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Apples of Antiquity

                                                      Week of October 17th, 2022        

I crave convenience. I don’t know about you, but at least for me life has gotten a ton busier.  Between older parents, children, grandchildren, the farm and Box of Good, my plate is pretty full. It is a good kind of full, but it is full.  

I gravitate to simple things all the time and especially when it comes to eating healthy. Our box menus tend to be built around items that you can easily prepare or grab and go. This is intentional on our part. Because as I alluded to earlier, life is full. Dave Ramsey shares that if you don’t have a plan for your money, Visa does. Sadly, it is the same with the Fast-food industry and not only do their food choices come with a premium they often lead to a with a few extra pounds around our waist.   

If I am going to be “stronger and healthier longer” I have to make a conscious choice today and plan to eat and walk and pause along this journey. I do this by doing a lot of one pot cooking or blending????  

Joelle and I recently celebrated 33 years of marriage and for our anniversary get away we went to Vancouver BC. It was so nice. Stanley Park is a treasure. Remember what I said about being stronger longer, when Joelle and I get away it usually involves miles of trails. It is not uncommon to log 5 –10 miles a day exploring. On Sunday morning, I ordered a green smoothie bowl for breakfast. I usually start my day with a smoothie anyway, but I have never made a smoothie bowl or more correctly, I have never poured my smoothie into a bowl!   

There are a few tricks to making a good smoothie or smoothie bowl. If you love the bright green of a spinach smoothie add frozen bananas and mangos. If you like a berry-based smoothie, I still recommend frozen bananas, but the berries will turn your smoothie red. I make all kinds of combinations and often add a chunk of ginger or some chia seeds. Frozen avocados will add a ton of fiber and a creaminess to your smoothie.   

One trick to making a thicker smoothie is using a 3:1:1 ratio. I use about 3 cups or frozen fruit to 1 cup of greens and 1 cup of liquid. You can always adjust the consistency by adding more liquid or more frozen fruit. 

For the liquid, sometimes I use almond milk other times coconut or oat or dairy. Variety is a key to health.   

And when it comes to toppings, any fresh fruit will do and you can add granola or shredded coconut. It is fun to make the smoothie bowls. The other morning, I made them for the whole family and assembled a selection for everyone to build their own. On reason I am fan of smoothie bowls in particular to just smoothies, is because health experts recommend “chewing” our smoothies??? Apparently, enzymes are released when we chew our food and sends a signal to our digestive system to get ready to process whatever we are sending it.   

By making a smoothie bowl and adding a few fresh fruit or granola toppings it forces us to chew and chewing must be important or we wouldn’t have teeth!  But their was one day last week where I had every intention of making a smoothie bowl. I had cut up the fruit and got out the granola and lost track of time and I tossed everything in the blender and poured in to a cup and drank and chewed my smoothie😊   

  • Tristan