Hey Chicagoans! We’re sure you’ve noticed how easy it is to incorporate local farmer’s market produce into your summer time recipes but cooking in winter, jeez what to make? Then, along comes the Green City Market Cookbook. Inspired by the beloved Lincoln … Continue reading
The holiday season brings about so many chances to celebrate…and with celebration comes lots of food, glorious food. But there are benefactors who want to help you celebrate AND minimize the impact on your health. Recently, we were contacted by Madhava … Continue reading
If you’re like most peeps, you have a bevy of holiday partays, gift exchanges and soirees to attend to in the next few weeks. So what if you need to bring a gift or a tasty treat to your event? You could make several stops or…you could go to Whole Foods! Yah we know, for us with low account balances, Whole Foods may seem a bit intimidating. But we were pleasantly surprised to learn some new developments at Whole Foods this past week at a tour of their River North headquarters. As we walked from room to room we delighted in the holiday goodies. In no particular order, here are some Holly Jolly Holiday ideas from Whole Foods.
DIY Gifts
Did you know Whole Foods is a DIY hot spot? If you have a crafty side, you have all you need to develop a relaxing bath salt, tantalizing sugar scrub, or soothing lip gloss by snooping through Whole Foods’ beauty and bulk section.
Beauty
On our tour, we created our own Epsom salts by mixing 3 cups of salt with essential oil and flower choices. We picked the eucalyptus oil (as cold season is on the rampage right now) and calming lavender oil (cuz the holiday traffic is making us pull out our hair. Then we threw in some bright yellow dried calendula flowers (a relative to chamomile), lavender buds, light pink Himalayan salt, and some crinkly red rose petals.
Floral
Who says the poinsettia is the only petal you can gift? The Whole Foods Headquarters arranged a flower bar for guests to create holiday bouquets. Pluck some deep red and purple buds, add some baby’s breath, and grab a cute mason style jelly jar for presentation. You can feel charitable about your choice too. Whole Foods carries fair trade and organic flowers as well as Veriflora Certified flowers (Veriflora certification indicates better working conditions such as no child labor, fair hiring practices, and access to education, healthcare and other needed services).
Life of the Party
You all know that thing where you’re at a party and everyone is talking around the food set up? Party food can make or break a soiree. Stopping by a gathering? Whole Foods produce, bakery, and cheese departments all offer unique and most talked about treats. Our favorite cheeses at the gathering were the truffle stuffed camembert (a soft, creamy french cow cheese with a layer of tasty fungus…yes that’s a truffle, weird right?) and a pyramid shaped goat cheese. In the bakery section, we delighted in gluten free and vegan options like a rice flour crust blackberry pie and the banana hazelnut vegan cupcake from local cupcake purveyor, Swirlz. And on the non-semi healthy side of things, the gigantic Carol’s cookie was so fresh and chocolately and big enough to feed your whole family. Or be the angel of the party, bring a fresh fruit tray and rejoice on your savings. Whole Foods has heard our wallet cries and is now setting out to price their produce on par with competitors like Marianos and Jewel-Osco.
Hosting your own get together? Lazy it up with Whole Foods catering and wow your guests with gruyere and spinach stuffed mushrooms, ripe guacamole, or ethnic goodies like spanakopita, a greek stuffed phyllo dough appetizer.
Swirlz Cupcake – Vegan Peppermint Chocolate
Feeling inspired? Go out there with confidence and shop, dear friends, and impress those peeps with your Whole Foods Holiday swag.
10 brave women made it out in the cold after a appetizer, sides, and pie holiday to get their fitness on this past Sunday at our first ever private Chiorganic Girls class at Pure Barre Lincoln Park, an admirable feet given the tendency to want to sleep off the lingering food coma. We were grateful for our motivation to attend as we got a kick a*@ workout that toned and tightened to reset the good habits and prepare us for the back to work grind.
Lincoln Park Pure Barre is a brand new workout hot spot that just opened November 4th. Ashley Gertz, owner of the newly opened Pure Barre in Lincoln Park, opened the location because of her personal love of barre classes and keen business sense. She welcomed our group with a tour and an overview of what Pure Barre has to offer. Ashley, a former marathoner and avid runner, found that cardio didn’t promote toning and strength so she joined the River North Pure Barre and was hooked.
Marguerite, our teacher, gave us the overview of common moves of Pure Barre and then we got cracking with an immediate plank set (WHYYY??). Bubbly pop music as well as giggles from class participants offset the strenuousness of the miniscule muscle movements. We rolled through abs, arms, legs and ended with (sigh*) more abs and a bridge set to tense up the tush.
After class, we took our shaky legs to the lobby area for complimentary Kashi and Luna snack bars as well as raffle for 2 lucky participants.
And now, we are sore…very pleasantly “can’t walk up the stairs so well” sore, evidence of a real workout. Wanna check it out? Pure Barre Lincoln Park offers new students a very affordable unlimited month of classes for $99. If you join now, you can also compete in the Jingle Tuck challenge (15 classes in 30 days) for prizes and the ultimate win, a retreat at a spa in Arizona.
Chi Organic Girls 