My Yoga Retreat Weekend

This weekend I was off in the redwoods co-leading my annual Spring Yoga Retreat. It's always such a wonderful weekend. It's a lot of work to get ready for it - but the weekend itself is just amazing. Beautiful place, great people, great food, great weather... Ahh...

One of my favorite things about retreat weekend is that someone else makes me vegan food all weekend! So luxurious! The breakfast is usually a big oatmeal bar: there's a big thing of freshly-made oatmeal and then all sorts of toppings that you can put on top. The first day I put on walnuts, raisins, flax meal, some peanut butter, and soy milk. Yums! Peanut Butter in oatmeal = good idea.

I don't usually have caffeinated coffee, but during retreat weekend I wake up at 5:15 to do my practice before I'm busy teaching all day - and I appreciate the little power boost at breakfast time!

Lunches at the retreat center are really nice. They offer fresh bread, a salad bar, and a few different hot dishes. Our first day they served glazed tempeh triangles, an onion-rice pilaf, and some really great kale. Mmmm.

Day two was enchiladas, a quinoa-corn-black meal concoction, and lots of broccoli. It's not that common that I make so many different parts of a meal when I'm cooking for myself at home, so this is a real treat.

The dinners were also great - but I forgot to photodocument them (too hungry!!). Dinner is usually soup and salad - and dessert! I especially loved the coconut pudding with tapioca balls that they served the first night. A good reminder that I need more tapioca balls in my life!

They don't offer dessert at lunch, so there is a little tradition that I bring some homemade cookies for Saturday lunch. We had lots of gluten-free folks and a few bean-free folks, and lots of vegans, so I met all those needs and made the Ranger Cookies from Manifest Vegan. Delicious, as always. Her recipes are so great - and her cookbook comes out this week! (the only thing I did differently than the recipe was that I used almond butter & tahini instead of cashew butter)

Last but not least, sweet Chloe. She's one of the two cats who lives at the retreat center and she is really, really sweet.

Hope you had a great and yummy weekend too!