Sharing 10 of my favorite core muscle stretches. 

Hi friends! How’s the morning so far! I hope you’ re having a great day! We’re spending the morning at the beach and looking forward to a fun hike this afternoon.

For today’s post, I’m sharing 10 of my favorite core stretches!

The core muscles are central to almost every movement we make. These muscles include the abdominal muscles, back muscles, and pelvic muscles. Stretching the core muscles can potentially prevent injuries (research is mixed, but it feels good!), and improving flexibility and mobility. Despite their importance, core muscle stretches are often overlooked. It’s important to remember that in order to have full strength and function, you need to be able to RELAX the muscle; not just contract it.

Today, I’m sharing a roundup of core muscle stretches that you can easily add to your routine to keep your core strong and flexible.

10 Core Muscle Stretches

Cobra Pose

The Cobra Pose is a great stretch for the abdominal muscles and lower back.

How to Do It:

Lie face down on the floor with your hands under your shoulders.

Slowly lift your upper body off the ground, extending your spine.

Keep your elbows slightly bent and your hips pressed to the floor.

Hold the pose for 20-30 seconds, then gently lower yourself back to the starting position.

Benefits:

Stretches the abdominal muscles

Improves flexibility in the spine

Strengthens the lower back

Cat-Cow Stretch

The Cat-Cow Stretch is excellent for increasing flexibility in the spine and stretching the abdominal and back muscles.

How to Do It:

Start on your hands and knees with your wrists aligned under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.

Inhale as you drop your belly towards the floor, lifting your head and tailbone upwards (Cow Pose).

Exhale as you round your spine towards the ceiling, tucking your chin to your chest (Cat Pose).

Repeat this sequence 10 times.

Benefits:

Enhances spinal flexibility

Stretches the core muscles

Improves posture

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My All Time Favorite Peach Crisp

This peach crisp is one of my favorites! As the peaches cook, they release all of their sugars and become super gooey. And that topping! It’s like a crazy delicious oatmeal cookie on top.

Easy Peach Crisp Recipe

This homemade peach crisp is insanely good! It takes about 10 minutes of hands on prep, and then it’s ready to go into the oven. If you really want a delicious treat, top the whole thing off with a little bit of vanilla ice cream and serve while it’s still warm. You won’t find a more perfect summer dessert!

The warm topping and peaches slowly melt away as you eat it, which makes for a perfect combination of hot out of the oven crisp and cool, smooth ice cream. Take a spoonful with a little bit of each and you’ll have perfection in every bite. So delicious!

You’ll never go back to plain, run of the mill desserts again! Whipped topping is good too. Not fantastic or anything, but it will do in a pinch. If doesn’t happen to be peach season, but you are craving the comfort of a fruit crisp, try our apple crisp recipe! Drooling!

Peach Crisp Ingredients 

This fresh peach crisp has two main components: the gooey fruit filling and the peach crisp topping. Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe: 

• Fresh Peaches
• Butter
• Cinnamon
• Brown Sugar
• Cornstarch
• Old-Fashioned Oats
• All-Purpose Flour
• Salt

The measurements that you will need for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Can I Use Canned or Frozen Peaches?

You already know what I’m going to say, don’t you? Fresh is best 9 times out of 10, so go with fresh in all things! But if you absolutely must (I know, the peak season for fresh peaches is so short 😫), yes, canned or frozen peaches will do.

Just pay attention to the sugar on them. Frozen peaches tend to not be sweet enough and canned are usually too sweet. For canned peaches, drain them first. For frozen peaches, you can cook them from frozen (just add 5-10 extra minutes of baking time), or you can thaw them first (drain off any excess peach juice) and keep the baking time the same.

What Peaches are Best for Baking?

If you’re headed to the grocery store for peaches to bake with, go for the freestone peaches. They can be yellow or white, but when you cut into them, the pit will fall right out. They are sweet, a little bit tangy and full of flavor. Perfect for baking crisps, cobblers, pies and crumbles! For a list of my favorite freestone peaches, head to our peach c

Sharing some questions that I received about our Spain trip!

Hi friends! Happy Monday! How was the weekend? We spent some time in Aulani, which was an absolute DREAM. P and I are huge fans of lazy rivers, and we pretty much love Disney anything.

For today’s post, I’m sharing one last Spain recap. I’m sorry I’ve dragged this out so much, but I’ve had a lot to say! I can already tell you that we’ll definitely back and I’m scheming to see how much time we’ll be able to spend out there. The Pilot will be retired from the Air Force in January (!) so that opens up a lot of options. Fitnessista in Sevilla has a nice ring to it, just sayin.

Here are the questions you sent in on IG!

(dress on sale here!)

Spain Q&A post

Any issues with language barriers? I’d love to visit but nervous about it!

So my family speaks Spanish, and I minored in Spanish, so I understand it pretty much perfectly. However, I don’t have a ton of experience or confidence speaking Spanish. Growing up, I’d always respond to family members in English, and in college, we spent so much time studying Spanish (reading novels, analyzing poems, writing essays) but very little time actually practicing. Getting more comfortable speaking Spanish has been a huge goal of mine, so I started taking weekly Itaki private lessons in January. It’s made a huge difference and I don’t freeze up like I used to!

It was pretty amazing to get to practice in Spain, and I also found that they’re extremely patient and I think they appreciate the fact that you’re trying to speak their language.

If you don’t speak Spanish but would like to, I highly recommend Italki. You can also download this audiobook for phrases to know while traveling.

What made you pick Sevilla to visit over other cities in Spain?

We have good friends there, so that was the main focus of our trip! They have lived in Sevilla for the past year and absolutely love it, and we knew we wanted to make a visit (and also give P the chance to see her best buddy in the whole world). Next time, we’d absolutely love to see Madrid, Barcelona, and head over the Portugal.

How/why you picked the area you went to and how the food was?? I’m half Spanish

We stayed close to our friends in Alfalfa Plaza. It was a great location, close to tons of restaurants, cafes, and shopping.

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Blueberry Pancake Syrup is a quick and easy way to make your pancake or waffle breakfast deliciously special. You won’t believe how simple it is to turn 4 basic ingredients into a showstopping, vibrant purple feast for the eyes and mouth!

Blueberry Pancake Syrup

I don’t know if you’re as crazy for blueberries as I am, but I can’t think of a more appetizing looking breakfast than a stack of blueberry waffles or pancakes.

And if you just happened to douse them in blueberry syrup, I think I might just go straight to heaven. It’s like blueberry inception!

Of course, this blueberry pancake syrup is also incredible on top of waffles but the blueberry-on-top-of-blueberry fun doesn’t need to stop there. You can drizzle it over Blueberries and Cream Almond Oatmeal or Blueberry Baked Oatmeal.

Or make your own soda with a couple of tablespoons stirred into an icy cold glass of seltzer.

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Roasted Peach Chicken

Juicy marinated chicken breasts, pan seared and roasted with bright flavorful peaches, roasted peach chicken is about to be your new favorite fall dinner!

We are moving into day 2 of Peach Week here at Oh Sweet Basil, and today we use peaches in this mega delicious savory dish!

This happened.

And then a gazillion other peach things happened, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

A few years ago I saw a photo on instagram from just a normal, not there to be a food blogger person and it was the darkest, weirdest angle, but my goodness, I loved it. The chicken was a whole roasted bird that should have been on its back but instead was breast down in a pan surrounded by, covered in roasted peaches and the happiest little caption about how good dinner was that night.

I loved the unapologetic joy that, by instagram standards would have been nothing but imperfection coming from that post. And instantly I was sold. I needed a peach chicken recipe as well. I wanted it simple, the peaches to be the star and this my friends is that recipe.

Thank you to the wonderful people out there that don’t need social media, but occasionally hop on to post something good.

Thank you to those that let us share the imperfect and the perfectly perfect and are inspired by both because they are confident enough in themselves to live with eyes full of light.

This peach chicken is for you. I hope it brings a little beauty and deliciousness to your autumn table.

Ingredients for Peach Roasted Chicken

Peach season is so short here in Utah. I am not a fan of that. So toward the end of last summer, when delicious juicy fresh peaches flooded the farmstands and grocery stores, I loaded up and made all the peach things I had on my wish list. This roasted peach chicken dinner was one of my favorites. Here is what you will need:

• Chicken Breasts: We prefer bone-in and skin on for this recipe.

Marinade

• Peach Preserves: You can use homemade peach jam or use store-bought.
• Buttermilk: Helps tenderize the chicken.

For Roasting

• Peach Preserves: We use some more peach jam to add more flavor during roasting.
• White Wine Vinegar: If you don’t have white wine vinegar, good substitutes would be apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, or white balsamic vinegar.
• Thyme: Fresh thyme is definitely recommended, but if you don’t have it, use 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.
• Dijon Mustard: Adds flavor to the roasting sauce.
• Olive Oil: Helps the chicken stay moist and helps it crisp during roasting.
• Shallots: Adds flavor.
• Garlic: Adds flavor.
• Sea Salt: Adds flavor.
• Black Pepper: Adds flavor.
• Peaches: We prefer to use freestone orange-fleshed peaches just for the color. They are added for the second half of the roasting.
  • TIP: If you don’t have access to fresh peaches, frozen or canned peaches can also be u