Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Weekend of Yoga Retreat Eats and Family Brunch!

Hello dear readers! I had a fun weekend this past weekend... and there was lots of good food involved! A perfect reason for a blog post! 

On Saturday I taught an all-afternoon "mini-retreat." It's one of my favorite formats for teaching - we do a nice long, proper asana practice, followed by a teaching on yoga philosophy, and some pranayama (breathing). It's a fun day, but it's a long day, and I like to give people a little break and a treat after the asana practice. You gotta re-fuel!

I made three different treats - all gluten-free (just in case!), some with chocolate, and some without. I like to cover several bases, so that various preferences can find something appealing. I also usually try to make treats that don't feel super indulgent or decadent... that never feels like a good fit after lots of yoga. The cookies I decided to make were Snickerdoodles and Turtle Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Dates (both from Oh She Glows), and Golden Milk Macaroons (I combined this recipe from Minimalist Baker and the Macaroons recipe from Oh She Glows Everyday). I really increased the recommended spices in the macaroons because I wanted a real golden milk punch. I think the OSGE called for a little too much salt... next time I would definitely use less. Nonetheless, they turned out pretty cool and the yogis gobbled them up. I'm curious to return to this recipe and tweak it some more! 


Of course it's good to have some fresh fruit too, so in winter that means citrus! I love mandarins - easy to peel and yummy to eat! 

Last time I taught a mini-retreat, one of my students brought a big bowl of nuts and everyone ate them up. But hey! I'm supposed to provide the treats to them! So, I took the hint, and included a big bowl of nuts. Why didn't I think of that sooner? Of course it's nice to have some savory nuts in the snack offerings!  

I always have hot water and a selection of various teas, and I always make a big jar of "spa water." This time around I put in lemon slices, orange slices, lime slices, and fresh ginger slices. I love spa water! 

The workshop was a great success and we had a full house (I accidentally over-booked by two spots, and everyone was super gracious about it). Luckily there were plenty of treats and even a few left over, which means no one went hungry! Huzzah!


The very next morning, my parents and my nephew came over for a lovely and relaxed brunch together. My nephew had been home from college for a week, but I'd been busy preparing for my workshop and hadn't connected with him. It was so wonderful to have breakfast together - just the few of us. We had a lovely conversation, and a very sweet morning together. 

In lieu of spending any time preparing brunch the day after my retreat, we went down to the Bagelry right near our house and got a whole selection of bagels. Just like that, breakfast is sorted!  

To go with the bagels, we had a big selection of spreads. My mom brought along some cream cheese (not vegan!) for those non-vegans, and I got some "tofu del fuego" topping from the Bagelry (it's a spicy tofu spread - so good), tomato slices, green onions, olives, sunflower sprouts, earth balance, black berry jam... Lots of options to go sweet or savory. We all had fun doctoring up our own bagels, just the way we liked them. 



In case someone needed a more legit sweetie, I also made a half-batch of Lemon Poppyseed Muffins from Vegan Brunch. I love this recipe, it's flawless and quick! A half batch made six muffins, which was perfect for the five of us. I sent the leftovers with my nephew to take back up to college. Also, isn't my little chihuahua platter just the cutest? I got it when we were in Stockholm and I love it. 

my mom brought some grapes and they looked so pretty!
They were perfectly sweet and yummy. 
It was a really lovely morning together. I hope you had a pretty nice weekend too. 


1 comment:

  1. What a lovely sounding brunch!
    I am also very intrigued by the golden milk macaroons that you made for your yoga class!

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