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September 14, 2015

Push Past the “Derailers” and Carry On

Today I’m sharing some inspiration to get you through this week! Summer is coming to and end, and fall is just around the corner! For most of us, this means less weekends spent barbecuing and beaching, and more days getting things done at work or school. As for me, I begin my dietetic internship tomorrow, so I know I will be crazy busy. Not to mention, my first rotation is clinical, so from now until Thanksgiving, I will be observing/working as a dietitian in the hospital. Between seeing patients, doing case studies, and going to class, it’s going to be a whirlwind. #stressful

I know I could use some inspiration, and perhaps you could, too!

I recently got to stay at the Madonna Inn, located in San Luis Obispo. This hotel is known for its unique, eclectic, and downright outrageous design. It’s a definite must-see, and I think everyone should stay there at least once, just for the experience.

I stayed in the Carin room, which is absolutely bursting with pink. Pink is the color of the Madonna Inn, which made me feel right at home. I could not believe how pink my room was, and I felt a bit like a fairytale princess or maybe Barbie staying in this room. For some people, this look might be too much, and for others, it might be exactly what they love. Which brings me to my first point: there are people who love the Madonna Inn, and there are people who’s opinions are quite the opposite, aka it’s ridiculous.

Isn’t this true in life? There are gonna be people who love you and understand, and people who are not so fond of you, or don’t “get” you, but you better be certain that everyone is going to have an opinion. It’s totally up to you how you handle the opinions of others. The Madonna Inn doesn’t tone down the pink and sparkles to appeal to more people, or to fit in, so we shouldn’t feel obligated to conform to how others want us to be, either.

I want to cover a specific aspect of falling prey to what other’s want us to think/say/do/be, which is… your healthy lifestyle. There will be people in your life (friends, family, coworkers) who might not understand your desire to eat healthy or have an active lifestyle. They just don’t get it (you mean…you actually ordered a salad instead of fries?!) I like to call them “Derailers”. They are going to try to derail you from your health goals, and sometimes, they might even succeed. Family members may think your exercise routine is ridiculous and that you don’t even need to exercise. Friends might want to go out tooooo many nights a week, and give you a hard time if you want to stay in. Coworkers may push you to take some doughnuts from the box they bring to the office, and if you don’t, they make a big deal of it and say you are crazy. Yep, all derailers, whether they mean to be or not.

My advice? Simply put, push past the Derailers and carry on! Be firm in your health goals and wellness philosophy, and be proud of how you take care of yourself. You are the one who has the ultimate power to take care of you, not anyone else in your environment. When a derailer comes along, remember how you want to feel and what standards you hold yourself to. They may try to make you feel dumb, boring, or like a total weirdo for the choices you make. Your power comes from not allowing them to negatively affect you, or sway you into making unhealthy choices. When a derailer comes along, it’s always best to politely say no. (Gotta kill ’em with kindness, people!) And I promise, no one is going to get mad at you for not taking a brownie. (And if they do, that sounds like their own personal problem to me.)

If you feel comfortable enough with the derailer, you can always explain to them how you are trying to take good care of yourself and make healthy choices, but ultimately, you don’t really owe an explanation as to why you want to go for a run or get some extra hours of zzzzzzzz’s.

Can we talk about these sequined walls for a minute?! I mean, talk about dazzling!

Derailers are not the easiest obstacle to overcome, and pushing past them is something I still work on all the time. Some ways I carry on are to:

Find someone you trust to hold you accountable to your goals. You are much more likely to keep to them if someone knows what you are going after.
Write down your wellness philopshy, and hang it where you can see it often to keep you fired up.
Convert the derailers. Invite your fam to go for a walk, or get your girlfriend to grab a green smoothie with you instead of a DQ Blizzard. Show them what it’s like to walk on your side of the fence, and they might actually want to join you more often!
Don’t get discouraged if a derailer derails you. Get back up, and keep doing your best. Health and wellness is a continuous journey, so be gentle with yourself.
Don’t get too caught up that you start to miss out on life. It’s totally a fabulous part of life to grab drinks with friends or split a sundae with your sister. Ultimately, it’s all about the long term, and the habits you hold to daily- not the treats you enjoy occasionally.

The Madonna Inn is known for it’s pink champagne cake. Perfect for an afternoon tea with friends, especially if it’s in a pink sparkly room 🙂

Tell me, what are your major derailers, and how have you (or how do you plan to) overcome them? It’s always helpful to get another perspective on how others are staying focused on achieving or maintaining their health goals, so share away! Have a fabulous week!

XO, Alexandra

September 4, 2015

Apartment Tour Series, Part One: Bathroom & Vanity

For the first time in my life, I am living in my very own apartment!!! There are plenty of benefits that come with living alone: getting to take up all the room in the fridge and kitchen cabinets, taking all the time in the world in the bathroom, and never wearing headphones when I want to jam to my music. There is no worrying about unexpected guests barging in when I have a face mask on (this happened in college too many times) or having to deal with other people’s dirty dishes/clothes/whatever unmentionables strewn all over the place. Let’s just say I am living in pure bliss in my own sacred, peaceful home.

A great deal of time and effort went into creating a space that makes me feel happy, de-stressed, and energized every time I walk through the door. I thought I would do an Apartment Tour Series to give you some inspiration for curating your own fabulous abode, whether it is a whole house, or just a shelf. Today is Part One of the series, which is all about building a beautiful bathroom and vanity! As a note, the design scheme for my apartment is what I like to call “Modern Glam”. There are girly elements, contemporary vibes, and glamorous touches. My color scheme is hot pink, light pink, and gold. A huge tip for having a pulled together home is to find a design scheme and color scheme that you love, and stick to it religiously.

The bathroom and vanity (shall we call them the “get ready spaces”) should be clean and uncluttered, so that you are always in the right frame of mind for starting the day calm and refreshed, or for washing the day away. Even the products you put in your shower can look gorgeous as long as you select ones that flow well together. Decorative soaps and bottles are perfect for tying your design and style into this space.

Quirky little sayings are sure to put a smile on your face, (even while you are washing your face). In my book, it’s totally okay to use soap as decor if it has wrapping this cute. 🙂

I am obsessed with acrylic anything. It looks so chic and also keeps spaces feeling open and full of light. I love using acrylic trays for organizing little trinkets into pretty displays that allow me to see where everything is. ( Which means no more rushing around frantically looking for a certain thing when I am trying to get out the door.)

A design tip I have learned and always follow: the rule of odds. When displaying objects, be it candles, jars, or any cluster of curiosities, put them together in odd numbers. Odd numbers of objects look better than even numbers of objects; it’s just that simple. Pick groups of three or five things to decorate with, but not two or four.

A cute little DIY sign on a doorknob adds visual interest and can convey a fun or important message. Use chalkboard paint, and you can change the message to anything you please!

Hide unsightly tissue boxes in a glamorous tissue box holder. These come in all sorts of styles, and you can always paint them to fit your design style perfectly. In my opinion, a gold tissue box looks much more luxe than a box with school busses or grandma-esque floral patterns. Who designs those tissue boxes anyway?! Someone please design boxes we would actually want to display! Glass is just like acrylic, as it keeps rooms airy, and oh-so-bright. Seek out pretty jars and containers to display makeup on your vanity. You know you have adorable jars/cloches/ boxes when they cause you to do away with your makeup bag forever. #noshameIt’s all about those fun, sassy quotes to get you pumped up for the day! The little detail on this jar never fails to give me an extra boost of confidence. Who couldn’t use an extra boost from time to time? 🙂

Stay tuned for the rest of the Apartment Tour Series (a huge, grateful thank you to my amazing designer, who never fails to turn my ideas and little glimpses of a “vision” into reality!) Tell me- how do you design your space/ create your very own homey vibes? And please share any design tips and tricks- I always want to learn more! Have a fab holiday weekend!

XO, Alexandra

August 26, 2015

Rose Story Farm + Raw, Vegan Rose Tarts

The inspiration for today’s recipe comes straight out of the garden, but probably not the type of garden you were imagining . Rose Story Farm is the most incredible rose garden in the cute beach town of Carpinteria, California. Walking the grounds is breathtaking and magical. I have never seen so many roses in my life, and honestly, it kind of made me feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland, strolling through another world, just through the rabbit hole. If you are ever in the Los Angeles/Santa Barbara area, take a trip to Rose Story Farm- they offer tours on Thursdays and Saturdays during prime rose season, April through November (so go soon before it’s too late!) And if you must take a little souvenir home, they have the most charming gift shop- think rose colored/flavored/scented everything, and a retail nursery where you can even get a gorgeous rose bush to take home and plant.

Keep scrolling through to see some snapshots from my tour of the farm, and for a yummy recipe featuring the floral, dreamy flavor of the queen of flowers: the rose!

Rose Story Farm is home to 25,000 rose bushes and 120 different rose varieties! Did you know there is even a rose variety named Princess Alexandra, which is now my favorite variety of roses, for obvious reasons. 🙂 Rose Story Farm is owned and cared for by Danielle Hahn (and her very sweet, hardworking team). In 2014, she received the Great Rosarian of the World Award. Needless to say, I was taking note of any and every gardening tip I cold get my hands on.

Ever clipped roses when they hadn’t quite opened yet, only to find when you put them in a vase, they never open? A little trick I learned at RST: the earliest one should ever clip roses to guarantee that they will open is just after all of the sepals (the little green leaves that enclose the bud) have separated from the petals of the bud. Once the sepals drop, clip away for buds that open every time!

My all time favorite flowers are peonies, so any rose that has that lush, peony petal look to it makes me absolutely giddy. I have never seen such large, ruffled, jaw-droppingly beautiful roses in my life! The fields of roses brought out the little girl in me. I was ready to run through the garden and sit down for a tea party! (we did get to experience rose tea, by the way…but more on that later)

*Quietly humming “We’re painting the roses red”* 🙂

RST is home to many little kitties that just love to roam through the roses. (And who can blame them?) This kitty in particular was a very gracious host and accompanied us on the entire tour. Her name was Trixie, and I could tell she took great pride in welcoming us into her rosy habitat.

One more pic of Trixie, just because she was a darling, and she absolutely knows it. Oh how lucky to be a cat with a leisurely life at Rose Story Farm.

Another amazing thing about RST is the smell. The fragrance of rose is so strong, it just perfumes the air. I wish I could bottle the air and take it home with me. Our tour was on a cloudy day, but our tour guide noted that on a hot day, the fragrance is even stronger. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to experience that!

After the tour, we were treated to a luncheon in the gorgeous garden, complete with rose tea and their famous homemade rose-shaped lemon cake. They even sell the rose bundt-cake pans in their shop- too cute!

After delighting in all things rose, I was totally inspired to try my hand at a rose recipe. Rose may seem like an intimidating ingredient in the kitchen, but I assure you, this recipe is so easy (no baking!!!). These Raw, Vegan Rose Tarts are the perfect little bite of heaven. They contain no added sugar, are full of wholesome ingredients, and of course have that fragrant rose flavor that I was craving. These tarts indulge the senses without causing you to feel like you have actually “indulged”. I can imagine enjoying these tarts at a tea, at a garden picnic, or even any old afternoon where I feel like living “La Vie en Rose”.

Raw, Vegan Rose Tarts

Makes 14 mini tarts

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 cups rolled oats
6 medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup coconut oil

For the filling:

1 cup cashews, soaked at least 4 hrs or overnight in 1 1/2 cups water (reserve the water!)
1 Tbs culinary rose petals, added to the “soaking water” with the cashews, plus more for garnish
1 tsp-1 Tbs rose water, depending on your preference of rose flavor/intensity. (Rose water is an ingredient that can be purchased in many health food stores or oriental markets. If you have an oriental market near you, I would get rose water there, as it is typically less expensive than it is at a health food store.)

Directions:

to make the crust, add all crust ingredients to a food processor or high speed blender, and pulse until they are combined enough that they hold together with a doughy consistency.
to make the filling, start by combining cashews and rose petals in a bowl with 1 1/2 cups of water. This must soak at least 4 hours or overnight. This will produce a creamy base for our filling!
drain the cashews and rose petals from the water, reserving the water they were soaked in.
add the cashews, rose petals, and 1/4 cup of the reserved “soaking water” to a high speed blender. Blend on a medium/high speed for 20-30 seconds until creamy
taste the cashew cream, as this will determine how much of the “true” rose water (not the reserved water) you add. Add “true” rose water to the cashew cream according to preference. I like it really rosy, so I added a whole tablespoon. Stir to combine.
to make the mini tarts, form bowl shapes with the crust dough. Its totally ok if they look a little rustic. 🙂
add a dollop of cashew cream to each “bowl”, and top with rose petals for garnish.
refrigerate for at least one hour so the tarts can set up. Enjoy!

Have you ever made any recipes with rose before? It is such a unique ingredient that adds amazing, delicate flavor. Now that I have a favorite variety of rose, the Princess Alexandra, my next mission is to find a bush so I can plant my own!! Let me know your favorite types of roses, too!

XO, Alexandra

August 21, 2015

Veggie “Pasta” with Fresh Ricotta

Cheese lovers, rejoice! Today’s post is all about making cheese, and a recipe to go with it- aka a quick veggie “pasta” dish, perfect for weeknights when you are pressed for time. Williams Sonoma has a cheese tasting kit that comes with everything you need to make four delicious cheeses (except the milk, of course). The kit makes it totally simple to get all DIY in the kitchen. The process only takes an hour, and the end result is fresh and can impress any dinner guests. For this particular cheese-making session, I decided to go for whipping up a Ricotta. I also decided to use goat’s milk. A lot of people find that goat’s milk is easier on their digestive system, because it contains less lactose than cows milk. Plus, I love the tangy flavor of goat’s milk.

The instructions with the kit were easy to understand ( even for those who have minimal culinary skills), and I love that you are able to customize the cheese with any herbs or flavorings that you like. Get creative! Rosemary and oregano would be killer in this ricotta. Just be sure to watch the milk carefully on the stove, since the window for the proper cheese-making temperature is not a far step from milk-scalding temperature. I watched that little cheese thermometer that came with the kit this.close. Can you blame a girl for wanting to make perfect cheese???

Once the milk reaches proper temperature, in goes the citric acid (to form the curds). This is where the magic happens. Before you know it, the curds separate from the whey. *Insert happy dance here* Stir very gently, so as not to break up the curds you worked so hard to form, and pour the lovely curds into the cheesecloth. Tip: save the whey for using in smoothies for a boost of protein! Freezing it in ice cube trays makes blending up cold, creamy smoothies that much easier. Once the curds look as ricotta-esque as they do below, add in cheese salt-a little goes a long way! You can eat your ricotta just like that, which is totally heavenly, or you can stick it in the fridge to set up and chill, which is also heavenly. You can’t go wrong with the cheese, people!In keeping with the cheese theme, if you asked me what one of my favorite savory indulgences is, without a doubt one would be cheese. Real cheese, though. Not in a can. Not nacho cheese. Not Kraft cheese. Anyone else a cheese lover/snob like me? #sorrynotsorry. It’s a no brainer that cheese and pasta go together, and I can’t think of a better way to use up the fresh goat’s milk ricotta than dolloping it it over Veggie “Pasta”. I’m a big fan of making spiralized veggie noodles. Not only are veggie noodles lighter than regular pasta, but whipping up spiralized noodles is a great way to fit more veggies on your plate. This recipe comes together quickly, so it has become a go-to on those days when I just don’t have time.

Veggie Pasta with Fresh Ricotta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 medium zucchini
4 cups of spinach
1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 cup of your favorite pasta sauce (homemade, or store-bought, whichever is on hand)
ricotta cheese (highly recommend making cheese yourself at least once in your life!)
salt and pepper, to taste
oil, for misting pan

Directions:

Spiralize the zucchini. If you do not have a spiralizer, you can julienne the zukes or use a veggie peeler to made wide noodles.
In a pan, sauté mushrooms over medium-high heat until tender and they begin to release their juices. Add the zucchini, and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a separate pan, cook spinach until wilted.
Add tomato sauce, salt, and pepper to the pan with the zucchini noodles, and cook until heated through.
Plate the “pasta”, and top with wilted spinach and a dollop of ricotta. Bon Appetit!

Tell me- are there any other cheese-obsessed foodies out there? Have you ever tried making your own cheese? What is your absolute favorite cheese? For me any creamy cheese with truffle in it is #theultimate. Sinful? Maybe. But what is life without a treat from time to time? 🙂

XO,

Alexandra

August 9, 2015

Roasted Banana Passion Fruit Ice Dream

My latest food find is the exotic passion fruit. I happen to have a passion fruit vine where I live, and it has been dropping fruit like crazy! I have consumed more passion fruit in the last month than I have in my whole life! Honestly, when I first saw the vine, I had no idea what kind of plant it was. It was covered in gorgeous whispy, purple/ombre flowers and these strange green fruit I had not seen before. Naturally, I had to research to find out what in the world this vine was. (Mostly because I wanted to know if I could eat the fruit or not:) )

Once I discovered that the fruit on this vine was passion fruit, I could not wait to eat them! I also learned that you have to be patient when it comes to this fruit. Don’t pick the green ones, because they do not ripen off the vine. (Made that mistake). How do you know when the passion fruit are ready to eat? The plant does all the work for you- the fruit turns purple, and they fall to the ground! Soooo easy to harvest, since all you have to do is pick them up off the ground, and they are guaranteed to be perfectly ready to eat, every time!

Passion fruit has an exotic, tangy, just barely floral taste. Think of a flavor cross between a citrus fruit and a mango. It is almost too complex to describe, so you must try it for yourself, or just imagine taking a bite of Brazil/Paraguay/Argentina, which is the native territory of this zippy fruit. Leave it to our South American friends to have a fruit named passion fruit. One bite makes you wanna dance! 🙂

Passion fruit is a good source of fiber (important for satiety, regularity, fighting a slew of health problems like not-so-great cholesterol), and is a low calorie fruit option, as well. A lot of the passion fruit recipes floating around out there (heyyyy, Pinterest) are for high calorie, sugary desserts, like rich mousses, panna cottas, cakes, and pavlovas. I wanted to showcase a way to use passion fruit in a dessert that has no sugar added, is fat free, and fits all dietary needs (gluten free, vegan, dairy-free, etc). This is a treat that could be enjoyed everyday because it is just that clean when it comes to the ingredients. Time to dive into Roasted Banana Passion Fruit Ice Dream!

“Ice Dream” is the name I’m giving this dessert, because it’s just like ice cream, but of course there is no cream, milk, or dairy of any kind. Plus, it tastes like a dream, so there’s that. 🙂 What takes this recipe over the edge is roasting the bananas. Please, I’m begging you, don’t skip this step! That caramel-y, toasty, sweet flavor you might know and love from Bananas Foster totally carries into this Ice Dream when the bananas hang out in the oven for a bit and develop a deep sweetness you just can’t get from a plain ol’ banana. Whip this up on a hot day, or when you are craving a scoop of creamy goodness. Prepare to be transported to a tropical locale!

Roasted Banana Passion Fruit Ice Dream

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 bananas
1/3 cup passion fruit (both the juice and seeds from inside the fruit)

Directions:

Slice bananas into coins, and place on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Roast at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until caramelized.
Transfer the banana to the freezer for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Add banana and passionfruit to a high speed blender, and blend on the ice cream setting, or on high for 20-30 seconds.
Enjoy right away with toppings of your choice (I recommend cacao nibs and toasted coconut), or place in freezer for 10-20 minutes if you prefer a more firm frozen dessert texture.

Have you ever tried passion fruit before? Any other mysterious or exotic fruit you are dying to experiment with in the kitchen? Let me know!

XO, Alexandra

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