Sometimes Eating Food is a Pain

I’ve been saying for months now that it feels as though I have been sprinting through a race that turned out to be a marathon lo these several years since I moved to Seattle.  I keep digging deep to find an extra burst of energy to get me to the finish line, then I find out that what I thought was the finish line was just another place where they are handing out water.  And they just ran out of it by the time I got there.

But I really think this is it!  As of Tuesday, I should be officially down one job.  As much as I am sad to leave the cooking school, I have to concede that there are, in fact, only 24 hours in the day and I would actually enjoy spending more of them not working or doing chores.  I would like to read a book or go to a movie or just sit around without the mild anxiety of There’s Something I Should Be Doing Right Now gnawing persistently at the edges of my peace of mind.  

I would also like to be cooking more!  The past few weeks I’ve returned to consistently buying and eating processed food.  This is what I brought home from the grocery store the other night.  I felt covered in guilt!  

(Shameful!)

But let’s face it: sometimes – even when you love cooking, even when you love a variety of interesting food – sometimes you just want to stick enough calories into your maw so that you can get through your day’s installment of Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred without passing out.  And trying to put too fine a point on that process – getting all bunched up about finding the ideal mix of quality, nutritional value and creativity, all while making everything from scratch – is just not an option.  

This last stretch of three-job-havin’ has been one of those times.  I really just want something to put into my system to keep it running and I just don’t want to have to think about it so hard.

(I realize this is a luxury of my socio-economic class and nation of origin.  For some people, having the option OF food would be a luxury, and it’s bratty and entitled to be complaining about how hard it is to figure out what of my many options I should be eating.  So let’s just get it out of our systems – I’m bratty and entitled and don’t know what a real problem is – and move on to solving this non-problem problem.)

A smoothie is one of my favorite solutions to this non-problem problem.  It's as close as I am probably going to get to what I really want which is either a food pellet or IV feeding system.  It's kind of a combination of both.

Long-Distance Gay Husband and I were comparing our smoothie-making process, and we decided I should post about this since he wanted the visual recipe of what I put into mine and what tools I use.  Everybody has their own way of making a smoothie but mine is best.  So there.

I enjoy this smoothie because it a) is fast, b) requires minimal clean-up, c) is filling, d) incorporates several healthy/Health Food Trend elements and e) doesn’t feel like Healthy Eating (aka Punishment).

Amounts are pretty flexible.  Obviously if you have, for example, more berries than yogurt or smoothie, you’ll have a thicker shake.

The Platonic Ideal of Smoothies

½ c. commercially-prepared smoothie mix or flavored kefir beverage

¾ to1 c. plain nonfat yogurt

½ to 1 c. frozen berries

1 Tbls. whole flaxseed

1 Tbls. EFA oil

• Place all the ingredients in a deep, wide cup or measuring pitcher. 
  
• Use strong immersion blender to mix everything until berries and flax seed are pulverized. 
  
• If you are by yourself, stick a straw in the measuring pitcher and save yourself an extra dish. 
  
• If you have company, pour it into a proper cup like a civilized person, you animal.

(It's not pretty but it gets the job done.)

Comments

[msi]

LQS - me thinks you be a bit hard on yourself. Now if the "shameful" pix showed 10 bags of ramen noodles and a case a Twinkies, then I'd be concerned. At least you're picking semi-healthy processed food.

So, explain to me why you use a commercially-prepared smoothie to make a smoothie. I think I'm missing something.

[Leslie Seaton]

Ah, but you might have missed the Cook It Yourself project in which I had to make everything from scratch. While it ended months ago, I still feel like I am breaking some rule when I buy like an entirely processed meal now.

Good question - well a commercially-prepared smoothie is just a liquid, nothing like the end result of this recipe, which is more like a very thick milkshake. But I use a little in it to a) give it a slight bit of sweetness to offset the sour yogurt and tart berries and b) introduce a liquid into the mixture to help give the blender a running start. If you wanted to avoid it, some milk would work fine too although your end result might be a little tart.

[msi]

Sorry, must have missed the "Cook it yourself" project. With taking care of your grandmother sometimes I forget about the rest of the family. Sorry about that.

So actually you're not making a smoothie your making a "thickie". I can see how adding smoothie would do that. Being as I usually have skim on hand I might opt for that. One less thing to try and remember to buy.