Two Days In And So Much Good Food

The benefit of challenging yourself to cook at home every day is that you need to be creative or else you get bored and the challenge doesn't work! I am used to cooking at home, but when I know I have 28 days left of eating at home, I definitely don't want to be eating the same thing every night. So far I have used some of the great resources I received and made some tasty things that I will definitely be making again… but not until next month :)

DAY 1:
Started the day with my favorite berry smoothie: raspberries, blackberries, banana, cacao nibs, chia seed
At lunch I enjoyed some leftovers from the previous night :) A great rule: cook once, eat twice!
Dinner I made miso soup, asparagus corn cakes, and herb roasted chicken

DAY 2:
Started the day with full fat plain yogurt topped with berries, walnuts, chia seed, and cacao nibs
At lunch I wrapped leftover chicken in a flour tortilla and a little sour cream :)
Dinner was buckwheat soba noodles with sauteed kale, sweet corn, tofu, and crumbled goat cheese

Stay tuned for more delicious recipes!

xoxo

A Challenge: 30 Days of Home Cooking

There are so many 30-day cleanses, diets, fads, challenges, etc, that seem really unattainable and stressful to succeed in. Just like all humans, I have been in a funk around food. Lately I have been finding it difficult to make a decision about what I want to eat, been going out to eat much more frequently than I typically would, and making food choices that are not as smart as I would like them to be. It happens, but for me my solution is not to do a 7-day juice cleanse. It just won't happen. So my alternative is a 30-day challenge of no eating out, all cooking at home. You want icecream? Make it. You want french fries? Make them. See here with this challenge you are not eliminating foods, but rather eliminating all the middle-men involved in making your food less healthy than it should be. If you are interested in joining me, my dear friend, Edie, has sent me a bunch of great food blogs that I plan on using for 30 days. Here they are:

www.theminimalistbaker.com

www.ohladycakes.com

www.ohsheglows.com

www.ahouseinthehills.com

www.thechalkboardmag.com

These are just a few! I will post more as time goes on and we need more ideas. Feel free to start whenever you'd like… I may start today!

xoxo

A Note On Yoga

Maybe #yogaeverydamnday isn't such a great idea. I know I used to think it was. But then after years of needing to practice every day, I realized that I was harboring some negative space around my yoga that I needed to settle. There were days when I practiced twice a day, and the days that I didn't practice at all I was experiencing guilt. Days that I felt like I needed the heated yoga room in order to feel complete. Days where 60 minutes just wasn't enough. The problem is that these feelings are so counterproductive towards what we are trying to accomplish by practicing yoga. I am going to be completely honest here and say that when I made the decision to leave CorePower Yoga, I gained an immense amount of clarity around my purpose in yoga. I realized I had been brainwashed into thinking that practicing every day in 100 degree heat and 30% humidity that I was becoming a better and more well rounded person. What I was doing was taking up so much time in my schedule for a monotonous practice with little to no growth in an environment that felt toxic.

What I have gained by stepping back and listening to what my body really needs, for ME, not for anybody else, is the lesson of slowing down. This has been my greatest lesson so far. The past few years of my life I have been stuck in a pattern… either I'm not doing enough, or I am doing too much. Where is the in-between? Well, I've found that when I feel like I am not doing enough, it's not a sign to start a new business, or change jobs, or switch my schedule, it's about being productive with the time that you are given. Do all of those things on your list that you keep saying you want to do. Read those books that are getting dusty on the shelf, start taking those walks around the lake, write a blog post, or simply catch up on the boring life tasks that we are responsible for as adults (filing paperwork, cleaning, taking the car to get serviced, etc). If the problem is not the above… then take a good long look at your life, and decide to either change what you do, or find a way to love it.

As I'm writing this post, I just stopped and asked myself, "wait, where am I going with this?" Then I remembered. Slowing down. Once I realized that I didn't have to practice every single day, and that I could experience a happy and healthy body without the regimented yoga schedule, then I started really enjoying my life. I chose to dedicate more time to studios that made me happy, started a home practice, and every time I stepped onto my mat, maybe 3x a week, I felt joy and clarity. I FEEL joy and clarity. I'm becoming more aware of what my body is telling me every day, and then I ask myself how I can give it what it's asking for. By slowing down in all ways I can connect to my purpose in a deeper way. I can listen intuitively to all things. I can honestly say I am experiencing freedom.

What I would like to see from all people is the ability to stop, slow down, and listen. Consider what could happen if you chose to live intuitively rather than do what you think you know. It's like Cheryl Deer said today in class, "Fuck alignment, it's great, but start to feel the posture and your body will tell you where to go."

Pantry Essentials: 10 Things You Should Always Have Around

I've found that as long as my pantry is stocked with very specific things, I can always pull off a healthy meal or snack. Sometimes, without these essentials I am stuck with nothing to eat or something really plain when I haven't gone grocery shopping recently. I'm going to give you the list, and you can get creative! Keep in mind the list is just things that I always have…a must, not that there are not more things that you should have! The list is truly endless.

1. Nuts/seeds: every kind of nut! currently I have walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts. I lump seeds into this list as well, again go wild on the type of seed you want to have!

2. Almond butter: I don't just say this because I have my own almond butter business, but because it truly is one of the greatest things in the world. Try mine, District Butter Co., or make your own!

3. Medjool Dates: I use dates in everything! Smoothies, granola, wrapped in bacon, you name it.

4. Cacao Nibs: similar to dates, you can throw these into everything and have a ridiculous amount of antioxidants added to your food!

5. Dried Cranberries: I like to eat these alone…. or even today I threw them in my tunafish salad :)

6. Coconut Oil: this is a pantry essential simply because it is an alternative to EVERYTHING. No joke.

7. Honey: obviously not if you are vegan, but I like to throw honey into dinner recipes, dressings, breakfast, tea, etc.

8. Maca Powder: it just is. It improves your vitality and oxygen levels… why not!?

9. Chia Seeds: this one is a no-brainer, but it is a simple way to get plant-based protein into your diet, and just make almost anything healther.

10. Gluten-free oats: such an easy go-to! Granola, add it to yogurt, smoothies, cookies, etc.

I hope this helps, and if you don't have some of these things I encourage you to get them, stock up, and try using them as much as you can!