Jeanne David, Founder and Head of Product Development of Outer Aisle Gourmet, shares company updates, recipes, and product reviews

Friday, December 20, 2013

Savory Rice Pancakes - OAG Style

With the coming of the New Year, I am thrilled that OAG products will be available to the nation in 2014. One of our company's New Year's resolutions is to help change the way Americans eat and think about food.  By getting OAG products on the selves, we are hoping to make that resolution a reality.  We have received a product testimonial from a health industry professional that understands our mission and supports our determination to make a difference in people's lives.

“I have been in the Health Industry for 36 years.  I have been a competitive body builder and personal trainer since 1985.  The last 10 years of my life, I have tried to eat a diet higher in vegetables and fiber and gluten free.  This product line makes it easy for anyone from the beginner trying to make a smart choice, to the health enthusiast that loves to eat quality food, and makes it easy in the process.  I am very excited to share this line of healthy products with my clients, friends, and family.”
Jeff H. – Santa Barbara, CA

Jeff, thank you for your support. You are proof that OAG can make a difference. Here's to a healthy 2014!

The recipe of the week: Savory Rice Pancakes - OAG Style

Ingredients:
2/3 cup OAG rice
1 egg
1 tsp. milk
2 tsps. olive oil instead of butter
Salt, pepper, chives and dried onion flakes all the same
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
1. Whisk all ingredients together in mixing bowl.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Using 1/3 cup measure, spoon pancake shaped scoops of rice mixture into hot skillet.  Cook until golden brown

Enjoy!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Spanish Rice - OAG Style

My recipe of the week is great as a side dish, or as a meal on its own.


Spanish Rice - OAG Style

 Ingredients:

4 cups of OAG veggie-rice
1 tablespoon lard, butter, or coconut oil (lard is best for flavor)

1 cup red onion, small dice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 t coriander

½ t cumin

1 t oregano

1 t salt

1 cup fresh tomatoes, small dice

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Directions:
In a large skillet, over medium heat, sauté onions in lard with a pinch of salt for 8-10 minutes, or until very soft and translucent.
Add the dry spices, remaining salt, and garlic and stir to combine, stirring and cooking another minute. (Add a tablespoon of water if the spices get stuck)
Add veggie-rice and sauté another 8-10 minutes, or until the rice is soft.
Turn off heat and stir in tomatoes, lime juice and cilantro.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Pesto and Pine Nut Pasta – OAG Style

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week with my family. We have so much to be thankful for including the start of Outer Aisle Gourmet's success!

The OAG kitchen has been put to work this week with orders coming in! I would like to share a testimonial from a Santa Barbara local.

“Outer Aisle Gourmet.... one word... AMAZING!!! All of their products are simply amazing! I have four kids and they all LOVE the veggie pasta and we're having so much fun creating individualized specialty pizzas! It's healthy and it tastes great... I couldn't ask for more! Thank you Outer Aisle Gourmet!!!"
Theresa B. - Santa Barbara, CA

Theresa, I am so glad you are enjoying our products and that is fantastic that your kids are loving them as well!


The recipe of the week: Pesto and Pine Nut Pasta – OAG Style 

Ingredients:
1 pack of Outer Aisle veggie pasta
Grilled or Sauteed chicken strips
2-3 Tbsp. pesto
1-2 Tbsp. pine nuts
1 clove garlic -  minced
Salt as desired
1-2 tsps. grated Parmesan cheese

Place pesto and garlic in sauté pan and warm.  Toss in raw veggie pasta and stir in the pesto sauce to coat pasta and heat for 2-3 minutes.  Add grilled chicken strips or pieces and stir together quickly,  Add pine nuts, stir and remove from heat.  Serve and top with grated parmesan cheese.

Bon Appetit!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Spaghetti Pie – OAG STYLE

It's been a great few weeks for OAG! Orders are coming in, and we are so happy with our new kitchen. I wanted to share a weekly product testimonial, and one of my OAG recipes.

"I'm in the health and fitness business in New Orleans. One of my greatest challenges is recommending nutritional tasty foods to my clients. Outer Aisle Gourmet veggie products are a perfect healthy option for all my clients who love bread, pasta, rice and pizza. Leave it to a New Orleans girl to find a way to create nutritional veggies that are pleasing to the palate and healthy too!!! Look forward to our next visit!"
- Donna

Donna, we can't wait to offer New Orleans and the rest of America our products in your local grocery stores. Thank you for your support!

The recipe of the week is.... Spaghetti Pie - OAG STYLE

OAG pasta – 2 packs
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs, well beaten
1 lb. ground turkey or beef
½ c. chopped onion
¼ c. chopped green pepper
1 – 80z. can diced tomatoes
1 – 6 oz. can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)
1 tsp. Oregano
½ tsp. garlic salt
½ c. mozzarella cheese – shredded
1 c. low fat cottage cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Directions:
Mix together raw pasta, egg and parmesan cheese and put in 9” pie plate sprayed with Pam.  Brown ground meat, onion, green bell peppers and then drain.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce and spices.  Let simmer 5 minutes.  Fill pie pan with cottage cheese and then put meat mixture on top and bake for 20 minutes.  Add mozzarella cheese
**Note:  the zucchini pasta produces liquid when cooked. Let the pie cool for a few minutes before cutting and then remove the first piece and soak up liquid with paper towel or spoon out.  Once the excess liquid is drained, it will be ready for cutting.  Enjoy!
This is so yummy, low carb and healthy!


Thursday, November 14, 2013

LASAGNA - OAG Style

I would like to share a product testimonial:

"Outer Aisle veggie bread has earned a permanent place in our refrigerator for sandwich making and mini pizzas. When we eliminated bread from our diet we were at a loss for something on which to build our sandwiches; lettuce leaves simply did not hold it all together. How thrilled we were the time we made our first veggie bread sandwich and there was no going back after that. A natural progression has been to use veggie rice after its' creation and we particularly like it for our shrimp creole. Our family recipe for spaghetti is now excitingly used on the veggie pasta to our great delight and satisfaction. At a time in our lives when we have decided we had to lose weight these products have been a God send."
Glynne and Gillian C. - Montecito, CA

Thank you Glynne and Gillian for your kind words. I am so happy you are enjoying our products!

The recipe of the week is.... LASAGNA - OAG Style 


Ingredients:
Lasagna Noodles:
 4 Outer Aisle pizza crusts cut into lasagna “noodle” strips
Bolognese:
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped (1 cup)
1 small onion, diced (1.5 cups)
1 rib celery, diced (1/2 cup)

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp cinnamon (and barely 1/8 tsp… it’s a dusting of cinnamon!)
pinch of red chili flakes (less than 10 flakes)

12 oz ground Italian sausage (the good stuff!)
1 – 14.5oz can organic diced tomatoes
1 – 15oz can organic tomato sauce

1 cup organic chicken stock
Extra virgin olive oil
Optional: Fresh basil and a couple handfuls of baby spinach

Prep:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit).
Classic bolognese starts with mirepoix (carrot, onion and celery) and that’s what we’re going to do here. Heat a large or wide pan to medium or medium-high. This can be a dutch oven or even a large skillet. Drizzle in a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil… enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.

While that comes to temp, peel and chop the carrots, dice the onion and the celery.  Add those to the hot pan and sprinkle with the kosher salt and other seasonings. It will look kinda strange if you’re not in the habit of building sauces in this order, but roll with it. This method gets the oils going and rehydrate the dried herbs before the tomatoes hit. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes, then add minced garlic and the sausage. Cook until the sausage has browned. The canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and chicken stock now joins the party. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes or so on medium-low heat. Cover if your sauce starts to dry out (or if it’s splattering everywhere and making a mess of your stove).

Depending on the size and shape of your lasagna pan and thus the size and shape of your cauli noodle, divide the 4 pizza crusts into lasagna noodle strips that will perfectly layer your lasagna. Remove the bolognese from the heat and grab your baking dish.

We are taking orders for next week pickups! If you are a Santa Barbara local, or passing through and would like to purchase our products, please email me
jeanne@outeraislegourmet.com

Thursday, November 7, 2013

SHRIMP FRIED RICE – OAG style

Outer Aisle Gourmet's kitchen is officially in production! Our veggie bread, veggie pizza crust, veggie pasta, and veggie rice are now available for purchase in Santa Barbara while we continue to develop our retail packaging and accounts. This is a huge milestone for the company. 


We found the perfect kitchen in Santa Barbara to kick-start our cooking process while we work to land our products into retail stores nationwide. I am excited Santa Barbara will be the first to enjoy our products.  I will be sharing weekly recipes using OAG products that my friends and family have loved. This is a great opportunity to mix up your cooking in a delicious healthy way that the whole family will enjoy. 


If you are a Santa Barbara local, or passing through and would like to purchase our products, please email me to place your order! jeanne@outeraislegourmet.com

This weeks recipe is:
 SHRIMP FRIED RICE – OAG style 


Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:

•4 cups veggie rice

•½ pound cooked shrimp 

•1 cup peas & carrots, frozen or fresh

•1 white onion, chopped

•2 cloves garlic, minced

•2 eggs

•3 tablespoons sesame oil

•¼ cup soy sauce





Instructions:

1. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium heat.

2. Add onion, garlic, peas, and carrots. Stir fry until tender.


3. Add veggie rice and continue to stir fry for several minutes.
   
4. Crack eggs into pan and scramble, mixing throughout vegetables.
 
5. Add shrimp, and soy sauce to pan. Stir in soy sauce and remove from heat.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Thank You Santa Barbara


My hometown of Santa Barbara CA has been so supportive of Outer Aisle Gourmet. I am excited to announce that Outer Aisle Gourmet’s products will soon be available for purchase in Santa Barbara. OAG has been working hard to reach this point, and with our new kitchen almost ready for production we will be offering our local consumers OAG’s Veggie Pasta, Veggie Bread, Veggie Rice, and Veggie Pizza Crust. We are confident our OAG products will soon be available nationwide. Below is a link to an article written by Elizabeth Hamilton, a journalist from Santa Barbara News-Press. I want to thank the Santa Barbara Community and the greater community for your support. I will keep you updated on when and where you can find and purchase our delicious healthy products.
Santa Barbara News-Press

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

KEYT News Segment

I want to personally thank Santa Barbara's local news station KEYT, for their segment last week on Outer Aisle.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

About Outer Aisle Gourmet

We at Outer Aisle Gourmet are pleased to present 4 of America's favorite foods - bread, pizza crust, rice and pasta - recreated with fresh vegetables and other natural products found in the outer aisle of every grocery store.  


Each serving of Outer Aisle's veggie bread, veggie pizza crust, veggie rice and veggie pasta contains one to two full servings of vegetables.  As such, they are all naturally gluten and nut-free and low in carbs, calories and fat.  Eating just one package of each of the four Outer Aisle products will reduce your calorie intake by over 1,500 calories and your carbs by over 360 grams compared to equivalent amounts of traditional whole wheat bread, brown rice and wheat-based pizza crust and spaghetti.
With Outer Aisle, finding gluten-free foods that are also low in carbs is no longer a challenge.

What is truly amazing about Outer Aisle's vegetable-based products is that they taste absolutely delicious.  But don't take our word for it.  One of the main reasons we're doing a Kickstarter campaign is to give as many people as possible a chance to try our veggie products and give us feedback.

Have you taken gluten and/or starches out of your diet?  Are you a Mom looking for delicious "veggies in disguise" for your kids young and old?  Are you following the Paleo, Zone, Mediterranean or DASH diet?  Are you an athlete looking for low-carb, high-power fuel?  Or are you just trying to include more vegetables in your diet?  We believe that once you’ve tried our vegetable-based versions of these American standards, you won’t want to go back to the high-carb originals.

Outer Aisle's products have truly changed our lives for the better.  We sincerely hope they will do the same for you and your family.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Meet Jeanne David

Jeanne David is the Founder, Head of Product Development and President of Outer Aisle Gourmet, LLC. 

Jeanne was born in New Orleans, the second youngest of thirteen children (four sisters and eight brothers).  She had an early love for sports of all kinds, cooking and babysitting her many nieces and nephews.  She started long distance running as a teenager and has never stopped.  Jeanne has run six marathons, and most enjoys running with her close friends.

Being a Mom and raising four wonderful boys has been Jeanne's greatest joy and her greatest achievement.  The boys are now in their twenties and thirties and are all part owners of Outer Aisle Gourmet.

Jeanne is a born entrepreneur and loves creating ideas for new products.  When Jeanne's boys were young, she founded several small businesses, the most successful of which brought a line of gourmet cookies and cookie dough to market in Louisiana.
 
Outer Aisle Gourmet and the Outer Aisle products incorporate many aspects of Jeanne's life that are near and dear to her.  The Outer Aisle veggie bread, veggie pizza crust, veggie rice and veggie pasta have become staples in her family's and her diets and important fuel for their active lifestyles.  Outer Aisle Gourmet was founded by Jeanne and her husband, Dan, and has become a family project with much help and support from their boys.  

With the founding of the company and expansion of production, many of Jeanne's close friends are now also enjoying the benefits of eating the Outer Aisle way.  Jeanne's dream is to initially bring the Outer Aisle products to market locally, and to eventually distribute them nationally.

Jeanne was formerly the Executive Director of the Central Coast branch of the Arthritis Foundation for six year until 2012.  Working with the Arthritis Foundation gave Jeanne a heightened awareness of the important effect of diet on health.  It was during this time that Jeanne and Dan decided to start putting more vegetables and fruits in their diet and minimizing the gluten and carbs they consumed.

Jeanne is also a Founder and President of the Board of Taste of Hope, a local non-profit formed by Jeanne and six close friends to raise funds to support starving and disadvantaged orphans and widows in Mekelle, Ethiopia.  

In addition to running and cooking, Jeanne likes cycling, hiking, skiing, traveling and giving back to the community in whatever way she can.