Weekend Rewind: Yoga, Saratoga, Flowers and Food

Good morning, friends! I can hardly believe that it's been almost two weeks since I checked in! Travels for work and personal training sessions have thrown my schedule off, leaving little time for my favorite part of the day-- blogs and coffee in the morning.

It's already Wednesday, which means we're half way to the weekend. But here's what was happening around these parts last weekend. It was all about relaxation and rejuvenation-- just what I needed! There's nothing like kicking off the weekend with a candlelight vinyasa flow yoga class on Friday evening. Well, nothing except a couple of glasses of wine, but I went with the healthier option!

On Saturday, the Sailor and I took a walk and checked out the foliage at Saratoga Spa State Park. Then we found a new (to me) boutique where I picked up some fall wardrobe must-haves.

Sunday was spent running some errands -- garden store for mums and farm stand for apples -- followed by enjoying reading and rays. It was almost 80 degrees here- I'll take it! I know what's in store next.

And we finished off the weekend with a big Sunday dinner of meatballs and sauce from The Meatball Shop Cookbook. The sauce was out of this world. The classic meatballs...meh. The cookbook has over 100 recipes for meatballs though, so we'll be giving some others a try. Would you taste spicy mini chicken buffalo meatballs or jambalaya meatballs?  I'm ready for another adventure in the kitchen!

Recipe c/o The Dallas Duo

* Classic Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano or 1/3 tsp. dried
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tsp. salt or to taste
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 (28-ounce cans) whole plum tomatoes, chopped with their liquid 

Directions
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, bay leaf, oregano, garlic and salt, and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir constantly until the sauce begins to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour (I simmered for 30 minutes), stirring every 5 minutes or so to prevent the sauce on the bottom of the pot from burning. Taste and season with additional salt, if desired. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Yield: about 2 dozen 1 1/2-inch meatballs and 7 cups sauce; 4 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs = 1 serving
Recipe from: The Meatball Shop Cookbook by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow with Laura Deen