ArcaMax

People ask me all the time how we are coping with the pandemic. It has its positives and negatives for sure. Now that we are one year into this, I thought I’d give you some insight into our world.

Our New Offices are Open

For the first 7 months of the pandemic, our shipping department operated out of our garage. We had to leave our temporary offices behind and set up shop remotely. Our brave and dedicated staff put up with working on folding tables. They made it through the summer months with the help of a portable air conditioner. Of course, the dress code was relaxed completely. Casual doesn’t begin to describe it when you come to work in shorts and a tank top.

The building of our new offices was over a year behind, but they finally completed the project in October. Depending on the circumstances some folks are working part of the time remotely and others are in the office. I “accidentally” designed a socially distanced office. Everyone has plenty of room to stay away from each other and we wear our masks if we are going to be closer. The building is mostly vacated at the moment with other companies working from home, so we feel pretty safe. And it’s a lot nicer than working out of a garage!

We Got a New Kitty!

On the personal side, many of you know that our 20-year-old cat, Tattoo, died in July...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

No Bake Lemon Cheese Cake

I came up with this recipe as a tribute to Dieter Ron and his wife Jean. This darling couple drove from Wisconsin to Chicago just to meet me and my team. They wanted to thank us for developing and supporting Plan Z. Ron lost 69 pounds, feels great and looks fantastic. Thanks Ron!

Servings: Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 packages of cream cheese (1 lb)
2 lemons, juiced (about 1/4 cup)
3 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of Truvia
1 – 2 tsp of lemon zest (plus more for garnish)
Berries for garnish

Instructions:

Let your cream cheese come to room temperature or zap it (without the wrapper) in your microwave for 15 seconds on high to bring it to temp.

Put the cream cheese in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, Truvia, vanilla and the zest.

Pro tip: To zest a lemon you use a tool called a microplaner or rasp. Just gently glide it over the lemon peel so you get shavings of the yellow part and not the bitter pith underneath. Just tap the microplaner on the counter to release the shavings. You can buy a fine microplaner at any housewares store.

With an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy. This will take one to two minutes to get it nice and fluffy. Make sure the sides are scraped down so it all gets mixed.

Divide mixture among serving dishes. I put mine in little ramekins so they looked nice. Then garnish.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola