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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!

               Yes, Shehu was the chef from Team Marcus that ended up staying while I got sent home on The Taste a few weeks ago but us New Yorkers stick together and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to be in the bottom with. Shehu is a big sweetheart and it was such a pleasure cooking with him on the show and hanging out with him here in NYC. He was generous enough to share his absolutely delicious and VEGAN recipe for potato gnocchi with vegetables with me because he knew I’d just love it! Gnocchi is one of my absolute favorite comfort foods in this cold weather and I couldn’t think of a better thing to whip up this weekend to warm you up if you’re reading this from the east coast, like us! It’s also a great dinner party dish, simple to make and super impressive to guests! Give it a whirl, get creative and feel free to keep up with Shehu on facebook and instagram for more delicious food inspiration!

Sauté Potato Gnocchi with Vegetables and Tomato Sauce

1 med size Potato
2 cups AP Flour
1 sm Zucchini
1 sm Yellow Squash
1 sm Carrot
1 sm Onion
1 cup Broccoli Florets
1 cup Cauliflower Florets
2 cups Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp Shehu Fitzgerald Spice Blend # 14 ( or your own favorite spices!)
Salt and Pepper

Place Potato in a pot and cover with water 1 tbsp salt and boil till just tender. Remove from water let cool for 2 mins then peel off skin. Place into a bowl and mash ( try best not to have any lumps ) season with salt and pepper and add flour litter at time and mix to make dough ( sorry I always do this by eye ). Knead and roll into 1/2″ rope and cut into 1″ pieces.

On the stove have a pot of boiling water ready. In a small sauce pot warm tomato sauce. Drop gnocchi into the pot of boiling water and cook till they start to float, then sear them in a sauté pan over med high heat. Season with #14( your own favorite spices!) and cook till golden, then remove  from pan. While pan is still hot add veggies and cook till done.

Assemble the plate and serve 🙂

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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!

Even vegetarians and vegans need to be a little naughty sometimes and I just couldn’t resist sharing this decadent southern classic that my friend (and fellow Taste gal), Rebekah Faulk whipped up for her wonderful blog Some Kinda Good. I think these would be a wonderful veggie friendly addition to your superbowl apps and because they’re a little naughty, you’ll still feel like you’re indulging with boys without having to chow down on buffalo wings or those baby hot dogs. Now, of course, if you want to make them even healthier, you can try baking them instead of frying them. Same prep just put them on a parchment lined baking sheet at 375 degrees and then once they’re cooked, maybe sautee them in a pan with a little bit of coconut oil to get the outside crispy! However, I wasn’t about to mess with greatness, so I left Rebekah’s recipe just the way it was for you here. Enjoy!

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Some Kinda Good’s Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients
3 Large Green Tomatoes
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup self-rising flour
2 Teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
Vegetable Oil for frying
Green Onion for garnish, optional

Directions:
Slice tomatoes about ¼ of an inch thick. Place them on a flat surface and season with salt. Transfer the tomatoes to a colander and allow them to drain in the sink for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a cast iron skillet or 10-inch frying pan with vegetable oil halfway full and set over medium heat. The oil will be ready for frying when sizzling occurs after gently sprinkled with water. In a small dish, use a fork to combine the cornmeal, flour, Old Bay, salt and pepper. Dredge the tomatoes in the flour mixture on each side. Roll the sides of the tomato in the flour mixture too, to ensure an even coating. Shake off any excess before dropping the tomato slices into the hot oil. Fry the tomato slices until golden brown, turning once during cooking.  Remove them from the oil and drain on paper towels. Garnish with green onion.  Serve warm with Ranch Dressing if desired.

Rebekah Faulk is a Georgia food writer and Statesboro-based TV Personality. A Season 2 contestant on ABC-TV’s The Taste, she blogs at SomeKindaGood.org, a Southern, coastal food blog highlighting East coast restaurant reviews and Lowcountry-inspired recipes. Follow her on Twitter @SKGFoodBlog or on find her on Facebook. 

 

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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

 

It’s hard to imagine my life before green juice, in all seriousness, my body runs on this stuff! So naturally, my first book was called JUICESPIRATION : Recipes, inspiration and everything you need to have an amazing juice cleansing journey!an ode to my absolute devotion to the miraculous drink because I’m a total addict. Green juice is an amazing way to give yourself a healthy, nutrient boost anytime, especially once that 4pm slump comes around and it’s a little too late in the day for coffee! Personally, I also think it’s a great way to start your day. I always feel better and want to make healthier choices through out my day when it begins with a big glass of a green juice. For those of you that aren’t full card carrying green juices fans quite yet, I wanted to give you a little preview of one of the recipes in “Juicespiration” and my personal go-to green juice to get you going! Try making my green standard at home or order it at your local juice bar to get you going on your healthy journey and be sure to tag me on facebook/instagram/twitter with @cassandrabodzak #juicespiration with your green juice pics!!

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This adorable vegetable is called Romanesco and looks like a baby green cauliflower and tastes like a mix between broccoli and cauliflower. I HIGHLY suggest you try it if you haven’t already! Pick it up at your local farmer’s market and make it for dinner this weekend! I whipped up this super easy and delicious Asian inspired version the other night and wanted to share it with you. If you’re unsure how to cook this, follow this recipe and feel free to substitute the sauce for anything you like or just leave it plain with a little salt and pepper.

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Asian inspired Romanesco

1 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tbsp of plum sauce
2 tbsp of ginger infused olive oil (or regular olive oil + chopped ginger)

Rinse and chop up your Romanesco (like you would a head of cauliflower or broccoli). Place a small frying pan on the stove with a tbsp of coconut oil in it and your Romanesco and sautee for a few minutes. While that’s cooking, mix your plum sauce and ginger olive oil together and then drizzle over the cooking Romanesco. It shouldn’t take more than five – ten minutes to cook since the Romanesco is so tiny but use your judgement on how crunchy you want the finished product. I love my veggies when they still have a bit of a crunch to them! 😉

Hey loves! Sorry about the quality of this video – we are on opposite coasts and had to livestream this interview! Audrey and I shared an amazing and yet challenging experience of being on #TheTaste as healthy cooks. In this video you’ll learn about how Audrey “lost weight by eating” and lots of fun gossip about #TheTaste! A lot of people were very quick to judge Audrey for plugging her blog but I hope you take a minute and meet the real lady because she is a sweetheart with a great attitude. If you give this interview I think you’ll find out some things you didn’t know about her, why she is so passionate about helping people get healthy and how hard it was being on The Taste and out of our element as healthy home cooks!

You can check out her blog at Loseweightbyeating.com and find her on twitter as @tonetiki! Show her some love – us healthy girls need to support each other!

For those of you who were shocked, surprised or upset by tonight’s episode of The Taste, I wanted to take a minute and discuss with you my food philosophy and why I ate chicken for Chef Ludo on tonight’s The Taste. Please take a few minutes to watch and subscribe to my youtube channel for more personal vlogs as well as cooking videos, healthy living tips and more! xo