Green Lemonade

The key to a consistent healthy, feel-good eating regimen is inspiration. Often times I find that if I can just keep a few basic “healthy eats” in my fridge it helps in times of ravenous hunger. Even more inspiring is when there is a little “favorite snack ideas” list on the outside of the fridge. Baby steps, Noelle. Baby steps!

Anyhoo, these are some of my favorite food basics to have in my refrigerator when fall rolls around. After a long day of work, on a weekend afternoon (or whenever really), I find I can be pretty creative and feel satisfied with these couple of goodies. (After all the guilt after eating a bag of chocolate chip cookies just seems to last so much longer than the time it takes to prepare and eat something healthy!) The key for me is having a few things that I can keep in the fridge that won’t spoil. Sometimes, like many of you, I can’t get to the store more than once a week or so.

Fall Basics For Your Refrigerator

1. A few sweet potatoes, a butternut squash or an acorn squash: An easy meal in ~40 minutes. Toss it in when you get home, and while you’re unwinding dinner will be cooking and ready before you know it. Put a little butter on this deliciousness along with salt and pepper and serve.
2. Box of pre-washed baby spinach: This will store in your fridge for about a week. It’s great as a compliment to dinner or in a green smoothie for breakfast.
3. Baby peeled carrots: Great for a quick snack. These carrots are also fabulous roasted.
4. Apples: Delicious on their own or try them sliced in half with a scoop of nutty almond butter. An apple with nutty almond butter or organic peanut butter reminds me of the afternoon school snack my mom used to make me as a little kid.
5. Almond butter: Almond butter is terrific spread on a piece of toast for snack. It’s also great as the basis for an Asian-inspired salad dressing. I also think it tastes pretty good as a compliment to these sweet potato fries. And of course it’s great on apples and even on a sliced banana.



6. Sprouted grain bread: This bread stores beautifully in your freezer and toasts up nicely. If you can find room in your budget its a nice switch from the overly processed store-shelf breads.
7. Lemons: Terrific sliced in a carafe of water and also great drizzled on salads with a splash of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
8. Frozen organic berries, bananas, peaches: Great stored in the freezer for morning smoothies like this one.
9. Avocado: An avocado if purchased green at the store will take a few days to ripen on your counter. (Don’t buy the overly soft ones.) Avocados are great in smoothies and also sliced in sandwiches and topped on salads. Avocados are also a great healthy fat. Good quality fats like avocados and coconut oil are great to incorporate, helping to metabolize fats and storing as energy in the body rather than fat- and keeping nuts to a minimum is often helpful for weight loss as well. – Jenny Nelson, Wellness Specialist & Coach for Dr. Alejandro Junger’s Clean Program

And just in case you missed it, these are some of my favorite fall pantry staples.