Summer squashes are taking over! So are greens like kale and collards. Last week I was at the Union Square Greenmarket making my Kool Kale & Zucchini Sauté. This salad is particulary nice because it’s got a good hot & cold contrast, an ode to summer life in NYC, where you’re hot one minute and freezing in the A/C the next. Zucchini is extremely versatile- you can eat it raw with other chopped veggies & hummus, it makes a great soup, is excellent for stir fries and even adds an extra crunch to your favorite summer bean & salsa dips. Zucchini is super low in calories and is quite filling, so eat up! ‘Tis the season!
Week 4- time for stone fruit! These were the best plums I have ever eaten. EVER. Also in this week’s share: mixed greens, cabbage, amaranth, raspberries, sweet peas, cucumber, zucchini, beets, and yellow squash. *drumroll please* Menu: Pea Rissoto (w/out the wine-so good), Apple-kale-cabbage-beet juice, raspberry smoothies, mixed green salad, summer beet soup and the plums were eaten raw!
Summer in New York is unbeatable in terms of live, outdoor music shows. Prospect Park Bandshell has a great lineup this year and with a suggested donation of $3, it’s easy on the pockets as well. Upcoming headliners include Metric (pictured) and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Make the most of your summer! Prospect Park has a great vibe and as someone told me this weekend, “the most good looking people in all of New York”. Click here to see what’s poppin’ in other boroughs.
In this video on AOL Health, First Lady Michelle Obama keeps it real about the health of children in America. I love that she talks about the power of implementing small, manageable changes into our lives. This is so true! Significant results begin with small steps! So often we try to make HUGE changes all at once only to be met with disappointment when our super-sized goals were not met. Here’s what the Obamas did to make their home a healthier place:
-remove processed foods & sugary drinks from cabinets & fridge
-cook one good meal a week and have more sit-down family dinners
-less TV time, more (free) physical activities around the home like dancing (would love to see that)
-increasing water intake
-setting a good example by making sure her and her husband are engaged in sports
-promoting a healthy body image for her girls, not obsessing about her or their weight
Keep up the good work, Mrs. Obama, Marian Isel Wellness has your back!
Can you still call it Restaurant Week if it’s going on for 13 days? Why not! For a lovely limited time, tons of restaurants all over New York City will be serving special fixed lunches for $24.07 and dinners for $35.00. Click here for a list of participating establishments, and make sure you call ahead of time to see if this offer is on for Sundays, Saturdays are definitely out. Buen provecho!
Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine waxed poetic on supplements and herbs for Dr. Oz’s Alternative Health Clinic. Dr. Weil, aka “the godfather of alternative medicine,” shares his thoughts on how to boost energy naturally and presents a great recipe for the Green Monster, an excellent smoothie made with kale juice. This monster is not scary, I promise! It’s delicious, easy to prepare and packed with phytonutrients. Click on the picture to view the video clip.
Here’s a photo sent to me by one of my lovely clients. One of her goals was to incorporate more fruits & veggies into her diet. She had wanted to begin juicing but was slightly intimated by her juicer. Understandably so! One look at it and you think, “What a mess to clean up!”, but seriously it takes under 5 minutes to clean and the results are well worth it. She began with juicing carrots and apple (a tasty and sweet drink for beginners) and has graduated to adding beets to the mix. Great work!
Week 3 brings the beginning of the fruit share! Raspberries and red currants came into my kitchen along with the following veggies: russian kale, red chard, cilantro, collard greens, peas, zucchini, mixed greens and beets. On the menu: Beet, kale and orange juice, Steamed chard w/olive oil & lemon, Raspberry smoothies, Massaged Kale & Currants Salad, Mixed greens, currants, mango & red onion salad, Collards Sauté, Italian style zucchini boats, Tabouleh salad with currants and cilantro. Delicious!
The state of your finances can directly affect your physical and mental health. Financial dis-ease can aggravate stress levels, blood pressure, anxiety, insomnia and trigger bad eating habits. Oprah’s run a five part series on her show titled, “The Debt Diet”. It provides the viewer with tons of information such as creating pie charts for your finances, tips on dealing with credit card companies to lower interest rates, bringing consciousness to your spending habits, strategies for eliminating debt and moving forward in a debt-free life. Click here to receive your financial check-up!
