********************************************

My school runs its own organic farm and this summer, they sold packages where, every week for eight weeks, they will deliver a fresh assortment of organic vegetables. Our first delivery came today and it was so fun to see everything we got! My definite favorite was the rainbow chard!

First of all, it was giant. And it’s so pretty! From TrueStar Health:

Chard’s leaves can be prepared like spinach, and its stalks like asparagus. In fact, its leaves serve as a good substitute for spinach in most recipes, but they will need to be cooked slightly longer.

Chard may be steamed, sautéed, or braised, and it can be added to soups, stews, and casseroles. The leaves and stems may be cooked and served together, or prepared separately as two different vegetables. The Italians make an egg frittata with chard.

For salads and sandwiches, it’s best to use young, tender leaves. For a simple side vegetable, leaves of medium size can be quickly sautéed—the stalks can be prepared this way, too. Older leaves and stalks are best steamed, boiled, or added to soups, as the stems require a longer cooking time to become tender than the leaves do.

Rainbow chard also is a good source of Vitamins A and C, and contains a huge amount of Vitamin K!

Tomorrow is Farmer’s Market day, which is perfect because I used my last leaf of kale today. I’m going to pick up some more kale and see what else I can find!

****************************************

My knees feel much better today. I’m glad I took a rest day, I think it was just what I needed. I’ll be back in my running shoes tomorrow I snacked on two mini ClifBars while babysitting. Nothing was sounding good to me for dinner, so I just went with PB & banana quesadillas. You can’t really go wrong there, at least in my book. I had a gala apple on the side. Later on, for dessert, I had a half cup of coconut milk ice cream with two mini gluten-free cookies.

Today’s exercise was yoga, yoga, and more yoga! I did half of this week’s YogaToday class in the morning and then this evening I restarted it and did the whole thing from beginning to end. Now, this was a tough class! It is an Anasura-inspired class, so it is very focused on opening the heart. There were a ton of front planks, side planks, downward dogs, and lowering from planks to the floor, so I know that my arms will be sore tomorrow! I didn’t get to the gym today because I figured that this yoga class would give my body a better workout than a few miles on the elliptical. My body is very used to the elliptical, but yoga always knows how to make it work.

The class also including a good amount of warrior poses, which was great. I love the Warrior set of poses. Warrior II is my favorite – I feel strong and beautiful in the pose, like I am a warrior who can take on anything!

Q: What’s you favorite yoga pose, and why?

Good night, everyone! I’m off to bed shortly too, right after I catch up on a bit of work.