October is going to be a bit of a cleanse for me. I’m letting go of all sorts of indulgences. It’s not “detoxing” or because I want to take the joy out of life. Quite the opposite actually. This change is mostly out of a desire to simplify. Bring my meals back down to the basics. Meat, veggies, eggs, avocados.. just Real Food. Being a chef, I sometimes get caught up in the experimentation of it all. You know, bacon wrapped that and double chocolate coconut this. Paleo eating and paleo living is not supposed to be anything special or over done. Paleo means simplicity. It means going backwards and getting down to the basics. The foundations of healthy human life.

What does this mean practically? Well, first on the chopping block is coffee. Yup. I’m doing it again. (First time was back in May)

Today’s lovely beverage of choice was an extremely simple green smoothie. The Nikki of September would have blended up some extravagant mixture of coconut water, blueberries, kale, avocado, coconut oil, almond butter, egg white protein powder, etc.

This one has very few ingredients and they are easy to find. All you need is a blender. No fuss. Here’s one of the ingredients. You can get everything at Trader Joe’s.

I’m gonna like October.

Simple Green Smoothie

1 bag organic power greens from Trader Joe’s (baby spinach, baby kale, baby chard)
1 frozen banana, cut into chunks
1 peeled and chopped apple (fuji, honeycrisp, pink lady)
2-3 c. pure water
1 Tbsp. ground flax or chia seeds

1. Throw it all in a blender, makes about 32 oz. of smoothie. Split it between two mason jars and save one for tomorrow!