Featured Artist: Lisa Warninger Photography

As part of Rock 'n' Wellness*, I plan to feature a different artist, whether photographer, painter, musician, or actor, whose work and talent I admire.

This week's featured artist is photographer Lisa Warninger. Her exquisite eye lends itself perfectly to capturing the ethereal bliss of a bride and groom or the serene wonder of a newborn baby. She also is part of the collaborative team that makes up Urban Weeds, an online chronicle of Portland street style.

Lisa Warninger Photography
Urban Weeds: Street Style from Portland

*Rock ‘n’ Wellness is a project under development to raise money and awareness for artists and performers without access to health care. For more information, click here.

Labor Day Weekend First Friday Wellness

Join us this coming Labor Day weekend at Holistica Healthcare for our next First Friday Wellness. This September 4th, we will be featuring 10 minute mini- foot reflexology sessions to help you relax and rejuvenate yourself before the holiday weekend. Carissa from Tula Skin Therapy will be joining us to provide you with personalized, holistic skin consultations. There also will be tasty and healthy good-for-your-skin snacks to sample.

Call to reserve your session 503-926-3640. Explore our neighbors at the 811 Design Center Lower Burnside Art Walk, including Recess Wellness, Bombshell Vintage, Redux, Grass Hut, Sword+Fern, Stand Up Comedy, Second Nature, and Holly Stalder.

Classic Summertime Gazpacho

Gazpacho is super easy, all it takes is some veggies and a blender, so no heating up the kitchen with a hot stove. August is the best month for finding super ripe tomatoes, another reason gazpacho is the perfect summertime meal. The original recipe calls for bits of bread to be added to the soup, I have stopped using it as I try to maintain my wheat-free lifestyle, although I'm sure a nice gluten-free loaf from New Cascadia Traditional Bakery would do quite nicely. Experiment with different types of tomatoes; I sometimes use red peppers instead of green to intensify the color of the soup.

Classic Gazpacho
3 medium tomatoes, skins removed and cut into wedges
2 green peppers, seeded and sliced
1/2 cucumber
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP tomato paste
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
4 cups water

Add all ingredients except 3 cups of water to blender. Blend, slowly adding the rest of the water. If you like thicker soup use less water or add pieces of Italian bread to the mixture and blend some more.

Serve chilled. Garnish with diced cucumber, green pepper, tomato, and bread.

White Bean Summer Salad

The inspiration for this summer salad came from the veggies from my backyard garden. My garden has been slow to grow, I'm not sure if it's due to the position in the yard or the late date of my planting. Always looking for something quick and easy to cook after a long work day, I harvested some of the fruits of my labor and came up with this simple, yummy salad.

White Bean Summer Salad
1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed
1 english long cucumber, chopped into small bite-sized pieces
tomatoes (I used 2 small yellow Taxi tomatoes from the garden and one medium red from the store), chopped into small pieces
handful of basil leaves, thinly sliced

Add all ingredients into a large bowl, mix gently. Season with vinegar (I used balsamic, but red wine would work just fine), extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

I told you it was easy! Hoping more cucumbers appear, was looking forward to canning pickles this year.

The Best Things in Life

This Friday is Holistica's second First Friday Wellness event. Stop by Holistica Healthcare on August 7th between 6:30 - 9PM for a free mini-massage or foot reflexology session. Appointments filled up fast in July, so call to reserve a spot!

Speaking of free, Amy runs a blog, Around the Sun, dedicated to saving money in the Portland area, including listings of free events! Subscribe to get updates and be sure to check out the links to resources for frugal dining and coupons/discounts!