It is this time of the year again. The leaves are turning and it is getting colder. Really cold in my case, as I was swimming in the sea a few days ago, taking my dog on her nightly pee in underpants and a T-Shirt hoping no one else is awake… Quite a shock of temperature so. 2°C we had last night. Wow.
Time for a warming smoothie so!! I was on my way to go grab my neighbours vitamix to make a nice nut-butter when I remembered having a little jar of nut butter in my fridge, that my sister made for me about three month ago. I checked it and it was still perfectly delicious. She made a raw cashew-vanilla nut butter.
When I create any nutrition I am also thinking in the back of my head, what I want to achieve, how do I want to nurture my body & soul? In this case I was looking for a seasonal warming recipe. Using seasonal ingredients ensures the wisdom of nature to have its saying in my nutritional choices. Seasonal ingredients are the best choice to live in balance with ones environment. In most cases, nature provides us energetically exactly with what we need. Unfortunately, as we have destroyed most of our earth, there is not one place left with the soil as rich as it should be and a variety of food growing as it used to. Hence – me too, I am incorporating “foreign” foods into my nutrition, to balance what I think could be the optimal nutritional choices for where I live.
So – for this smoothie – if I didn’t have the cashewnut butter already in my fridge, I would have chosen to roast and blend some hazelnuts to a hazelnut butter (as they are in season in Switzerland right now). I added an apple – which are in season as well – warm water and the “foreign” food: turmeric. Turmeric is a strong anti-inflammatory, immune booster and according to Daverick Legget in Recipes for Self-Healing: “…and turmeric stimulates the circulation.” Exactly what I need right now for the shock of 30°C to 2°C! With the added turmeric I have created a “warming, sweet-bitter” smoothie. Mind you – the bitter taste is so minimal, you wont taste it. According to the energetics of food, the bitter taste arises from the fire element and drains and counteracts dampness. The sweet flavours arise from the earth element and have a grounding, calming effect. Swwet foods strengthen and moisten. As we have a pretty dry autumn and winter in Switzerland, moistening foods are not as much a problem as eg. in Ireland or in Portugal, with high humidity presend all day. As I said above- seasonal products know best! Yet – I do not want to over-moisten my system with that bomb of sweet apple and sweet cashewnut butter -hence the balance with the turmeric.
Long story finished, now the recipe!
Recipe
- 1 tbsp nut butter of your choice – add to your blender
- 1 medium sized fresh apple – chop finely and add to your blender including skin
- 1dl warm water – add to your blender
Blend for about 2 minutes and enjoy mindfully… Yours, Sonia Sarina
Sonia Sarina 