How do you get inspired and Yoga/Cooking Retreat recap

I know I know. It’s already Wednesday and I haven’t posted a blog yet this week. I’m so jealous of my blogging friends that are really good at it, who get posts out almost every day. I cherish you all for inspiration and letting me into your lives. But I’m not so good at this blogging thing. At least not lately. Let’s just say I’m in a little bit of a funk. Ever since I got back from my book tour I’ve felt kind of stagnant, uninspired. Life is good so why would I feel this way? I’m exploring what’s going on inside me, with my hormone production and my thyroid function. Sometimes when you’ve got the blues it’s because something is chemically wrong. If you have any experience with this please share with us in the comments.

So when I feel uninspired I don’t feel like blogging. I don’t feel like cooking either, but thankfully things are turning around. My good mood started Saturday at the Yoga and Vegan Cooking Retreat. Then I spent a good 5 hours in the kitchen the last few days making new recipes. Not only am I creating recipes for my next book I have to retest all the recipes already on paper. I like to make sure everything works as is before I hand them off to my recipe testers. Speaking of recipe testing, I need a few more people, so if you can commit to 5 recipes a week please let me know!

Saturday I had the pleasure of co-hosting a one-day retreat with Nicole Sopko from Upton’s Naturals. Nicole and I met at VIda Vegan Con, then we had her teach yoga at the Texas State Veggie Fair (where Upton’s was present too). Everyone had great things to say about her yoga classes. She asked me if I wanted to host a retreat with her and of course I said yes! I had recently met Ruby who has a retreat center an hour out of town that would be perfect. A Day Away Retreat is so lovely and is a great place for a getaway. They can hold up to 12 people for overnight stays, there’s a pool and jacuzzi, animals friends to play with and the space is versatile for all kinds of needs. I highly recommend it. They do crafting parties, weddings, health retreats, you name it!

I was the chef for the retreat so I got to spend all day doing what I love: feeding people delicious food! It was inspiring to hear of everyone’s health journey and everyone raved about the meals. I went to the retreat the day before to start prepping. I blasted some music and danced around the kitchen as I cooked. For some reason I totally forgot how much music inspires me and puts me in a good mood. Since my dad is always at home when I cook I never turn on music. I’m going to ask him if it’s ok to blast some jams because it really helps me cook!

We started the morning with Wholesome Banana Bread Muffins and fruit salad. For lunch we had my famous Un-Tuna salad (pictured above, Blissful Bites pg. 206) and chilled gazpacho. For dinner we had a Moroccan Chickpea and Root Veggie Stew with brown rice and a spinach salad. For dessert everyone got an individual peach cranberry crisp. For more photos of the event visit my Facebook page.

Thank you to everyone that attended. It was lovely to meet you all and I wish you the best of luck on your healthy journeys. Since I was only able to give a short cooking demo, my plan is to have a weekend retreat that is mostly cooking classes with a few yoga classes thrown in. This will be the first weekend of June. Space is very limited so if you are interested please contact me asap.

So tell me what inspires you? When you are feeling stagnant what kinds of things to you do to get out of the blahs?