deep dark chocolate and red wine can provide, well, it appears that drinking Pomegranate juice has many of the same positive effects. This particular study showed that drinking just 50 ml. per day of Pomegranate produced a very significant decline in the test subjects' bad LDL cholesterol levels. Could just adding a glass a day of this delicious juice make a measurable and sustainable difference to the heart health of a person? More clinical trials need to be completed, but the results of this research are very promising.

Now, if you would like to add the Pomegranate juice to your evening entertainment, here is a recipe for Pomegranate Mimosas.

Pomegranate Mimosas
Combine 1 cup Pomegranate juice with 1 cup Orange Juice.
Add 2 Tablespoons of orange liquour
Shake well
Fill your favorite champagne glass half way with champagne and top it off with the
Pomegranate juice/orange juice mixture.

Those Tart Little Red Berries

The North American Cranberry

Thanksgiving is over, but for the next month, fresh cranberries will continue to be easily found in grocery stores and gourmet food emporiums. And that is good news!

Cranberries are one of the healthiest fruits that are available to us. Ok, so they may make you pucker up a little (is that a bad thing?) due to their tartness, but they are delicious and so nutritious. Packed with nutrients like antioxidants and other natural compounds, cranberries are a great choice for the health conscious consumer. In recent years we have even been able to enjoy sweetened, dried cranberries all year round.

Along with blueberries and the Concord grape, cranberries are one of 3 native North American fruits that are commercially grown.

According to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, “The cranberry helped sustain Americans for hundreds of years. Native Americans used cranberries in a variety of foods, the most popular was pemmican - a high protein combination of crushed cranberries, dried deer meat and melted fat - they also used it as a medicine to treat arrow wounds and as a dye for rugs and blankets.”

Contrary to popular TV commercials, cranberry vines do not grow in underwater. They grow in bogs and can live for a very long time. Some vines in Massachusetts are over 150 years old and they continue to produce fruit to this day.

Here’s a recipe for a delicious Cranberry Bread from the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association.

Servings: 1 Loaf

Ingredients:
1/2 C. Butter
1 Tbs. Grated Orange Peel
3 Large Eggs, Beaten
2 1/2 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 C. Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, Chopped
1 C. Sugar
1Tsp. Vanilla
3/4 C. Buttermilk
1/4 Tsp. Salt
3/4 C. Pecans, Chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray bottom only of 9" X 5" loaf pan with cooking spray. Beat butter, sugar, orange peel and vanilla in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating at low speed just until blended. Fold cranberries and nuts into batter. Turn into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Cool slightly in pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

See and Taste the Difference from the Fruit Arrangement Pros

How many times have you heard, "Practice Makes Perfect"? Or been told to persevere, to keep working at something?

Here's an illustration of the difference between the pro golfer and the amateur.

How much of a spread do you think there is between the number of strokes that a top pro and a top amateur take in any given golf round?

Usually, it is only a few, 2 or 3 shots.

What makes the pro the odds on winner of the round? His quest for perfection.

The amateur practices until he can hit a shot right. The pro practices until he can't hit it wrong.

Like the pro, Flowers to Eat has practiced our art of fruit design to perfect the look and taste of our arrangements. We think you will be able to see and taste the beautiful, delicious difference.

The Foodie and the Health Nut Together At Last: Scrumptious Healthy Meal Ideas

Thank you to contributing blogger, Carolyn Knight, for the following article on Healthy Eating!

The Foodie and the Health Nut Together At Last: Scrumptious Healthy Meal Ideas

It is unfortunate, but true, that plain veggies rarely inspire mouth-watering cravings, and French fries are not the best friend of hips and arteries. Do not despair. There is hope. Delicious food and healthy food are not mutually exclusive. Healthy meal ideas do exist to bring enjoyment, flavor, and nutrient-rich dishes to your table. If indulging in fatty foods can make you feel tired and cause long-term health concerns, then why not figure out a way to dress up disease fighting foods that will tempt your palate and leave you feeling energetic and guilt-free.

Even the healthiest of health nuts will cheat from time to time, so learning portion control can let you enjoy a taste without busting a seam.

1. Variety is the Spice of Life

Staring at a pile of boring lettuce will make anybody reach for the spaghetti; however, mixing all different kinds of flavors, textures, and food groups can turn a boring salad into a complex and interesting meal. Slice grilled flank steak, about 2-3 ounces per person. Then add it to a fresh salad with walnuts, dried cranberries, sliced mushrooms, shredded carrots, and beets with a good homemade champagne-shallot vinaigrette for a colorful, well-balanced salad that tastes a little different with each bite.

2. Size Matters

Now, even if you have the whole eating healthy, balanced meals thing down, inevitably someone will walk into the office with cupcakes for no good reason whatsoever. You are facing a difficult challenge, teetering on the verge of well behaved eater and no-holds-barred-vacuum ready to inhale the entire tray. There is good news: portion control is your friend. Halve the cupcake, put it on a napkin, and walk back to your desk. If you go to a dinner party, and the host is serving steak, not to worry—just know your portion sizes. A 3-ounce cut of meat will look roughly like a deck of cards.

3. You Cook It, You Control It

When you cook at home you get to decide what goes into your dishes, as well as how much of your dish goes onto your plate. Try new things and liven up dinner time by stocking your spice rack and choosing vibrant, colorful produce. Yellow fruits and vegetables contain beta-carotene and vitamin C, and blue and purple varieties house zeaxanthin, resveratrol and fiber.

Healthy meal ideas are the way to satisfy your appetite without feeling like ‘denial’ is your new food mantra. It is all about balance, portioning, and taking matters into your own hands. Fresh ingredients, variety, and spice are the key to boost flavor into an exciting and healthy meal, straight out of your very own kitchen.

Super Summer Seminar Sale!

If you have been a fan of our website, our You Tube videos, or our facebook page, you know that Flowers to Eat offers comprehensive classes for budding entrepreneurs who want to start their own independent fruit arrangement business

As the summer winds down, we are offering a super savings on our 3 and 4 day classes.
If you register for either our 3 day or our 4 day class by August 31, 2011 and take the class by October 31, 2011, we will deduct $500.00 from the cost of the class.

Contact Nancy or Ruth at 814-341-2328 for more information, or send a note to info@flowerstoeat for all the details.

Selling Food Items from your Home OK'd in Florida

Have you ever thought about starting your own food based business from your home?
When you looked into it, did you discover that you needed to use a commercial kitchen and be licensed?

Well, this has all changed, and budding entrepreneurs can now get their business started in their home.

On July 2, 2011, the Florida Cottage Food Act became a state law. This new law allows small businesses to prepare their food products in their own kitchens without obtaining a food permit from the Department of Agriculture.

The law allows cooks to bake cakes, cookies, or breads, create jams, jellies and vinegars, and a number of other products in their own home and market them.

There are a number of conditions that you need to be aware of, however.

1) Annual gross sales cannot exceed $15,000.
2) The products cannot be sold over the Internet or by mail order
3) The products cannot be sold wholesale to restaurants or food stores.

For more information, contact your local Small Business Information Center. They are running workshops to help budding entrepreneurs understand this new law and its caveats. In Hillsborough County, you can learn more by logging onto www.hillsborough-county.org/sbic or call 813-914-4028.

Basic information for this blog obtained from the In The Field Magazine, July 2011