Recent Eats + Perfect Imperfection

Good morning and happy Sunday. After days of rain I awoke to a beautiful, cool summer morning here in Charlotte. It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do for the soul.

Today’s recent eats post is…all over the place. You’re going to see the last of my vacation eats + what I’ve had since I got home. I’ve definitely been a little (lot) off of my normal eating habits for the last week but I’m not really worried over it, and what I’ve been eating has still felt intuitive and right for my body at the time. I receive a lot of “you eat so perfectly and clean” comments from friends/students/clients and when I tell them that I DON’T eat like that all the time and that pizza has to be on my weekly rotation their immediate response is something along the lines of “oh thank god.”  It’s no fun (and impossible) to be perfect all the time (and that applies to all areas of life, not just food! :)).

Okay, okay…so smoothies are something you see on the regular around here but I’ve been drinking a ton of them after 5 days without at the beach. This morning’s combo was peanut butter and jelly themed with frozen banana, peach and blueberries with dates, peanut butter, spinach, plain Greek yogurt and almond coconut milk. I’ve started to freeze my bananas lately and it makes my smoothies even thicker and more delicious!

I was delivered this beautiful plate for brunch while I was working at the beach. It was leftover Mexican Quinoa topped with an egg, sour cream and hot sauce with avocado and sauteed veggies on the side. Doesn’t this dish look restaurant-quality? It tasted like it too.

I apologize for the less than stellar iPhone picture here but this was my last dinner at the beach. It started out with pounded, breaded chicken, pesto pasta and caprese salad. Then we got the idea to top the chicken with homemade queso sauce. It was a really good idea. Yum.

When I got home the next day dinner was a salad topped with a salmon burger from Whole Foods. I ate it in front of the computer while I worked furiously to catch up on everything.

On Friday night I went out for Thai food at a restaurant that I’ve been driving by for years and saying “I should try that place” but never had. We started with spring rolls. I love these things so much when I go out. They are so light and summery. I’d like to try making them at home. Does anyone have a good recipe to share?

For dinner we ordered a red and green coconut curry and shared. They were both so good that I kept saying, “the green is definitely my favorite.” Then I’d have some of the red and say “no, the red is my favorite!” This went on for the course of the meal. I’m fun to eat out with. 😉 If you’re in the Charlotte area I highly recommend trying out Monsoon. Best curry I think I’ve ever had.

And last night we had a yogi pizza party. I made a salad to share with arugula, spinach spring mix, avocado, feta, almonds, dried cranberries and tomatoes. I dressed it with an aged balsamic and basil infused olive oil.

The pizza was the main event. I was super excited about it because I had just finished a long run with a friend. (More on that later!)

We two different veggie pizzas. I had a slice of each and then went back for a piece of plain cheese pizza a couple hours (and a couple glasses of wine) later.

And no yoga party would be complete without some crazy yoga poses. I recruited my friends to help me with a brainstorming session on arm balances, inversions and advanced asanas. Many laughs followed.

Off to teach yoga. Have a wonderful day!