The Hemp Connection:
smoothie

One of my clients sent me this recipe, which also happens to be gluten-free. I'm thinking it could make a great Thanksgiving day breakfast, giving you a great Thanksgiving taste, fueling a great morning walk or workout, and keeping your appetite in check when the big meal is served. I removed the whipped cream and the sugar from the rims which you will see in the original recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free + More Free)

1 cup pumpkin puree, chilled (fresh or canned)

½ cup full-fat coconut milk, chilled

½ cup filtered water

1 sliced, frozen ripe banana

1 tbsp almond flour (optional)

1 tbsp hemp seed (optional)

A tablespoon or two of honey, to taste

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice, or more to taste

Prepare glasses by dipping rims into shallow bowl of water and then cinnamon.

Combine all ingredients in blender. Cover and blend on high until smooth, about 30 to 60 seconds.

Pour into prepared glasses or pint-sized Mason jars as I did.
Enjoy!

http://glutenfreeeasily.com/pumpkin-pie-smoothie/

I live in a part of the country where palm trees are commonplace. I recently moved to a part of town where date farms used to fill the space. And it's not uncommon this time of year, to see fruit and yogurt stands advertising"date shakes".

I finally decided to learn more about the nutritional value of dates, and learned that they are one of the few food sources of choline. Choline is a building block for acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is very important for memory function. Many Alzheimer's medications are designed to help enhance acetylcholine metabolism.

One of the lesser known symptoms of PCOS is memory/concentration trouble and"brain fog". Diabetes and Alzheimer's disease have a strong metabolic connection. So it seems that women with a predisposition to diabetes should be paying attention to ways to get choline into their diet.

In addition, dates are a good source of fiber, iron, B vitamins, potassium, and magnesium.

And this one is fun! I'm giving you a healthy version of our local date shake to try, a banana-date smoothie.

Ingredients
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk, 1% is fine too
1/2 cup dates, fresh, pitted and chopped
2 bananas, sliced
8 ice cubes
Directions
Place everything in blender and blend until the ice cubes are well incorporated.
Serve!
Source: www.recipezaar.com

If you are in Phoenix, this coming weekend is a date harvesting event on the Arizona State University Campus, which will include a lesson on harvesting, a cooking demonstration, and some tasting. Click here for more information.

Between the smoothie recipe and the cooking demo, here's hoping you remember to eat your dates…and in the process, encounter a few dates to remember!