Energy Balls for a Sweet Healthy Snack

A fast, easy snack that is packed full of healthy goodness. A no-bake cookie sprinkled with ground flax seed, packed together with nut butter (or sun butter in our case, for Will's nut allergy), and sweetened with raw honey and carob chips. This is definitely our top go-to sweet source of enjoyment, with the recipe sticky-noted on our cupboard.

1 cup dry oats (gluten-free for those of you who choose)
2/3 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup nut butter (I love organic almond butter, but sun butter works great for nut allergies, as it's made with sunflower seeds)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed (We grind our flax seed in our Blendtec.)
1/3 cup raw honey or maple syrup (The last few times I've used all-natural syrup and it's really good too!)
1/3 cup carob chips (or dried fruit if you prefer)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir it all together. It's a pretty good bicep workout, so plan ahead and on the day you make these maybe don't work out your right arm when you go to the gym. Chill in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes and then roll into balls. If the balls don't stick together very well, next time add a little less oats or a little more nut butter or honey. We roll ours into balls that are about 1-inch in diameter, which makes about 20 energy balls.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie w/ Lime

Plus some other ingredients that didn't fit in the title. Like an orange. Some spinach. And some flax seed. Here're the basic proportions I blended up for breakfast this morning. I'm loving the kick of lime!

1 cup water
1 teaspoon flax seeds
1 orange, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup blueberries, frozen
1/4 large banana, frozen
3 handfuls spinach, frozen
1 tablespoon (give or take) fresh lime juice
1 scoop Lepterra chocolate protein powder
8 ice cubes (which I added after I'd blended all the other ingredients—I just kept adding ice cubes till the consistency was how I like it.)

What do you put in a green smoothie?

One of the main questions a lot of friends ask me is, "What do you eat if you don't eat dairy, gluten, meat, or processed foods?" A typical breakfast always includes a green smoothie, and then I'll maybe eat some sprouted Ezekiel bread with coconut oil & honey or almond butter & fresh raspberries on top. Or I'll sauté some garlic, veggies, spinach, etc., in coconut oil and then add a couple eggs. Then friends usually want to know what I put in all those green smoothies. To be honest I don't usually go by recipes, I just follow my heart and throw in whatever I'm in the mood for or whatever happens to be in my freezer or fridge.

Here's what I'm drinking this morning. Today I was in the mood for orange and yellow fruits. These measurements are approximations, so feel free to add more or less of any of these ingredients. The most important thing when creating your own smoothies is to balance the liquids with the frozens to keep your blender working.

(Makes 3–4 cups)
1 cup water
1 teaspoon flax seeds
1 orange, peeled and quartered
3 handfuls fresh spinach, frozen
1 cup sliced peaches, frozen
3 cubes of fresh pineapple, frozen
1 cup fresh sliced mango, frozen
1/4 large banana, frozen

As you can tell I like to freeze the fruit and greens that I buy. That way I can buy fruit in bulk and in the season (e.g., a case of fresh raspberries from a local roadside stand), freeze most of it, and then enjoy it for months at a time. Summer months are especially great for buying fresh fruit, so most of my freezer is stocked with fresh peaches, pears, asian pears, and raspberries, as well as fresh papaya, mango, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, and black berries. I usually buy my greens on a weekly basis, so I like to freeze them too so that they aren't wilted and yellow by the end of the week. I buy spinach and a variety of kales, chards. It's always fun to experiment with a new green to mix it up a bit and find your favorites. Typically my favorites are the most mild-tasting ones and the less chunky ones!

Green smoothies are the best way I've found to get the daily energy I need from all-natural, out-of-the-ground means. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel after adding a green smoothie to your day, and there are always ways to get creative and add new and interesting ingredients to the mix*. Have fun drinking green!

*Some other ingredients I'll often add to my smoothies are chia seeds, coconut oil, and protein powder, specifically a sugar-free powder that is made from plant protein (usually brown rice and pea protein), not whey or soy proteins, for the best health benefits. For my body I've found that Lepterra protein powder is the best, but I'm sure there are other great ones out there. I was using a Nikken's Kenzen Body Balance for a while—it tasted great, but when I took it to my homeopathic doctor Barbara, her computer showed that it just wasn't working for my body. She looked over the ingredient list, which looked great at first, but then she noticed that the powder didn't contain any digestive enzymes. Apparently those are important! So even though I'm not an expert, this at least has been my experience with protein powders.

Food Was Meant to Be Fun

Read more about healthy eating and Robyn Openshaw at 
www.greensmoothiegirl.com.

Blender Spaghetti Sauce

Since I've bought my Blendtec blender, I've used it to make a couple different soups, at least 20 smoothies, hummus, salsa, flour, and pancakes. Lately my focus has been to eliminate foods with preservatives, so this week I expanded my blender creations to include spaghetti sauce.

Give the recipe below a try and see what you think. I added a couple handfuls of torn, fresh spinach while I was simmering the sauce and then spooned it over some rice noodles with a side of steamed asparagus. Mmm-mmm-mmm. I was quite pleased with myself to say the least.

3 cups tomatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 onion, quartered
6 oz. canned tomato paste (I didn't have any, so I threw in an extra tomato—still tasted good but made sauce too runny.)
2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon agave

Put all ingredients in a Blendtec blender in the order they are listed. Put the lid on and press DRESSINGS. Then pour into a saucepan and simmer for 45 minutes.

I've got to admit . . .

. . . it's getting better. A little better all the time. Since you've been mine.

When I found out that the BlendTec demo guy is currently camped out at the Costco in St. George, about 5 hours from my house,  I called my dear friend Heather who happens to reside in St. George. I just knew I couldn't wait 11 whole days for the traveling blender man to make his way back up north—his next stop is actually Orem from 4/16 to 4/24 and then on to Lehi and Bountiful. As luck would have it, Heather's brother was visiting her from the land northward, so the two of them bought it from the St. George Costco yesterday, he drove home that same day, and then I drove to his house to pick it up today!

How far will you go for a BlendTec?

When you know you've come to the end . . . or the beginning.

So I'd driven into a parking garage, rolled down my window, and was frantically straining to reach the ticket. The only problem was I couldn't lift my left arm to save my life because of elbow bursitis, so I was pressed against the car door, flopping my right arm out the window and trying not to cry out in pain. I thought, "This is it! I'm done. I can't do this anymore. Something has to change." That was almost a week ago, the day I turned 29.

And things did start to change. I researched better food choices on my own and listened to health insights of friends—they somehow must've sensed I was gathering health information. Over this past weekend I shared with some friends and family that I was now ready to jump right into a lifestyle of green smoothies, blender buying, and making my own almond milk.

Then on Monday I hit the end again. I had class and missed the bus, so I drove myself to campus instead. All parking meters were occupied, so I ended up down the hill, about a quarter of a mile from class. In the process of parallel parking, I tweaked my bad elbow (frustration no.1). Then I started limping up the hill because I now have arthritis in my right knee (frustration no.2) and a foot with a stress fracture (frustration no.3). Writing all this makes me feel like a negligant parent, like I should hand myself over to the officials for abuse. Anyways, I'm done feeling bad. So in that moment I felt irked and I wanted to cry because I didn't like what's happening in my life.

Monday's experience reinforced that I cannot wait any longer to make a new healthy beginning. So that beginning is tomorrow. Hah! No, really. I'm not procrastinating. This is the real thing. Why tomorrow? Because tomorrow I start life with the BlendTec. Stay tuned for all the major food changes that lie ahead, like fresh applesauce, natural homemade peanut butter, and green smoothies galore. The experiment is about to begin!