Hard to get your 5 a day? No! Let me help…
Garden smoothie picked!
We are told time and again we need to eat our 5 a day – 5 fruit and vegetables.
We would be better with ten but they started with 5 so we would accept it, and sometimes it feels hard to do – it shouldn’t be.
One smoothie will take you almost there and this one is mostly just from the garden. Heres what I put in…
A pile of lettuce leaves from various types that have now sprouted, they are still useful for smoothies.
Plump purselane that is growing wild (soooo good for you, also delicious in salads!).
Leaves I pinched from the tops of some unsuspecting beetroot.
A hand full of crisp parsley, flat and curly.
A small pile of ripe plumbs warm from the tree.
And last but not least hand fulls of shiny, sweet and juicy blackberries.
I whizzed them up in the Vitamix with a mango that needed using and a windfall apple that didn’t look pretty enough for some to eat.
Ready in minutes!
So about 9 portions between three of us!
An easy smoothy that almost anyone would love and is silky smooth would be bananas, an apple or pear and half a lettuce ( try for organic). When we need more energy/calories, I add in more bananas, some nuts, adapt to your needs.
Slurp, slurp!
In health and happiness
Desri x
Learn More5 easy things to do with an avocado – with benefits!
Avocados love hearts
Five things to do with an avocado
Life is busy, often frantic and the fastest, easiest and most effective things do not have to come out of a bottle or a packet or cost a fortune.
Avocados are a perfect fruit. I am told we could live on them alone (hey, come on, borrrrring!) so quickly discarding that thought here are 5 top things to do with them, I have so many more but five is your limit for today, don’t want to bore you…
1 As the picture depicts LOVE ‘EM! Just as they are, with a sprinkle of natural mineral salt (especially Fleur de sel – yum), and/or a good squeeze of lemon, or a sprinkle of vinaigrette (the stone hole is a perfect reservoir).
2 Whip them up with a splash of lemon or cider vinegar, some salt and pepper and a handful of herbs to make a dressing for salad, pasta or a dip to dip anything into. Vary the herbs for different flavours.
3 Easy guacamole – mash the avocado, squeeze a lemon over, add chopped onions and tomatoes and fresh ( or frozen) coriander – perfect lunch or snack, starter or apero with wholemeal pitta bread, chopped up veggies or even a spoon!
4 If you open one and its over ripe or gone black don’t throw it away! Mash it up and squidge it through your hair. Wrap in cling film or a shower cap with a towel over the top and leave for 20 minutes or more then shampoo off. Hair and skin love the natural, rich oils.
5 Leading on from above; mash one up and rub over your skin. Exfoliate first then just smear it on. Leave for however long you have then shower it off.
Ready in minutes, how could you resist?
Desri xx
Outtake, eating the evidence!
Every single step counts!
I can not shake the vision of the little boy in India who had his eyes gouged out yesterday.
Atrocities and tragedies are happening everywhere, all the time, we see so much of it we become almost immune, it bounces off, it didn’t happen to us.
This one really hit me full on. The horror, the pain, the fact it can never be undone. The suffering, the shock, the realisation. Each fragmented part of this shocking story in slow motion is lodged in my brain, the pit of my stomach and behind my eyes.
I have pledged to help children in whatever way I can.
It is my private – and shared – vision and venture, my mission to do what I can. When I read this story it felt that my mission is so futile, such a tiny drop, will it help at all, will it matter?
And today the stories about the dead children in Syria with no families left to identify them. And how many children are dreading going back to school today because they are bullied or abused. Or relieved to be going because those things happen at home. On and on.
So, as with most mountains, we have to start by taking one step.
We can’t reach the top without having taken that first step and that first step counts just as much as the last one that takes us onto the summit.
We have to remember that, give it the importance it deserves, otherwise… we would just give up and we CAN NOT do that.
Round pegs, square holes revisited!
I wrote a critical post the other day, which I removed after a long chat with someone who made me think again.
I’ve actually had some really good feedback from it too, it struck a cord with many people but I want to qualify something.
One comment I made was this – ”
Imagine a fairy aura with all its shades of pinks, lilacs, blues and greens – if that was put under a sterile strip light, how ever modern and effective it was, the hues and shades would be flattened, you would hardly even see the glow.”
The criticism was of people wanting to question what I think and feel about my new business …. the point she made was that they have to do that so they understand me, if they didn’t understand me how could progress happen.
I had become defensive and didn’t see it that way at all, hence the post (very slightly in my defence, it has to be said we have all experienced people not wanting to understand or help and thinking they know best, but when I think about it now the difference was that they probably didn’t ask questions or listen!).
The moment I really GOT what this special and clever friend was saying is when she said, “The people questioning what you are thinking and wanting to do actually questioned because they want to give your fairy the biggest, brightest, prettiest wings ever”.
Now that was talking my language ( she is very good at that) and it really hit home.
Im really glad she took the hour and a half of talking to help me remember that we have so many different languages because we are all motivated and affected by different things, sometimes we have to listen, translate and replay a few times.
Whats that metaphor – don’t tar everyone with the same brush I think?
And round pegs sometimes will squidge nicely into square holes!
Learn MoreEasy PEAsy lemon squeezy!
Ok quick recipe for an easy, delicious and nourishing dip – yes and low calories, cuts through cravings for creamy, cheesy and savoury and more I’m sure!
Delicious and nourishing dip recipe, coming up:
Method:
- A bag of frozen peas (defrost – not in the micro wave if you can help it please!) blend with half a red onion (oh, yes, any onion if thats what you have) an avocado, a couple of table spoons of nutritional yeast – that’s the cheesy flavour, trust me, plus it is called nutritional for a reason!
- Add a tablespoon of agave syrup – OK, maple, or honey, or even (and this would be a great choice) a couple of apricots or a sweet nectarine or a couple of soaked dates – get the picture, just use your bonce and try to keep it unprocessed, raw, organic & clean!).
- Add a tsp good salt (natural mineral, NOT table salt!) and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar ( yes, lemon or lime could be subbed there).
- Whizz it all up, add a big handful of fresh coriander r other herbs of you haven’t got it, mints a great one, and yumaloo, you are through!
- Serve with sticks of carrot, celery, cucumber, chunks of cauliflower, broccoli, slices of cabbage, endive leaves or even good old pitta bread ( wholemeal if you please.
Anything you do that increases your intake of fruit and veggies, especially green, is a good thing, especially when it tastes this good!
