Smoothie Refined

A healthy breakfast favorite with a Northwest twist
 

I sent my family (all three brothers and three sisters) my Smoothie recipe some years ago. I've refined it a bit and enjoy it three days a week and recently re-sent the updated version to them. No sense in not sharing it with our SD! readers too.

Since I don't eat much fish, and grass fed beef is out of my price range, I've been looking at ways to add Omega 3 to my diet. If you haven't spent much time researching the various Omega 3s, allocate a little online entertainment time to the subject. There's tons of info out there, so take it all with a grain of salt and come to your own conclusions. Be sure to heed the overdoing it cautions.

I did a little research on flaxseed and fish oil and am going to start adding 1 tsp of flaxseed oil to the smoothie recipe. This way I'm getting a good dose (not too much) of the good Omega 3, ALA, that creates the other two needed Omega 3s, EPA and DHA.

The recipe has evolved over the years. It's high in fiber, anti-oxidants and Omega 3. Because it uses yogurt that contains live cultures, it's also good for your lower intestine creating good bacteria and protecting it from bad ones. Non-fat or flavored yogurts are generally useless in the diet, often contain processed sugar and don't include live cultures; I don't use them.

My smoothie has evolved from using orange juice to fresh-squeezed orange juice to Knudsen's Just Blueberry Juice to freshly-juiced apples. It's best if you experiment with different apples to see what you like best. I prefer the organic Honey Crisp, but Cameo's worked well this spring.

Enjoying this smoothie three days a week would impress any family physician, and it tastes so good you'll miss it if you don't.

In looking through the ingredients, I note a several of them are local, making it all the better. Greek Gods yogurt is a Seattle area company and the Remlinger Farms frozen berries come from farms located right in the Snoqualmie River Valley area.

It's good and good for ya!

• 8 oz Fresh Apple Juice Pick up a bottle of Simply Apple, a bottled juice founds at most major markets. It's pure presseed, not from concentrate and has only apples in the ingredients. Or juice your own apples. Honey crisp and Cameos are best.

• 1 tsp Organic Flaxseed Oil (=2.66 grams of Omega 3 ALA and hardly any Omega 6 or 9 which are counter-productive to the creation of the other key Omega 3s,  EPA & DHA during metabolism.)

• 4 oz Greek Gods Traditional Plain Greek Yogurt (The real-deal of Yogurt! )

• 4 oz Remlinger Farms frozen Whole Blueberries (Readily available at better QFCs, Town & Country Market and Central Market locations. Or go to a U-Pick and pick your own.)

• 1/4 cup Organic Rolled Oats (Buy them in bulk, rather than a brand name in a round box. Less expensive, typically better grade.

• 1 Organic Banana (shelf life is longer than non-organic. Great if you're single. Only buy them if they're yellow or turning to yellow.)

Tom Mehren/July 2013