Foodie Friday

Happy First Friday Friends!

Phil and I are skipping the mountains this weekend for a little alone time and some R&R. Phil is returning from his business trip this evening so its the perfect excuse for the two of us to curl up with a nice bottle of wine and chill. I am taking on more classes starting next week so I’m really trying to mentally & physically prepare for the shift. It’s a good thing I know just what to do. For me, there is no better way to prepare than to take the best possible care of myself…which includes fueling up for success! Thanks to Plated, that’s no problem, and since its the beginning of the month, 3 more delicious meals are about to arrive on my doorstep. I don’t know if I am going to make a change to try another delivery service anytime soon, just because I don’t think the meals are quite as healthy but I am still doing my research!For now, I am diving in fork first to these delicious dishes and I encourage you to give Plated a try! This box includes whole wheat flatbread w/mission figs, caramelized onions, & teleggio, red lentil daal, smokey eggplant & garlic naan, and salmon ginger cakes w/soba noodles & winter vegetables. Include your email in the comments below and I will send you a free box to try!

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

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Foodie Friday

Happy Friday Friends!

While the rain has been coming down here in SF, the snow has been falling in Tahoe and I can not wait to hit the mountain this weekend! Phil and I are heading up to celebrate a friends birthday so the house is going to be packed – which means lots of eating, drinking, and general ridiculousness in addition to skiing! Before we go, I wanted to share this month’s Foodie Friday restaurant feature, Top of the Mark. You may recall Phil and I enjoyed a wonderful Valentine’s Day brunch there last weekend, and it was so good I had to share. While some locals may say this is a bit of a tourist thing, I would disagree – from the food, to the service, to the view, everything was wonderful! Top of the Mark is located on the top floor of the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel in Nob Hill and boasts unparalleled views of San Francisco. Phil and I took our time and coursed out our meal, sipping some delicious California sparkling and taking in the city scape…talk about relaxing.Especially since we moved to San Francisco we try to make our dining out experiences special…back home we went out to eat 5-6 times a month but with the higher cost of living out here, we’ve cut that back to about 1-2 a month. Since we don’t do it as much we try to go places we haven’t tried, make each experience unique, and use food as a way to get to know our new city a little better. If you’re an SF local or if you’re just visiting, you’ve got to check out brunch at Top of the Mark or even just pop into their bar – you won’t be disappointed!

 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

Foodie Friday

Happy Valentine’s Weekend Lovers!

I hope everyone is excited for a romantic weekend, haha!! Of course, I am kicking things off with a lovely evening of FREE yoga and exclusive shopping! That’s right, tonight is the night I teach at HAVEN collective yoga’s trunk show hosted by the beautiful & talented Jacqueline Palmer. I am so excited to slip into their amazing contour leggings and share my offering with the Bay Area beauties in attendance. But enough about that, today’s Foodie Friday is sort of a Valentine’s themed because I made this recipe specially for my handsome husband. He asked me to pick up some zucchini bread ingredients earlier this week and they sort of just sat there. So I took the hit, haha, and got to work concocting a healthy but still delicious zucchini muffin for us both to enjoy this weekend & coming week.Just like everything I make, this still needs some tweaking, but certainly good enough to share as is…I present:

Zucchini Muffins w/Pecans

• 2 scant cups whole wheat flour (sifted twice)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 2 eggs (or egg substitute)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey (heavy measure)
• 1/2 cup 2% plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 zucchini grated and squeezed of excess moisture
• 6 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 325. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in large bowl. In separate bowl, combine eggs, yogurt, honey, oil, sugar, vanilla, and zucchini and whisk until well mixed. Add wet to dry and fold all the ingredients together until uniform. Then add the pecans, spoon into cupcake tin (lined, sprayed, and filled 1/2 – 3/4), and bake on center rack for 14 minutes.I was definitely skeptical at first but I must admit, I could become addicted to these moist, delicious, little wonders!! I hope you and yours find yourselves inspired to get creative with some of your favorite treats this weekend!!

 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

 

Foodie Friday

Happy Friday!

It’s Super Bowl 50 weekend here in San Francisco and we’re getting the heck out of here! Phil and I are heading to our ski share on North Lake Tahoe for some sunny ski weather, time with friends, and a weekend away from the chaos!Along for the ride are some awesome Plated meals to keep us warm and full of energy as we cruise the slopes of Squaw. That’s right, it’s the first Friday of the month so it’s a Plated inspired Foodie Friday! I am super excited to make some root vegetable chili with corn bread, and Phil is excited to dive into buffalo chicken pizza come game time! Since we’ll be sharing with friends I’m trying to make everything more ‘appetizer-ish’ so I’ll be turning the black bean burritos into more of a dip & chips situation.I love getting a delicious box of fresh ingredients delivered on the day I choose. There are a lot of options out there but since Plated lets you truly customize your meal options, I can swap meat, veggie, and fish choices whenever. Also, I can skip weeks or cancel anytime which is perfect since it’s a treat once a month for us. If you’re interested in trying it out, comment below with your email address and Plated will send you a box for free (well, technically I’ll  email you a voucher for a free box but you get the idea!)!

 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

Foodie Friday

Welcome to the weekend friends!

I’ve got a few more classes this weekend and am really excited about taking on a few new classes on my regular schedule!!! Be sure to check out my yoga page for classes, workshops, and information on how to schedule your own private yoga sessions! Now, onto the important stuff…FOOD!! After my corporate wellness presentation on Wednesday (which went splendidly, thanks so much for asking 😉 ) I was feeling inspired to create a homemade version of something I have been eating a lot lately – Health Warrior chia bars. Don’t get my wrong, they make a fabulous product BUT for me, there was too much sugar (three kinds in their snack bars and seven kinds in their protein bars), and I wanted to see if I could avoid paying nearly $20 a box. SOOOO, I read the ingredients on the back and decided it wouldn’t be too much of a challenge to make something similar, and I was right, these are ALMOST as delicious as the real thing!

Chocolate Coconut Chia Bars

• 6 tbsps almond butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 chia seeds
• 1 cup HOMEMADE (yep, thats right!! 😉 ) puffed brown rice
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 cup raw shredded coconut
• 2.5 oz 85% dark chocolate (or something you like)
• 6 scoops protein powder (vanilla plant based or whatever you like)

So the main ‘time suck’ for this recipe, which isn’t even really that bad, is the puffed brown rice. You can always buy it but why not try homemade – cook some brown rice, dry it out in the oven to get the moisture out, puff in HIGH heat coconut oil, and cool on a paper towel to remove excess oil. From there all you’ll need to do is combine all the ingredients, press it out in a parchment covered baking pan, cut into squares, and you’re good to go! I like mine cold so I keep them in the fridge, but you’re welcome to store them in the pantry if you prefer.

I definitely plan to play around with the recipe over the next few weeks and will keep you posted on how things progress, but its certainly a great place to start!

 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

 

 

Foodie Friday

Happy Friday Friends!!

It’s been a great couple of days with my family in town – especially because of the awesome food! While I have been sticking to the posted dietary routine as best as possible, I definitely used up one of my ‘cheat meals’ the other night. Since it is Restaurant Week here is SF we went to dinner at Chiaroscuro, right next to the TransAmerica Pyramid. The food was so amazing I totally forgot to take pictures….WHOOPS!!! We had an incredible four course meal complete with an amuse, intermezzo, and excellent wine. Today we’re heading out to Vie for a private wine tasting and I’ve provisioned some goodies to pair with everything – I am super excited to see how the day unfolds and looking forward to the rest of the weekend with my family and Phil.

 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

Foodie Friday (a bit late)

Hey Friends!

With all the excitement of the Yoga Journal Conference these last couple of days I completely forgot to post this yesterday…whoops!! This week’s post is one of the recipes I’ve been using for Phil and I these last few weeks to help us feel like we’re getting something indulgent – Salmon Burgers!I was really intimidated to try and make salmon burgers at first and I really don’t know why…they’re so simple and so incredibly delicious!

Salmon Burgers

• 1 large Sockeye Salmon Filet (skinned)
• 1/2-3/4 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 2 cups fresh spinach (wilted and strained to
  remove moisture)
• seasonings of choice

 

Skin salmon filet and pulse with egg, veggies, panko and seasonings until well combined. Form the patties with your hand and heat up a skillet under med/med-high heat and spray with olive oil spray. Cook patties for 3-4 minutes on each side until cooked through, then splat between two pieces of sprouted wheat bread with a creamy/healthy slaw, and you’ve got yourself a DELICIOUS dinner or lunch!

 

Until next time, keep smiling! 🙂

Foodie Friday

Welcome to the weekend my friends!!!

I am a little tired from what ended up being a late night last night but looking forward to a weekend full of teaching, practicing, farmer’s markets, friends and fun! I don’t know if I mentioned it but I recently started working part-time for Conservacion Patagonica. Last night we had an event at the Patagonia store in SF to promote the ‘Mile for Mile’ documentary which highlights three Patagonia run ambassador’s and their 106 mile journey through Patagonia Park to bring awareness to this 11 year restoration project. We had an amazing turn out, raised a ton of money, and enjoyed the company of passionate, like minded people – it was awesome! PLEASE check out the amazing work being done in South America, read about Doug & Kris Tompkins, and donate (if you’re so inclined) to this incredible cause! Moving right along…since its football season, I thought for today’s Foodie Friday it would be fun to share a vegetarian twist on a game day favorite, taco dip! I made this for Monday’s Eagles game and let’s just say it saved the night (since the Eagle’s kinda tanked…sorry guys!). Obviously you can make this with ground turkey, beef, bison, chicken…but its delicious meatless as well!!Taco Dip

• 1 pkg vegetarian ground round or soy ‘chorizo’ (from TJ’s)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can beer (lager)
• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• diced roasted red bell peppers (or salsa)
• 1 pkg taco seasoning OR home blend (paprika, chile powder, cayenne, cumin, garlic…)
• 1 bag whole wheat tortilla chips

Put can of black beans (slightly drained) into a pot, add 1/2 can beer, and put on medium/low heat. While beans cook down, shred 1/3 head of the iceberg lettuce, grate the cheddar cheese, and preheat the oven to 375. Add seasoning to the ground round with the remaining beer and put under low heat in a sauce pan. Once the beans have cooked down (about 20-30 minutes – the liquid should be thick and nearly gone and the beans are super soft), its time to assemble: start with the ‘meat’ layer, then the beans, peppers, sour cream, and finally the cheese to bake for 15-20 minutes. Once the cheese is all melty and bubbly pull it out of the oven to sit for a few minutes, top with the shredded lettuce and dig in!! Enjoy this with some whole wheat tortilla chips or just a fork…it’s that good!! 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

San Francisco Eats

Holy Weekend Post!!!

I nearly never post on the weekend BUT we enjoyed our dinner on Tuesday SO much I had to share our meal before it gets too far from my mind. Phil and I met for an early reservation at this maybe 50 seat Italian hot spot. We picked Cotogna because Phil’s company gave us a gift certificate – we are DEFINITELY going to write a thank you card! NOW, back to the food…We started with chili flake foccacia bites & house made burrata with lemony asparagus. Both were amazing on their own but I of course mixed them together! Since both of us have been missing our favorite pasta spot back home, Porcini, we opted for pasta entrees. Mine was tagliolini with dungeness crab, lime & espelette and Phil of course had the garganelli lamb ragu and they were both delicious. Now, I wouldn’t say they were exactly up to Porcini standards or that we weren’t going to continue to look for a good pasta place, but we’ll most certainly be going back sometime soon!

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂