There’s no better way to start your Thanksgiving holidays–I think–other than with a festive cocktail! (Well, I do suppose that if your festivities start in the morning, and that’s the way you roll…enjoy. For me, I start with java…and then our festivities launch during the mid afternoon).

I saw this recipe for cranberry margaritas in the December 2006 Bon Appetit magazine.

A festive holiday cocktail

Tomorrow I’m trying it out!  I’m actually trying all new recipes for this year’s feast.  If you make this recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know your opinion on it!

Cranberry Margaritas

Ingredients
1.    1 1/4 cups premium tequila
2.    1 1/4 cups frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
3.    1 cup canned jellied cranberry sauce
4.    10 tablespoons fresh lime juice
5.    6 tablespoons orange liqueur ( like Grand Marnier)

Directions
1.    Blend ingredients in blender until smooth.
2.    Transfer to large glass measuring cup.
3.    Pour half of Margarita base into blender.
4.    Add 3 1/2 cups ice cubes.
5.    Blend until mixture is slushy; pour into salt-rimmed margarita glasses.
6.    Garnish with fresh cranberries.
7.    Repeat with remaining Margarita base and 3 1/2 cups ice cubes.

Bon Appetit, December 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gina DeVee

I’m thrilled to announce my Thanksgiving Day Menu:

Here goes!

Drinks: Cranberry Margaritas

Appetizers: Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms & Carrot Soup with Chestnut Cream garnished with Bacon

Mains: Glenn’s famous Whole Grilled Turkey & Roast Turkey with White Truffle Butter

Sides: French Bread Stuffing with Sausage

Nishta’s Cranberry Salad

Pumpkin Risotto

Truffle Mashed Potatoes

Swiss Chard with Beets, Goat Cheese and Yellow Raisins

Green Beans with Almonds and Shallots

Corn Pudding Souffle with Serano Ham & Poblano Peppers

Urth Cafe Pumpkin Pie with homemade whipped cream and Urth Cafe Cherry pie with homemade french vanilla ice cream

Recipes to come! Let the festivities begin!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Gina DeVee

Glenn and I have been having a lot of fun at home in Malibu together…as usual. Last weekend, we cooked up a storm!  Stay tuned for videos.  This photo shoot happened spontaneously right before we were getting ready to film our EPIC meal!

As Autumn approaches, I decided to take advantage of the first chilly day of the season up in Malibu, and cook a warm and hearty fall meal! Figs are currently in season, so the menu was fig inspired. A Fig Fest so to speak!

We started with prosciutto and bleu cheese wrapped figs and some light as air mini gourgettes. As pasta-making is one of my most favorite and soothing cooking activities, my homemade butternut squash ravioli was to follow! The main course was a pork-loin cooked to perfection by my husband Glenn, with a fig habanero sauce and a light arugula, fig and fried goat cheese salad!

My homemade french vanilla bean ice cream with a chocolate port sauce capped off a perfect evening!

My darling husband has been on a fishing trip in Washington State for the past 4 days and I’ve been marveling at how feminine the alone time feels.

I thought I’d want to use the time to catch up with and go out girlfriends…meaning filling in the time and space.  Not so much.

Though I do adore my friends, what I’m finding my being  is asking for is the gentleness of a feminine essence in my life.  So far today that has looked like:

*Sleeping in until 9:30 a.m. (I never do this!  I wake up without an alarm by 6 or 6:30 a.m.)

*A gorgeous cup of coffee outside in the cool Malibu weather just gazing at the ocean

*Personal trainer appointment–in home

*Phone call with an exquisite friend

*Oh, by the way, cleansing all day–yes, after my cup of coffee

*A smidge of The Cooking Channel

*A long shower

*A silky pomegranate elixir (you can get it from www.skinprophecy.com)

*A quiet evening at home (it is only 4pm so we’ll see,…however this is the intention!)

So today, I realized that to have the time and space to be feminine are the new luxury.

What do you do to stay soft and feminine?  Leave a comment below..

I’m having my own version of a Gala Darling kind of Saturday.

First, I slept for 12 hours last night!  9pm-9am never felt sooooo good!  I’ve been cleansing and working out with a trainer this week, so that may have something to do with the epic night’s sleep.

Then, after a lovely cup of coffee with my husband, and a work out…I just enjoyed sitting by my pool, and flipping through the September Food & Wine magazine.

Enjoying life at home

I feel so blessed to be in a place today where I’m able to clearly tap into my intuition and trust it.  There were things I thought I should do today…and when I asked my intuition…I was getting answers like “rest”, “read a magazine”, “call some friends”.  So while I enjoyed plenty of time sunbathing by the pool, I also reflected on how grateful I am to be living my dream.

I just returned from a 6-week trip to London, Rome, Tuscany & Portofino…and the last place we stayed in Portofino was Hotel Splendido…an exquisite resort…actually, here’s a picture of how stunning it was on our balcony:

Relaxing at Hotel Splendido, Portofino, Italy

Now, my point is, as stunning as the hotel is, I’m now living in what I feel is equally an exquisite site.  I’m still blown away by how “quickly” life can evolve.  It wasn’t that long ago, just a few years really, that I was living in a place that didn’t inspire me, it didn’t match the frequency that I wanted to be at.

So realizing today, that we really can create the desires of our hearts.  I’m forever grateful.

Getting back to today, after I spent my feminine energy time in bliss, I then had the desire to come inside, answer a few emails, and make this blog post.  It had nothing of “should” energy in it…pure desire.

This week I’m going to continue practicing following the desires of my heart.

Yesterday, my husband and I drove from Tuscany to Portofino.  Some friends of ours from Istanbul had told us a while back about a cute little beach town in Tuscany…and by chance, on our drive, we just happened to see the sign, took the exit, and here are some fun pictures and videos of our lunch.

View video

With my husband Glenn’s sister and nephew in town, I decided to make a gluten free, kid friendly meal of Lasagna Bolognese!

For more photos…

[showtime]

Years ago when I was a new and struggling psychotherapist, I worked part time at Morton’s Steakhouse to help pay off some student loans.

This was a time in my life that I was working about 75 hours a week, making a little over $2,000 a month.

I really believed that if I worked harder I would make more money.

Can you relate?

Do you too think that working hard is what you need to do to make more money?

I have since learned that working hard alone does not equal more money.

Fortunately, working at a place like Morton’s Steakhouse, I was in an environment of excellence. Everything at Morton’s was “the best”.  They insisted on the best cuts of meat, the best lobster, the best produce, the best everything!

Morton’s stood for the best and therefore the clients that Morton’s attracted alsowanted the best for their lives. What I saw modeled for me, was people who were not afraid to want the best in life, in fact, they expected it!

People of a high caliber not only want the best, they have a belief that they deserve the best AND they are willing to pay for the best.

Deep inside, don’t you too “want” the best for your life?  Many of us were not brought up with the belief system to “expect” the best.  So often people are taught to settle, to be compliant, and to appreciate what you do have.

With this mentality we can get used to a “barely enough” way of living.  Somehow mediocrity can slip in and not only become normal, but in fact, what we expect.  Many of us became programmed to “just get by”.

I believe many of us in the women’s entrepreneurial community have shifted from “barely enough” to more than enough in our mentalities.  To fully make this shift, we must change our beliefs about what we deserve.

Are you willing to do what it takes to experience the best in life?

The best doesn’t just happen, it’s attracted through desire.

Being treated like a Queen means being treated like the best! My husband treats me so wonderfully that tonight, in honor of Morton’s, I decided to cook him some of their famous recipes!

I chose their delicious and healthy black bean soup, along with the slightly more indulgent bacon wrapped scallops with apricot chutney!

I always strive to take a stand for the best, especially when it comes to my cooking, which is why I always use the freshest ingredients available.

Working at Morton’s definitely taught me about what constitutes good food, and even though I was just a bus girl, I was educated about excellence. When you demand the best, like Morton’s did, you attract the best clients.

What do you stand for? Who are you attracting?

My clients often ask me, “Where are the high-paying clients?”

I respond that change always begins with us.

Are YOU being the woman who naturally attracts high-paying clients?

Tips for attracting “the best”:

1.  Get a grip on your beliefs about yourself: Morton’s doesn’t have low self-worth or low self-esteem.  Too often we’re looking for validation from others.  It’s important to not expect potential clients or customers, or friends, or a man to value you more than you’re willing to value yourself.

2.  Surround yourself with others who model well “expecting the best.” Though most of our parents, religious leaders, teachers, and healers have done the best they know to care for us, they too were not always giving the tools necessary to live at a high frequency.  Find people in your life today who take a stand for the best for themselves and learn from them.  If you don’t have those people in your life right now, ask God to bring them to you.  Truly, when the student is ready, the teacher appears!

3.  Give yourself permission to receive and create your TRUE desires: Women are so wise!  And our intuition holds the answers for “the best” for us.  If we’d only let the voice inside have a microphone!  You do know what the best is for you.  I know this because of the hundreds of women I’ve coached over the past 10 years, when I ask a woman, “What do you really want?”  She always knows.  She always has answer.  Though rarely has she given herself permission to act on it.

I coached a woman recently who was feeling stuck in life romantically, financially, and personally.  She has a birthday coming up and she had mentioned that she used to go to Paris for her birthday each year.  When I asked her what she was going to do for her birthday this year, all she felt she could afford was to go to a French bakery in the town where she lives.

I suggested, why don’t you go to Paris?  That’s what you REALLY want?  She said, “Yes!”…and in that decision, we started to look for the ways to make what had minutes before, only been a distant dream.

When you ask a better question, such as, “How CAN I go to Paris for my birthday this year?”…you get a MUCH better answer!

Allow for “the best” in your life…starting today!

How Are You Showing Up In Life?

“Yes”, “No”, or “On the Fence”

By Gina DeVee

I’ve been outlandishly impressed with our women’s entrepreneur community this Fall.  I’m seeing woman after woman stepping up, playing big, finally, getting over her money issues and making the money that supports a Queen and her entire purpose.

Women all over the place are selling $100k programs, $50k programs, $25k programs, $15k group programs, $10k programs.

There was a time in my life–not but 3 years ago–that everywhere I looked all I saw were other struggling service-based women entrepreneurs.

This soulful and holistic tribe I was part of had gotten used to playing small, living on crumbs and just barely getting by.  Some were stressed about paying their bills, while others could just barely live within their means.

Fast-forward a few years later, ALL I’m seeing is women making money, BIG money and more importantly, truly living and teaching their purpose.

As a result:  debts have been paid off, cars have been purchased, international trips taken, wardrobes bought, employees hired, bills paid on time, new love relationships manifested, gorgeous home environments moved into…AND women living their dream with the ripple effect of their clients then living their dreams.

So what’s the change and why the difference?

It all comes down to:

1.  Getting the guidance from someone skilled who can see WAY more for you than is even in your current consciousness.

2.  Getting to a clear answer of YES and making a definite decision for your forward movement.

3.  Getting “off the fence”. Whatever it is, whatever you need, to up-level, get clear on what it is and understand that successful people take BIG “risks” to get their quantum leaps.  Staying in indecision, going back and forth, talking to a bunch of people just keeps you separate from what you really want and definitely keeps you away from manifesting.

4.  Stop saying “No” to your dreams. Most women are sitting on the sidelines of life watching many other people achieve what they themselves wish they had in their on lives.  We’ve heard legend after legend say, “If I can do this anyone can…” It’s because with God, none of us are any more special than another.  If the desire is in your heart to travel, be financially free, move to a new home or another state, have a blissful loving relationship…then that is exactly what you are meant to have!

5.  Successful women have mentors–that’s how the got where they are. Who’s your mentor?  Who’s pushing you into your greatness?  Who can see WAY beyond your view?  And are you being closely mentored by this person?  Reading their ezines, signing up for free courses, taking lower dollar group classes is all great for gathering information.  I suggest that you find a coach who has a program that gives you personalized, and individual attention so that the uniqueness of you gets what it needs for you to THRIVE!