I taught my first yoga class today.  Not exactly my first class, but sort of.

My “first” classes were in teacher training to my fellow trainees, but those don’t really count.

Then I taught a restorative class a few weeks ago at the studio where I practice, and although that was a real class, it was just a few resting postures (have you ever been to a restorative yoga class? It’s awesome.) so I’m not sure that counts either.

If you eat kale, do you remember a time when you didn’t eat kale?

I sure do.  Kale was totally a “No, thank you” food as a former only-iceburg-lettuce-eating lady.  But then I tried kale chips sometime in 2008 or 2009, and my love for kale began.  I’m fairly sure that kale chips are the gateway drug to dark leafy greens.  If kale seems dark and scary to you – try it in chip form.  It’s hard to say “No Thanks” when it’s warm and crispy and delicious after being baked in a little oil and salt.

Let Us Wrap Lunch in Lettuce

July 19th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on Let Us Wrap Lunch in Lettuce)

Whenever my mother sees the palms of my hands, she always asks me if I’ve been eating too many carrots.  I then look down at my hands and can’t see anything wrong, they look perfectly normal to me.

But then on a recent trip to Florida to visit a friend, said friend also noticed my orange-ish skin – except she asked me what was all over my hands after I finished slathering up the kids with sunscreen.

Orange Skin Too Many Carrots

What the heck are you people talking about?  I still don’t see it!  My hands just look nicely tanned!  And why are the palms of your hands so PINK?

Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld was one of the first books I read when I was beginning to learn more about cooking and nutrition.  (The Family Nutrition Book by Dr. William Sears was another one if you’re just getting started.)

I remember looking at her recipe for brownies with spinach and wondering if you truly couldn’t tell there was vegetables in them.  This was about a year before I discovered green smoothies and did not yet understand the invisibility powers of spinach when prepared the right way.

It’s cold here.  (Like, really cold.)

It’s so cold that it’s possible some mornings I turn the oven on before I even turn the coffee maker on.

Just kidding.  (Let’s not get ridiculous.)

But it’s true that it’s cold, and it’s also true that cooking in the morning is a great way to warm up my chilly kitchen.

Chilly kitchen.  Chilly morning.  (Can see where I’m going with this?)

Always Bet on BLAC

January 16th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (6 Comments)

A lunch time quickie today!

When I was a vegetarian, I truly didn’t miss meat.  Truly.

But now that I’ve been eating some meat again, I must admit.  It’s good.

Especially bacon.

When I get good quality bacon from the local markets – or in this case, from Zak’s mom and step dad who raised their own pigs last year – I dig it.

I’ve been cooking 10 – 12 strips at once to make homemade bacon bits for salads.  Fry it up, trim most (but not all) of the fat, move to a few paper towels to soak up the grease, chop and store in the fridge to use on salads over the course of a few days.

Carrot Cake Sorbanana

January 27th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (9 Comments)

This week, the girls and I found ourselves in front of a Vitamix blender demonstration at Wegmans.

As I slurped down the scary delicious “Carrot Cake Sorbet” sample that Vitamix Demo Man handed me, I immediately began wishing I had an extra $500 bucks laying around to buy this miracle machine that did something amazing with a couple of carrots and some ice.

(I’m still wishing for that $500, by the way. Just in case anyone out there is feeling generous.)

The Ungreen

November 16th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (6 Comments)

Behold! The most beautiful box on earth.

Kashi Blueberry Waffles

When I spied that magnificent cardboard cube in the freezer case, it looked to me as though each one of those little waffle squares was delicately hand carved by fairies riding magical unicorns through the mystical forest. A magical mystical forest where streams of real maple syrup poured over majestic waterfalls and not a single creature in all the land felt as though they were living with a perpetual hangover.

Now you see why I had no choice but to bring those blue babies home with me yesterday.  This is also why I dove head first into that box first thing this morning.

You Better Stomp Around

August 31st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (Comments Off on You Better Stomp Around)

I need to start digging through the blog archives more often.  I don’t know why I complain about not being able to come up with dinner ideas in advance.  It’s like owning a closet full of perfectly fine clothes and then stomping around and saying “I don’t have A THING to wear!”

Except I’ve got a website full of meal ideas and I stomp around saying “I don’t have ANY IDEA what to make!”

Time to stop stomping and start clicking, lady.

Lunch Time Law

August 24th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (2 Comments)

An amusement park excursion was on the docket for today. And like most day trips, a packed lunch was the first order of business on the agenda.

It is at this juncture that I would like to present our midday meal + snacks for inspection:

Lunch Time Evidence

Exhibit A: Carrot sticks

Exhibit B: Homegrown grape tomatoes and green pepper slices

Exhibit C: Standard kid packed-lunch fare = two sunbutter and jelly sandwiches on Ezekiel bread, cut into quarters

Exhibit D: Bare bean butt hummus (2 cans, 22 minutes! I’m improving!)