“The act of bring present is a practice in itself.” Meg Whitney 

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Although I have been doing Ashtanga for many years, I still like to take a good Vinyasa class now and again. I teach lots of Vinyasa and I base my flow classes on the principles of Ashtanga, so it’s nice to change it up, get ideas, see what other teachers are teaching and learning, and to get out of the rigid “Ashtanga Box”!

Since Friday’s are typically Primary Series day, I’ll do a short, one hour practice and then head to Harmony House to take my fellow yoga teacher, and friend, Meg Whitney’s class. Last Friday she started the class by saying that “the act of being present is a practice in itself,” and I thought on this throughout class and then later on, and into the weekend. 

Being fully present during a yoga class means many different things to many different people. But for me, it’s about listening clearly to the directions being given, keeping my eyes on my own mat and not worrying about what the yogi to my right is doing, and to actually practice the poses the teacher is teaching, not whatever the heck I wanna do, just because and I can and want to. I’ve been practicing yoga for over 10 years and there are things I can do that others cannot and vise versa. But that doesn’t mean I use someone else’s class as my forum to bust out poses I’ve been working on/ feel like doing. Ya know? 

For one thing, it’s disrespectful to the teacher and to the students around you, especially when you are making the people to your left and right nervous as you try (relentlessly) to kick into a headstand when the rest of the class is in a forward fold. And have you heard of a “home practice”?? That’s where you do what you want, when you want, how you want… in your OWN HOME! Not in my class! Capice?! Students actually complain after class that the yoga “trickster” next to them was distracting or disruptive to their practice and I get it. Totally. 

So I might have had a slight melt-down on Saturday morning in my Vinyasa class when half of the room was in an arm balance and working on fine-tuning it with straight arms, while the other half of the room was head-standing, hand-standing and who knows what else. If you’ve never been in a tight yoga class with 30 plus people in the room, it can get dangerous when some people are doing one thing and the others, another. I’ve personally been kicked in the face, kicked in the head, and once someone fell so hard into me that I hurt my wrist while trying to support my fall!

My point here is that the people practicing around you should not have to worry about their safety- or your ego for that matter. And sure the word ego gets a bad rap, but it’s because it kills the spirit of yoga. I thought I was hot shit until my first trip to India. I walked into that Mysore room at the AYRI and was blown away by what I saw. I neatly stored my ego in the side pocket of my yoga bag, and there it has stayed ever since! Who needs an ego when there’s the practice of staying present? So sorry to those of you who were there on Saturday! I know some of you got a good laugh and I’m glad! Let’s just “keep calm and yoga on,” shall we?!

After that debacle, (I’m really a nice person, really) I came home and cooked! What better way to keep calm and carry on then to design some new recipes? I couldn’t agree more! What better way to “squash it” then to cook with squash? How about a gluten-free Spaghetti Squash Quiche with the squash as the crust? This is a easy recipe you can prepare at night and enjoy for breakfast or lunch the next day. I used everything about to go bad in my refridge. I must say I am quite proud of this recipe, and Andy thought it was pretty good too, so chef’s wife done good!

Gluten-free Spaghetti Squash Quiche- makes 6 slices 

Ingredients:

-1 medium spaghetti squash

-3 eggs

-1/2 cup coconut milk

-1 heirloom tomato

-1 cup mushrooms

-1 red onion

-1 zucchini

-fresh greens

-3 cloves garlic

-olive oil or coconut oil

-salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut the squash length wise, removing the seeds.

2. Place some olive oil and salt and pepper on the squash and place cut-side down on a sheet tray. Cook for 20 minutes or until tender. Scoop out the “spaghetti” from the squash and place aside.

3. In the meantime, chop up the veggies and sauté the onions, mushrooms, zucchini and garlic. Add the greens last.

4. When the squash has cooled, take out a pie pan and press the meat of the squash into the bowl to form the crust. Try to even it out as best you can.

5. Beat the eggs with the coconut milk and add the veggies in and stir.

6. Pour the veggie mixture into the pie pan and add your tomatoes on the top. I sprinkled just a bit of the Trader Joe’s spotlight cheese, Elderflower Tomme, on top. It’s not necessary though; this can easily be made dairy-free too.

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until set.

8. Pair with some nice white wine and enjoy! The perfect brunch meal!

I’m still trying to use all the apples my friend Lori gave me so I put my slow-cooker to good use and made some sugar-free applesauce that tastes amazing! Again, I am so proud of myself!  This is an applesauce you can leave on for three-four hours and the more cinnamon, the better! I used just a touch of maple syrup instead of using white or brown sugar; it works just as well. 

Slow-cooker Cinnamon Applesauce- makes 3 small Mason jars 

Ingredients:

-10 apples, cored and peeled (I used a variety of Macintosh, Granny Smith and Crab apples)

-1/4 cup water

-1 T cinnamon

-1 tsp nutmeg

-1 tsp maple syrup

Directions:

1. Peel and core the apples and cut into quarters.

2. Place apples in the slow-cooker with the water and place the spices and maple syrup on top.

3. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. It will be bubbling when it is through. 

4. Mix throughly with a spoon. I did not puree this in the blender and it turned out smooth and a tiny but chunky, which I like.

5. Can the applesauce in jars and enjoy! Use it for the brownie recipe I made today down below!

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I am constantly reading that applesauce is being used more often to bake with in cookies, brownies and breads, and as a substitute for sugar and/or butter. Since I made a good amount of it, I decided to create my own applesauce brownie recipe this afternoon featuring… MY applesauce! I’m stretching the budget over here! My student told me today that’s she’s diabetic, so I hope you can eat these and enjoy them as much as I did after lunch! 

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Banana Applesauce Brownies- makes a 9×9 baking dish’s worth 

Ingredients: 

-1/2 cup Niccola’s unsweetened applesauce 

-2 bananas, mashed 

-2 tsp vanilla 

-1/2 cup unsweetened coco powder (I used Gherardelli’s) 

-1/2 tsp salt 

-1 egg

-1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

-3 T honey 

-3 T Niccola’s apple butter or almond butter 

-1/2 cup walnuts

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375. 

2. In a bowl, mix together the applesauce, banana, (I used a potato masher) butter and honey. 

3. Then add in the coco powder, vanilla and the egg. 

4. Lastly add the salt, baking powder, nutmeg and walnuts and mix together. 

5. Place in a 9×9 dish and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy! 

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It was a  gorgeous weekend here on the Central Coast, as are most, hence the reason we moved here! I spent Saturday in Los Osos at Sea Pines Golf Resort with my friends for a free concert. Don’t ask me who played. We were more wrapped up in our conversation/gossip and the girls making fun of me for my “flip-out” in class! All in good fun!

Yesterday, I headed out to Avila Beach with my two girlfriends for some sun, fun, lettuce wraps and white wine.. of course! I’m reading “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed for our upcoming book club Saturday, October 26, at my house. You wanna come?! This book is SO good. I just can’t believe how unprepared this chick is to hike the PCT!! My two friends and I had ideas of going for a hike later in the day but the beach was too perfect. And there was literally no one there. Our own private beach. Lucky us!