Ginger Tahini Chicken with Yogurt Sauce

Ginger Tahini Chicken with Yogurt Sauce and Roasted Broccolini 

Finished out the day with a delicious dinner: Ginger Tahini Chicken with Yogurt Sauce. I recently had a flashback to the delicious Shawarmas I ate while I was in Chile and thought this might help cure the craving. It was delicious. First, time to cook with tahini and I LOVED. Served over a bed of spinach and a side of Roasted Broccolini.

I also finally made up some LaraBars. I didn't make nearly as many as I had intended to, because I kept eating up all the dates!

Here are the combos I made:
The base:
Dates, Vanilla, Agave
Variations:

• Almonds, Cocoa powder and coconut 
• Almonds, Cocoa powder, coconut and espresso powder
• Almonds, Cocoa powder and candied ginger
• Almonds, Cocoa powder, dried cranberries and coconut 
• Sunflower seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Cinnamon, dried cranberries 

Yum! Can't wait to start eating them all up. As you can see the majority had chocolate. I just used what I had in the pantry to make different combos. Traditionally all larabars have a base of cashews, but I was out because I ate all those up too! I tried a little bit of each and my favorites were the ones with coconut, chocolate and espresso powder (give me a little boost mid-afternoon at work).

That's all for now.
Thought this was kind of a funny quote that my yoga teacher said the other day:

"the mind is like a wild drunken monkey stung by a bee".

It really is a challenge to clear your mind and relax. Mine is always going a million miles a minute.

Memorial Day Plans



Strawberry Mango Almond Milk Smoothie

It is a beautiful H-O-T day! I'm so glad to have the extra day of the weekend. This weekend has been very restful and perfect for catching up on things that have been piling up on me.

Agenda for the day:
8:30: Smoothie Time (Click For Recipe)
9:30: Yoga Class
12: FINALLY go to Urban and buy the love of my life (beautiful dress, see below)
1ish: Home to eat lunch, and start cleaning and packing for my big move

Urban Love

I will be leaving the Arbors June 30th-it couldn't come soon enough. I will definitely miss the Mud Island Path, the tennis courts and the pool. But not all THAT much. Saturday we thought it would be fun to go lay by the pool, walked over about around 12:30 and not a stop was to be found in Panama City Beach. Super frat-tastic and lost of beer, tacky people and loud drinking games. This didn't mesh well with the beach bag filled with my summer reading hopefuls.

So we next trekked over to Rhodes. I was immediately bombarded with kids that come to my cooking class. They were so sweet. We set up in the grass while all the Moms and Dads posted up by the pool. Not a very relaxing situation either.

One Month Benefits of Bikram Yoga

Iced Cinnamon-Chocolate Coffee/Yoga Mat

The morning started with an attempt to go to 9am Bikram Yoga class (My newest and most favorite obsession) and ended up being a major blog session with a delicious iced coffee..I do love the mornings! (And don't worry I will be closing the day with 4:30pm yoga)

I started Bikram Yoga on May 7th, 2011 and have gone 6 days/week since then. Yesterday I signed up for unlimited classes for the next three months! So I'm in for good now. I LOVE IT.

A few facts and tidbits I've picked up in class. I still really  haven't had a chance to research it yet and since it is now 2pm and I've been blogging since 9am, I will not TRY and google like I said in my previous post.

• Bikram Yoga was started by a crazy man named Bikram.
• It is a sequence of 26 poses, 2 breathing postures, everything is repeated twice.
• Each class is 90 minutes long. 
• The room is kept between 100-105 degrees.
• You only have water after the 4th pose and from then on only in between poses and water should be limited.
• You must have a mat, towel and water bottle for each class.
• There are two types of poses: compression poses (still kind of unsure what this is?) and stretching poses
• "Pulling is the object of stretching." 
• Keep your head above your heart if you get dizzy
• A number of stories just within the few classes I've been to where Bikram Yoga cured both paralysis and hip injuries. (a little much I know, but this stuff is crazy...)

Things that have changed in me from 5/7/2011-5/29/2011

• Air condition is no longer my friend
• My skin is incredibly soft
• At first my hair was more brittle/dry but now its soft too
• In the pose below the 1st class I couldn't even get a full grip around my foot, now I can kick out, balance and ALMOST bend my shoulders and head down with a flat back
• I inherited the "spring leg" from my father, but no longer is it quite so uncomfortable to cross my legs when sitting, my hips have really started to open up
• I am excited to go to class and love that I've found a smelly, hot box of a room in Memphis, TN that is full of other extremely dedicated and motivated people.
• I'm WAY stronger in my back, stomach, calves and arms.
• And of course my clothes are fitting a little more loose 
• Best of all this yoga is going to be amazing to pair with running, but for the timing being it is keeping me from feeling the need to run. It increasing my heart rate, makes me sweat, makes me relax and clears my head: all the things running used to do. So for now, I can rest my hip and give plenty of time to heal and before I know it I'll be running again with stronger lungs, heart and muscles.

Standing Head to Knee Posture: Leg WAY to high and back too arched in Picture 3...I've got a long way to go!

Snapshot

Yes, it has been awhile. Blogging was stressing me out. So, I decided it wasn't right for me at the time. I was constantly trying to think of witty things to say, trying to make perfect picture displays, trying to make food look stunning, trying to google interesting facts about things people would care about and trying, trying....just wasn't working for me. 

I've decided to stop trying so much, because I really like doing it. Doubt I will ever be good enough to be on tastespotting or written up in a magazine, but its fun to randomly sit down (not worrying about trying to keep up because really not that many of you are reading this) and put up a few pictures about life. So here it goes snapshots of the past few months.

Charleston Porch Sitting

Salmon with Peanut Sauce and N's Purple Lettuce, Veggies, Coconut Crusted Tilapia

Memphis Night Life: Red Birds Cookout, Luau, Nail Bar Party

Go Bananas: Banana Chips for LaraBars and Frozen Banana Sandwiches

The Two Best Breakfasts: Spinach Eggs and Greek Yogurt Combos

Parsnip French Fries=Amazing

Delicious Roasted Tomato Soup, Roasted Asparagus, Yellow and Green Split Peas, Avocado

Easter 2011

Easter 2011: EVERYBODY was there! (No pics of N??)

Easter 2011: Roasted Veggies, Hit of the Wkend: Orange, Mint and Lemon Infused Water, Wills Family Ping Pong Tourament Throw-Down, N&B's Beautiful Wedding China, R's amazing Bday Card made from scrap paper 

Veggie Tacos, Pico de Gallo & Guacamole

Lentil Walnut Veggie Tacos

Vegan Raw Cookie Dough

I officially have a food processor. Food processor = Lentil Walnut Tacos, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole and the best of all Raw Cookie Dough Blizzards.