Vegan Afternoon at Sugarleaf Organic Market and Cafe

Sugarleaf Makati and Jertie’s Kitchen Tie Up for The Green Guide To Eating Right, A Healthy Food Preparation Workshop Series

In another of its signature fun, learning-filled media events, Sugarleaf Organic Market and Café Makati recently launched another healthy food preparation series dubbed The Green Guide to Eating Right workshop series running from October to February 2015 to be held at the Makati Café in MEDICard Lifestyle Center. 

Well attended by friends from the media and blogging community, attendees got a sneak preview of vegan dishes included in the four workshops. Sugarleafer Angelo Narciso Songco emceed the event while vegan and gluten-sensitive resource speakers Jertie and Jaclyn Abergas shared their story and knowledge in healthy yet affordable and practical healthy cooking.

In tandem with Jertie's Kitchen, Sugarleaf invites all to any or all of our four exciting workshops from October to February 2015. Each class stands on its own and builds up your stock knowledge on healthy vegan food prep. P1500 per person per workshop. P1300 for early bird, senior citizens, students, pairs and groups. Attend three and get the 4th at 50% discount! Contact Angelo on 0917 8039 055. Pay P1300 one week before each class at Sugarleaf Makati or deposit to Healthy Eats Inc. checking account number 0012 4002 7660 (Union Bank World Center branch) to avail of early bird rate. Please bring your deposit slip which will be collected upon registration.

18 October–Eating A Plant‐Based Diet On A Budget

We all know that we need to eat more fruits and vegetables, that’s a fact. In this workshop, we’ll teach you five easy-to-prepare plant-based dishes that’ll incorporate more of these nutrient dense food into your existing diet. Demo menu includes coconut fried rice, corn and tomato stew, basil pesto, minestrone, chow mein, lettuce wraps, Thai vegetable stew plus bonus recipes!

22 November–Noche Buena Vegan Feast

Eat heartily this Yuletide season without the guilt with these plant‐based versions of your favorite festive dishes! Demo menu inludes ginataang halo-halo, paella, "chick"pea sopas, arroz Valenciana, macaroni/fruit salad, casserole and Christmas dessert!

10 January 2015–Lose Holiday Weight with Green Smoothie*

Had a little or way too much fun during the holidays? Don’t worry, we’re here to help you get back to your old self–or maybe even better! Green smoothies will help you slip back into those skinny jeans without having to jump and down.

7 February 2015–Love, Chocolate

Love is in the air! And chocolate definitely rules this month. Let us teach you new plant-based chocolate dishes to romance your lover (or would-be lover) – mostly sweet with a savoury dish as well.

Sugarleaf and Jertie's promise another info-filled and yummy series complete with handouts, hearty samplings of at least five recipes, bonus recipes and tips. Angelo of Sugarleaf shares “After a long hiatus, we are happy to have partnered with Jertie who shares our commitment in promoting a heathy and sustainable lifestyle. After four separate series over the past three years, we’ll hold another four part food preparation class–not completely raw anymore as healthy can be cooked! With the promise that all ingredients are easy to find and affordable!”

About Jertie’s Kitchen

Jertie Abergas and her sister Jaclyn have always believed great-tasting nutritious food should be accessible to anyone and everyone. And more than that, everyone should be able to make it easily without burning a hole in your pocket. Eating a plant‐based diet should not be any different. Neither should it be complicated, intimidating and boring!

A lot of people hesitate to commit to a plant‐based diet because they believe it to be difficult and expensive to create. Me and my sister Jaq want to debunk that misconception! It can be expensive, especially if you always go for the high-end option but most of the time it’s as affordable as it can get. In The Green Guide to Eating Right workshop series we’ll show you how affordable plant-based dishes can easily be prepared even by those who’ve never stepped into a kitchen before. And the great thing about this workshop, you don’t need lots of fancy equipment. You just need a toaster, a rice cooker or a pan with a stove.

When my sister Jaq became vegan, she pressured me to create vegan pastries she can eat. I felt inspired and added it to my line-up of home-baked goodies. Then, almost at the same time I found out I was gluten‐intolerant and tweaked my products to include gluten‐free and vegan items

Since then, me and Jaq have devoted ourselves to sharing their plant-based and gluten-free lifestyle with the people we meet and those interested. We strongly believe people need to start taking charge of their health and not wait until it’s too late.

Aside from creating great‐tasting food, we teach health and cooking workshops and offer health coaching. We know how difficult it is to transition and want to support other people in their own journey towards health.

Sample of the Vegan recipe shared to us by these two dynamic ladies from Jertie's Kitchen, click on the  links to get a full view of the recipe in my food blog.

Chocolate Nut Tarts

Easy Paella

Vegan Broccoli Soup

Banana-Pineapple Green (Kangkong) Smoothie

GLUTEN-FREE AND VEGAN LIFESTYLE: AN OVERVIEW

What is Veganism?

Veganism is a plant-based lifestyle, where vegans do not eat meat, seafood, poultry or any product that came from an animal, including eggs, dairy, and honey. Vegans also avoid purchasing and using products derived from animals, including silk, wool, feather, and fur, as well as cosmetics and bath products. Vegans choose to practice this lifestyle for health, spiritual, ethical, and/or environmental reasons.

A healthy and varied vegan diet includes consumption of real, whole, and unprocessed foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. 

What is a gluten-free lifestyle?

A gluten-free lifestyle follows a lifestyle that excludes all wheat, barley, rye and cross-contaminated oats. These items can be found in food, liquor, cosmetics and beauty products. 

A gluten-free lifestyle is a requirement for people suffering from celiac disease and gluten intolerance. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that mistakenly reacts to gluten as poison. When consumed, gluten destroys a part of the small intestine that absorbs nutrients. The malabsorption leads to serious illness, including diarrhea, unexplained fatigue, depression, and infertility. The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet. 

Gluten intolerance is a condition that causes a person to react negatively when ingesting gluten. Gluten intolerant people have the same symptoms with people with celiac disease but do not have intestinal inflammation, flattening of the absorbing villi and long-term damage to the small intestine.

For more info about their workshops:

Website: www.jertieskitchen.com
E-mail: info@jertieskitchen.com 

*This is a contributed article from Sugarleaf and Jertie's Kitchen

BellySima Finds: Mulberry Hillfarms Enterprise

I met this Mulberry Lady at the BellySima food fair, a food tasting event held every weekend at the Glorietta activity center, an upscale mall in Makati for artisan, wholesome, organic and healthy food choices.

She is such an advocate of this wonderful berry, she enthusiastically telling me all about the wonders of this berry, but I cut her shortly and told her don't waste anymore time and saliva to tell me more about it, I know everything. LOL

Anyway, I am more concerned how the plant was raised and processed, I learned she has fresh twigs and leaves as tea, which I like, also other edible flowers such as Blue Tarnate as a health drink, and her Mulberry juice extract are made fresh as well. All the produce are raised in Antipolo, a mountainous province of Rizal.

I am a fan of Blue Tarnate flowers because it is colorful which is a good source of bioflavonoids, and it could be use to cook rice that gives it a natural color that makes it blue rice. It can also be eaten fresh in salads and as food garnishing.

Blue Tarnate flowers made into a health drink

Mulberry Fruit Juice is a powerful source of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and anti-oxidants with 70% more ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities in biological samples in vitro). compared to other berries.  Im just glad there are really good people producing it and making this available everywhere, I don't want to enumerate all the health benefits ( the lady in the picture will be very happy to tell you everything), but this is something I will recommend to help your body's well-being and heal itself.

Mulberry Hillsfarm products

BellySima will be a regular happening every Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 A.M. to 8 P.M. at the Glorietta activity center.

For more info and how to order:

Beny O' Bannon 

Mulberry Hillsfarms Enterprise
Email: mulberryhillfarmsenterprise@yahoo.com.ph
Landline: 02 216 1092
Mobile: 0917 546 7264 / 0918 591 5370

FRIGGIES : Juice that Cleanse and Nourish

Fred Espiritu and Joey Lee of Friggies

I came across with these two young social entrepreneur juice guys at the BellySima food fair, a food fair for artisan, home-based, organic and healthy choices. 

I was awed by their initiatives to go on offering and start up a business to promote healthy lifestyle and make this as their advocacy as well. 

Nice and cute bag to carry your juices

Some of the books that  inspire them to go juicing 

Juices are made-to-order, so guaranteed fresh, and can be stored in the fridge for few days, but best to take it fresh to avoid further oxidation of nutrients. It has both the combination of fruits and vegetables nutrients and enzymes, it is a power juice. I usually make my own juices at home but this is for our busy young professional and health concious alike who don't have much luxury of time to make their own juices, these guys will make for you at click of the finger in their website and deliver in your doorstep pronto. 

I tried some of the juices and it was a delicious combination, so there is no feeling of throwing up. It's about time our young generation appreciate a more healthy eating, drinking and living. After tasting there is a good feeling and thoughts that my body is like Popeye the Sailorman energized and strong after taking his spinach, LOL. 

So, give your body a good favor, cleanse and nourish, let's support these young social entrepreneurs in their call,  so more and more people choose a healthy lifestyle in this toxic world. 

Website: www.friggies.com

Facebook: Friggies
Instagram: Friggiesjuiceph
Twitter: Friggiesjuice

To order Call:
0922 922 6706 0919 997 2717 0916 796 0078
Kawad Kalinga and GK Enchanted Farm

BellySima will be a regular happening every Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 A.M. to 8 P.M. at the Glorietta activity center.

Press Release: FRIGGIES Launches its Website and Delivery Service

MANILA – As the juicing craze continuously creates a buzz in the metro, Friggies, a social enterprise hailing from the countryside is now ready to come out in the open to offer juicing with a new twist. After months of testing out its products at the “Bahay-Kubo” booth at the GK-Enchanted Farm in Angat, Bulacan, and joining a series of food bazaars including a trial weekend market, Friggies is now inching its way into the mainstream market with the official launching of its website and roll-out of delivery service in Metro Manila area this coming September. Friggies, which came from the words FRuIts and veGGIES, will be the emerging juice company among the pool of social enterprises such as Human Nature, Theo and Philo, Bayani Brew, Golden Egg, Plush and Play, First Harvest and Gourmet Keso to name a few. They support communities by sourcing their raw materials from GK-Enchanted Farm and cooperatives from around Bulacan, as well as other local farms in the country. Though still being in incubation stage, Friggies has been duly incorporated last June 19, which signifies that it’s about to make a name for itself.

The company draws inspiration from its founder, Frederick Espiritu, who sees Friggies as the culmination of his own personal journey of healing. He became a strong advocate of natural health after recovering from Hyperthyroidism that he had for more than 5 years. Since then, he has always been passionate of sharing this experience to inspire and help people deal with their health challenges. But it was after losing his father to cancer that became the biggest turning point in his life, and eventually paved the way to Friggies.

“I made a vow to myself that I’d do anything so that no other son would bear the same pain of losing his father to cancer,” said Fred whenever asked about the story behind Friggies.

On a lighter note, it actually came as a joke to Joey Lee, a close colleague and fellow natural health advocate, when Fred approached him one night at the office and asked if he’d be willing to start their own company.

“Fred told me that we will build a company that’s going to be bigger than the biggest coffee company in the world. And I was laughing while asking how we’re going to do that,” Joey happily recalled.

A month later, Fred also called in Lisamari Policarpio, another previous colleague of them to join and complete the team. “After leaving my job, I was looking for a business opportunity to support my family while being hands on raising my daughter,” Lisa shared on what convinced her to join.

“And Fred used to bring juices in the office and shared them among us. So when he said we’ll be making those juices for our products, I knew it has potential,” She added. The trio, previously Telecom Engineers, then formed the unlikely team to put up a juice company. On late November of 2013, they presented the idea to Gawad Kalinga in one CSI night, a regular gathering of social entrepreneurs at EF-Café. The proposal was approved and on December of that same year, Friggies had its selling debut during the Countryside Christmas Fair. It was a humbling kick-off experience, since Friggies was able to contribute a significant share on the proceeds for the Yolanda relief efforts. They were also delighted by the reception of the people who tried and bought the ABC Juice, which was the prime and only product back then.

Today, Friggies has four variants of cold-pressed juices to offer. After the ABC Juice, the company now focuses on coming up with juices made only from locally-sourced and organic produce. It’s interesting to note that each juice variant has a character. For one, the TM Juice was named after the founder of Gawad Kalinga, Tony Meloto. The AID Juice, is a functional drink that was specifically mixed to combat inflammation, hence the name Anti-Inflammatory Drink. Their version of the green juice is quite special, because consumers get to choose the green veggies that will be mixed in the juice. Friggies aims to educate and raise awareness among its consumers the value of taking care of one’s own health. So they came up with the idea of juicing together through a fun and learning experience.

Friggies also introduced another product line Smooggies, which means ‘Smoothies by Friggies’ and it’s what they recommend to people opting for a meal replacement. This is what sets Friggies apart from their counterparts that plainly offer juices for detoxing, fasting or cleansing. Instead of having 1-day, 3-day or 5-day cleanse, Friggies juices and smoothies are to be incorporated gradually into a regular dietary regimen until we are able to stick to a healthy-habit that eventually becomes a lifestyle.

“Healing is a journey. Juicing is a lifestyle,” as Friggies tagline would suggest. “Our body heals through detoxing and cleansing. The purpose of the juices and smoothies is to help our body do them. Healing does not happen occasionally and optimum health is not something you can only have for a day or a week. It’s our innate gift, we are constantly healing and health is a way of living,” explained Fred on his personal views.

“Juicing is supposed to be an amazing experience, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you should not eat anything for days to benefit from it. We are trying to take care of our body, not impose some kind of punishment by starving ourselves. Healing takes place when our body feels that it is loved. This is what we hope people get from Friggies, to feel that they are loved,” Fred added with a smile.

Their website, www.friggies.com will be launched this September 6 and it will be celebrated as they join “Belly-Sima”, the first ever artisan and gourmet food fair happening at Glorietta Activity Center in Makati, where free taste of Friggies juices and smoothies will be given.

Friggies Online Store is one the main pages of the website, where consumers can easily place their orders and securely process payments. They have key partners to cater the delivery of the juices and smoothies right at your doorstep or wherever you’d prefer, all throughout the week. Another major site feature is its blog section, where everyone is invited to share a story, be it a juicing experience, a vacation trip one recently had, or the things we are passionate about. Truly, there’s a lot more to Friggies than what meets our taste buds. It’s as if we’re just having a taste test of what it has to offer. And the best is yet to come.

*contributed photos