Shake ‘n Breakdown

We update our smoothie – into a shake!

Every few years, for some time now, we’ve published our Northwest Smoothie recipe, updating it along the way to reflect our evolution of food understanding.

Recently my understanding of food took a sharp turn with the release of the Smart Fat book back in early 2016. Connie and I like to have shakes at least three times a week for breakfast, adding in two slices of organic bacon on the side to experience a little ‘shake and bacon’ each time.

In that book, there are no smoothies, but there are a number of shake recipes that are great for breakfast.

For this recipe we’re going to leave things open ended so you can play with each ingredient, substitute various fruits into the fruit category, tinker with various protein powders and so on. By the time you play with all the possibilities, there are about a dozen variations you can make in the kitchen which means you won’t be stuck drinking the same recipe each time.

Below is the generic recipe and below that is the reasoning for each item and some tips on what are the best ingredients as you play with your food.

Northwest Shake - recipe

• 8 oz nut-based milk
• 1 handful of frozen organic kale
• 2 TBS organic protein powder
• 1 TBS organic nut butter
• 1 cup organic frozen fruit
• 1/3^rd cup of whole oats
• ½ cup of organic yogurt

Toss it all in the blender. Blend on low for 30 seconds, then jump it up to high for another 30 seconds.

The breakdown

Nut-based milk – We’ve found almond to be the best choice here. Coconut milk didn’t quite have the flavor, although both have their pluses when it comes to nutrition. If you need to add a little calcium to your diet, look for one that is fortified with the mineral. You won’t find that in an organic version, but because nuts are grown in a shell, it’s not so important to have it be organic.

Kale – That marvelous leafy green that was a garnish 50 years ago is packed full of nutrition. But did you know you can freeze kale? And for a number of weeks, which is really nice if you’re just making shakes for yourself or one other during the week. You don’t end up tossing away wilted kale after a few days, and because it’s frozen it adds to the texture of the shake. Get it organic. Any fruits or vegetables that can get sprayed with pesticide right on the part you eat are not worth putting into your body.

Organic protein powder – If you have trouble making it to lunch without snacking, the reason is probably that you’re short-sheeting yourself on protein in the morning. The body functions best through the day when you ingest 20-25 grams of clean protein (grass fed/organic) at breakfast. That’s not easy to do eating just an egg and bacon at breakfast (10 grams). Grass fed whey based protein powder is where I start, but there are other organic, vegetarian ones on the market if you have an aversion to whey or meat. You can go with the unflavored types, or get the organic ones in flavors like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Now you’re shakin’. Hold on, it’s gets even better.

Organic nut butter - The best nut for you is probably almonds and I always have a tub of organic almond butter in the pantry. It has a good shelf life, adds a nutty flavor to any shake as well as important things like magnesium. You can switch it up and have fresh organic peanut butter. Better markets like Central Market in Shoreline, Ballard Market in Ballard and Whole Foods scattered around Seattle have nut crushing machines so you can make your butter right on the spot. Stay away from non-organic which typically start using sugar-coated nuts.

Organic frozen fruit – the flavor possibilities just keep coming. Use cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or Marion berries. All of these can be purchased organic at better local stores and then frozen for long periods of time so they’re at the ready, even if they’ve gone out of season. In the summer, watch for berries arriving and take advantage of the grerat pricing on two-pound trays, then freeze the fruit.

Another source for these are local fruit stands and U-pick locations. Ask if the fruit is organic. Some U-picks spray pesticide before there are blooms on the bushes, so it’s probably not likely you’re ingesting pesticides if they run clean after that.

Or you could use apples, peaches, apricots and so on. If you can, slice, cut and freeze them in advance because it’s the fruit together with your nut milk and kale that will make the shake cold when you blend it.

Organic whole oats – Available at better food stores, this will add some healthy fiber to your shake. We tried the steel cut oats, but they don’t break down well in the blending process and instead become chewy, gooey work for your teeth to break down. We don’t like to chew our shakes.

Plain Organic Yogurt – Everyone needs to be ingesting probiotics just about daily. These help the digestive system and keep the colon healthy by coating it with good bacteria, which keeps out bad bacteria. Don’t get it flavored or you’ll be introducing fast carbs, which get turned into fat by the body. You don’t get fat from eating good fat, but you will by eating fast carbs. In the Pacific Northwest, Nancy’s is our go-to choice.

Here are a few versions to try out:

• Chocolate cherry
• Vanilla blueberry
• Raspberry swirl (chocolate/vanilla)
• Vanilla strawberry
• Vanilla peach

Tom Mehren/August 2016