Riding Spinners and They Don’t Stop: Our First Spinning Class

Posted on March 2, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Equinox cycling class

Mid February, right around V-day, we spent a little time giving love to ourselves by trying a new workout. Kate has always been a little hesitant about indoor cycling, a.k.a spinning, while Monica was fascinated with this high-energy fitness style. We picked the perfect opportunity to jump in and test the spin cycle when Cheeky Chicago planned a Valentine’s studio cycling event with Equinox Lincoln Park. We made it to class just in time to get on our bikes and chose the back row to avoid the front row spotlight.

Big tip: If it’s your first time, flag the instructor down to help you adjust your bike and show you the how to work the darn thing. Bike seats and handles are adjustable and move up/down, forward/back….very helpful for the vertically gifted or challenged. Kate’s bike seat was not quite locked and took a dip midway through cycling which was very unexpected and uncomfortable indeed.

The tools that you use throughout your ride include a red knob to up or lower the resistance of your bike and increase intensity in addition to a screen to track your rpm and mileage. And the one thing we were wondering throughout about cycling…is it possible to get a more comfy plushy seat?

The instructor started us off with a warm up of moderate pedaling and then led the class in an interval format as bubbly pop music played in the background. She was unashamed to throw Beiber and Usher in the mix to get us moving. After we were slightly sweaty, the resistance was added and we worked in a hill format. We both popped up off the bike seats and pedaled while standing, making it a killer quad and glute experience.

After pedaling full steam ahead for 45 minutes, we were treated to KIND bars and Juice Rx Gingerade (lemon, ginger and Vermont maple syrup) as other guests learned foam rolling tips from Equinox trainers. We also scored one week passes to Equinox for ourselves and our readers. Comment below to receive a one week pass!

Lincoln Park Equinox has creative variations of Studio Cycling, Barre classes, Tabata and not to be missed Yoga with Allison English! For the March schedule, click here.

Feel like spinning your wheels a little more for a good cause?

Get your spin on to help stop violence in Chicago. Ride Spin to Break the Cycle on March 8th at the House of Blues for 1, 2, or 3 hours!

LUNA FEST Recap

Posted on March 2, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

At LUNAFEST in Chicago

Thursday night, we mosied on over to check out 13th Annual LUNAFEST, benefiting the Step Up Woman’s Network and the Breast Cancer Fund, at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in the heart of River North. Surprisingly, we found parking right next to Glazed and Infused (darn it was closed) and ran in a little late to find food lines off the chain! Our trusty friend, Melissa gave us the run down. Apparently, LYFE Kitchen had the best veggie goods but their table was all out of food. Sadness.

We squeezed our way over to the RA Sushi table and managed to grab a small plate of garlic chili edamame and then stood in the cheese line which ended with…no cheese. The lights flickered and we made our way over to prep for the films and finally scarfed down the SkinnyPop popcorn provided on our seats (yay food!!). After a couple of amazing speeches from leaders in the Step Up Women’s Network, the short films began!

Although all of them were unique and inspiring in their own way, we certainly had our VIP picks.

Kate: I adored “Flying Anne“. We are often encouraged to celebrate differences but are not always sure how to put this into practice. The main character of this short film has Tourette Syndrome and is learning how to manage in the sometimes unforgiving world of elementary school. Touching and inspiring, it’s a reminder that girls are so much more than their labels.

Monica: “Running Dry” made me smile brightly despite the harsh life circumstances such as the economic crises in Athens, Greece. The lead actress struggled financially and still gave her few precious euros to meet other people’s needs as she walked through the city. At the end, even though she had no more cash, she was full of grins and gratification.

After the show ended, we managed to grab tiny chocolate raspberry chia parfaits from LYFE Kitchen and then were treated with the pick of the litter of a 3 pack of LUNA Bars. Perhaps we dug a little for the Chocolate Dipped Coconut…perhaps.

Missed LUNAFEST? You can still catch the tour in several cities and archived LUNAFEST films are available here.

Luna Fest Ticket Giveaway: Celebrate Womanhood with your Lady Friends and Luna Bar

Posted on February 18, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Now that Valentine’s Day has passed in all it’s choco heart shaped romance filled blaze of glory, we think it’s about time you show a little non-stereotypical love to your lady friends. How do you do this, you ask? Take them to LUNA Fest (coming to Chicago on Thursday, February 27th), the perfect opportunity to grab your gals for a night out that you can feel good about.

Luna Fest gives 100% of ticket proceeds back to the community.

85% of proceeds will be provided to Step Up Women’s Network, a Chicago based organization that promotes success for young women from often ignored communities.
15% of proceeds will be provided to the Breast Cancer Fund, a national organization that seeks to identify and eliminate environmental contributors to breast cancer.

So what will you be doing at this awesome event?

LUNA Bar and Style Chicago will be your hosts for the Chicago premiere of LUNAFEST and kick it off with a cocktail reception featuring wines from Clif Family Winery, PERONI beer, specialty LUNAFEST cocktails and local foods from LYFE Kitchen, RA Sushi and Tesori. Oh and we know from experience there will be tons of Luna Bars there to sample! We can’t wait to snag the chocolate dipped coconut ones.

The fest highlights nine inspiring short films by women filmmakers, for women, which may cause the following reactions as you may possibly be…a woman:

Raucous laughter
Intense conversation and serious debate
Extra huggy behavior from your friends
Tears (bring some tissue)

Or maybe a more meaningful symptom such as:

A call to community action

To win a ticket for you and a friend, either comment on our Facebook page or this blog post about the friend you would bring to LUNAFEST and what makes her Luna-worthy. The winner must provide names of both guests and email addresses for ticket confirmation. The giveaway ends February 20th at 5 p.m.

What if you don’t win? Well, you can still come!

LUNAFEST Chicago takes place, Thursday, February 27, 2014 at the Museum of Broadcast Communications – 360 N. State St., Chicago

Cocktail Reception: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Showtime: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Tickets: $25

5 dolla dolla bills off when using the code: LUNA5. Tickets must be purchased in advance here.

Happy commenting and may lady luck shine upon you!

Come out of Chi-bernation for these Winter Food Finds

Posted on February 11, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Oh winter…devilishly evil Chicago winter. You haven’t been able to keep us down…especially with all these events and restaurant openings popping up. What about you, dear readers? Have you wound your scarf around you and strapped those snow boots on to take the chill out of winter? Here are some spots that may make you wanna brave the great white Midwest.

Remember that ol’ Lasalle Power company dance club you used to troll to pick up your future v-day date? Well now it’s been converted into a brand new Gino’s East. Chicago’s legendary pizza spot just got classy at its River North location. Three floors of expansive rustic cozy hangout space will eliminate your wait with your out of town guests as you get your “mangia” on with artichoke pizza, pickle-y sliders and fat stuffed cheese sticks with spinach. The restaurant proclaims to be including a brewery opening in several months as well…just in time for Spring!!

Our next pick is a neighbor to the north, Pizzeria Serio, a hidden addition to the food scene on Belmont avenue in Lakeview. WGN’s Chicago Best honored Pizzeria Serio as one of Chicago’s fave pizza. Check out the video here. We hopped over snow mounds to meet with the Chicago Food Bloggers and Pizzeria Serio was gracious enough to host our group. We sampled several tasty starters like a Spinach Salad (baby spinach leaves, red onion, mandarin oranges, goat cheese and walnuts in homemade citrus dressing) and the more traditional Caprese. For veggie lovers and goat cheese lovers (eww says one of us..the goat cheese hater) try the spinach specialty pizza (EVOO, sea salt, black pepper, fresh garlic, tomatoes, spinach, ricotta and goat cheese sans sauce). For the more purist pizza crowd, try the wood burned crusty Eat Your Veggies (onions, green peppers, mushrooms and black olives) and get your 5 a day veg serving…a good excuse to eat mas pizza if we do say so…and we do.

In a whole other country (this is what it feels like to Chicago residents) is Farmhouse in Evanston. This tavern makes their own burgers, condiments and soda from scratch with ingredients plucked straight from Midwestern farms. Even their beverage selection is pulled only from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. The majority of interior pieces are reclaimed woods and salvaged materials. At the kick off to North Shore Restaurant month, going on now, we gobbled down hot beer battered Wisconsin cheese curds with crispy warm centers and fresh Tavern-cut peppery potato chips with homemade ranch-like dipping sauce. On demand for our next visit is the Old World Grains Burger with Forest Mushroom and Poblano Pepper. For those of you who don’t venture that far out of our city, there’s also a sister location in River North with a slightly different menu and a two floor space. Don’t all these pics of yummy food make you wanna trek through your alley to the El?

Relishing the Pro Chef Life: Fresh Meal Delivery Service from Relished Foods

Posted on February 3, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

UPDATE: 8.21.14 Relished has expanded and rebranded to become Home Chef. They now offer vegan and veg friendly menus as well…all the more reason to stay home and be lazy instead of grocery shopping!

Ooo we are so sick of winter in Chiberia and we’ve had too many days of stir crazy all day pajama pants wearing. This weather sure hasn’t made it easy to get out to grocery shop, let alone put on any real semblance of clothes. Enter Relished Foods to conquer any reason to brave the cold white landscape we now call home.

Relished, is a fledgling Chicago area company that delivers fresh ingredients with clear visual instructions to cook healthy delicious meals like a pro. Each order includes three meals for one week. Recipes rotate weekly.

Now to the good food stuff!

We received 3 recipes:

Farfalle Pasta with Shrimp
Arugula and Fennel Salad with Chicken
Naan Pizza

We were hesitant about the Farfalle Pasta recipe which seemed too simple and possibly bland but once we noticed the fresh prepped ingredients and easy instructions our curiosity got us…. Farfalle Pasta sans Shrimp recipe included fresh baby spinach, basil, plump juicy cherry tomatoes, garlic and asiago cheese. This is how manageable the recipes are. We washed the vegetables, sliced the cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic. Lastly, we added EVOO, sea salt and grounded whole black pepper…so taxing (wink)!

Once we took a bite of this dish, we were pleasantly surprised by the flavors. Although simple, the dish was satisfying and complex.

With the arugula, we got to experience some ingredients we don’t usually utilize like fennel, and even champagne vinegar (you fancy, huh). The chicken was lean and still juicy. Relished packaging made it manageable to have one vegetarian and one omnivore eating the same meals as the meats were packaged separately from the veggies.

The naan pizza made us giggle in delight because we love artichokes, roasted red peppers and onions. All you had to do was plop the toppings on and bake. The recipe made two 8 inch pizzas.

What we learned about getting Relished pro chef meals sent to our house:

All meals take 30 minutes or less and require minimal cooking skills.
Recipe cards were visually stimulating, well articulated and can be used again!
Food came in a space aged cooler box and ingredients stayed fresh until we were ready to cook.
Meals cost around $10 a serving.

We really appreciated that all meals were veggie heavy, creative and delicious. Relished is only about 6 months in and they have also indicated that they are exploring only veggie/vegan meal options to expand their dietary offerings. Now if only they would send us some hot cocoa to warm things up for us, we be all about staying in for another week or so.

Thanks to Relished for inviting us to try such yummy and vegetastic meals!!

Chicago Restaurant Week Giveaway: Enter Now

Posted on January 30, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

First, we want to say welcome new followers!! We love comments and questions so please chat it up with us! Let’s initiate you to the Chi Organic Girls club with a giveaway. 🙂

Two essential Chicago questions:

1) Have you been getting your eat on at Restaurant Week?

2) Are you getting rewarded for getting your eat on?

We’re sure one of these answers is a resounding and forlorn no. Enter Spring Rewards to the foodie rescue!

Spring Rewards will feed you people and that’s not all. They also offer a service to get that wallet in order. We know ours is packed full of rewards cards that are often forgotten when we need them most (we’re looking at you, Walgreens Balance Rewards). To solve this crisis, you enter your debit or credit card into their secure system in addition to those pesky rewards cards and Spring Rewards automatically tracks those rewards for you. Merchants who partner with Spring Rewards may also give you a lil sum’ sum’, like cash back, directly on your card, for being so loyal.

Now, to fill your #crw hole in your pocket and stomach. To enter, follow these picto-instructions.

Spring Rewards is gifting out dinners for two at places like Roka Akor, Keefer’s, Red Door & Tanta. Does anyone want to take us?

Ok, no pressure…but…we really want the truffled kale from Red Door.

Get started here and happy eating!

Giveaway ends on 1/31/2014!

New to our Brunch Bunch: La Grande Vie

Posted on January 27, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

There is nothing better than Sunday brunch. Even better is not waiting for Sunday brunch…a very rare thing in Chicago, much like unicorns. When we arrived to the Gold Coast to get the scoop on La Grande Vie’s brunch service, we were a bit perplexed on how to enter as it is situated in a apartment building. Once we jumbled our way in, we were intrigued by the loungey space and gorgeous chandelier hanging over the entryway.

La Grande Vie located in Chicago’s Gold Coast

Great atmosphere: Check!

We were immediately greeted, seated and whisked away to some awesome veggie brunch choices.

We started first with the LGV Panini, sans Ham, with creamy avocado, swiss, scrambled eggs and roasted tomatoes. The panini was big enough for us to split and came with slightly spicy, crispy potatoes.

Next came the Frittata with asparagus, red pepper, onions, and cheddar, a solid and hearty dish but not as tempting as our other offerings. Dipping the egg and hidden potatoes into La Grande Vie’s homemade fresh sweet and chunky ketchup made this dish more interesting.

The absolutely best part of our experience was the Orange French Toast with orange compote and triple sec maple syrup. We need to preface this with an important point. Neither one of us is bowled over by orange flavored breakfast goods but La Grande Vie got this dish supremely right. It has all the right french (toast) curves. The bread was crunchy on the outside and delectably soft and custard-y inside and our pick for one of THE BEST FRENCH TOASTS in the city. The marmalade like topping was very mild and complementary. A bigger surprise was the candied orange peel with it’s refreshing juicy pop of citrus that added a contrasting flavor profile. Aww man, now we are thinking about this french toast at 9:37 at night and wishing it was here to comfort us in this polar vortex.

Fabulous Food: Check!

Cameron, our waiter, was both attentive and helpful throughout our meal. We liked that nobody hovered and bothered us while we ate but we also didn’t feel ignored. During our stay, we noticed a separate room with a party popping in it. There was a networking event for gay men going on but unfortunately, we couldn’t really sneak in unnoticed. Mark Buot, general manager, explained that La Grande Vie was trying it’s hand at new events. The room is also available for no charge if you need a spot for a swanky baby or bridal shower.

Satisfying Service: Check!

We’re a little bummed that it’s Monday but hey, at least we made it through Monday and that’s only 5 more days til brunch comes back around. Has anyone else experienced the culinary delights of La Grande Vie? If not, get over there..and grab us some french toast in case we can’t get out snowy driveways.

Why Do You Serve? A Bright Pink Outlook on this MLK National Day of Service.

Posted on January 20, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

If you’re in Memphis, make sure to see the Lorraine Motel, the assassination site of the legendary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While standing in silence with other visitors, it’s hard not to wonder what he else he could have accomplished if his life hadn’t been taken so early. His inspiration continues as people dedicate their time on his birthday to help improve their communities. Volunteerism not only helps those who are receiving but also those who give their time to others. Each person can find some cause they feel passionate about and the decision to serve could positively affect their physical and emotional health. What’s not to like?!

Today, we would like to give snaps and back pats and kudos to one of our fave volunteer organizations, Bright Pink. Bright Pink is a unique non-profit in that it focuses on breast cancer awareness and risk reduction in addition to supporting high risk individuals. They utilize tech and social media for doing good. Instead of using texts to send pictures of cats wearing people clothes, they send you reminders and tips to check your breast health. Ladies, take action by assessing your risk here.

Bright Pink practices what they preach with volunteers as well. Their volunteer events promote healthy choices such as exercising, eating cancer fighting foods, and workshops that encourage regular breast monitoring. For example, this past Thursday, we joined other dedicated Bright Pink supporters at a crazy dance-athon at All About Dance. It was much appreciated that the lights were low as our dance instructor had us rolling our hips and doing some killer floor work that made us wish we had a referee time out whistle to recover from the cardio. Luckily, Bright Pink head of volunteer events, Brynn, provided us with Vitamin Water and Pretzel Crisps to motivate us to class completion.

So how have you served others this year? It’s not too early or too late to help! Learn more about volunteering with Bright Pink here.

Mastering the Chaturanga

Posted on January 10, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

2014 has already been a whirlwind of activity. So much so, we didn’t even have time to sketch out some resolutions to ditch after January. One thing that we consider a continued necessity in the big ’14 and not a temporary resolution is practicing yoga. Both of us initially connected over our interest in not only getting some exercise at yoga class, but also reaping the relaxing benefits of being on the mat. As relaxing as it can be,the dreaded asana, chaturanga, has never been the yoga move that made us swoon. In fact, it has been of particular frustration at times, especially after 12 Sun Salutations in a row (*shaking fist at yoga teachers!!).

Chaturanga (chah-tuur-ANGH-uh) Dandasana (dahn-DAHS-uh-nuh) means “four limbs staff pose” and is part of the sun salutation sequence. Corepower Yoga in Oak Park/River Forest recently put on a Chaturanga workshop and we were intrigued as well as afraid. Mon ended up welcoming a new family into the world the eve of the workshop (YAAAY!), so I was left on my own to brave the unknown.

Julia and Laura were the fearless yoga leaders who walked the class through a crazy amount of variations of chatarungas. Some of the most important points they made were*:

1) No need to do chaturangas every day. This could lead to a possible tennis elbow injury or overuse of the shoulder (aka dang my rotator cuff is jacked).

2) A strap could be your best yoga bud for this pose. If you wrap it around your forearms, when you go down to the bottom of the chaturanga pose with your 90% elbows at the sides of your ribcage, it gently pushes on the front of the rib cage and shows you if you’re in the right position.

*Since I am not a personal trainer or yoga teacher, do not take my advice and start slugging it out as I don’t have to money to pay for your urgent care bills. Here’s Mind Body Yoga’s step-by-step how-to on correct form or watch the video by Lululemon.

I was surprised because we actually got a full workout during the workshop and talked through all these variations of chaturanga.

Basic chaturanga – Got it down!
1 legged chaturanga – A little harder
Crow to chaturanga – Umm I flopped around like an injured crow. Best advice was use your core not your legs to propel yourself out. At least the girl in front of me was flopping too.
Forward fold to chaturanga – Somehow managed to fake it
Standing splits to chaturanga – Yeah I just watched and admired the class at this point.

Even if you’ve been practicing yoga for a long time, I think it’s pretty essential to get some walk through on proper form and in my yoga class on Sunday, I felt more confident and comfortable when completing my chaturangas. Want to get your own yoga scholar time on? Corepower Yoga is being awesome to the community and offering another free workshop on February 8th for back bends. Contact the studio for more details.

Reverse Warrior sequence with Corepower Yoga OPRF Julia (left) and Laura (right).

Thanks to Julia, Laura and Morgan, studio owner of Corepower Yoga OPRF, for hosting me. See y’all on the mat!

Chicago Thin Crust? A Pizza Must!

Posted on January 3, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Blaze Pizza

Oh Twitter, how we love thee. Recently, the Chicago Food Scene held a Twitter poetry competition for free Blaze pizzas. We dug deep back to our middle school Haiku writing days and typed a clever pizza ditty….and won!! Once our coupons came, we gleefully braved the snow to try the “new to Chicago” casual pizza chain, Blaze Pizza, situated in Boystown right near the El stop. We weren’t really sure what to expect when we entered but the staff hollered out a welcome and invited us to come closer.

As we shyly peeked around, they detailed the Blaze pizza process for us. The fine art of pizza creation is set up in an assembly line format. Patrons can pick their own pie toppings and sauce or choose a signature ‘za and watch while it is made. Pizzas are 11 inches of thin crust glory and take only 3 minutes to cook. We were intrigued by the gigantic oven and learned that 12 pizza could fit inside which brings to mind sitcom hijinx of craaazy pizza cooking. The oven man assured me that he avoided that magnitude of pizza multitasking. The oven does, however, cook pizzas at a blazing (get it?!!!?) hot 800 degrees.

There were a ton of signature veggie pizza options available to us as well as gluten free and vegan substitutions. We decided on the Red Vine, with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil and chunky red sauce, and the Green Stripe, with pesto sauce, arugula, and garlic minus the chicken.

Blaze Pizza – “Red Vine” with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil and chunky red sauce

Blaze Pizza – “Green Stripe” with pesto sauce, arugula, and garlic minus the chicken

Pizza Highlights: Blaze Pizza is a real departure from Chicago style pizza and a real good one at that. The crust was light, crispy and a titch garlicky. Our wallets were happy because their pizzas only cost 8 bucks and we each walked out with leftover slices. We also tried the S’mores pie, a chewy marshmallow with melted chocolate in between 2 British biscuits. It had appropriately crumbly texture but we decided it could have used a quick pop in the oven.

Status: Liked, retweeted and plused, we loved Blaze Pizza and will be back to make our own creation. Thanks to Blaze Pizza and Chicago Food Scene for choosing us as the creative poetresses that we are and giving us pizzas instead of an award.

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