Baked Strawberries, My Avo Smoothie & Food Cravings
Are food cravings your body's way of trying to tell you something? Do you know what a Blender Juice is? Ever had an avocado smoothie? I spill what I know about mustard microgreens and more.
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In This Post
Find out what a blender juice is, get the recipe for a cool avocado smoothie (with hidden veggies), a collection of our favorite baked strawberry recipes and more.
Do you crave healthy foods after a few days of junky eating or returning from a trip?
I do, all I want are salads, soups, and veggies. It got me thinking about food cravings and what they mean. Are they like dreams to decipher? Scroll to the end of this newsletter read my story and learn what a “blender juice” is (aka my answer to food cravings)
Small Bites
Easy “Any-Occasion” Gift: For summer events, we’ve got an easy gift idea to assemble—and you can get it all on Amazon. Get a classic french Market bag (I have one and gifted this to my mom), a stack of grain sack dishtowels, and a lovely cookbook (Ottolenghi Two-Cookbook Set, Go-To Dinners by Barefoot Contessa, or Cook This Book by Molly Baz are good options). Also, a huge plus, there’s no wrapping involved. Just place the items in the market bag and you’re ready to gift. You could add a bottle of wine or a tomato scented candle if the occasion calls for it. Summer is the humble tomato’s time to shine after all.
Interested in growing tomato plants? Did you know there are 2 types of tomato plants to grow? There are! They are called Determinate and Indeterminate. Pick Determinate tomato plants this year if you don’t have time for pruning this summer. Indeterminate tomatoes grow until they die (frost, disease) churning out a constant stream of tomatoes, but you must prune them regularly to keep them disease-free, manageable, and fruiting. Determinate tomatoes grow until they reach a certain size and ripen all their fruit at once. No pruning required. At the garden center, look for tomatoes with the word “bush” in their names: Bush Early Girl, or Bush Beefsteak. Roma tomatoes are also determinate. For a longer list of varieties read here.
Viral on TikTok, a DIY Baked Sushi Hack: I saw this sushi hack on TikTok using a muffin tin to make sushi cups and I love the unfussy nature of it. I like to use brown rice at home for sushi-inspired dished for its fiber and minerals. I’m going to try this asap.
About Mustard Microgreens: All my mustard lovers out there will not want to miss the post I wrote breaking down micro mustard. How different mustard varieties impact health benefits and flavor, ways to eat it, and more. Read the post here.
10 Favorite Baked Strawberry Recipes
We’re welcoming in strawberry season with a collection of our favorite baked strawberry recipes. Don’t forget, strawberries are #1 on the dirty dozen this year. If you can prioritize buying organic strawberries, do it.

We collected our favorite healthy-ish baked/roasted strawberry recipes from around the web. This round-up includes a Strawberry Margarita recipe, Strawberry Oat Bars (kids love them), Strawberry Choc Chip Cookies, and Strawberry-Zucchini Muffins too. Get the recipes, or pin for later.
Creamy-Cool Avocado & Greens Smoothie
In my mind, Miami is a beautiful beach paradise full of sun seekers having fun in the sun. When I visited in 2021 for the first time— with a 1 year old— it was not for a wild Spring Break. It was hot and humid, and all I wanted was something cool and refreshing.
Discovering Joe & the Juice’s Avocado Smoothie was a life saver. My toddler and I couldn’t get enough of it. I ended up drinking this creamy, sweet, cool and decadent smoothie three days straight! It tastes more like a treat than a nutrient-rich smoothie.
I recreated the smoothie at home and added more mild-flavored vegetables to my blender, spinach and cauliflower, to make it even more nutrient-rich than it already is. I make this about once a week, and I freeze it in popsicle molds if I have any left over, which is rare tbh.
Craving healthy foods—Story Continued:
We’ve all heard that cravings are secret messages from our subconscious brain alerting us to our nutritional deficiencies. It goes like this: our bodies need some nutrient and because we are lacking the nutrient our stomach sends us cravings for types of foods that contain the lacking nutrient. Yeah, okay, maybe not? I have my doubts.

So, is there any truth to the craving/nutrient theory?
I haven’t been able to find a solid study linking a craving for chocolate to a magnesium deficiency, or a craving for pizza to a calcium deficiency. (And for reference, my pizza recipe of choice is this Foolproof Pizza, and there’s nothing healthy about it. Seriously, this pizza everything). The secret brain-signaling-nutrient-deficiency theory is probably not totally bogus, but it really isn’t straightforward. Cravings can also be hormonal or psychological, or remnants from our hunter-gatherer past telling us to fatten up before winter.
I don’t think my food cravings are always as benevolent as yearning for a salad after a junk food binge. After all, I also experience strong desires for corn bread and chocolate chip cookies. Maybe the moral of the story is that we can’t always trust our own bodies to inherently “know” what it needs to thrive. It’s complicated.
Our conscious brains need to evaluate our cravings and decipher whether they serve the body, emotions, or are maybe relics of our primitive past. I’m all about helping the brain out with little shortcuts, little pre-made decisions. Like having a go-to breakfast blender juice recipe when I crave raw foods. - Melissa
So, What Is A Blender Juice?
A blender juice isn’t as thick as a smoothie and doesn’t require any frozen fruit, but isn’t a typical juice. It is a drink made from fruit, ice, water/tea and vegetables. Add a single serving of a juicy fruit or veg, a few ice cubes, and some greens. Then fill with water or iced tea and blend. Light and icy. Meant for drinking immediately before the fiber settles.
Grape, Cucumber & Amaranth (or Spinach) “Blender Juice” Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cups grapes
1 small cucumber
1/3 tray amaranth microgreens (or a handful of spinach)
Juice from one lime or 1/2 lemon,
8oz water or iced green tea
Ice
Method: Add all ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth. Drink right away before the fiber settles. (our recommended blender is this Vitamix Explorian ($371), smooth every time. No chunks!)
Flora & Fauna
Flora of the week: Calendula is edible! Toss the petals in a salad or make a tea. The bright and beautiful calendula grows easily from seeds. Every year I allow some of the flowers to develop seeds. I crumble the seed heads in my fingers and scatter around my wild backyard. Every January I find calendula plants growing around the yard.
Fauna of the week: YAY, You made it to the end! Here is my cat Parker for the send off.
xo Kelly and Melissa
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