Author: Kate Alexander

20 Ways to a Perfect Mother’s Day

As mothers, we rarely think about ourselves. Taking care of everyone else always seems to come first!

But, there is one day out of the year that should be all about YOU — and that’s Mother’s Day!

Here are our suggestions for making it a perfect day this year!

1. Start your day by setting a daily intention. Declare peace and joy for the day ahead.

2. Exercise. Don’t you feel better fitting this into your day?

3. Make yourself pretty. Get dressed up. Put makeup on.

4. Spend some time by yourself. Go for a walk. Read a book or magazine. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, but do it by yourself.

5. Pamper yourself. Get your nails done, go for a massage.

6. Turn off your phone, step away from the iPad and computer. No working and no social distractions. Devote your attention to yourself and your family.

7. Take a nap.

8. Let your family pamper you and serve you — preferably, breakfast, lunch and dinner!

9. No housework. No cooking, cleaning or worrying about an upside down house.

10. Let your husband and kids fend for themselves. Let the kids pick out their clothes, let your husband do the laundry. They will survive.

11. Enjoy a real meal, sitting down at the table (not at the kitchen counter or with kids hanging off of your body).

12. Indulge in dessert or wine, or both.

13. Take a picture of yourself with your kids — it’s funny how few of these we actually have.

14. Surround yourself with people you love.

15. Celebrate the other moms in your life: your mom, your sister, your best friend . . .

16. Spend time with your children. Read them a book, fit in a trip to the park, go on a bike ride. They are the reason you are being celebrated today!

17. Smile, a lot.

18. Kiss and hug your children.

19. Take a long, hot bath.

20. Recognize you are loved.

Happy Mother’s Day!

xoxo

Laura, Masumi & Kate

May 9, 2014
5-Ingredient Guacamole

Cinco de Mayo is around the corner and what better way to celebrate then to whip up some guacamole?

Rumor has it that my husband makes some of the best guacamole around. His guacamole is usually a big hit at our parties, with guests parking themselves in front of it, so I thought it was worth sharing!

It’s really very simple to make and only includes five main ingredients — avocados, garlic, lime, salsa, cilantro — and, some spices that you likely already have on hand. We suggest you serve it with tortilla chips — or raw veggies if you want to offer a healthier option.

Of course, as with all of our recipes, you can modify it to your liking and substitute ingredients, as necessary. For example, if ripe tomatoes are available in your neck of the woods, throw some chopped tomatoes into your guacamole (vs. the salsa we suggest). If you don’t like cilantro, skip it.

Make the recipe your own! (but, it’s pretty good as is!)

5-Ingredient Guacamole

4 ripe Haas avocados

1 large clove of garlic, crushed

juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup of store bought salsa

handful of cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

Cut avocados in half, remove pit, score each avocado and scoop flesh out into a bowl. Mash the avocado with a fork until you achieve the desired consistency (some people like their guacamole chunky, others like it more mashed — all a matter of preference). Add crushed garlic, juice of one lime, chopped cilantro, salt, cumin and pepper. Mix until incorporated. Serve immediately!

Enjoy~

May 2, 2014
Quick Tips for Preparing Asparagus

I love asparagus, and recently my kids started to really like it too – which means it will be a staple on my menu this season.

I have a feeling, though, that many people pass up asparagus because they don’t know how to prepare it. So, this article serves two purposes — one, to get you to try asparagus, and two, to help you learn how to prepare it properly.

First, when you go to the market, look for a bunch of asparagus that has uniform thickness. This will ensure that the asparagus cooks evenly. You also want to make sure it’s fresh — it should be crisp and bright green.

The most important part of prepping asparagus is removing the lower, tough portion of the spear. Most people just chop the bottoms off the spears without much thought, but there’s actually a method to trimming asparagus.

Rather than randomly cutting a portion off the bottom, you take the spear between both of your hands and bend. The spear will break naturally separating the tough lower portion from the more tender, upper portion of the spear. (For those of you looking to make use of the trimmings, you can reserve them for stock!)
The spears may not all be the same exact length, but that won’t affect the cooking process.

Now that we have prepped the asparagus, let’s cook them! I prefer to roast them, but you could also saute them in a pan with olive oil or blanch them in a pot of boiling water. We are big on roasting our veggies these days, so here’s a quick and tasty preparation for roasted asparagus!

Lemon-Garlic Scented Asparagus

Serves 4-6 adults (with leftovers!)

Before we launch into the recipe I just want to point out that you DO NOT want to pour lemon juice on top of your asparagus. The lemon juice will turn your asparagus gray — it will turn most other green veggies the same color. Instead, we are using lemon zest which will not affect the color of your asparagus, but will scent it with a wonderful lemon flavor!

2 bunches of asparagus, stems trimmed

1 lemon, zested

1 garlic clove, crushed

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange trimmed asparagus in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the asparagus, season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast asparagus for approximately 20-30 minutes, turning them occasionally, until tender and browned (cooking time will vary based on the width of the asparagus).

While the asparagus is roasting, mix together the lemon zest, crushed garlic and 2 tablespoons (or so) of olive oil in a small bowl.

Remove asparagus from the oven and arrange on a platter. Drizzle lemon/garlic/olive oil mixture on top of the asparagus.

Serve and enjoy!

The good thing about this recipe is that you can modify the amount of garlic and lemon zest you use, so make it your own!

April 19, 2014
Roasted Potato Leek Soup (Gluten- and Dairy-Free!)

Leeks are a spring vegetable. And, now that they are in season, it’s the perfect time to incorporate them into into your cooking.

If you’ve never cooked with leeks, this roasted potato leek soup is a great, and simple, introductory recipe. The roasted vegetables offer depth of flavor and compensate for the lack of dairy in the soup (potato leek soup usually contains cream). It’s also gluten-free!

Leeks have a mild onion flavor. The dark green portion of the stalk, which is too tough to eat, is removed (wash and save it for stock!), using only the light green and white portion. Learning how to clean the leek is important since sand tends to get caught in the stalk. Therefore, you need to take a few steps to prep the leeks before proceeding with the recipe.

First, remove the dark green portion of the stalk.

Then cut about a 1/4-1/2 inch from the bottom, white portion, of the stalk.

Next, cut the leek lengthwise.

Rinse the leek under cold running water to remove the sand.

Then, put the leeks cut side down and cut the leeks in 1/2 inch slices.

Toss the leeks into a colander, separate the layers and run under cold water to make sure all of the sand is removed.

Now you are ready to prepare the soup.

Here’s the full recipe:

Roasted Potato Leek Soup

4 leeks, washed and prepared as noted above (1/4-1/2 inch slices)

3 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch dice

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

3-4 tablespoons of olive oil

6 cups of organic, gluten-free chicken stock or vegetable stock (non-tomato based)

chopped chives for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Arrange sliced leeks and diced potatoes on a large cookie sheet. Top with salt, thyme, pepper and olive oil (feel free to add more olive oil if necessary) and mix to coat. Roast the vegetables for approximately 50 minutes, stirring them frequently. Once potatoes are tender, remove from oven. At this point, you might notice a few dark pieces of leek, you can toss those. Transfer roasted leeks and potatoes to a large stock pot. Add the six cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove mixture from the heat. Blend the soup in two batches in a blender (please note, a Vitamix or other high powered blender, may be too strong for this job — you do not want to over-blend the soup. It will yield a gummy consistency).

Serve hot or at room temperature. Top with chives.

Yields two quarts of soup.

April 12, 2014
Finding Balance…Together

This past weekend, we hosted a “Finding Balance” yoga workshop at the North Jersey Muay Thai gym in Lodi, New Jersey where we teach our $5 yoga classes.

Sixty yogis (many who traveled quite a distance to join us!) assembled to practice, learn and collaborate.

We created the workshop to accommodate all levels of experience. We began with a few words on the topic of finding balance (both on and off the yoga mat) and continued to teach a well-rounded flow to loosen up the body and engage the core.

We were so excited, first of all, because it was a sold out event, and secondly, because we had a great session planned along with fun vendors and goodies from a leading yogawear brand. We also just love getting together with fellow yogis. It’s a wonderful family that we have — relationships that we have been able to nurture and cultivate via Instagram and our weekly classes.

Over the course of two hours, we explored a variety of standing balance poses, arm balances and inversions.There were so many students who experienced balance breakthroughs that day! Some were able to get into all of the poses, some only one, and some none at all, but everyone tried their best.

We were so proud of the participants for showing great effort. But what really stood out for us was the overwhelming sense of community.

Many of the attendees have never met each other — at least not in person. Up until Sunday, they only knew each other by their Instagram names. They greeted each other, worked together and supported each other as if they’ve known each other for years. We are so lucky to have such an amazing community.

Thank you for making it an amazing day.

We would be remiss if we didn’t thank the fabulous vendors we had on hand — K. Deer Haute Yoga Wear and Love Grace Foods — and Fabletics for providing water bottles and headbands for each participant!

We can’t wait to get together again soon!

April 3, 2014
Shaved Fennel Salad

Spring has sprung, and while it’s still a little chilly in our neck of the woods (e.g., New Jersey), we are eagerly embracing the change of season. Soups and stews and hearty meals have dominated our menus, and maybe yours too! But, in honor of spring, we are going to lighten things up a bit, and we thought this delicious shaved fennel salad was the perfect recipe to ease us into the season!

There’s really nothing to it, but I think what makes it so tasty is the fennel itself. We are using the fennel bulb which has a slightly sweet yet subtle licorice flavor. It is refreshing and offers the added bonus of being great for digestion.

The other thing that sets this salad apart is the combination of textures — the crisp greens and the shaved vegetables — makes a tremendous difference adding unexpected layers of depth. If you don’t already have a mandoline, I suggest you run out and buy one. I have a handheld mandoline that fits nicely in my cutlery drawer. However, if you don’t have a mandoline on hand, you can still make this salad, you will just need a knife sharp enough to cut very thin slices.

The recipe is fairly simple and can be adjusted to suit your tastes and diet. It is also just gorgeous and makes a lovely presentation, as you can see from the picture above.

Shaved Fennel Salad (serves 4-6)

1 five oz bag of spring mix (or any other salad combination you like)

1 large bulb of fennel (tops removed)

1/2 red onion

A few turns of cracked black pepper

Shaved parmigiano reggiano (optional)

Your favorite balsamic vinaigrette

Step 1:
Wash and spin your greens and set aside in a large bowl.

Step 2:
Prep the fennel. Remove the tops of a large bulb of fennel and cut about a half inch off the bottom of the fennel bulb.

Cut the fennel in half lengthwise.

Next, remove the core with a sharp knife.

Last, shave each half with a mandoline or cut it thinly with a sharp knife.

Step 3:
Peel half of a red onion and either shave it using a mandoline or cut it thinly with a sharp knife. Onion slices should resemble a half moon.

Step 4:
Assemble the salad. Add fennel, red onion, a few turns of cracked black pepper and your favorite salad dressing (I suggest a balsamic vinaigrette) to your lettuce greens. If you like, top with shaved parmagiano reggiano. Toss and serve.

Voila!
If you are interested in using a mandoline to create thin vegetable slices for your salad, here is a mid-priced option for you to consider.

March 31, 2014