Blasts of Light

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“By letting go, it all gets done.” – Lao Tzu

This quote has really been resonating with me the past few days. I’ve got “to-do” lists longer than my legs and all sorts of obligations. Sometimes I meditate multiple times through out the day just to keep my stress level in order. And then it hit me the other day, to just let it go and trust that it will get done. Now this may not work when you are trying to eat healthy and make new habits for yourself but as far as work goes, I really think it helps. I’ve opened up the window for more inspiration, been guided towards certain opportunities and felt more in flow with my professional desires. When we are taking right minded action, not sitting on the couch eating potato chips, but also not forcing and pushing ourselves to finish our to do list at the expense of our well being, we get into a groove.
I have joked around for a while now with some of my girlfriends that I will spend all day sending out emails and pitching different ideas and it’ll be that random Thursday morning email from someone I didn’t even reach out to that will be a game changer. This quote was a reminder to me to let go and allow the universe to take over. To trust that we don’t have to PUSH so hard, we can flow.

What areas of your life are you pushing in right now? How might you be able to let go and let it flow? Comment below and let’s get a conversation going!

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                One of the most frequent questions I get is,”what kind of juicer do you use?” or “What kind of juicer should I buy?” So I figured it was about time I write a blog dedicated to letting you know just that! My first response to most of these questions about finding the right juicer is that the right juicer is the one you will use!! There are so many different types of juicers and you can certainly argue for some over others but at the same time, a fancy juicer with all sorts of amazing features that you can’t afford right now and discourages you from buying a juicer all together helps no one. Get what you can with in your budget when you are just starting out, it’s more important to start getting into the habit of making delicious fruit and vegetable juices at home. Once you have a little more experience with juicing and get as addicted to that pure, clean, boost of energy that it provides as I am, then you will feel better about investing in a higher quality juicer.

               As for me, I use a Samson Multipurpose Juice Extractor and I absolutely love it! My Samson operates at a lower speed (80 rpm) which means that the original nutrients and flavor are preserved when I’m making my juices. Some juicers tend to operate at higher speeds (7000-10000 rpm) where a lot of the vitamins in the fresh juice start getting destroyed. This was extremely important to me when I was selecting a juicer because I want to get as much nutritional value from juices as possible especially for when I’m juice cleansing! My Samson Juice Extractor is also great at juicing those dark leafy greens I love so much. A lot of juicers can clog up if you’re as much of a kale monster as I am. My first juicer would waste so much kale and spinach, it would go straight to the waste bucket and I would get just a drip of juice from a massive handful. Once again, if you have to buy a more basic model when you are starting out, just take the leafy green waste and put it through the juicer a second or third time to get as much juice as possible but it is such a beautiful thing to not have to do that with this juicer. Lastly, I love my juicer because it does so much more than juice! When I first started juicing, I was completely unaware that you could find juicers that can also make nut butters, mince, make noodles, puree for salad dressings and sauces and even make nut milk. I use it for everything! It has become my best kitchen buddy. Can you tell I’m a little excited by my favorite kitchen toy? Don’t worry I’ll be posting even more about some of the other wildly handy things my juicer can do this month! Feel free to check out more information about the juicer I own here as well as all it’s brothers and sisters.

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It’s national pancake day!! Why not make yours BOTH delicious and healthy for you by using quinoa as the flour! Quinoa is a superfood loaded with protein, iron and tons of nutrients you won’t find in typical pancake flour. I do warm that this recipe requires a food processor and you won’t get that “pancake-like” texture with out it.

Pumpkin Quinoa Pancakes
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
1 egg or a flaxseed ‘egg’ substitute
1 tbsp coconut oil

Filling:
Tofutti cream cheese
2 tbsp date syrup
A sprinkle of nutmeg, cinnamon
A touch of vanilla extract

First cook your quinoa: place half a cup of quinoa and a full cup of water into a soup pan, let the water come to a boil and stir till only quinoa is left in then pan and all water has evaporated.

Now place drained and rinsed quinoa into your food processor with all the other ingredients at the top and pulse till you get a pancake like batter consistency.

In a frying pan on the stove place a tiny bit of coconut butter and scoop a tbsp of batter to get the cute little stacks shown in the picture. Flip when the middle bubbles and edges start to crisp.

For the filling, simply whip up the tofutti and date syrup and the. Season to taste! Spread in between pancakes and drizzles with maple syrup of desired! These are adorable, delicious and so satisfying!

It’s Valentine’s Day and what better day to address the issue of staying skinny (on track with your health and fitness goals) while in love! Dating or being in a relationship can make stay your slimmest pretty tough but with these FOUR tools you should be able to navigate the waters easily! Like, SHARE and please SUBSCRIBE for more recipes, tips and inspiration to live your healthiest, happiest life!

Want to know the EASIEST way to start losing weight and keeping it off? Well it’s mindful eating! In this video I share with you my skinny secret for mindful eating and give you a couple different ways to start incorporating it in your life now!

If you want to really get into it and cause some serious changes in your health and happiness, join me in NYC (or order a recording if you can’t) this Sunday 2/16 for my HAPPIER, HEALTHIER LIFE NOW class where I will be teaching you 5 effective tools for eating more mindfully and 3 different meditations to keep your stress levels down and your energy up! tickets and details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/happier-healthier-life-now-with-cassandra-bodzak-from-abcs-the-taste-tickets-9999515821

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              Can you believe I was scared to go to SOULCYCLE!? Well, not scared like something terrible was going to happen if I went but I felt a little intimidated and didn’t want to make a fool of myself. Literally, everyone and their mother had told me to go, that I would love it but I had ‘group fitness anxiety’. I’m a yogi and dancer by nature, I specialize is being uber flexible and memorizing routines. Pilates? I’m there, Hip hop? Count me in, Spinning?! Eh, no thank you! And while I do encourage you guys to find an activity you LOVE that you enjoy doing and stick to that to start getting you moving, sometimes it’s fun and exhilarating to step outside your  comfort zone and dive into the latest fitness craze. In honor of #FearlessFebruary, I did just that! I grabbed a girlfriend and went to SOULCYCLE and….

IT WAS FUN!!!

Seriously, I had the best time and would probably do it every day if it wasn’t so pricey! The music was great, the basic moves spoke to the dancer in me and made me feel at home. However, the best experience was when the lights were dim, the music was loud, our instructor told us to close are eyes and just give over to the music. It was a very different type of meditation than usual for me and I totally loved it. I felt sweaty but invigorated and alive afterward. Big thanks to my girl Alyssa for accompanying me and my client Lauren for telling me how obsessed she was and pushing me to go! You ladies rock and now you’ve got me addicted! 🙂

So what exactly is #FearlessFebruary? 

February is one of my favorite months! It’s my birthday (on the 24th) and Valentine’s Day – a double whamie of love and fun! I’ve also had an incredible start to 2014 and I’m ready to break some boundaries, bust through some blocks and start 27 fearless and fabulous! So this month I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone everyday! I have made a promise to myself (and my streaks app haha) to do something that scares me EVERY DAY this month. I’ll be sharing ones like this SOULCYCLE post, which I feel will particularly connect with you guys but feel free to tweet at me @cassandrabodzak and ask me what my #fearlessfebruary act was that day – I’d love to share! They have ranged so far from anything like putting myself out of my comfort zone physically by trying harder classes, to attending events solo and introducing myself to new people (always a scary task!) to contacting people who inspire and intimidate me. I’m SUPER EXCITED to share with you tomorrow my #FearlessFebruary Instagram Contest – be sure to follow me and look out for the announcement tomorrow morning!

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                Treat yourself to some self-care at the end of Valentine’s Day weekend and join us for an hour and half of meditation and mindful eating that will have refreshed, re-energized and ready to give your health and wellness resolutions a one-two punch! I’ll take you through three meditations, a basic ‘everyday’ meditation to keep you on track with your health and fitness goals, one you can use in case of everyday stress-mergencies and finish with a more advanced meditation that will break through any mental clutter and leave you feeling refreshed to start your week! We will also go over 5 important strategies for more mindful eating that will transform the way you look at what you put in your mouth, help you slim down, have more energy and start loving your body. Best yet, you’ll start transforming your body without feeling deprived or restricted in any way. I’m excited! Are you!?

                      The event will take place in Midtown Manhattan – Sunday 2/16 at 7pm- 8:30pm However, if you are not a NYC local OR just can’t make it that day, I’m very excited to announce that for the first time EVER, we will be selling recordings of the event which will be emailed to you with in 24 hours of the event so you can watch it from the comfort of your own home! 

Click here to sign up now! 🙂

For those of you who watched The Taste last night, my #teamludo not only won the group VEGGIE CHALLENGE, but my girl Louise (aka. Weezy) won 2 gold stars for her veggie dish! Woot! Woot! Combine that with my man Lee saying that his gold star was for me and it’s safe to say I felt very happy with my friends stepping up there game and making some killer vegetarian dishes!
Naturally, I wanted to represent my veggie rockstar team mate Louise and asked her for a yummy recipe to share with you and I think you guys are going to LOVE this one!! Louise was kind enough to share this fabulous video with us of her making her “Green Machine Breakfast Shake” Check it out for a delicious and nutritious  way to get your greens in the AM and start your day off right. For those of you who are vegan watching, Louise does add some greek yogurt for protein, feel free to substitute that with a little more almond milk and scoop of almond butter OR if you like the yogurt-like consistency, they make some delicious almond and coconut ‘yogurts’ out there. Enjoy! Go #teamludo!

With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, I thought it would be fun to bring in my boyfriend, chef Lee Knoeppel to help me whip up a yummy snack for the game that would be both healthy and ‘man-friendly’. These Zucchini Fries are so addictive you’d never guess they were healthy and his ‘buffalo-ranch’ dressing is going to blow the mind of you ranch dressing fanatics.

Please SUBSCRIBE, like and share if you enjoy!

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So excited to be featured on Self Magazine’s weekender blog this week! As a healthy living junkie, Self has always been a go to resource for me and I am just delighted to be able to contribute! Check out my soup recipe and other wonderful weekend ideas from my friends The Kissters : click here 🙂

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Yes, that’s a screenshot from my phone that I took this morning when I was awoken with lovely texts and emails from my girlfriends who had already seen my article on MindBodyGreen.com! Can I tell you, BEST WAY TO WAKE UP EVER! This article is super special to me because it was inspired by recent events in my life. After ABC’s The Taste started airing, I started getting some hateful tweets, facebook comments and emails. Most of the were from vegans or vegetarians who felt I was making a mockery of their beliefs by trying new things on TV. Although I personally never label myself, I do cook and bake almost 100% vegan and that was portrayed on the show. It absolutely broke my heart to have people from a community I have so loved and stood for over the years turn on me, it made me really sad but ultimately it didn’t make me feel like I had done anything wrong. Through their hate I realized just how okay I was not being perfect and how, in fact, I believe it is my imperfectness that helps me spread my message so widely. I am not an elitist, I do not believe you have to be at a certain level of eating to be truly healthy. I believe in real people making real changes and working towards their personal best health and happiness everyday and I will stand by that.

So I am proud to share this article with you because not only is it OKAY to not be PERFECT – it also goes to show you how the universe works in mysterious ways and can turn a hurricane of hate into a wave of love and acceptance. http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12350/3-reasons-im-proud-to-be-imperfect.html

please SHARE the link on twitter and facebook and spread the love! <3