This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade and the Bare Cupboard blog carnival.
iTunes is playing “Gonna Fly Now” on my computer as I write this post. You know that song. It’s the one from “Rocky” where Rocky Balboa is beating up sides of beef and jogging up the Philadelphia Art Museum’s steps and holding his hands up in victory at the top. It’s the theme song of determined underdogs everywhere.
photo by radiospike photography on Flickr
My victory once again focuses on a great meal review from my hard-to-please son, John. Earlier this month, I wrote a Fight Back Fridays post about two wonderful in-season foods: strawberries and kale. Michelle commented, “Haha I thought this was going to be a recipe made with strawberries and kale! That would have been a new one.” I took this as a personal challenge and served Strawberry Green Smoothies for breakfast this morning:
Strawberry Green Smoothies
Toss a handful of washed, stemmed, organic strawberries in the blender. Add a raw (pastured only, from chickens you know and farmers you trust, please) egg yollk, a splash of milk, a few drops of flax oil, a drizzle of whey and a few pieces of frozen banana. Turn the blender on. Add a washed, destemmed organic kale leaf and let it blend for a while until all the pieces are invisible and the smoothie is nice and green.
I never expected John to like it. I wasn’t even going to pour him a cup, but he insisted. And he liked it. He said if he was drinking it in the dark he would have never known it was green. And the kale I used was thick, meaty, red Russian kale, too.
It’s amazing and wonderful how quickly our tastebuds adapt to healthy foods if we give them the chance. My mother-in-law is visiting again this week and I learned last time to not allow that to be an excuse to eat poorly. This time, tempted with eating out, grabbing a Starbucks and ordering in, I was able to easily say no. I just have no interest in eating that stuff anymore. I’m spoiled. I’m also educated. The thought of what is in those non-foods kills my appetite as surely as the idea of drinking gasoline.
It’s Friday, I’m fighting back, and I’m gonna fly now!
11 comments
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May 29, 2009 at 6:06 am
Becky@BoysRuleMyLife
I love green smoothies!!! Two of my boys do, too… still working on the oldest. I finally turned the smoothy purple using berries and then froze it into a Popsicle mold. He ate half.
He’s going to be a hard one to convert.
Now, on to my question… which you know I’ve always got one for you… {grin}… your last paragraph about your MIL visiting really struck home with me. This past weekend, my DS and SIL visited with their kids. One morning I made waffles. First off, they were really impressed that I didn’t have frozen waffles and that I made them from scratch, BUT… I chose to make them with AP unbleached flour – no whole wheat flour. (I’m still working up to the whole grain version.)
ANYWAY… I was amazed at the feelings that went through me as I made these totally non-nutritious waffles. All I could taste was the salt – blech! My only saving grace (in my eyes) was that I at least served them with pure maple syrup.
So, at what point do you get past the “guilt” of eating healthy and serve your guests a healthy meal… even though you know their taste buds aren’t ready and might not enjoy it?
Do my emotions and questions even make sense? I know they would probably sound “corny” to the outside world…
As always, thanks so much!
Oh, and hey… wanted to share something I found exciting: I rendered lard earlier this week! HA!
May 29, 2009 at 7:52 am
motherhen68
Hmm, Starbucks is bad??
I’m guessing you don’t do caffeine? Please don’t tell me a plain cup of Starbucks coffee is loaded with carbs or some other nefarious thing?? (if it is, don’t tell me…snort)
I drink the green smoothies, but I’ve yet to offer them to my kids. I’ve got a hard enough time getting them to drink a honey/banana kefir smoothie. My kids are pretty strange. They are LOVING the popsicles I’m making from the same concoction though. Maybe fried eggs, sausage, etc + a smoothie is just too much for breakfast?
May 29, 2009 at 8:28 am
localnourishment
Oh no, I do caffeine, although less now than I have in recent years. I’m not one to spoil a party, so I won’t tell you what’s in a cup of Starbucks!
May 29, 2009 at 9:25 am
FoodRenegade
Ha! I think I lucked out by catching on to this Real Food thing when my kids were in diapers. They’re willing to try anything I put in front of them, and they LOVE green smoothies. They don’t know enough to know that the food I feed them is “weird.”
I need to get me some fresh strawberries SOON. I got one little pint in my CSA a while back, and that was the end of that. I need to go to a you pick place and bring back a haul that will last me the year.
Thanks for sharing this in today’s Fight Back Fridays blog carnival.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
May 29, 2009 at 2:13 pm
EcoYogini
OUUU this sounds awesome! I am sorely tempted to buy a blender, as I think my fiancé would be more apt to eat real foods if they were prepared in drink form…
Congrats on the success!
May 31, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Michelle @ Find Your Balance
Mmmmm. Does the blender really break up kale into a smooth consistency? I’d expect not but I hope so bc that sounds great!
May 31, 2009 at 7:20 pm
localnourishment
It does. I had to let it run for about two minutes on high, but the pieces got smaller than I could see. John has asked for another one tomorrow morning. I’m out of kale!
June 4, 2009 at 10:42 am
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