On Saturday, I participated in the Finger Lakes Wellness Fair. I had four things to focus on while I was prepping: seminars I was giving on bone health, nutrition for athletes, and smoothies, plus healthy snack demos/samples.
What I learned: ditch the seminars and just give people food! I did have amazing conversations about my topics (and others) with people at the wellness fair, but the scheduled workshop idea didn’t work at all. I had reserved the building that had a kitchen, and it was sort of off the beaten path—people were most likely to wander in an out.
I made J Balls (high protein snack—many people went nuts over these, and said they tasted like cookie dough).
Chocolate flavored on the pan, vanilla in the food processor. Note: I didn't end up taking the chocolate ones to the Wellness Fair---they were too crumbly! I used Wegmans organic peanut butter for that batch, and I needed to add oil---but didn't. So, the proportions and need for oil will depend on how oily your nut butter is!
J Balls: vanilla, chocolate, and vanilla-rolled-in-crushed-pecans/cinnamon
I made four smoothie samples: Jack O’Smoothie, Chocolate Cherry Bomb, Go Green, and Pineapple Avocado. You can find the recipes here, along with the rest of the Ultimate Smoothie Workshop recipes. It’s possible that pineapple avocado was the favorite, but everyone seemed to like all of them (except one little boy who thought they were all gross! He then went outside and threw rocks at the building while his mom chatted with me).
I also had Dark Chocolate Avocado Pudding that was a huge winner, except with one lady who wrinkled up her nose and said, “Ew, that’s dark chocolate.” Yep, no milk chocolate fans allowed! 
Here’s the recipe I always use based on my experimenting over the last couple years (I’m not sure who came up with the concept–there are versions posted all over the Internet) :
1 avocado
1/4 cup any kind of milk (I used almond)
1/4 cup maple syrup (you can sub in a dropper full of stevia–I do this when I make it for myself)
1/4 cup unsweetened cacao (cocoa) powder
Blend or process until smooth!
Last, I made a huge batch of pizza flavored kale chips. I daresay these are the best kale chips I’ve had/made!
The basic kale chip recipe came from here. I didn’t actually use that recipe to start from, but it was the one I used when I began experimenting with kale chips.
Kale Chips
(Pizza Flavor)
7 large kale leaves (remove stem and tear into “chips”)
½ cup cashews
½ cup water
2 roasted red peppers (or fresh red peppers)
5 sundried tomatoes
½ tbsp pizza seasoning (Frontier Organic is what I used)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional—gives cheesy flavor)
Kale Chip Pizza Sauce Ingredients
In food processor or vita-mix, combine all ingredients except kale. Process until smooth.
Put kale pieces in a large bowl and add sauce. Use your hands to massage the sauce into the kale. Spread kale chips onto cookie sheet or dehydrator trays.
Bake at 200-300 degrees for 20 minutes or so (depending on your oven and the kale you’re using). If you think it will help, flip them over and continue to bake. Keep a close watch – they’ll burn quickly! Remember, all ovens are different, so baking times vary.
If using a dehydrator, the kale chips will be done in about 8 hours with the temperature at 115 degrees.
Store in airtight container for about a week.
Post-blend, pre-massage
There's really no way to do this without getting messy...
Have you made kale chips? What is your favorite kind? Pizza Flavor is my new fave for sure…and since kale really does grow like a weed, it’s a pretty cheap snack!
Coming soon:
Ugi Ball review!
I bought the 12lb (based on availability)...my first reaction is that (1) I love it and (2) I probably should have gotten the 10lb ball! Sorry the pic is blurry--I have major lighting issues here!
All-in-all, I’m calling the wellness fair a success! I think next year, (or the next one I do) I’ll take into account the wander-around approach most people will take, and just post times when I’ll do food demos…but offer samples throughout. I’ll also skip the workshop method, and just do an open Q&A for the entire time.
Have you ever presented at a workshop or conference?
Do you make kale chips? Oven or dehydrator? What flavor is your fave?
