Let's Make Pop Star Smoothies!

Congratulations! You followed Cookie's advice and bought yourself some organic produce for a reasonable price. But is it reasonable when organic goes bad faster than conventional and you end up throwing away half? Nope. Does it make you wonder what they've done to the conventional produce to increase it's appearance and longevity? Yep.

Sometimes the family runs through fruit so fast that you'll need to make another trip to the neighborhood fruit stand. But there are days when the sad little creatures sit in your fruit basket on the counter and wither away like yesterdays pop star.

This leads me to my topic "How is fruit like a pop star?"

1. When they're sweet and juicy, everyone wants them
2. The smallest blemish is the biggest deal
3. The first sign of a little aging and whamo, they're cast aside for the newest crop of sweet young things
4. Being organic and natural is a bit trendy, but let's face it, they're just not as pretty

For these reasons, I suggest slicing and freezing them for later in order to preserve their potential. Hey, this works for fruit too! Let's make Pop Star Smoothies!

The Britney Spears Smoothie

• Frozen banana slices
• Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt
• Low Fat Coconut Milk*

What's the matter, don't have any coconut milk? Just get your people to get you some or use any other kind of milk, just as long as it's white for gosh sake.

Vanilla Ice Smoothie

• Frozen banana slices
• Ice cubes
• Protein Powder (We at Fetch like Trader Joe's brand, but powdered milk will do too)
• Dash of Vanilla Extract
• Dash of Ground Cinnamon

I like to say "dash"

The NSync Smoothie

• Frozen Nectarine or Peach slices
• Silken Tofu
• Lemonade
• Ice

Blend together and keep in the closet for 8-10 years.

Miley Cyrus Smoothie

• Frozen Strawberries
• Frozen Blueberries
• Vanilla Fat Free Yogurt
• Orange Juice

This is so delicious, it will make you want to lap dance all over a 44-year old man!

The Cost of the Dirty Dozen

So many opinions, even arguments, lawsuits, and sour grapes over whether or not organic produce is better for you than conventional. Before I embarked on this research and evaluation, I would have said "I would buy organic if it wasn't so expensive." But I've knowledged-up a little and found out some surprising information. Thanks to Fetch the Cookie, a pad of paper, and a little thing called Excel, I found that organic is not necessarily more expensive. If so, not by much.

In the northeast corner of Santa Rosa, California, I scoured four produce resources that I knew our readers would relate to: Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Safeway, and a little local fruit stand (Bob's Fruit Truck, to be exact). I focused my attention on THE DIRTY DOZEN. A list of 12 fruits and vegetables that are doomed by the The Environmental Working Group ("EWG") as being the worst for harmful chemical and pesticide residues.

I know what you're thinking "How can I rob my child of all those delicious pesticides, chemical sprays, and shiny wax coating?" Tough decision. Maybe we can help.

Getting back to the perceived "problem" with organic produce: The cost. I've created this spreadsheet highlighting the lowest priced organic (green box) and the lowest priced conventional (orange box). As you can easily see, there is very little difference. What I found most surprising is the difference in suppliers. For instance, we all kind of knew that Whole Foods would be the highest, right? But aren't you surprised that Trader Joe's only came in second for economical organic produce? I'm happy to report that the local fruit stand won first place! I like to give support to the farmers who grow things around here. They live here. Pay taxes here. Raise their children here. Plus they don't have to load up trucks and drive them from Mexico, or even worse, ship the crops in from Chile.

When asked, the friendly employees at Bob's Fruit Truck can tell you what farm the produce came from, sometimes just blocks away. Given the choice, with a small difference in price, wouldn't you rather buy organic and local?

Bob's Fruit Truck is located at 4358 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa, CA (707) 537-6686. Their deliveries are made on Friday and Monday, that's the best days to load up on your produce. However, they are open every day 9-7, except Sunday 9-5.