Antioxidant-rich dried goji berries add a sweet chewiness to our chocolate bark recipe; research shows they can boost heart health and immunity.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, consumers will purchase more than 58 million pounds of chocolate this week, according to Nielsen Research. But instead of buying the heart-shaped box of truffles, we’re going to make a snappy bittersweet bark rippled with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Aside from being healthier, the confection will be a true gift from the heart because we took the time to craft it by hand. And — just between us — it’s super-easy to make!

The base of the recipe is dark chocolate, rich in flavonoids, which studies have shown help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. And February, appropriately, happens to be American Heart Month.

Roasted almonds add a good dose of calcium, fiber and antioxidants, while dried goji berries and dried blueberries inject additional antioxidants, along with some chewy sweetness. Cocoa nibs — the center of the heart-healthy cocoa bean — flood the bark with more flavonoids and some crunch. Tiny chia seeds add a big jolt of omega-3s, along with more fiber and antioxidants. (Yes, they’re the same seeds used for Chia Pets, but this bark makes a more tasteful — and tasty — Valentine’s Day gift!) Below is a recipe for this delicious, nutritious treat that’s sure to make your sweetie swoon.

Dark Chocolate Bark with Nuts, Seeds and Dried Fruit
Makes 48 servings (a serving is one piece)
1 cup raw almonds with skin
½ cup chia seeds
½ cup cocoa nibs
½ cup dried goji berries
½ cup dried blueberries
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Scatter almonds on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, or until the almonds are nutty and brown. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in chia seeds, cocoa nibs, dried goji berries and dried blueberries. Set aside 2/3 cup of mixture.

2. Line an 11-inch by 17-inch baking sheet with wax paper.

3. Place chocolate in top of a double boiler over medium heat. Heat until chocolate has melted, about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in all but reserved 2/3 cup of nut-fruit-seed mixture.

4. Transfer chocolate mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread to edges of baking sheet in an even layer, about ¼-inch thick. Sprinkle with reserved nut-fruit-seed mixture and let bark cool until hardened, 2-3 hours.

5. Using a very sharp knife, cut six even lines down the bark on longest side of pan. Then, cut eight even lines down bark on short side of pan to create 48 pieces. Tuck into decorative bags wrapped with red ribbon.

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
96 calories
Fat 7 g
 (2.5 g saturated)
Carbs 10 g
Protein 2 g
Fiber 2.7 g
Calcium 20 mg
Iron 0.5 mg
Sodium 7 mg

For more information on the heart, brain and antioxidant benefits of chocolate, check out “The Sweet (and Bitter) Truths About Chocolate” in the latest issue of VIVmag. Do you plan on making any homemade Valentine’s Day treats this year?

Photo credit: Libor Tomáštík

When we think about Valentine’s Day, roses come to mind, and we’re not alone: In the first few weeks of February, 110 million roses (mostly red) will be sold in the United States. Because it’s wintertime, 80 percent of these roses were grown in the warmer climes of South America (mostly Columbia and Ecuador), and then shipped in refrigerated containers to U.S. florists. It’s estimated that these Valentine’s Day roses produce about 9,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions as they make their way from the sunny flower farms to our Valentine vases.

In addition to cut flowers’ heavy carbon footprint, consider that the pesticide residue on imported roses is 50 times the amount allowed on food imports, according to Environmental Working Group. And then there are the flower workers, who are exposed to more than 100 different pesticides and, as a result, often suffer from headaches, nausea, rashes, asthma, miscarriages and other pesticide-related illnesses. Finally, when you consider the polluted and depleted groundwater stores — another byproduct of flower farms — well, the rose just doesn’t smell as sweet anymore.

More than 70 percent of cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported to help meet our seemingly insatiable floral needs: Last year, Americans spent $1.7 billion on Valentine’s Day flowers alone. It seems like a preposterous amount of money, but science says that we bestow flowers upon our loved ones for good reason. Researchers from Rutgers University set out to discover why humans have cultivated flowers for 5,000 years — even though there didn’t seem to be a survival payoff for this labor-intensive behavior. In a study published in Evolutionary Psychology, the authors found that receiving flowers had a positive effect on emotions, moods and social behaviors in both women and men both immediately and long-term (with improved moods lasting at least three days).

So what is an environmentally and socially conscious person supposed to do when Feb. 14 rolls around? “You have several greener alternatives for Valentine’s Day,” says Cynthia McKenney, Ed.D., associate department chair and professor of plant and soil science at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. “Cut flowers can be grown sustainably so that they have less of an impact on the environment and floral crop workers.”

Below are a few other ecologically sound options.

Buy local. Visit Local Harvest to find farmers markets and other sources of sustainably grown flowers in your area. (Don’t forget there are winter farmers markets!)

Look for certification. For buds grown with the least environmental impact, choose organic or Veriflora certification. VeriFlora flowers are available at Flowerbud.com and OrganicStyle.com as well as retailers around the country.

Grow your own. Visit local nurseries for organic plants and seeds. City dwellers can set up a window box planter.

Get your love a flowering indoor plant. A blooming plant is a gift that keeps on giving — for years. FTD.com, Proflowers.com and even Amazon.com sell potted flowers.

Consider unconventional blooms and plants. Bonsai Specimen Gardens ($30, available with Japanese black pine, Japanese elm or gardenia) from Uncommon Goods arrive with bonsai scissors, recycled steel planting boxes and tied with ribbon made from recycled plastic bottles. The Moss Terrarium Bottle ($38) is made with a recycled wine bottle — plus Terrarium Creatures ($34) can add a whimsical touch. We love the adorable pre-made Twig Terrarium tableaux ($25–$300) — though with a week delivery time, ordering today is cutting it close. Want to give your valentine the world? Consider a world, of sorts: an EcoSphere closed aquatic ecosystem ($54.95–$395), complete with shrimp, algae and microbes in handblown glass (and they’re self-sustaining for those who don’t have luck with houseplants).

If you’re considering the chocolate or diamonds route, first read “The Ethical Valentine: Cruelty-Free Diamonds and Chocolate” to find the most socially conscious choices.

If ethical and green gifts are important to you, how will you tactfully pass along the hint to your valentine?

Photo credit: Courtesy EcoSphere

Debra Messing returns to television as Julia Houston in the hour-long NBC drama "Smash."

We’ll watch Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston in anything, so we’re especially excited to see them in Smash, the highly anticipated (and heavily promoted) NBC midseason series about the making of a Broadway musical. With a great cast, fabulous musical numbers, irresistible backstage drama, and stellar creative pedigree that boasts Steven Spielberg, Broadway veterans Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, and composer-lyricists Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, this one just might live up to its name when it premieres tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Messing believed that from the start. “When I got the script I read it, I put it down, I called my representatives and said, ‘I must be a part of this,’” recalls the Will & Grace Emmy winner, adding that she hadn’t felt that way about any project since The Starter Wife miniseries two years before. “I feel like my personal life is so rich that for me to step away from it, it has to be something that my soul cannot say no to. If you’re working that many hours, I feel you have to love it,” she explains, noting that her vow never to do an hour-long drama “went out the window.”

She immediately identified with the character of lyricist Julia Houston, “a woman who is very passionate about her creative life and needs that part of her life fulfilled, but also really is a proud mother and wants that home life and wants that balance,” she says. “And I love that nothing is simple.” Taking the role meant relocating to New York, which, she admits, was an adjustment for her and for her 7-year-old son, Roman. “A whole new school, whole new city, friends, the whole thing. It was very hard, but thank God he’s very resilient. We moved into a building with our best friends, and he has a built-in playmate.”

Oscar winner Huston wasn’t looking to do TV when she was approached to play producer Eileen Rand, but loved the fact that “she’s a real woman working in a man’s world. It’s not just a black-and-white character. There’s a lot of gray area with her,” she says, adding that with all the talent in front of the camera and behind the scenes, “I’d be a fool not to participate.”

The plot of Smash involves the creation of a musical about Marilyn Monroe, with experienced chorine Ivy (Megan Hilty) and newbie Karen (Katharine McPhee, of American Idol fame) vying for the lead role. The first season will follow its progress from workshop to out-of-town tryout, and will feature such guest stars as Bernadette Peters, Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer, who plays Rand’s daughter.

Will you tune in to Smash?

Photo credit: Patrick Rendak/NBC

Laura Bennett's new book provides easy-to-follow instructions to create chic accessories.

When the third season of Project Runway aired, we were pulling for designer Laura Bennett to win the reality TV fashion design competition. Though she lost to edgy L.A. designer Jeffrey Sebelia, we preferred Bennett’s elegant designs and twists on the classic silhouette, and we admired the seemingly effortless style and cool poise always exuded by the mother of six (during the taping, she discovered she was pregnant with child No. 6).

So we knew we’d find enviable designs in Handmade Chic: Fashionable Projects That Look High-End, Not Homespun (Rodale Books, 2012). And one lucky VIVmag reader will win a copy!

To enter the giveaway, simply fill out this form by February 29, 2012. For an additional chance to win the book (a $24.99 retail value), follow VIVmag on Twitter and tweet the following: “Enter to win ‘Handmade Chic’ by Laura Bennett. Follow @vivmag & retweet!”

The book features 35 designs for accessories, such as covers for tablets and e-books, shopping totes, wallets, bags, clutches and even bead embellishments for shoes and a dress. The items progress from easy projects, such as a leather business card holder and a chain belt, to the more complicated undertakings of a feathered frame clutch or furry slippers.

We know crafting has become more hip in the past decade, but these accessories surpass hipster cool, all infused with Bennett’s signature elegance. (And they’re miles away from the crocheted toilet paper covers topped with doll torsos or macramé plant holders of yore.)

The step-by-step instructions are pretty foolproof, with diagrams that are detailed but not intimidating. “As complicated as they look, the items I made on Project Runway and continue to make today are actually quite simple: I’m still in the ‘Very Easy Vogue’ state of mind,” Bennett assures us in the intro.

The materials and tools you’ll need for each project are listed. While things like tailor’s chalk, fabric lining, tape measure and needle-nose pliers should be readily available, other necessary items for projects — a blade cutter, twist-lock hardware and other bag clasps and leather itself — probably aren’t available at the local craft store.

Though the directions are simple, we’re not sure we’d recommend starting on leather if you’ve never operated a sewing machine, which is needed to complete the majority of the projects. (We recommend at least a few practice runs with the machine, and make sure you have enough materials for a mistake or two.)

If you are a novice, then the first few chapters really provide you with the basics. “Sewing is a lot like cooking: You can have drawers full of exotic gadgets and an extensive knowledge of advanced techniques, but there are actually only a few essential tools and skills you need to get the job done,” Bennett says.

You’ll find sewing-machine basics, the difference between slip-stitch and running stitch, and tips about working with beads, rhinestones, feathers and leather (as well as leather alternatives.) Since there are a few items that call for fur, Bennett also tackles the fur controversy, providing a section on faux fur and making a case for vintage fur as a form of upcycling. “Nothing says middle-aged Mafia wife like a full-length fur coat,” she observes.

Somewhat crafty, yet a little clumsy around the sewing machine, we’d feel comfortable tackling the projects in this book. (Provided we didn’t have to do so in a small allotment of time with a crazy twist and then be judged by fashion icons on television.)

Would you feel comfortable making your own accessories or do you prefer to buy them?

Created by two musicians — Eytan Oren of Eytan and the Embassy and Andy Ross of OK Go (you know, the treadmill dance band) — inBloom was originally conceived as a tool to help touring musicians live more sustainably (and no doubt eat better) while on the road. However, the first version of inBloom has been built for a broader audience: New York City. Its database is loaded with more than 500 listings of eco-friendly restaurants and grocery stores, farmers markets, CSAs, green hotels, biodiesel stations, and other sustainably sourced businesses throughout the five boroughs. While the focus of the app is on organic and locavore food, inBloom’s team has also gathered information on business practices like water and energy efficiency, recycling and green building design. And being a location-based app, inBloom helps you “buy what you believe in” no matter where you are in the city.

While the first iteration of inBloom is for the iPhone (it will run on iPads, but may look a little wonky), an Android version has been in the works and should launch within the next few months. The app will be expanding into other locales and will unveil an Austin, TX, edition in time for this year’s South By Southwest Festival (SXSW). For more information and to download the app free, visit inBloom’s iTunes page, where it is already receiving rave reviews.

Do you use smartphone apps to help find and support eco-friendly businesses?

Is this photo making you hungry? New research shows that simply thinking about exercise can increase your appetite.

The new year is still young, and we’re doing a good job of staying resolute: We’re watching what we eat and trying to be active so we can shed a few pounds. Trouble is, we find exercise works up quite an appetite. And it turns out we don’t even have sweat through a spin or Zumba class to put our appetite into overdrive: Recent research shows that just thinking about exercise can make us hungry.

This latest news is courtesy of Brian Wansink, Ph.D., a food psychologist with the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (Bantam, 2010). Wansink and his colleagues asked 94 people to participate in a faux shopping attitudes study at a mall. After the people answered a series of questions, some were asked to read a scenario about exercise, followed by a few questions about their hunger and emotions at that moment. To compensate them for their time, all of the participants were then offered snacks, while the researchers recorded how much the participants served themselves. The results were mind-boggling: People who were prompted to think about exercise served themselves 55 percent more than people who weren’t asked to think about exercise!

Wansink’s research confirms that actual exercise can also lead to greater food consumption — if we’re feeling virtuous about exercising. He and his team had study subjects go on a two-mile walk, telling some of them it was a “nature walk” and others that it was an “exercise hike.” Wansink says, “If they thought they were just enjoying nature, when they came back and ate lunch, they ate less than if they thought it was an exercise hike.” We guess perception really is everything!

The lesson of this research, according to Wansink: Don’t think of exercise as a way to lose weight, but rather as a way to get toned and healthy. And definitely don’t reward yourself calorically for hitting the gym. It takes a lot of effort to burn a significant amount of calories — and it’s counterproductive to assume that because you’ve exercised for half an hour, you can eat 200 more calories that day. In truth, most exercisers overestimate the amount of calories they burn during exercise anyway, either due to incorrect guesstimating or using a faulty calorie counter (like the ones found on some exercise machines).

To learn more about Wansink’s research — he’s well-known for designing clever studies that reveal subtle food consumption behaviors — visit the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab website.

During this winter slump, many of us also spend a lot of time thinking about exercising — but not always making it to the gym. This study gives us a little more incentive to follow up on those thoughts. (Too bad thinking about exercise doesn’t also burn more calories!)

Have you noticed that you eat more after exercising?

Photo credit: Courtesy Zumba

Three new diet books may emphasize sex appeal, but inside you'll find solid nutrition and exercise advice.

We’ve noticed a trend in this year’s crop of diet books — they often have everything to do with sex appeal. Take three new titles: Coach Yourself Thin (Rodale, 2011), Six Weeks to Skinny Jeans (Rodale, 2011) and the least subtle of all, Eat Your Way to Sexy (Harlequin, 2011). The covers show, respectively, a flat-bellied young woman victoriously showing her toned abs, a pair of enviably filled-out “skinny jeans,” and last, but certainly not least, the bold word “SEXY,” the “X” created by a crossed fork and a knife.

But don’t judge these books by their covers alone. While each one serves a different kind of dieter, all three are packed with solid advice from nutrition or fitness experts about reshaping your diet, lifestyle … and, yes, your sexy body.

Eat Your Way to Sexy by Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.

A registered dietitian and the author of several previous diet and nutrition books, Somer’s latest is a guide to “reignite your passion, look 10 years younger, and feel happier than ever.” Though there’s quite a bit of hyperbole and tongue-in-cheek, sexy plays on words (“Menage a Trois breakfast,” “Quickie Snacks,” the “Antioxidant Orgy” and a list of “Amorous Edibles,” to name a few), there’s nothing overstated about her dieting and exercise advice.

“Nourishing the body and mind is the direct route to sexy,” says Somer; the theme throughout the book is that the brain is the most important sex organ. As for the body, the diet encourages “authentic food,” i.e., unprocessed foods made from basic ingredients at least 75 percent of the time, and regular physical activity is an integral part of the plan. You’ll get a week’s worth of “sexy menus,” an “authentic foods” shopping list and 25 simple recipes with nutrition numbers.

While Somer believes good nutrition is key to a robust sex life, she also suggests supplements to fill in any nutrient shortfalls and her supplement recommendations are sensible. If you want to have a little fun, while revamping your diet to work towards a healthier, more confident and sexier version of yourself, check out this guide.

As Somer says, “Cupid doesn’t always use an arrow­ — sometimes he uses a fork.”

Six Weeks to Skinny Jeans by Amy Cotta

Cotta, a certified trainer, says following her Skinny Jeans plan will help you “blast fat, firm your butt, and lose two jean sizes.” If you follow her advice, you’ll definitely lose fat and firm your butt, but losing two jean sizes in six weeks is a pretty tall order. But she dangles that pair of “skinny jeans” every woman has hanging in the back of her closet as the incentive to keep readers on track.

Given her credentials, it’s not surprising that she focuses on physical activity, with 40 pages of exercises demonstrated by the author in photographs, with very specific guidelines, including how many sets to do, how many repetitions and how to progress each week.

Throughout the book she presents “Skinny Jeans Rock Stars” — real women, with real curves, who have succeeded in losing weight, dropping a size or two and feeling better by following the plan. Cotta encourages learning to distinguish real hunger from cravings and provides a Rate of Perceived Hunger Scale, which ranges from “Famished” to “Beyond Stuffed” — a great self-awareness exercise for anyone trying to rein in calories. To make it easier, Cotta provides 30 recipes, complete with nutritional breakdowns per serving and 42 pages of Daily Food Logs for readers to keep tabs on their food intake — mandatory homework if you follow her plan.

Coach Yourself Thin by Greg Hottinger, M.P.H., R.D., and Michael Scholtz, M.A.

Both authors are former staffers at the Duke University Diet & Fitness Center, so they know a thing or two about diet and exercise. Their book is packed with solid information and tips on how to “retrain your mind and lose the weight for good.” But unlike Sexy or Skinny Jeans, this book sidesteps the illustrations and catchy phrases, opting instead for laying out their how-to lessons in clear, straightforward language.

The book first asks the reader to take a good look back — how she got to her present weight — and then outlines “The Seven Undermining Obstacles to Weight Loss.” There’s a self quiz for each obstacle to help readers see where they are right now in the obstacle course. “The Five Stepping Stones to Change” is a section devoted to the mental aspect of weight loss — the core of their plan. Like Cotta’s book, Coach is filled with motivational vignettes from real people who lost weight and feel better and healthier as a result.

“The Healthy Eating Guidelines” provide lots of healthy diet plans with different calorie levels and mix-and-match meal suggestions. No recipes here, but lots of tools for boosting your motivation, setting realistic goals and coaching yourself to better health. According to Hottinger and Scholtz, “The answers you need to live a healthy life are found within you. You are the coach.”

Have you looked to diet and exercise books to firm up your resolutions (and muscles)?

Actor Katie Finneran, who graces our latest issue's cover, is pregnant with her second child.

When we interviewed Katie Finneran for the January/February cover of VIVmag last fall, the star of Fox’s I Hate My Teenage Daughter — mother in real life to son Ty, who celebrates his first birthday Feb. 3 — told us that she and her husband, actor Darren Goldstein, hoped to have a second child. Well, she didn’t have to wait for long. She’s pregnant with her second boy, due in June, and she’s thrilled.

“I’m 40 years old so any children at this point are a blessing,” she says. “We were very much open to having a bigger family and it happened sooner than we thought it would.” She loves that her sons will be close in age and will share a room in the family’s New York apartment, where Finneran has returned now that the sitcom has wrapped production for the season.

She kept the pregnancy secret while shooting the last few episodes, “until I knew that everything would be OK,” says Finneran, who has since reverted from her character’s red locks to her natural blond hair color. One of the first people she told was co-star Jaime Pressly; both actors play former high school outcasts raising popular teen queens. “She jumped on me like a baby koala,” relates Finneran. “She was so excited.”

While she had first-trimester nausea and fatigue that she didn’t experience when pregnant with Ty, Finneran says she feels more relaxed and calm this time. She eats lots of healthy apples and yogurt, but indulges in cupcakes as well. “I believe your body tells you what it wants,” she says.  Although she was disappointed when she had to have a Caesarean section instead of the natural childbirth she’d planned for her first delivery, she’s realized she has “to be open to it being whatever it will be. As long as the baby is healthy, that’s all that matters.”

At 11 months, Ty is too young to understand he’s getting a sibling, but she thinks he’ll adjust just fine. “He loves people and being out in the world,” she says. “His smile lights up a room. I’m lucky I have such a happy baby.” She hasn’t chosen a name for his brother yet, but hopes to find something with “simplicity and strength.”

At the moment, with Goldstein working on location in New Orleans on the USA summer series Common Law, Finneran is concentrating on caring for Ty solo, walking three to five miles daily to keep fit — but trying to avoid navigating subways and buses with 45 pounds of baby and stroller. Doing so in winter has given her appreciation for pioneer women who made do with far less. “At least I have heat!” she exclaims, glad to be back in her small-but-cozy Big Apple abode. “If we had a bigger one,” she says of her apartment, “I’d just have more room to lose my keys.”

Read more about Finneran — from her determination to be an actor at a young age to why she loves being 40 — in “Do What You Love” in the latest issue of VIVmag. Do you think it’s important to do something you love every day?

Photo credit: John Russo

Proceeds from the yoga event benefit the Somaly Mam Foundation. Mam (pictured) has decicated her life to helping end sex slavery after being sold to a brothel as a girl.

While removing our shoes before yoga class one day, we noticed a poster for the Yoga Freedom Project, created by Off the Mat NYC and the Somaly Mam Foundation (SMF) to bring attention throughout the month of January to the issue of sex trafficking. The project culminates with a two-hour yoga class on Jan. 31 at Twelve21, 12 West 21 St. in the Flatiron District, with a lineup of nine of New York City’s top yoga teachers. For those not in New York, we also found ways you can help bring awareness to this important — and often overlooked — global issue. An estimated 27 million people currently are enslaved throughout the world, and one to two million children will be sold into slavery within the next year.

The Somaly Mam Foundation is dedicated to ending slavery, rescuing and empowering survivors and lending support to shelter and rehabilitation programs globally. Namesake and co-founder Somaly Mam was sold to a brothel as a 14-year-old girl in Cambodia by a man posing as her grandfather. After being forced to watch her best friend brutally murdered, Mam escaped and dedicated her new life to helping others. Her full story can be found in her memoir, The Road of Lost Innocence (Spiegel & Grau, 2008); a portion of the proceeds benefit the foundation.

Participating yoga studios have been selling Mam’s book as well as tank tops ($25) commemorating the upcoming yoga event. The tops are available with or without the list of participating studios and instructors, who will lead the two-hour class in about 10-minute intervals, according to Heather Snyder, co-creator and organizer of the Yoga Freedom Project. The teachers include Elena Brower of Virayoga, Tricia Donegan of Bikram Yoga Lower East Side, Sri Dharma Mittra of Dharma Yoga, Dana Flynn of Laughing Lotus, Cyndi Lee of OM Yoga, Alan Finger of Ishta Yoga, Suzanne Sterling, Jodie Rufty and Sierra Bender. Tickets are $50, plus a small service fee if you purchase them online, and benefit the Somaly Mam Foundation. The class starts at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30).

Raffle tickets will be sold for $5 at the door for a chance to win the following prizes: a certificate for Deep Root Massage, a Bikram Yoga Lower East Side monthly unlimited pass, a Dharma Yoga poster, private yoga with Eric Stoneberg, Karma Warrior Clothes, a Sierra Bender workshop, Virayoga T-shirts, an Ishta 10-class card and signed book, a Yoga Vida monthly unlimited pass, private instruction with Marjorie Nass, Electric Yoga clothing and mat and a Hyde Off the Mat tank top. After the class, there will be a reception with light snacks.

No plans to be in New York City that day? Check out the SMF events page and PROJECT FUTURES events listings, or find out how you can take action, from participating in online campaigns to hosting an event. Donate online to SMF or visit the Empowerment Store and purchase an item made by a slavery survivor, such as the silk Empowerment Necklace ($25) or Freedom Scarves ($50).

Mam’s story has opened our eyes to modern day slavery, and we’re inspired to see so many styles of yoga unite for a worthy cause! Are you inspired to raise awareness about human trafficking?

Photo credit: Courtesy Yoga Freedom Project

The James Beard House often hosts dinners and events, featuring fares from some of the finest chefs around.

With New York City Restaurant Week in full swing, our thoughts turned to favorite places to find epicurean feasts for less. We love gourmet food, great chefs — and bargains. Happily, we know how to find them all, from coast to coast, Portland to New York City — and even a gem across the Atlantic, tucked away in a London cookbook shop.

A slim townhouse, the James Beard House was the Greenwich Village home of America’s first television celebrity foodie, James Beard. Now, it houses the James Beard Foundation, an organization that celebrates exceptional food and the chefs who make it.

We’re looking forward to early February dinners from Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard of Chicago’s Girl & the Goat and from Ryan Poli, chef-owner of Chicago’s Tavernita. The meals cost $170 each, a bargain for the quality and amount of food. A $29 Friend membership gets you the newsletter and a $50 gift certificate toward your first James Beard House event. Springing for the $125–$500 memberships makes you eligible for membership meal prices ($130 in the case of the aforementioned February dinners).

We also love L’Ecole, the restaurant attached to the French Culinary Institute in New York City. The kitchen is staffed by students and chef-instructors, and the restaurant’s earned high marks from the Michelin Guide, Zagat, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. A four-course dinner costs $47 for three courses prepped by pros, or four courses made by students. A three-course lunch costs $30. Brunch, served on weekends, is a la carte.

New York’s not the only pricey place to find an edible bargain. London’s fab Notting Hill cookbook shop, Books for Cooks, houses a test kitchen where recipes from the cookbooks are tried out. Savvy customers stop by for fine lunches — £7 for three courses; £5 for two courses, plus a little extra for coffee or tea.

If you’re in Portland, OR, take advantage of the restaurant at the Oregon Culinary Institute. A seasonal three-course lunch will set you back $9; a four-course dinner, $18. Tip generously, because gratuities go to the Student Award Fund, funding today’s students and tomorrow’s chefs.

You’ll find locations of Le Cordon Bleu’s Technique Restaurant in 14 cities throughout the U.S.: Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, as well as Portland, OR; Orlando, FL; Austin, TX, and Scottsdale, AZ.

At lunch, you’ll get three courses for $10; for dinner you have a choice between three courses for $10 and four courses for $15. Restaurants are not open every day or night, but only when class is in session, and some take as few as 10 reservations in an evening. Plan ahead, call early, and you can nab a table set by the top culinary talent of the future. Even when splurging on wine, it’s hard to spend more than $30 a head.

Technique and the Beard House offer private dining, as well — something to bear in mind if you have an event to plan.

Where do you find gourmet meals at bargain prices?

Photo credit: Mitzi Morris, courtesy James Beard Foundation