Angels among us - and decent smoothies.

If I add a glass fo wine I think I've covered all food groups.

This week was not my finest in the healthy eating department.  My husband was gone all week, I was working on a project at home and things were happening in life that were stressful.  With pretty much perfect credit, I got a bill sent to collection for a fairly recent diagnostic medical exam that I never had.

I had a few things working in my favor:
The diagnostic procedure was in a state I moved away from and haven't revisited in 10 years
The address they sent the bill to, I'd moved from 12 years ago.
The last name of the "patient" was my maiden name, and I was long married at the time of the exam.
I was never a patient of the doctor that sent "me" for the diagnostic procedure, I was simply in the system for the medical group he was part of, or at least was 10 years ago.
I have no records of physical issues that would have required this procedure, being a licensed airline pilot, those things are in my FAA flight surgeon records.
Road tolls would show me driving from Chicago to Indianapolis early that morning to start duty at 9:30, leaving duty at 1800.

There's just not enough pizza for the week I had.

Still, the collection people didn't believe me, thinking I just "forgot" the exam (which I would have had to drive 650 miles to get, a procedure, readily available 5 minutes from where I lived), and told me I should just call the doctor and take care of the bill.

But his practice was closed, patients being picked up by a large medical provider in the area. (really, I need more pizza).

Fortunately, a very kind woman named Kim, a financial counselor at the large medical group who inherited the record when the practice that billed me closed, realized they inherited a billing error and got it sorted out though my credit report hasn't updated yet.  She probably spent half an hour on the phone with me trying to sort out what had happened.  Kim - you are an angel.  Bless you.

But at the start of the week when I found all this out let's just say red wine and cheese may be on the endangered species list by now.

So this weekend, my husband home and things back to normal, time for some healthy eating after a fairly big breakfast of gluten-free biscuits (King Arthur flour recipe) and gravy.

You know I love smoothies.  I tried the Daily Harvest home delivery smoothies once a year and a half ago and the initial ones were VERY good, with really healthy ingredients, but a little more than I wanted to pay. Then later shipments arrived with the contents fused together as if they had thawed and refrozen, and they seemed smaller, so I didn't order again.

Then I noticed in my Schwan's catalog they now have smoothies.

Most of you in the US are familiar with Schwan's - the big yellow truck that delivers flash frozen meals, fruits, veggies and ice cream to your door.  My Dad was a huge fan when he and my stepmom got up there in years and didn't like to cook much.  He still ALWAYS has their pot pies and GoldnNugget ice cream bars in his freezer and a couple of the skillet meals if he has one of the home health aides that's not much of a cook (they're hired for their nursing care, the house and cooking tasks are provided, but some are more skilled at that part than others).

I like them too.  I do tend to make 95% of everything from scratch, including my bread to save money but my family does have some favorites

The Toaster Waffles - before I ditched regular wheat I absolutely loved these, they put grocery store frozen waffles to shame.  They're crisp with a pillowy interior and a wonderful vanilla aroma.

The Ciabatta rolls (great for dinner or make little pizzas out of them for the little ones).

Fully cooked microwavable bacon (when you just want a quick BLT)

The whole sockeye salmon filet - growing up on fresh caught what we find in a store in the Midwest is NOT that great, the catch of the day usually being Perogies.

The southwest roasted corn and beans - less than $8 for two pounds, mix with rice and cheese and you've got a great vegetarian lunch burrito as it's already seasoned perfectly

and their frozen fruits and veggies, so fresh and good tasting.  (the roasted sweet potatoes are the bomb, especially drizzled with some pear/cinnamon balsamic vinegar before roasting).

But I'd not tried their smoothies. I'm glad I did

Pros:

Healthy ingredients - this tropical one had mango, carrots, sweet potatoes banana, and pineapple.  I mixed it with a cup and a half of a mixture of orange juice and goat milk kefir.

Great Taste - even my husband, NOT a fan of smoothies with veggies in them, took a sip and said, "that's good!"

Easy:  no chopping, no dicing

No gluten/no sugar/no sodium

Ready in two minutes.

Cons:

You will need to add more than just water, juice or coconut milk work great.

More $$ than making from scratch but they were HALF the cost of the Daily Harvest smoothie or ones from a "smoothie bar" kind of eatery (you can add protein powder or spirulina and such if you wish).

They also have a strawberry banana and a green smoothie (with peaches, pineapple, broccoli, and kale).

I really liked the tropical  flavor I just tried - I didn't notice the taste of the sweet potato and carrots after mixing it thoroughly with the juice and kefir.  It also made enough for a glass and a half and it was filling. If I added a heaping tablespoon of Vega Protein powder, this could be a meal.

Thanks Schwan's!  I will be re-ordering!