The healthy writing life

I've been spending way too much time on Pinterest looking for baby shower ideas. One of the fun things is all the neat things you can do with food.  I'm loving that.

My niece-in-law has been doing a blog on her weight-loss journey with one of her friends, and she has had some fun food ideas. Like most people, I struggle with maintaining my weight/losing weight, so today, I'm going to share with you one of my favorite "diet" foods. Sorry for the bad timing on this, but we are fortunate enough to live in a world where we can get fresh (or relatively fresh) fruit year-round. So although this is coming after the summer season, hopefully you will still find it useful.

I don't like vegetables. There. I've said it. My husband is always asking me what's wrong with me, my mother tells me I don't know what's good for me. My mother-in-law just tut-tuts and wonders what to feed me. I EAT vegetables. Don't misinterpret. My mother fed me vegetables at every meal growing up. I know they're good for me. I am concerned about my health. I EAT VEGETABLES. I just don't like them. But I love fruit . . .

There are dozens of recipes using fruit, and I've tried dozens of smoothie recipes to ensure I'm eating my daily dose and more (although with fruit, that's usually not an issue). I've had conversations with people at the day job about smoothies, and some of them mention kale and spinach in smoothies. EWWW!  Green smoothies? And then I spoke with one of my friends at work who convinced me to try the spinach ones. She says the kale ones are still a little off-tasting. Okay, she convinced me. I tried it. And you know what? It was GOOD! I never tasted the spinach. Granted, I eat spinach salads, so spinach does put me off the way many veggies do, but what a cool idea!  So here's the deal.

Strawberries.  Lots of them. If they're on sale, buy them up and freeze them. We're at the end of the season and they were just cheap at the store, so I bought a bunch (I also have a strawberry patch in my garden). And bananas.  They were on sale, too. But I couldn't eat them all before they "expired," so I started freezing them in smoothie sized servings. (Oh - and peaches, or pineapple, or whatever strikes you or is in season).

If the fruit is fresh, I start with the spinach at the bottom of the blender. A handful. Maybe even two. Top it with your fresh fruit (example: one banana + 5 big strawberries), a half cup of milk and another handful of ice cubes. This usually translates to about 24 ounces of smoothie for me. Blend it up and YUMMM.  It's green, yes, although I've found that adding blueberries makes it purple (not green). 

As the growing season ends, I'm freezing the fruit in smoothie bags. When making a smoothie with the frozen fruit, skip the ice cubes and do a half cup milk and a half cup of water. The frozen fruit will provide the ice.

Quick, easy, delicious, NUTRITIOUS. I'm getting my vegetables! It fills me up. And if you want something to chew on, you've saved enough calories to supplement with a granola bar, an english muffin, or a piece of toast, or a bagel (although you should still pay attention to what your calorie intake is if your goal is weight loss).

Good stuff, I'm tellin ya.