If I find a healthy recipe that tastes great and requires almost NO effort, you better believe I'm gonna share it with you! I'm all about NOT making things from scratch if I can find a healthy ready-made option. This store-bought sauce is sooo good.

I even served it to my kids as salad dressing this week and they loved it. I'm sure I'll find lots more great uses for it. I'd like to try using it to stir-fry some veggies. For now, here's one recipe that turned out well:

Easy Buffalo Chicken:

Place a package of boneless chicken breasts or thighs in the slow cooker, cover with buffalo sauce (I used 1/4 to 1/3 of the bottle), set on low for 4-8 hours, depending on your slow cooker. (Chicken breasts tend to come out a bit drier in the slow cooker than chicken thighs)
When done, the chicken should shred easily with two forks
Serve over reheated frozen rice or quinoa, along with
Reheated frozen broccoli or other vegetables of your choice
Boom. Done.

I like this frozen brown rice from Trader Joe's, but I also sometimes use the frozen quinoa from whole foods. You can just remove from the plastic, put in a bowl, and microwave to reheat.

Voilà! Hope you enjoy!

August 28, 2015

Andrea Isabelle Lucas

Travel, Wildcard

Summer was Made for Topless Road Trips

August 28, 2015

Andrea Isabelle Lucas

Travel, Wildcard

Have you met this lovely lady? (The partially-topless one behind me.) Last week Jason and I took her on vacation! We didn't have the kids so we felt this called for a getaway. At the start of the week, I felt I had too much on my plate to go just yet, so I put in some looong days on Monday and Tuesday and woke up Wednesday ready to go... somewhere.

We are often last-minute vacation planners, and I must say, in my experience, it is NOT cheaper to travel this way. Flights to anywhere were looking pricey. We considered the Maine coast, but the weather forecast was gray and rainy.

We ended up deciding on Vermont. The sun was shining. We took the top off the Jeep, and began the gorgeous drive. I have to say the ride was so lovely, we almost didn't need a destination.

(I am loving this swimsuit from ASOS - they come in bra sizes you guys! And this flannel from H&M.)

We ended up spending the first night in a little farmhouse B&B waaay off the grid. The kind of rural location where there are SO many more stars than you could ever see in the city. I stood out in the dirt road with my head tilted back just staring and staring up at them.

There wasn't a single sound but crickets and the frogs in the nearby pond. I couldn't capture the stars with a camera, but I could capture the sounds of the evening, so I took a little video that I later posted to Instagram, below, just so you could hear it.

This led to a discussion about WHY do we not have a way to record and share smells when we are so fancy about sharing images and sound? I would have loved to store up the smell of summer night in the country.

A video posted by Andrea Isabelle Lucas (@barresoul) on Aug 25, 2015 at 8:35pm PDT

The next day we set off on the road again. We saw beautiful things, met nice people, and spent a night in Stowe. We hiked up to this pond, at the summit of a mountain.

I played a bit with a new camera lens. And we hit the road again.

We spent the last two days at a hotel in Old Montreal. I LOVE this city!

Somewhere between Vermont and Montreal, I got sick of lugging my fancy camera around and only snapped lazy iPhone pictures from that point on. (But I did post a couple photos from my last visit over here!)

We ate lots of great food, visited an art museum and spent many hours just walking around the city exploring.

Although we could have stayed another day, I felt ready to come home on Sunday, and we did. It's been a busy week back home with the kids and the studios. I would be lying if I said it doesn't get stressful! Vacations are essential.

P.S. You can come on vacation with me, Jason, and both of my kids this fall. Is that weird? Who cares! Lindsey James, Amy Sinclair and I are leading a yoga, barre and aerial yoga retreat to the beautiful island of St. Croix this November! It is surprisingly affordable, and there's even a few days left to get Early Bird pricing. Significant others are welcome, and don't worry -- no one will force them to do yoga or barre if they'd prefer to just hang out by the pool. To join the fun, visit our Barre & Soul Workshops and Retreats page.

August 24, 2015

Andrea Isabelle Lucas

Body Love

Here's An Easy Way to Spend Less Time Sitting on Your Butt

August 24, 2015

Andrea Isabelle Lucas

Body Love

Want to stop sitting on your butt all day? Me too!

I'm spending more and more time doing executive-type tasks and less time teaching in the studio these days, so I'm going out of my way to make sure I'm not just sitting around.

After doing a bit of research on ergonomic desk/seating options, I became convinced that other forms of alternative seating -- like kneeling chairs and stability ball chairs -- aren't terribly effective.

I decided to give a stand-up desk a try.

I have to say I have noticeably fewer aches and pains when I spend the workday here instead of seated in a chair!

I was able to find everything I needed for my desk at IKEA, and it came to around $165 all together.

I used the GERTON Adjustable Legs. At $30 a piece, they were a bit pricier than the other models available, but worth it since they were the only ones with a max height of 42" instead of the other legs, which max out around 35".

I'm a little over 5'6" and I find it most comfortable to adjust the legs a couple inches lower than the max.

For the top, I used the white LINNMON top, which sells for $45. It's over 78" long and perfect for two people to use side by side when needed.

I still find that when I'm using a laptop while standing it feels better to raise the computer up on top of a couple yoga blocks so I don't have my chin on my chest all day. When I sit, it feels better to take the laptop off the blocks.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm not 100% thrilled with the quality of the legs. One of them broke when we were tightening it to the desk top so I'll have to trek back to IKEA to return it at some point. In the meantime, we used an L-bracket to secure that corner of the desk to the wall so that I could start using it right away.

In case I want to sit, I can tuck an adjustable stool under the desk. I got this metal stool for $50 at Homegoods.

I also put a nice soft rug beneath the desk and I'm most comfortable standing barefoot.

I'm so glad I now have the option to work standing up! Now if only I can figure out how to drive like this?? ;)

Have you ever tried a stand-up desk? How does it work for you?