Good Morning Sunshine

It is a cold and frosty day here in Kentucky and frankly not very sunshiny but I am not going to let that stop me from starting the day of in a sunny way!  I am a smoothie lover and a bit of a grocery hoarder in that I stock up big when things are on sale and then, before I manage to eat it all…I stock up big again when new things are on sale.  It is a bit of a problem really. 😛

This morning I looked through all of my fruit and started to put together a mish mash of stuff in order to move it out and then slowly backed away from the fruit bin…perhaps I can do better than just whomping  down a smoothie made from avocado, apricot, kiwi, grapefruit and tofu.  I mean really!  I am a chef after all!  So I got more thoughtful and calculating about my smoothie choice and came up with something quite wonderful if I do say so myself.  Something very Orange Julius like but VERY healthy!

Do they even sell Orange Julius any more?  I don’t even know.  I have been away too long.  I remember it fondly though from back in my high school days of mall surfing (Is that even a thing?  You know what I mean though right?).

Anyway, I am thinking it is the orange zest in there that is giving it the whole Orange Julius flavor goodness.  I have been feeling a bit of a cold coming on and suspected the zest of the orange would offer a big vitamin C boost.  After doing a little poking around on the internet, it turns out I am right.  According to GlobalHealthCenter.com:

“It’s not just the fruit that’s loaded with vitamin C, the rind is too, as well as vitamin A, enzymes, fiber, and pectin. Vitamin C is a fantastic immune system booster that can help fight the symptoms of cold and flu.”

Score!  I also added fresh ginger for the same kind of reasons.  HomeRemediesForLife.com list these reasons ginger is great for staving off colds:

• “Ginger is a natural antiviral which helps to fight against illness and bacteria that causes cold.
• It helps to stimulate perspiration that cleanses the system and brings down body temperature.
• It contains antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties which help to boost up the immune system.
• It acts as an antihistamine and decongestant that helps to ease colds symptoms.
• It contains chemicals called sesquiterpenes which are specifically used to target rhinoviruses (the most common family of cold viruses)
• It is a natural pain and fever reducer and also a mild sedative.”

I could go on and search out the rest of my ingredients but in all reality, I put the other things in simply because I thought they would taste good in there.

A quick word about my not so “Pintrest worthy” photos.  I am really just trying something here and want to not spend hours obsessing about my photos…and yet I figure if I am going to blog, I should at least try right?  soooo…I am using my little iPhone and playing around with the settings that they offer.  No judging OK?  I mean unless you like the pictures…then feel free to judge away.  😉

I also realize that if I intend to put recipes on here I should probably put together a different kind of format but in the meantime:  “JUST DOING IT” is my thing.  I’ll work on the rest later.  I just also want to say, because I do not think I was clear enough earlier on in the post…This smoothie is delicious!  Soooooo delicious!  Remember…the ingredients may seem random but I am working on moving out the mass of hoarded fruit!  Don’t be mad at me if you don’t have everything…just put orange zest in your next smoothie that is remotely close to this and love the results!

Now for the recipe:

Good Morning Sunshine Smoothie

Serves 4

• About 1 Cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Coconut Blend Milk
• Zest of 1 (washed) Orange – I used a peeler and carefully peeled the orange zest with not too much pith
• 1 Orange – peeled and deseeded
• 2 Fresh Apricots – obviously no pit
• 1 Pear – skin on, cored
• 5 Whole Dates – no pits
• 1 Pomegranite – seeds only
• 3/4 Inch Fresh Ginger – peeled
• 2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds
• 2 Handfuls of Ice

Blend everything until smooth and enjoy.  (I use a Vitamix)

Sugar Struggle

In reality my sugar struggle is more of an all out brawl rather than just a little struggle.  I mean, gosh, the stuff is EVERYWERE!  This morning when at a little continental buffet my kids like they chose what looked like chocolate milk to drink.  Later I looked at the ingredients on the carton and saw that the first ingredient was water…then high fructose corn syrup…then some milk solids, then cocoa powder, then regular corn syrup followed by some sugar and on and on it went.  So disgusting.  I am sure my kids found it good and it was a tiny little carton but honestly, how many parents are not reading that label and giving it to their kids as a “healthy treat”?  Not fair.

I found it easier to pick and choose my sugar when I was living in Norway because it was not in much of anything.  It was not added to things in the grocery store, they are not really “corn people” so there was NO High Fructose Corn Syrup in anything…heck they hardly even sweetened the whipped cream that they loaded all of the holiday desserts with.  But here…in the US…BAM!…sugar in EVERYTHING!

Don’t get me wrong, I like sugar.  For sure.  As a pastry chef I have made my living off of it for years but, ya know what?  I just don’t need all of the the added, empty calories and health issues of all of this extra sugar in things.  I love food and frankly would like to eat plenty of it and if my repast is all hepped up on sugar bomb calories I simply cannot eat as much of it.  Clean nutrition…that is what I am looking for…but let’s be honest, now is that season of abandon when it comes to sweets and treats.  Add that to sugar in things like sausage, processed foods, beverages, breads…(I have even seen it in canned corn for gosh sakes!) and what you get is quite simply “too much”.  All that hidden sugar feels unfair to those of us trying to live a healthy lifestyle and frankly even more unfair to those of us who have not been reading labels or learning about the hazards of too much sugar.

So for me…it is time to stop the crazy.  I have done it before and I am going to now do it again.  No more ignoring the added sugar in things.  This I can do.  I can eliminate the unnecessary hidden sugars in things.  There are products out there that are tasty and not made with crazy excessive sugar.  I think as I come across the good ones I will start to review and list them here.  Got any great products that you know of where they have simply made it good rather than loading it up with sugar?  Tell me about it.  I wanna know!

Day one…let’s go!  We can fight the good fight and stop the crazy.  Even if it is just within our own lives.  I believe it.

One Day to Day One

Ok…this is NOT as straight forward as I expected…but then again, neither is life for that matter and that is what this blog is all about.  Sometimes you have to just plow forward with the best intentions even if you cannot understand how to set the home page up right (no offense wordpress) or how to make it so your kids heads are not cropped off in the photo, or if there be to no way to stop thinking it would just be easier to eat a cookie and go Christmas shopping.

I promised myself I would just start this blog no matter how simple and how not perfect the first post was.  Here I am.  I got this.  Right?

Right.  Now I think it might be important to, you know, insert a cute picture of my kids in here.

Why a picture from the 4th of July you ask?  I could be honest and tell you it is the only picture I could locate of them on my husbands work computer but I am going with “it is a picture of Day One in America after living out of the country for ten years.  Very appropriate for my new blog don’t you think?

What is the blog about?  (you might be wondering if you have managed to stay with me this long)  It is about the fact that we all have power to change our lives on any day at any time for any reason …just by taking the first step and starting with “Day One”.  We can do this.  We can live out our dreams simply by not giving up or giving in.  This blog will show on a Day to Day basis that today can always be Day One.

Are you with me?  I hope so.  Let’s do this thing.

One Day is here and today is Day One of my blog. Did that.