American Vintage, the hot French brand and a beautiful reinvention of the Basics has arrived at Lovestretch. As seen on the pages of fashion bibles Elle and Instyle magazine, this key knitwear creator has become famous across the world for its beautiful, fine garments offering a delicate wrap for the body, a perfect fit and endless layering options.

Watch this space for lots more from the American Vintage range, from fabulous shift dresses, leggings and cami’s, to beautiful jersey jackets, trousers and silk tops. All ideal for layering as autumn arrives.

The fashion team from American Vintage constantly seek simplicity, novelty, femininity, ease and movement – offering pieces that can be combined from day to day depending on your mood. The materials have to be touched to be appreciated, with cottons of the highest quality and softness. At this end we can guarantee that this is a range for women who really care about longevity and quality. You really won’t be disappointed.

I wanted to make a moist and flavorful veggie burger and came up with this delicious recipe. I think you are going to really love it! I found really cute little buns and made sliders (small burgers) for the photo. You can make the patties any size you like, just cook them a bit longer if they are larger. I’ve even made a “mock” meat loaf with this recipe when time was too short to make burgers. They’re sure to become a favorite! Please use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Ingredients: 1 Can refried black beans (or 1 ½ cup cooked black beans smashed well); ½ Cup cooked whole black beans; 1 Cup cooked brown rice (or other grain); 1 Cup frozen spinach (thawed and as much moisture squeezed out as possible); ½ Cup frozen of fresh corn (raw and cut off the cob); ½ Cup ground cashew (grind in a food processor or blender); ¼ Cup sunflower seeds; 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds; 1 to 2 Tablespoons brown rice flour (you may need a little more or less to help bind the mixture); 2/3 Cup garbanzo flour; 3 Tablespoons *Bragg Liquid Aminos or more sea salt to taste.

Sauté: 1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil; ¼ Cup bell peppers (finely chopped); ¼ Cup carrot (finely grated); ¼ Cup Yellow or red onion (finely chopped); 2 Tablespoons cilantro (finely chopped); 1 Teaspoon sea salt; Freshly ground pepper (to taste); Red Pepper flakes (to taste); 1 Clove garlic (grated or finely minced); Olive oil for cooking the burgers; Arugula, tomatoes, onions, and your favorite toppings for serving.

In a small sauté pan heat the olive oil and add the veggies (except for the garlic) and seasonings and sauté over medium low heat for about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking about 2 minutes until tender, stirring often. Cool a few minutes and add to the black bean mixture and combine well. Pick up a small handful and form a ball – it should hold together well and may need a little more brown rice flour if too wet and sticky. If it is too dry and crumbles, add a little bit of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Now you are ready to form whatever size patties you wish. This recipe makes several patties so I often freeze some before cooking to use later. Just thaw them and cook for a quick and easy meal.

Cook the burgers on medium high heat, in a little olive oil for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until brown. Depending on the thickness of your patty, after browning you may need to reduce the heat and cook a little longer until they are heated through. I usually test one while cooking to see if it is done and because they’re so good I can’t wait! If they are hot inside and brown on the outside they are done.

You can keep them warm in a low temp oven, loosely covered until you are ready to serve. They’re great the next day too. I’ve also used them before as a base for Mexican Eggs Benedict instead of English muffins and they were great. Just add poached or fried eggs, salsa, and a little cilantro.

Please leave a comment with your questions, recipe requests, any recipe tips you wish to share, and let me know how you like the burgers.

Kate McAloon is a personal chef whose client list includes Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Visit Chef Kate’s website www.chefkatealiveandcooking.com and the Kora Organics blog www.koraorganics.com (under Chef Kate) for more healthy organic recipes and articles.

Image: Peter Turner www.magiclanternpaperproducts.com.

Human contact can be life-enhancing and even life-giving. Psycologies magazine has come up with some fascinating thoughts on the power of touch:

Professor Schonberg is a serious man. Addressing his colleagues from the podium, his attention to detail lends authority to the announcement of what he considers a ground-breaking discovery from his multi-million-dollar lab: ‘Physical contact is a crucial element in a child’s growth.’

Sitting in the audience, my head is spinning. Here we are being told that five years and millions of dollars have been spent on research, just to ‘discover’ what every parent knows perfectly well, that babies need physical contact for healthy development.

Who or what set Schonberg and his team from Duke University in the US on this rather surprising trail?

It turns out the instigator was a woman who listened to the promptings of her heart. Progress in neonatal care means we are now able to keep extremely premature babies alive. Air-tight incubators with ultraviolet lamps create the conditions necessary for their survival. We have also learned, however, that during this critical phase the newborns’ fragile nervous systems cannot tolerate day-to-day handling by the medical staff.

So we came to treat them without touching or holding them and ‘Do not touch’ notices are posted on the incubators. The babies’ cries may tear at the hearts of the most experienced nurses, but they dutifully ignore them. Yet, despite the ideal temperature, the precisely regulated oxygen levels, the perfectly measured diet, these newborns don’t grow. Scientifically speaking, it’s a mystery. Given such perfect conditions, why would nature refuse to co-operate?

Doctors and researchers drew comfort from the fact that, once out of the incubators, the babies — those that survive — quickly make up their weight. And then one day someone noticed that some of the babies still in the incubators appeared to be growing. Yet nothing had changed in their treatment programme. Well, almost nothing. After due investigation, it turned out that the babies who were growing had been cared for by one particular night shift nurse, a newcomer to the unit, who hadn’t been able to ignore her tiny patients’ cries. So she’d started to stroke their backs to calm them.

Since then, Schonberg and his team have confirmed these results with experiments on baby rats. They demonstrated that the body’s cells are unable to develop without any physical contact. The part of the genome responsible for growth enzymes stops production and the body goes into a form of hibernation. However, it takes just a few caresses, and the rats’ enzyme production — and growth — kicks off. The conclusion, beyond any doubt, is that physical contact is a necessary factor for growth.

So what are the consequences of this ‘discovery’? Will we soon be seeing incubators fitted with electronic arms dispensing strokes at fixed intervals? I can see the headline already: ‘Mother’s love crucial element…’

via Hugs make you grow « Psychologies.

Celebrity trainer Dee Thresher has the solution for keeping arms toned and trim for the rest of the summer. These push-ups are a great exercise for toning those hard-to-reach areas across the chest and down into the arms. With a daily dose of this quick and effective exercise, you will quickly see results.

Find a soft surface and place your hands on the floor wider than your shoulders. Angle the body in a diagonal line and keep you knees on the floor, your tummy pulled in tight and your back strong. Lower and lift by bending your arms and taking your chest down close to the floor. Complete a set or 12.

These mini pita pizzas make wonderful appetizers and can be great served with soup or salad for a meal. Kids love them too. Use your favorite veggies and toppings. Get creative! Your kids and friends will love making them with you. I often do a pizza party evening and prepare several toppings and sauces and let everyone make their own special creation. It’s always lots of fun! Please use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Ingredients: 12 Mini pitta breads or 4 regular size pittas or 1 pizza shell; Olive oil for brushing or sundried tomato oil (from the jar); Sundried tomato spread.

Pizza Topping: 1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil; ¾ Cup zucchini (shredded); ½ Cup carrot (grated); ½ Cup bell peppers (julienned or coarsely chopped); ½ Cup onion (cut in thin pieces or coarsely chopped); 2 Tablespoon Italian parsley (finely chopped) (reserve a few leaves for garnish); 2 Tablespoon fresh basil (finely chopped); 3 Tablespoons sundried tomatoes (finely chopped) (reserve a few pieces for garnish); ¼ Cup sunflower seeds; ¼ Cup pumpkin seeds; ½ Teaspoon sea salt (or more to taste); Freshly ground pepper; Red pepper flakes (optional); ½ Teaspoon fresh thyme leaves; ½ Teaspoon fresh oregano; 1 Cup cheese (you can use a blend of Mozzarella and Parmesan or your favorites).

In a medium sauté pan heat the oil over medium heat for 1 minute. Add all the ingredients except the cheese and sauté for 2 to 4 minutes stirring occasionally until tender. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sundried Tomato and Herb Spread:

(This spread is great on pizzas, sandwiches, and makes a delicious dip for chips and veggies. It’s packed full of flavor and healthy ingredients that you’re sure to enjoy. This recipe makes more than enough for the pizzas depending on the size crust you are using. The extra will keep for 3 to 4 days refrigerated and is wonderful as a sandwich spread too.)

1 Package cream cheese (8 ounces) (softened); ¼ Cup sundried tomatoes (*packed in oil); 1 Tablespoon olive oil or 1 Tablespoon sundried tomato oil (from the jar); 1 Tablespoon green onions (coarsely chopped); 1 Tablespoon Italian parsley (coarsely chopped); ½ Teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/4 teaspoon dried); ½ Teaspoon fresh oregano (1/4 teaspoon dried); 1 Tablespoon agave sweetener or honey; 1 Tablespoon* Bragg Liquid Aminos (or more to taste); ¼ Teaspoon sea salt; Fresh ground pepper; Pepper Flakes (to taste)

Preheat oven to 375 to 400 degrees. Set your pitas or pizza shell (already baked) on a baking sheet. Brush the pitas or pizza shell with oil. Spread the sundried tomato cream cheese on them. Be generous with the spread. Divide the veggie mixture evenly between the pitas and top with cheese and a few pieces of finely sliced sundried tomato.

At this point you can refrigerate them to bake later or bake immediately for about 8 to 12 minutes depending on the size of your pizzas. Bake until the cheese is golden brown. You can also put them under the broiler for the last minute to brown them. Be careful not to burn! Remove from oven and sprinkle with Italian parsley. There are also great with a little fresh thyme and oregano leaves too.

*You can use sundried tomatoes packed in oil or dried ones. If using dried ones just soak them in warm water to rehydrate before using and drain.

Kate McAloon is a personal chef whose client list includes Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Visit Chef Kate’s website www.chefkatealiveandcooking.com and the Kora Organics blog www.koraorganics.com (under Chef Kate) for more healthy organic recipes and articles.

Image: Peter Turner www.magiclanternpaperproducts.com.

Whether it’s scorchio where you are or the mercury simply won’t rise from that little bulb thing at the bottom of your thermometer, this is one fashion puzzler you won’t be able to ignore. Just how do you wear sheer in the summer without looking either desperate or inappropriate?

I bring up the subject because there is so much of it around. A client rang last week to ask if one of our dresses was too revealing to wear for a day party. An evening event, she concluded, was a show-up and show-off opportunity as far as she was concerned but that day parties somehow always felt more conservative.

I was able to reassure her that as the dress was printed it was less likely to be a revealing wear but maybe she would feel more comfortable layering it with a long cami beneath. She did and she reported back to let me know that not only was the look a success but it prompted this very conversation with a whole bunch of people. Everyone, it seemed, had grappled with this one and most had given up at the first attempt.

The fact that a garment is sheer also means it’s a gift to anyone who loves to layer and that’s where the answer lies. Light layers, sheer or otherwise, will build without bulk so you can slip an opaque garment under a sheer one without looking any bigger.

Once you’ve got the hang of that you can graduate into advanced sheer/opaque layering which can involve multiple layers or a dramatic contrast such as a mini length beneath a sheer maxi one (follow this link to see Rosie Huntington-Whitely demonstrate her extreme mastery of the skill). The rule of thumb is that the balance between sheer and opaque moves from the former to the latter with age but everyone can use this trick to their advantage.

Know where you are on the scale and you’ll end up looking sensational rather than sensationalist.

A pair of sweatpants, an old tee and running shoes used to be the uniform for jogging;the original exercise craze. Today, exotic workouts with resistance equipment, kettle ball and expensive machines are just a tiny part of the work-out scene.

As much as exercise has evolved in a hundred directions, workout clothing has evolved alongside it. Modern exercise attire can be performance-enhancing that can complement our workout efforts. Not only that, it looks a whole lot hotter than the saggy outfits we used to wear. What exactly are those benefits it can deliver?

Increasing exertion
Workout clothing can be designed to exert a force against the skin during a workout, thus increasing muscle exertion by up to 50 percent. Walking, running, yoga-ing, or cycling can be enhanced with the resistance built into clothing which can also target problem areas like the thighs and glutes.

Keep your cool
Gym clothes can also keep the wearer cool and dry while exercising. Fabrics that wick perspiration away from the body and store, capillary-fashion, increase comfort and maintain a stable temperature. Bras sometimes feature nylon mesh panels rather than layers of fabric for their strength, keeping women cooler for longer.

Environmental  friendiness
Eco-friendly kit is often made from fibers such as Organic cotton, Organic soy, and Organic bamboo. All of them are created to reduce the impact of their creation and usually carry recognized accreditation. Other options include recycled materials, in particular fleeces which can be created as a by-product of plastics production and recycling. All modern innovations bring with them an improved attitude to the environment and workout clothing has traditionally been at the forefront of advances in textiles technology. So enjoy those trackie bottoms; they may be part of the solution.

Workout gear for every part of you
Clothing that enhances performance is not limited to tops, bottoms, and undergarments. Toning shoes have emerged in the last few years to work the core of the body and can be worn for exercise or leisure. Performance-enhancing swimsuits based on the same principle are on the way, enabling swimmers to enjoy the same benefits without having to give up their preferred exercise. During the warmer months capris and shorts with a no-ride-up cut are designed for workouts that involve raising the legs such as Pilates.

The beginning of a revolution
Workout clothing is part of a fashion revolution. Researchers are hot on the heels of new fabrics. each one designed to improve comfort and enhance performance during specific types of exercise. The clothing may not end up doing the work for you but bit by bit will end up in a place where every sport has its own optimal outfit.

As we rush headlong into the new season we’re surrounded by fresh ideas and tempting fashion treats. It has to be said that one of our strengths here at Lovestretch is finding the very, very best in stretch basics, no matter how far we have to travel for them. Some of them come with spangles or a soupcon of detail but the charm of a superbly cut vest can simply lie in the fact that it fits like a dream and once on can be admired by everyone else and forgotten by its wearer.

But here at Lovestretch Towers we are not immune to the siren call of fabulous shoes that raise us above the point of sensible elevation or a jacket that would challenge Lady Ga-Ga to a fashion-off (OK, a little exaggeration, maybe). There is something about those finishing touches that can raise the pulse and work all the more perfectly with simple outfits.

Call them masterpieces in elegant frames, if you like. One thing is for sure, the first scents of autumn are about to waft around the corner and the new season will bring with it some fabulous highlights, as it always does. Wherever you fall on the scale of fashion fabulousness, your style will have its highlights and its lowlights. That’s how it should be; love them both and celebrate their union.

This flavorful dish work well as an entrée or a crowd-pleasing appetizer. The marinade is also great on fish, chicken, and tofu. My recipe will be featured in a cookbook I am co-authoring with Alicia Wolff, owner of the Organic Keys Creek Lavender Farm and will be available soon. Please use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Ingredients: 2 lbs. Wild caught shrimp (cleaned with tails on) or *firm tofu; Skewers for grilling (optional); ¼ Cup pineapple juice; ½ Cup coconut or olive oil; ¼ Cup fresh lime juice; 1 Tablespoon honey or agave; 4 Tablespoons cilantro (finely chopped); (reserve 2 Tablespoons for garnish); 4 Tablespoons green onion (finely chopped – reserve 2 Tablespoons for garnish); 3 Cloves garlic (minced); ¼ Teaspoons red pepper flakes (more or less to taste); 1 ½ Teaspoons *culinary lavender or rosemary; ½ Teaspoons sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Mix all marinade ingredients together well. Add the shrimp and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. (If you are using tofu it works really well if you first freeze the tofu overnight, thaw completely, and squeeze and drain all the excess moisture out of it. Then cut in 1 inch cubes and add to the marinade.) If using bamboo skewers soak them in water for 20 minutes to keep them from burning on the grill.

Heat the grill according to directions. You can also use a grilling pan on your stove or bake the shrimp. Remove the shrimp from the marinade (reserve marinade) and place the shrimp on skewers if using. Grill shrimp for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until done. Place the marinade in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Remove the shrimp from the grill and keep warm on a covered platter. Pour marinade over shrimp and sprinkle with the reserved cilantro, green onion, and a few red pepper flakes if desired. Serve immediately with fresh salsa and a refreshing beverage. This recipe serves 4 as an entree or 6 to 8 as an appetizer. If serving as an appetizer use tooth picks or mini skewers.

Kate McAloon is a personal chef whose client list includes Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Visit Chef Kate’s website www.chefkatealiveandcooking.com and the Kora Organics blog www.koraorganics.com (under Chef Kate) for more healthy organic recipes and articles. Organic lavender products available at www.keyscreeklavenderfarm.com Image By: Lauren Lemons www.laurenlemons.com