I think I found my drink for the holidays!

Blood Orange & Pomegranate Mimosa

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chilled blood orange juice
• 3 cups chilled pomegranate juice
• 1 750ml bottle chilled sparkling wine, such as Prosecco
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Combine blood orange and pomegranate juices in a pitcher. Divide among 10 glasses. Top each with Prosecco. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Tips:

• Look for blood orange juice near other refrigerated or other specialty juices or squeeze your own juice from fresh blood oranges. If you can't find either, regular orange juice will work too. (If you've never had a drink with fresh squeezed juice, let this be the season!!)
• To seed a pomegranate, fill large bowl with water. Lightly score the fruit into quarters from crown to stem end, cutting through the skin but not into the interior fruit. Hold th fruit under water, breakit apart and use your hands to gently separate the seeds from the outer skin and white pith. the seeds will drop to the bottom and the pith will float to the surface. Discard the pith. Pour seeds into a colander. Rinse and pat dry. Seeds can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Nutrition:

• 138 calories; 0g fat; 20g carbs; 0g added sugar; 1g fiber; 8mg sodium; 331 mg potassium.

Recipe found on one of my favorite sites: www.eatingwell.com

 

Today was fantastic!

Today was fantastic! I started with a cleanse, a tomato facial mask. You can find tons of great recipes online for homemade facials but today I used Say Yes to Tomatoes and took full advantage of the fact I work at a really great gym, Equinox. I can use the sauna, steam room (my favorite!), Jacuzzi, rooftop sun deck, and pool. So I had a spa experience without the spa price. I went in, slathered my face with the tomato mask (I’m having issues with some breakouts and lycopene is a wonderful healer for this) and stretched out by the Jacuzzi which is nestled between the steam room and sauna so the area is warm and wet. I used this as my meditation time and I chose to focus on being grateful. Twenty minutes of giving thanks felt really good.

I hopped in the shower (which is stocked with Kiehl’s thank you), then got my day started. It was the end of a two-day continuing education class and much to everyone’s happiness, the instructor condensed a 5 hour day into 3 hours, still giving us all the information but by making it interactive and light, it was easier to absorb. Yes, I added this to my thank you list.

I’d already planned on walking the beach today and now I’m there early. Again, thank you!

The first three people I meet are beautiful older ladies with wonderful hats on. The ocean is providing a nice breeze but those sun rays are no joke. I thought for a quick second about the fact I didn’t have anything on my shoulders but we all know I get cold fast so soon and very soon I’ll be putting my jacket on anyway.

The next woman I meet is just as fantastic just sans hat. I told her she reminded me of someone I knew and we ended up walking along the beach together chatting. Shoshana, an older, exotic beauty from Israel who’d lived in New York for years and is now rooted in Santa Monica doing healing work from her heart, www.bestheartcenteredtherapy.com.  We bonded over a few things, one of them being our love of romance. She, a young 61, and me, a young 42 both ready for our incredible men that have the balls to be passionate!

We exchanged numbers and I’ll be sure we see each other again.

On my walk back, someone, I could tell it was a little one, starting jogging right behind me. After a few minutes, I turned to see who it was and I see the most adorable little girl who couldn’t have been more than 7. I said, ‘Hello. And who are you?’

‘Anushka’, she said.

She had a head full of the thickest, blackest, shiniest hair with the most adorable haircut. She runs over to the nearby rose garden and starts to smell all of them. I now notice that she’s with her mother so I introduce myself and reach out to shake her hand but she doesn’t extend hers and I realize that her hand isn’t like mine. The muscles in it don’t work and the fingers are pursed together, almost like a stroke victim but she didn’t look as if she’d had a stroke. Thank you for my health! We chat for a second then I walk over to Anushka whose still smelling roses and we begin to compare. Some are very sweet and then she takes me to her favorite. ‘This one smells clean’, she says and begins gathering the petals that dropped around it. When I asked what she was going to do with them she said, ‘make rose water!’ Anushka and I bonded over her cute little haircut and her love of rose water and her mother and I bonded over the simplicity of, and my appreciation for, Ms. Anushka.

Today was a good day! I chatted with some fabulous, older ladies, exchanged numbers with a couple of them, and met an energetic little girl that literally made me stop and smell the roses.

I’m looking forward to a peaceful night’s sleep filled with visions and dreams and starting my tomorrow with the energy of Anushka to manifest those dreams… Thank you!

And this is what happens with the leftovers...

Last night's dinner was truly simple and really good. Yes, I do say so myself. A parmesan breaded chicken breast on top of fresh basil leaves and beautiful tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Done.

Eight total ingredients - chicken, parmesan, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, pepper, basil, and tomatoes plus twenty minutes in the kitchen, and dinner is ready!

I cooked two chicken breast which give me plenty to use for breakfast and lunch. There were about three big bites left over from dinner so this morning I took those bites, sliced up less than half of the remaining breast, added nine more ingredients - eggs, garlic, onions, spinach, olive oil, tomatoes, avocado, sea salt, pepper, and twelve minutes later... breakfast! 

.

No, I didn't feel like I was eating the same thing. My common denominators were the chicken and tomatoes. But the garlic and onions for sure made it a totally new eating experience. And even if it did feel the same, who cares. The dish tasted phenomenal! Yes, that's me patting myself on the back right now. And I'll be having the last of the chicken on a BIG salad for lunch.

Who has trouble cooking for one?

Perfect Summer Dinner..

I bought some black lava sea salt last week and I've been dying to try it. So I headed to the fish market to see what they had. Red snapper. Perfect.

A stop at a local farm yielded purple tipped butter lettuce and yellow cucumbers for my salad, green beans for my side dish (I have broccolini already so I'm tossing a couple spears in with the green beans), and leeks for flavor. I also bought beets and used a few of the greens in my salad. I'm cooking the beets for later.

As much as I love great food, simplicity is key for me. Fish is always easy. Sautéing green beans takes minutes. And what could be easier than tossing a great dressing over some bright greens and voila, salad! The longest preparation is the rice which takes 45 minutes to cook. I used a long grain, black wild rice because I love the smoky flavor.

Here's all it takes:

Fish

• olive oil
• red snapper (I bought 1lb, 2 fillets, which equal 4 meals for me!)
• leeks (I used the whole bulb of 1 leek)
• 4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 2 lemons, halved crosswise

Salad

• purple tipped butter lettuce (choose any you like. I like the added color which is why I threw in some of the beet leaves)
• 2 yellow cucumbers (much smaller than the typical green cucumber and sweeter too!)
• lemon vinaigrette (recipe below)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Sides

• olive oil
• 3 - 4 cups of chicken stock (according to rice you choose, the package will say how much)
• 1/4 - 1/2 of a medium sized onion, chopped (I love onions so I tend to use more)
• green beans (depends on how many your cooking for. 1 handful is plenty for me)
• broccolini (I simply threw in 2 spears for an added layer)
• 1 cup of long grain rice

Let's Cook..
Start the rice first since it takes the longest. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the chicken stock and the rice. Cook for about 45 minutes and most of the stock has been absorbed.

While the rice is cooking, heat the oven to 400⁰F. In a large roasting pan, toss the leeks, lemons, garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and salt & pepper. Roast until the leeks begin to soften, about 6-8 minutes. Some of mine always char just a bit and I like that. We'll use some of this as topping for our veggies.


Season the snapper with salt & pepper and nestle in the leeks. Roast until the snapper is opaque, 10-12 minutes. (Roasting the fish is almost your last step since it only takes about 12 minutes. Time it close with the rice). Be careful with salting the fish. We will sprinkle on a bit of the black salt once it's done for a bit of drama!

To sauté the veggies, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the green beans, broccolini, salt & pepper, and cook for 5 minutes. It should be bright and crunchy.

The salad is just torn greens and yellow cucumbers, sliced.

To make the dressing:
Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skin into a bowl and mash into a paste. Squeeze the
roasted lemon pulp and juice into the bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, chopped rosemary, and salt. Toss with the greens.

That's it. A perfect summer plate. Light, healthy, and healing. 

Get Ready!

I'm in the process of creating an innovative television program that will show you how to keep your body humming along in tip-top condition and you'll do it by having fun! I'm telling you this because I want you to come along with me.

The show is for you, for women. It will open you up to a world of adventure; it will show you how masterfully powerful you really are; it will show you how fitness is synonomous with fun; and oh, how good it is to be a girl! When the show happens, you have to be ready to come along for the ride and that's what this blog is all about. I will show you how to develop a wonderful base of fitness with very little money, if any, that will then alow you to try anything you desire.

What do you desire? What have you always secretely wanted to try but never have for whatever reason? And what are those reasons? Be honest. Is it money? Time? Do you feel you lack the skills?

Well, skills can be developed, time can be found, and by becoming just a bit resourceful, money becomes a much smaller hurdle.

Are you ready? I'll show you how. Stay tuned!