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May 21, 2013
Kale Mint Smoothie
With the help of pineapple, this little guy is refreshing and sweet.
Ingredients
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup pineapple juice or coconut water
1 cup kale, stems removed, washed and torn into pieces
A couple sprigs of mint, depending on how minty you like your smoothie
2 pineapple rings, I usually use the canner version for convenience
1/2 cup blueberries
Directions
Blend and adore the minty sweetness of this green smoothie!
xx
R
May 20, 2013
Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic Olive Oil and Pink Himalayan Salt
This past week has been a complete blur. I had an incredible night with two of my best friends last week where we had wine and cheese and glorious French bread and meats from DiBruno’s. We discussed life and raw milk cheese. If you are in Philadelphia or visit, I highly suggest visiting The DiBruno Brothers! They are knowledgable and lovely. They always have free samples and the most delicious of foods in their quaint store. Lactose sensitivity or not, I look forward to our traditional wine and cheese nights. If it didn’t make me sick when I eat too much, I would have pounds of cheese and bread everyday.
On Friday, we went to Farmacia on 3rd and Market, close to Chestnut for their fabulous Happy Hour and some fresh salads. Happy 23rd Birthday Essence! It was fun to relax after work and try out a new place. for those who have not gone to Farmacia yet, they have charming tonics and cocktails, and the Happy Hour is one of the best in the City when it comes to price. We had some rhubarb crisp, crispy calamari with a spicy sauce, beet salads, and french lentil salads with plenty of drinks of course! They had Pimm’s and I was nostalgic about my days in London.
Saturday was for lounging and on Sunday, I had a great time at my yoga shift as per usual. Look at one of the fellow yogini’s shirts! I need one in my life!
I headed with one of my best friends to the Italian Market and had a well deserved brunch at Sabrina’s Cafe with some delicious Florentine Eggs Benedict, but the real star of the brunch was Melissa’s Mel’s Chicken Cutlet, which was incredible on amazing bread and the perfect combination of crispy and satisfying. We both bought incredible cannolis and perused the festival, where there were also incredible stands of jewelry, endless food, and a great turnout despite the not so perfect weather.
Roasting is the easiest, most delicious thing. I have already showed you guys how to roast garlic, and I hope that comes in handy for you! These roasted tomatoes are so easy and ridiculously addicting. You might have to play around with the oven timing because my oven gets ridiculously hot and then burns thin slices of tomato. I suggest doing a test batch first because the recipe I based it off of said they need 3 hours to completely cook.
I based it off of Gwyneth Paltrow’s roasted tomato recipe, and I didn’t alter it much. I added roasted garlic olive oil for roasting instead of extra virgin for more flavor. I am also obsessed with garlic flavors. I suggest roasting a whole bunch after you have the technique down (the amount of time it takes in your oven for your desired roast).
Ingredients
2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil
5 big roma tomatoes, sliced to a medium thickness or whatever tomato you love using, I hear cherry tomatoes make the most pleasant roasted snack as well
Pink Himalayan salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Arrange slices on a baking sheet or parchment paper. Top with a few drops of garlic olive oil or whatever olive oil you wish. Top with a few grinds of pink Himalayan salt and roast for 2 hours, or less, in my case they were ready after a hour).
Enjoy! They are great on top of salads or with polenta like I did or quinoa or any grain. I bet they won’t even make it to your next dish because they are so good coming off of the baking sheet. Stays fresh in a tupperware container for a week in the fridge.
xx
R
May 18, 2013
Private Yoga Sessions
This was incredibly helpful, as the foundations are so important in the practice, and it can be easy to let that structure go. My private session was with one of my favorite teachers at Dhyana Yoga, Sarah E, and she was extremely helpful with helping me set up the poses and enriching my practice. She added so much to the way I practice, correcting different parts of the way I do certain poses and focusing on my trouble spots, like my extremely tight hammies, and helping me understand that yoga is a long process. It takes years to build strength in certain areas and for the first couple years, are are shaping that strength. Luckily, muscles don’t forget.
I encourage everyone to take a private session to hit a class that does not have many people, because you get hands on attention and it is great to focus on your trouble areas for growth.
In yoga, you are never wrong. You only get better with every warrior, you grow attuned to listening to your body and making sure you prevent injury, and you rreally respect the body for all the amazing things it can do.
