Tangy Chickpea, Broccoli and Sundried Tomato Salad

This salad from Cookie and Kate is a regular around our house in the summer. It’s simple, fresh and is great on a wrap or pita bread with smashed avocado. It would also be delicious on a bed or arugula. The dressing adds tons of flavor with ingredients many of you will have laying around the house.

Ingredients:

1 bunch broccoli. florets removed and sliced thin

1 can (15 oz) of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and chopped

1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (or chopped kalamata olives for vegans)

2 medium avocados

Salt, to taste

4 whole grain pita breads, or 4 large, thick slices of hearty whole grain bread, or other gluten free wraps.

Lemon dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste

1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 ½ teaspoons honey or maple syrup, to taste

1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste

Pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions:

Prepare the chickpea salad by combining broccoli, chickpeas, red onions, feta cheese and sundried tomatoes

In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients and whisk until emulsified. Taste and add additional salt, if necessary

Pour the dressing over the broccoli chickpea salad and toss to combine

Mash avocados and spread on your pitas, bread or wraps and top with chickpea salad.

Serves 2 with enough leftover for a lunch. My personal tip: Make a double batch of this yummy salad so you have enough for a couple of meals.

Sneak Peak: New Rooted Wellness & Pilates Studio!

It’s an exciting new chapter in my professional life! After more than 15 years at tru Pilates, I’m opening my own studio at 270 S. Pantops Dr. in Charlottesville, Virginia. I can’t wait to start working with clients in the space (you can book as session here), but I wanted to give everyone a quick virtual tour of the new Rooted Wellness & Pilates home. So I’ve shared a few (very) short videos to give you a sneak peak!

Welcome!

Here’s a look around the new studio. There’s room for private Pilates sessions on the reformer and mat, an area for Somatic and Health Coaching, and an area where I’ll film live virtual mat classes.

I’m so excited to celebrate this new adventure!

It’s such a peaceful, positive space to do Pilates! Mature forest sloping down to the Rivanna River makes for a leafy, calming view out of the studio. Rooted Wellness shares the small building with a chiropractor, an art therapist, an acupuncturist and a massage therapist, so it’s quite the little hub of wellness. I love the energy and can’t wait to start working with clients in the studio.

Summer’s Spectacular Watermelon, Feta & Mint Salad

Nothing says summer quite like watermelon. I naturally feel myself wanting to eat more raw and cool foods this time of year, and the balance of the sweet watermelon, salty feta and cooling mint is oh-so refreshing. Use this basic recipe but play with it by adding in extras like lemon juice or lemon zest, olive oil, cucumbers, arugula and red onion.

Ingredients:

3 pounds seedless watermelon (about 1 small or 1/4 large), cut into 1-inch chunks

1/4 cup roughly chopped mint leaves

4 ounces feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Combine in a bowl and enjoy! Serves 4-6. It usually keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

Try This So-Good Nicoise Salad With Salmon

There are lots of variations of the classic nicoise salad, and one of my favorite alterations is to use salmon instead of tuna (though it is a very good salad with tuna, canned or fresh, or with grilled chicken or without meat). The classic nicoise also calls for olives, which I sometimes use but didn’t include in this recipe. For me, the must-have nicoise staples are boiled eggs, red onion, new potatoes and lightly cooked green beans. From there, you can’t go wrong no matter how you tinker with the rest.

I enjoy that this salad has a combination of cooked and raw ingredients. It’s a very satisfying and nutritious meal and a favorite around our house.

Ingredients:

Mixed greens

1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced

4 hard boiled eggs, thinly sliced

1/2 lb green beans

2 cups small golden potatoes

Olive oil

Avocado

8-9 oz filet of salmon

Dressing of your choosing. I like green goddess dressing or olive oil and balsamic. Vinaigrettes of many kinds work well.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400.

Season salmon with salt and pepper and bake for about 12 minutes, until salmon is cooked to your liking. Set aside.

Boil potatoes whole until potatoes start to soften but are not fully cooked. Drain and slice potatoes. Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat and saute potates until they are cooked through and are nicely browned on the outside.

Steam or parboil the green beans until cooked but still crisp.

Assemble your salad with greens, thin sliced red onion, sliced hard boiled eggs, avocado, potatoes, green beans and salmon. Dress with a dressing of your choosing and enjoy :)

Serves 3

*Use this recipe as a guide, and use more or less of an ingredient you like.

What's a Somatic Experiencing Session Really Like?

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a technique and experience that can support you through times of challenge and create more ease and capacity to handle all the things life throws at you.

It was created Dr. Peter Levine, who says “human beings are born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma.” Given the journeys that I and so many people I know have undertaken to overcome trauma, I was drawn to Somatic Experiencing because I wanted to experience that triumph. But the technique is also about more than beating trauma. In Levine’s words: “The healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening; a portal opening to emotional and genuine spiritual transformation.”

On the practical level, SE is a body-oriented approach that helps heal trauma and other stress disorders through building resilience and capacity in the autonomic nervous system. It is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices and medical biophysics, and it has been clinically applied for more than four decades. You can learn more at traumahealing.org.

Trauma is something that we experience as being “too much”, something that happens “too fast” or “too soon” in our bodies and nervous system. Trauma may result from a large array of stressors and may be an acute stress (e.g., an accident) or cumulative stress (e.g., living with a chronic health condition). Both types of stress can impact a person's ability to live with resilience and ease. The time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been ripe with stress, and I think that acknowledging that can be helpful in understanding why you may have mixed feelings as we transition back to pre-pandemic ways of life.

Somatic Experiencing facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the release of nervous system energy stored in the body, and thus addresses the root of trauma symptoms. I am training to become a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), and when an SEP uses the technique with a client, it gently supports the client’s ability to be present to difficult feelings in the body and cultivates a deeper capacity for resilience and ease. So in the pandemic-era example of anxiety related to returning to work or social gatherings or being in public without a mask, an SEP can help clients be present with the sensations that anxiety brings by supporting them through these sensations. The result is that clients ultimately feel a shift in their bodies and nervous systems that lessens the negative sensations of anxiety.

I discovered SE when I realized that past traumas were impacting my health (anxiety and chronic fatigue). I love how this work highlights the body's innate goal of keeping one safe and how working with trauma and the nervous system can be effective without needing to talk through the specifics of the experience of the trauma. I know that having this understanding of my nervous system helped me navigate the last year. I am training to be an SEP because I feel this work is incredibly important for all of us. I have completed the first year of a three-year training and have begun incorporating nervous system support into Pilates sessions. I am also offering SE coaching sessions at a reduced rate. 

What is an SE session like?

An SE session is typically done with both of us seated. Sessions can be done virtually or in person and will start by gently guiding you to notice your body: your feet on the floor, your hips in the chair, your breath, and the environment that you are in. We’ll build on this to gently explore the sensations in your body or a relevant past experience. SE sessions will always focus on sensations in the body, so even though there may be talking about experiences, we’ll be focused and curious about sensations in the body in the present. In an SE session, I might encourage you to move parts of your body or to get up and explore a movement. While the impact of these sessions can feel subtle in the moment, they are very impactful over time and can send a ripple of well-being out into your life.

Are you interested in learning more about how SE could support you through life’s challenges? Reach out! I’d love to share more.