Together at the Table: A New Winter Snack

by Meredith Blanks Paterson

Today I want to tell you about my rather unholy obsession with... dun dun dun... kale. I love it. I used to hate it, but that was because I didn't know how to prepare it. It can be a finicky little green, but when it's treated well, it becomes so tasty, and I can feel it healing my body. I'm actually craving it daily now.

My latest trick-- you may be far ahead of me on this-- is kale chips. Kids will love helping out with these! There is a very special moment when the kale actually changes color in this recipe.

There are lots of great recipe variations out there. Experiment with different seasonings and let me know what you come up with.

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or less--to taste)

Supplies:
cookie sheet
parchment paper (optional)
large bowl
salad spinner (optional, but very helpful)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Kid-friendly: Wash the kale thoroughly. Separate the leaves from the tough stems.  Kids will love ripping the leaves off. I like to save the stems for juicing or to put in long-cooking soups when they'll have time to soften substantially.
3. Kid-friendly: Dry the leaves in a salad spinner and/or with towels. They need to be really dry. Kids are the perfect salad spinning assistants.
4. Kid-friendly: Put the dry leaves in a big bowl and take a picture (mental or with a camera). Pour in the olive oil and use your hands to mix the oil and leaves. Notice how the leaves turn a beautiful bright green when they've been massaged.
5. Kid-friendly: Spread the leaves out in a single layer on the cookie sheet. You may have two batches, depending on the size of your kale bunch.
6. Kid-friendly: Sprinkle with salt.
7. Place in the oven for 8-10 minutes. I suggest checking after 8 minutes. The aim is for crispy but not brown or burnt.
8. Let them cool and enjoy them with your favorite holiday movie! (Perfect popcorn replacement!)

(vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free)

Mindful Holidays

Damla plays in double boat/barco doble/navasana with variation.

by Damla Eytemiz

While holiday events may encourage us to eat, drink, and be merry, we can be mindful about how we participate. Moderation in all things is necessary. Here are some of my reflections on how to have a great healthy holiday. 

Exercise regularly. Eat well. Holiday doesn’t mean you have to cut your exercise time, change your schedule or eating habits. Instead, try adding more activity in your life to cope with holiday stress. Exercise helps you to relax and reduce your stress. Plus, if you do attend more gatherings with delicious foods, the added activity will help prevent possible seasonal weight gain.

Connect the season to your activities: dance to your favorite carols, walk around the neighborhood and marvel at the decorations, make snowballs, work with your kids to make healthy holiday snacks and teach them how to make OHMazing choices no matter the season.

Oranges are examples of "candy from the Earth."

At a recent class in La Palmera mall for the TideTurner's event, Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® founder and CEO, Beth Reese, and I passed out clementine oranges reminding kids to eat "candy form the earth." Fruit has sugar in it, too! The difference is the sugar is natural and the pulp and fiber in fruit forces our body to digest the sugar more slowly than in foods with added sugar.



Damla Eytemiz is from Turkey and she is trilingual in Turkish, English and German. She started Yoga in 2010, and she has been doing Pilates since 2007. She loves sports and thinks kids should put “Yoga” in their lives so that they can readily work through life’s challenges and be happier kids.  

Poised for Possibility: Strike a Pose to Rock the Butte

Meredith (right) and I have tons of fun transforming
traditional asanas into playful partner poses!

by Elizabeth Reese, Ph.D., RYT, RCYT

It's no secret that I love to practice yoga-off-the-mat: brushing my teeth, waiting for coffee, in-line anywhere, traveling.... you name it! I also enjoy traveling to new places to meet new friends and experience yoga, like Yoga Rocks the Butte Festival for all ages including FAMILIES in February!

Try this pose with your family and friends then SEND ME PICTURES to enter a drawing to win a pass to YOGA ROCKS THE BUTTE!

One of my favorite poses to play with is Arbol/Vrksasana/Tree. We offer instructions in English and Spanish to extend our limbs to as many friends as possible.

• Start in Mountain Pose with feet strong (think about your four points of contact)
• Reach forward to grab your right ankle. Put bottom of right foot against upper left thigh

  

  Teachers play "Mirror Tree" pose to extend the
  asana into pratyhara or cultivation of the senses.

• Keep a firm foundation while tightening hips & belly for strength
• Place hands on hips & lengthen your body.
• Hands meet at heart center in Anjali Mudra.
  
• Comienza en pose de Montaña con los pies fuertemente plantados en el piso (piensa en tus cuatro puntos de contacto)
• Estírate hacia adelante para agarrar tu tobillo derecho. Coloca la planta del pie derecho contra la parte superior del muslo izquierdo.
• Mantén una base firme al mismo tiempo que tensas las caderas y la panza para obtener mayor fuerza.



Andersen, my 4 year old Yogiña, sports
Vrksasana almost anywhere, anytime!

• Coloca las manos en las caderas y estira tu cuerpo.



Middle school yogis play in Arbol and add a ball or sandbag
to turn the pose into the OHMazing™ game, Tree Toss.

• Las manos se encuentran en el centro a la altura del corazón para Anjali Mudra.

Our Teacher Training in Crested Butte found us hiking and
striking Tree pose along the way. Join us at Yoga for the Peaceful
in June for another Teacher Training among the mountains!

Elizabeth Reese, Ph.D., RYT, RCYT, is the founder and executive director of Yogiños: Yoga for Youth®. She is a teacher with over 20 years of experiences leading learners of all ages in creative problem solving, self-reflection and empowerment. With her doctorate degree in art museum education, Reese is the visual arts columnist for the Corpus Christi Caller Times, a visiting instructor at Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi, and the author of several articles and book chapters as well as co-author of the book, Experience Art: Teaching and Learning through Works of Art. Her teaching credentials also include windsurfing and skiing.

Together at the Table: Allergic to the Holidays

by Meredith Blanks Paterson

Holidays are fraught with emotion for everyone, and those emotions can be particularly heightened around the subject of food. Holiday celebrations revolve around food, and the preparation and eating of the food is a ritual sacred to many households. 

When you or a family member has food sensitivities, food allergies, and special dietary needs, the weight of those traditions suddenly becomes more apparent, and you fear doing anything to disturb them. I play the zero-sum game with myself each time. Which is worse, getting sick or calling attention to myself with my special food? Typing that question makes me sad, but I consider it at each social meal.

Gluten-Free Easily is hosting an
extravaganza of allergy-friendly holiday recipes
to help create new traditions.

If you have a child with food allergies, the holidays mean well-meaning relatives offering spoons to lick and handfuls of treats at all hours of the day. You worry that hyper-vigilance won't be enough, and that maybe staying home is always the best option.

Several online resources have helped me handle both the emotional side of social eating-- the fear, the shame, the anxiety-- and the practical how-tos of what to bring when I go out to eat or to a friend or family member's house. These resources have also helped me realize that there are so many things that I can eat instead of focusing only on what I have had to remove from my diet. They make me feel excited about food again.

If you need a place to start, this post from Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom really resonated with me and made me realize that making myself sick was not worth it.



Here are some resources that I have found helpful. Most cover multiple food allergies and sensitivities. Lots of great recipes and advice in each link.

Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom
Elana's Pantry
M.A.G
The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen
Gluten-Free Easily

What are your tips for handling the holidays on a special diet? Share with us any resources and recipes you have found.

Together at the Table: What's on Your Plate?

by Meredith Paterson
I wanted to write today about two OHMazing™, tenacious activists who were curious about something and set out to find answers. And they were only 11 years old.

Sadie and Safiyah, © Aubin Pictures

In the documentary What's on Your Plate?, produced and directed by Catherine Gund, Sadie and Safiyah, two friends in New York City, set out to get answers about where their food comes from and how it gets to their tables. They interview people from many different aspects of our food system. They go to grocery stores, fast food restaurants, and school cafeterias as well as to farmers' markets and farms-- all in a quest to determine how our food system works and why it has gotten to the point of our food being "trucked over 1,500 miles before we bite into it. And seeds are engineered to die out after one season in order to ensure corporate control of the food chain." (Catherine Gund)

This is a can't-miss film, an incredible opportunity to talk about food with your family and to look at the system together so that everyone can make educated choices about what they put in their mouths.

"Kids need to know the full benefits of local food: more energy-efficient production,
more prosperous farmers, healthier communities, longer lasting and better tasting
fruits and veggies. Kids need to know that their food doesn’t only come from the
supermarket or the factory, but from nearby farms, trees and the ground. Adults
need to be empowered to share this information with the next generation. . . .

These days, when I tell my kids to eat their veggies, I also have to tell them that I am
willing to fight for their opportunity to do so. This film represents a part of that
work. . . .

The film culminates with a delicious local meal cooked by the girls and
friends they have made along the way. Sadie and Safiyah formulate sophisticated
and compassionate opinions about urban sustainability, and by doing so inspire
hope and active engagement in others." (www.whatsonyourplateproject.org)

Filming at the Union Square Farmers Market
with eco-chef Bryant Terry © Aubin Pictures

The film's website has lots of resources for kids, parents, and educators including blogs, recipes, curriculum guides to go with the film and more.

A reader-submitted recipe to the website for a your What's on Your Plate? movie night.

Super Cauliflower-tastic 

Ingredients:

• 1 head of Cauliflower
• Water
• 2 Cloves of Garlic (more if, less if)
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• Salt & Black or White Pepper to taste
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste

1. Trim cauliflower stalks and separate florets. In large stockpot, add cold water and 1-2 garlic cloves. Place cauliflower in large steamer basket and place into stockpot. Bring to boil, about 10 minutes.
2. When cooked, remove water and toss boiled garlic in with the cauliflower. Remove the strainer. Return pot to low heat and add olive oil. Mash all with potato masher.
3. If you don’t have a potato masher, use the back of a heavy spoon or fork.
4. Taste and add salt and experiment with the use of white or black pepper seasoning. Use crushed red pepper for garnish for to spice up the dish.
5. Serve warm - tastes great cold too!
*Adding your favorite fresh herbs bring a different taste thrill - try dill or oregano. Try a lemon squeeze over a bite-ful for a tasty zing...

Creating Connections: Día de los Muertos

by Meredith Paterson

Happy Halloween! What are you doing tonight to celebrate?

A skeleton does half-lotus-- look ma, no muscles!

 This past weekend, I had the great treat of being in downtown San Antonio and taking part in some of the Día de los Muertos festivities that were being held at El Mercado.

Día de los Muertos is celebrated in Mexico and around the Southwest on November 1 and 2 and is a celebration of the lives of friends and relatives who have passed. It is a regional version of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day celebrations that take place around the world.

Offerings, ofrendas, on an altar at Mi Tierra
restaurant in San Antonio.

During these days, graves are cleaned and decorated, and beautiful altars are created in homes and public spaces to honor the deceased. The altars include offerings, ofrendas, such as marigolds, sugar skulls, favorite foods and drinks of the person, objects that the person may have loved, and poems and stories in honor of the person. Families and friends get together to share memories and stories of loved ones. 

"People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages as well as photos and memorabilia of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them. Celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed...

A large altar built on a truck in the
San Antonio Farmers' Market Buiding

Toys are brought for dead children (los angelitos, or "the little angels"), and bottles of tequila, mezcal or pulque or jars of atole for adults. Families will also offer trinkets or the deceased's favorite candies on the grave. Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead"), and sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased.^[2] Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrendas food, so even though the celebrators eat the food after the festivities, they believe it lacks nutritional value. Pillows and blankets are left out so that the deceased can rest after their long journey. In some parts of Mexico, such as the towns of Mixquic, Pátzcuaro and Janitzio, people spend all night beside the graves of their relatives. In many places, people have picnics at the grave site as well."  from Wikipedia

I love this holiday for so many reasons. Though death is in its title, it is a celebration of life, beauty, creativity, and art. Most importantly, it is time set aside to consciously remember those who are no longer with us in person, and to remember them with humor and full-spirited love. The holiday embraces all aspects of our existence, the light and the dark. It gives us permission to be something other than somber as we reflect on and send out prayers for those who have passed.

 Here is a recipe for pan de muerto for your Día de los Muertos celebration.

Together at the Table: Happy (Healthy) Halloween!

by Meredith Paterson

The countdown is on! Just a few more days until one of my favorite holidays of the year. I'm still putting a few finishing touches on my costume. Check out our monthly Yogiños newsletter for more fun Halloween tips!

Halloween is definitely a holiday to be celebrated with gusto. I am a former raisin-giver (I have since repented) who tried foolishly to impose health-at-all-costs on the poor, unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. Now, I'm just looking for a little more balance. Gusto doesn't have to mean excess, and celebrations don't always have to end with tummyaches. There are now so many more environmentally-friendly, healthy options out there for what you can hand out to trick-or-treaters. Look at the bottom of this post for ideas.

Like I tend to write in so many of these Together at the Table posts, one of the best things you can do as a family is to have a thoughtful discussion about how to have a mindful holiday that doesn't actually become a pain in the belly.

Here are some of our favorite Yogiños yoga poses for keeping your digestion running smoothly, even through Halloween.

More ways to have a mindful Halloween!

"Eek-o-friendly"  tips and ideas from Green Halloween.

A great online resource for vegan Halloween treat options.

Allergy-friendly Halloween treats. (Be sure to read labels as ingredients may change from year to year.)

How do you make Halloween a mindful celebration in your family?