Hello again, yes, I know, I’m back so soon. I’ve decided the world of food blogging isn’t dead and that if I ever want to write that cookbook I dream about I better stick to weekly recipe blogging for a while.
I’ve also decided that my approach to recipe development will be valuable to many of you who share a passion for clean, delicious eating as a way of life. So, I’m going to write about why I choose or don’t choose certain ingredient combinations in order to prioritize the most important thing about consuming food: digestion. Yes, that’s right your body’s ability to digest food is of utmost importance and for this reason food combining matters greatly.
According to Ayurveda, our health depends on the strength and steadiness of our Agni, (pronounced “ugni” as in “ugh”) —our digestive fire. Imagine you are standing or sitting by a nice campfire on a chili evening…the brightness, warmth and beauty of the flames just draw you in. It’s cozy, warming, powerful, mesmerizing. Now imagine you throw some gasoline on that fire and it starts to rage. Flames spit out of control, so of course you have to douse it with water immediately and put the fire out, so much so that even the embers die -just to be safe. And sadly, no more warming, magical, transforming campfire. This is a practical metaphor for your digestion when you eat foods that cause your digestives fires to rage or die…or both. The metaphor of tending your inner flame will guide you greatly on your path to better digestion and better health
Smoothies can easily be the “too much water on the fire” breakfast. Why? A number of reasons. For one, they are often taken cold. They also usually have multiple incompatible ingredients in them, including very heavy ingredients like nut butters that easily weight the system down. So, you’ll see that since my Ayurvedic Chef training with Ayurvedic Chef Divya Alter, (chef owner of Divya’s Kitchen in NYC and author of the cookbook What To Eat For How You Feel (which I highly recommend) my smoothies recipes got a lot simpler. They got so simpler I wasn’t sure they’d count. I stopped adding “the extras” and instead, focused on a few ingredients that follow proper food combining, while still aiming to create pure, delicious flavors and notably enjoyable texture.
Enter peach season. Wow have we been blessed with a delicious peach season here in Northern California this year! And I know for many farms, it was also a devastating season due to a late April frost which literally wiped out entire orchards. Knowing this makes me appreciate the fruits and farmers even more. Precious peaches indeed.
For me, peaches bring a delight that only ripe, summer stone fruit can. These flavors evoke memories of childhood, the schedule-free long summer hours punctuated by sweet juices dripping down our hands as we ate too many fruits by the river, or in the park or at the swimming pool.
In recipes, I find that magic shines in simplicity and quality. So here’s the recipe, finally, after all that lead in, I hope it makes it that much sweeter for you. That being said, pay attention to how your digestive fire responds. Pay attention to what temperature, quantity, and the manner in which you consume it, does to your fire. You should get to know your digestive fire and let it guide you as you adjust your choices
PEACH ALMOND COCONUT SMOOTHIE
Ingredients
2-4 ripe peaches (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2-2 cups freshly made almond coconut milk
(For this milk you make your regular almond milk but add 1/2 cup of medium shred dried coconut when blending the almonds)
1 tsp vanilla (or 3 drops vanilla essence)
1-2 tbsp sea moss gel (optional but gives luscious texture)
2 tsp maple syrup or coconut nectar
Pinch of salt
Procedure
Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend til smooth. Adjust flavor and consistency as desired. Enjoy 🍑
About the ingredients:
Peaches are heat producing aka pitta aggravating so if you are already a firey person you may need to limit your peach intake. This is one reason why I chose freshly made almond milk with coconut added to it.
Coconut is cooling and will balance out some of the pitta qualities of the peach.
Sea moss gel is made from sea moss, a type of seaweed, which is cooling and astringent which walso helps to balance the pitta peach, not to mention, it adds a texture that goes with the luscious flavors.
Almonds -one more thing, peel your almonds before making almond milk, yes, it’s another step, but take it as a conscious food meditation. Almond skins contain high levels of anti nutrients which can create digestive distress and lead to toxic food waste, ama. Almond milk with peeled almonds is one of the most balancing, nutritive foods we can gift to our bodies. Almonds are a sattvic food which brings balance, peace and prana life force to the body.
And we want this smoothie to be truely divine, so take that next step and peel your almonds
Xx Jennifer
