Monthly Archives: April 2013

Apr29

Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad

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I’ve been making variations of this salad forever. It’s so great to take to a potluck because it can feed a lot of people. When the weather warms up (it’s pretty much summer here in Houston now), this salad is just what I’m in the mood to eat.

Traditional Caesar salads include parmesan cheese and anchovies. To make it vegan, I include nutritional yeast to get the cheesy taste and kelp powder to mimic the fish flavor. You should be able to find kelp powder at Whole Foods and maybe even your local grocery store in the organic spice section. (Houston peeps, I got mine at HEB.)  Most Caesar salads also include croutons which I skipped this time, but if you like that, make a batch using day old bread cut into cubes and sauteed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

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Apr24

Thai Vegetable Soup

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Look at all that gorgeous produce! That’s not even half of what I put into this yummy soup. I stuck my head in the fridge and just started grabbing things. I love to keep lots of fresh veggies available. Chances are they will be going into juice, salads, stir fries, you name it.

I was so excited when I found patty pan squash at a produce market this weekend. Yeah, I know it pretty much tastes just like yellow squash, but it’s so cute. And it was the inspiration for this recipe.

I sauteed onions, garlic, carrots, patty pan and zucchini squash, mushrooms, spinach and fresh ginger in coconut oil. I steamed some sweet potato and added that to the mixture. Then I poured veggie broth and coconut water over the whole thing and seasoned it with a Thai seasoning blend from Penzeys. To serve, I topped the soup with fresh cilantro, basil and lime juice.

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Apr23

Beet Red Juice

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I’m usually a green juice girl all the way. But, oh my, this is really good. Fun departure from my usual morning juice. It’s so great to get nutrients from different sources and a rainbow of colors.

So to make Beet Red Juice, place the following organic fruits and vegetables in your juicer:

1 cucumber, chopped in large chunks

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 beet, chopped

1 cup black or red grapes, taken off stem

1 red apple

Pour into a fancy glass and love it.

Apr18

Indian Burgers + Fries

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This is what burger night looks like at my house: Indian-spiced chickpea patties, cumin dusted sweet potato wedges, curry ketchup  and cucumber raita. This is such a balanced and satisfying meal. It includes many different tastes, which according to Ayurvedic principles, is an important part of maintaining a healthy digestive system.

Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of health and wellness that goes back more than 5000 years. It’s kind of like a sister science to yoga. By identifying a person’s temperament/body type or dosha, the Ayurveda system suggests foods, exercise and activities that provide balance, healing and overall wellness. There are lots of dosha quizes online that can give you a sense of your type.

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Apr15

Cherry Almond Prana Bars

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Think of this as a little gift to yourself. A healthy snack that you can take with you when you’re on the run and need a little pick-me-up. Great for before or after yoga or any activity for that matter. Nice for kids lunches, too.

In yoga, prana is life energy that is connected to our breath. In Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar says, “Prana means breath, respiration, life, vitality, wind, energy or strength. It also connotes the soul as opposed to the body.” So it’s probably some kind of blasphemy to call this recipe “prana bars,” but if Mr. Iyengar tasted these, I bet he’d forgive me.

The recipe could not be any easier. Throw healthy stuff in a food processor. Shape the mixture into bars — that’s pretty much it.

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Apr11

Blissful Lemon Sugar Scrub

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Goodbye winter, hello spring! To celebrate this amazing time of renewal and rejuvenation, I made a homemade sugar scrub to slough off that dry winter skin. This is super easy to throw together and makes a great gift for your friends, too.

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All you do is mix together sugar, oil, lemon zest and lemon essential oil. There are tons of variations you could do with this: lavender, sandalwood, orange, lime, rose, etc. I used organic sugar because that is what I had. This could be a great opportunity to get rid of that white sugar that you don’t want to use any more. For the oil, I used almond, but grapeseed, olive or even sesame would work too. When this is all mixed together, it kind of smells like Lemon Meringue Pie, which I think is pretty darn blissful.

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Blissful Lemon Sugar Scrub

Makes 1 cup

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp almond oil

1 lemon, zested

6 drops lemon essential oil

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Transfer mixture to a small container that you can keep in your shower or tub area.

Apr8

Red Beans + Rice With Cajun Coleslaw for Food Bloggers Against Hunger

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I’m lucky. So very lucky. My family and I always have good, healthy food on our table. My kids never have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from or going hungry; unlike 16 MILLION children in this country. That’s 1 in 5 American kids living with food insecurity.

To help promote awareness about this issue, today I am participating in The Giving Table’s Food Bloggers Against Hunger campaign. The campaign has asked food bloggers to share a recipe using a very modest budget of about $3-4 per person. For my recipe, I made an effort to incorporate protein, complex carbohydrates and lots of fresh vegetables.

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Apr5

Zen Soba Seaweed Miso Soup

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This is like eating from a bowl of pure nourishment. Perfect for an after-yoga or after-workout dinner or lunch. Springtime is a nice time of year for this soup. It’s light, but so full of healthy stuff. It makes me feel like I’m replenishing my body with protein, nutrients and secret things that it needs that I don’t fully understand. A little bowl of zen.

The soup has a nice umami thing going on that I love. It has a satisfying earthiness from the mushrooms and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos that I find very grounding.

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Apr3

Fruity Spa Water

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Lately, my kids have been asking me to buy them Vitamin Water, ugh. Have you read the label on that stuff? The list of ingredients is super long…IT’S WATER for Pete’s sake. Some of the flavors can have up to 32 grams of sugar. Yikes. Or if you buy the Vitamin Water Zero the sweetener is listed as erythritol and rebiana (stevia extract) which might be fine for some people, but smacks of chemical engineering to me.

So, I decided to put my bare yoga foot down and say no to Vitamin Water, Gatorade and Powerade in my house. I’m not naive. I’m sure my kids will still drink this stuff from time to time, but I’m not buying it any more.

As an alternative, I proposed to keep jars of water in the refrigerator with yummy combinations of fruit. My boys were actually a little excited about this. I’ve seen this idea floating around Facebook and thought it was worth a try.

We put filtered water in mason jars filled about 3/4 of the way and added:

Orange + Lemon + Apple

Pineapple + Mango + Kiwi

Lemon + Cucumber + Mint (for me)

They are all really refreshing. You can get as creative as you like here. For a sports drink, you can fill a water bottle with half Fruity Spa Water and half coconut water for electrolytes.

Apr1

Baked Beet Chips + Dip

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I know they are good for you, but beets have never been my favorite. I usually find the combination of earthy sweetness to be cloying and something I generally avoid. But I try to be an open minded foodie and thought I would mess around with beets and see if I could come up with something tasty.

You could really use this recipe with just about any root vegetable. Sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips would all be good. And, I bet you anything, your kids will like this too…mine do.

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