Since Samuel, our two-year old smoothie-drinking whirlwind, helped with the fall clean-up in the garden, I couldn’t resist his request for “Memaw’s Poodie.”
Being short on fruit, I remembered that our very generous neighbor welcomed us to pick whatever we wanted from his curbside tree. October is prime apple picking season in the Northwest and today seemed like the perfect day to walk down the hill and take Don up on his offer.
Carrying the heavy satchel home in the warm sunshine, I thrilled at the beauty all around me. The clear sky, deeply shadowed evergreens, fiery crimson maples, and glistening water all reflected back the glory of the Creator. At home, the late afternoon sun shone through the west window onto the dining table. The October apples begged a photo-shoot before they were folded into a great apple pie–one in the VitaMix and the other in the Dacor oven!
Conveniently, the greens for our smoothie came from the spinach and chard I had inconspicuously tucked between the landscaping in the front yard late in July. To the local apples and greens, I added cinnamon from Southeast Asia and cloves from some exciting place like Madagascar, Brazil or Ceylon. The almond milk was homemade from California-grown almonds thanks to Trader Joe’s.
The recipe is simple. Three large apples, two cups of greens, two cups of almond milk plus a teaspoon each of cloves and cinnamon.
Cloves are great for digestion, but you might want to go light on them if you are not ready for a jolt from deep within! Although you might appreciate the prompting to your metabolism.
The smoothie quickly disappeared, although our daughter, Annemarie, found the cloves a little too rambunctious for her digestive system.
Samuel, nonetheless, loved the Apple Pie ala Smoothie and wears it proudly!
I don’t think I’ve ever made a smoothie that he didn’t love. That’s saying something, because I don’t love them all. It does remind me that more adults could learn from a smoothie-drinking toddler how to eat more healthily!
Plan on 90 some calories for each bountiful cup! This recipe took its inspiration from The Everything Green Smoothies Book although I rarely follow a recipe exactly because it’s not what I do best!
Marlee Huber ~ Advocating for Your Flourishing Health!
What a wonderful walk through your afternoon with you Marlee. It makes me crave grand-babies, although don’t let my kids hear me say that.
I’m going to try the apply pie smoothie and need to investigate Almond Milk. I’ve never seen it in our stores so must venture further afield I think.
Samuel is gorgeous and a credit to his extended family who invest in his future.
Bless you all.
Love
Penny
Hi Penny,
It was such a beautiful fall afternoon! I am so pleased that you read my blog! Honored, in fact! About the almond milk–I make it in my vita-mix. Soak one cup raw almonds for 12 hours in purified water. Rinse. Put the almonds along with 4 cups purified water, a bit of vanilla extract and some sweetener like agave or stevia or honey in the blender. Blend for a couple minutes and then strain the almonds so that the outer shell is removed. It is wonderful and so healthy! Almonds are really wonderful for our health. Clark uses it on his cereal in the morning and I put it in the smoothies. Sometimes I make the milk using chilled Noevir Herbal Blend Tea. I am having so much fun with this whole process. Losing weight, feeling great, and trying all sorts of healthy alternatives to the Standard American Diet–which is lethal!
Marlee,
A while back I thought I saw you make almond milk with raw almounds that hadn’t been soaked. Maybe they had been soaked & I hadn’t been realized it?
LeeAnn
Marlee,
I think your time for this blog is not set correctly. I posted at 11/6/11 about 9:50 pm not 11/7/11 at 5:48 am. I will be heading out to my van pool by then!
LeeAnn