We hope you’ll be able to join us at our next Pathfinder
Produce market at the Village Commons, this Thursday, April 3, from 2 to 5 p.m.
April is National Volunteer Month, so
we’d like to extend a big thank you to our volunteers who help things run
smoothly each week – we simply couldn’t offer our market without their
assistance.
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A few friends have been posting lately about their kitchen experiments with
smoothies, those cold, creamy, drinks that have become popular over the past
few years. With Pathfinder Produce offering so many fresh and tasty
ingredients, smoothies are a natural way to incorporate more fruits and veggies
into daily routines. All you really need is a decent blender, some frozen
fruit, and a little time for prep and clean-up.
I
am admittedly new to smoothies, but from a brief perusal of the web, it seems
that they can stand in as either meal substitutes or as snacks/desserts.
They can be simple, based on a few standard ingredients, or as complex as you
like. People who are in training seem to add all kinds of things, like
whey powder, flax seeds, almond milk, etc., but I think I’ll stick to the
basics in my experiments :).
Bon Appetit
writer Victoria
von Biel cautions that smoothies can present nutritional pitfalls: If
you add extra sugar (like honey or sweetened fruit juices) or dessert-grade
frozen yogurt, the resulting drinks can add calories from empty carbohydrates
and fats. It probably takes some time to acclimate one’s self to
smoothies: They’re cold and thick, so those of us who grew up drinking
milkshakes need to realize that smoothies shouldn’t be as sweet as ice
cream-based confections.
Von
Biel recommends freezing chunks of fruit ahead of time to keep drinks the right
consistency, and trying non-dairy alternatives like almond or soy milk as the
“smoothie base.” She also mentions using coconut water to thin overly
thick drinks (coconut water is trendy according to NPR),
or adding avocados, which are effective in controlling cholesterol and can
squelch hunger pangs.
For
most families, especially those with kids, low-fat and non-fat Greek-style
yogurt is a good base for smoothies, as yogurt provides muscle-building
protein, calcium, and beneficial probiotic bacteria. Plus, most kids love
yogurt. But avoid yogurts that have lots of added sugar and other
chemical additives – lactose is the sugar that is naturally found in milk, and
most flavored yogurt has added table sugar (sucrose). I personally refrain from
buying yogurts sweetened with artificial sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup
(an industrial invention of the 1960s that could be a culprit for our obesity
epidemic).
Here
are some recipes found online that offer different smoothie concoctions.
Those from Prevention Magazine are fruit based, whereas the Buzzfeed and
Fitness Magazine are a bit more adventuresome. There are plenty of
recipes out there too for “detox” smoothies, those that help flush unwanted
chemical residues from the body.
Until
next time, be well!
Lori
