Nutrition is a large part of feeling, looking and performing your best in the gym and in life. Quality nourishment can lead to a long and fruitful life, free of most modern disease.

Our goal at CrossFit Aspire is to educate our members as to which foods that will help them live, feel and perform best.

Members of CrossFit Aspire receive the following nutrition resources, free of charge:
-A copy of the CrossFit Aspire Guide of Eating Real Food
-1 Food Log review via email
-In-class Q&A with the coaches, staff and members
-Bi-annual Nutrition Challenges, Q&A events, and additional support
-Links to articles, videos, resources and recipes
-Articles written by our owners and staff regarding implementation of proper nutrition into everyday life

Our nutritional principles
Food comes in the form of vegetables, fruit and other plants that can be picked and eaten without further processing, animals that graze on the foods they were meant to consume, and seeds and nuts.

If you can't pick it and eat it or hunt it and cook it, it's not a suitable source of nutrition, and therefore should not be eaten.

If it has an ingredient list, it's probably not food.

The best food choices are the ones you make when you cook at home, using all real ingredients in their natural form.


NUTRITION RECIPES, ARTICLES, COMMENTARY and RESOURCES:

Baby Step #3: Get Rid of the Bad Stuff and Snack Well!

By on August 16, 2010 in Nutrition Articles · Comments { 8 }

Close your eyes and imagine yourself only eating real, whole foods that are good for you. Flavorful vegetables, succulent meat, fresh fish, creamy avocados, crunchy nuts, sweet fruit, etc. Seems pretty easy, right?

Now open your eyes. Look around you. You can probably walk or drive less than a half mile and see a fast food ad campaign, neon-signed chain restaurant, or a ‘convenience’ store filled with processed junk that is parading around, looking like food. All of these things are bad for you. And you already know that. But, all of the sudden, for some weird reason, you are drawn to them. You want them. You crave them.

All healthy habits are EASY to stick to, unless you’re battling with the temptation of the unhealthy habits. That’s because most of us are literally addicted to eating unhealthy foods that we’ve been eating for our entire lives. Sugars that are found in all processed foods and desserts cause out bodies and brains to have chemical reactions similar that mimic that of a response to opiates. ( So consider this your intervention). Baby Step #3 is to get rid of the bad foods in your house. All of them!

Does your snack drawer look like this?

So what do you do? You do all that you can to minimize your exposure to the ‘bad things’. Since we’re taking baby steps here, let’s just start with your own kitchen. If you’re making an effort to eat only whole foods, then you shouldn’t have ANY non-whole foods in the house. Makes sense right? A person trying to quit cigarettes probably wouldn’t have much success if they kept a pack in their drawers or on their counter tops. The same idea applies to you and your food.

A proper burial

So our suggestion is to raid your fridge, pantry, drawers, ‘secret junk food stash’, desk drawers, and remove all of the non-foods. Be honest with yourself, and remember to check all labels on questionable items ( ingredients that you can’t pronounce are probably not whole foods, or good for your body). This process should feel liberating, simplifying, and a little overwhelming. Step away from the pantry, breathe, and realize that this is the first step to really making a radical change to the way you think about food. The word “food”, in your future, will be defined as something perishable, locally grown if possible, grassfed (meats), and unprocessed.

You may think that your pantry is bare, and subsequently wonder what you’ll be able to buy in order to fill it up again. Since most real foods don’t have a long shelf life at room temperature,  your fridge should become your new pantry – the place you go to first thing in the morning, when you are preparing for dinner, and when you want a tasty snack.

A "Real Foods" Fridge

If your bare pantry looks a little depressing, try cheering it up with a few minimally or non-processed foods such as Larabar, almond or sunflower seed butter, canned fish, raisins, and all-natural,  low sodium chicken broth. They are the closest thing to fresh real foods as you can get, and they are great options for ‘on the go’ snacks. ( Not the broth – save that for soup, silly!)

A Happy Pantry. (Notice the lack of crappy foods)

Now that the bad stuff is gone, you can clear your head, go food shopping for all real foods, find new recipes, and start making food that you body was actually designed to eat!

Here are a few suggestions for Real Food snacks to keep in the house. Keeping foods like these on hand will make it simple to avoid making excuses.

Hardboiled Eggs

High Quality Turkey Breast from the deli counter

Cooked Spaghetti Squash

Boiled Sweet Potatoes with cinnamon

Carrots

Blueberries

Fruit  (just one piece per day)

Beef Jerky (check out Steve’s Original)

Guacamole ( eat with cucumber chips)

Kale Chips (bake kale in the oven with some olive oil on baking sheet until crispy)

Larabar

Roasted Squash, Zucchini and Eggplant with seasonings

Chicken Salad (boil the chicken, drain, add olive oil, a bunch of chopped up veggies, some raisins, and some finely chopped almonds)

Tuna (straight from the can, with some olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes)

Sardines

Homemade Salsa

Bacon and veggies

Smoked Salmon

Pulled pork, chicken, or beef ( cook in slow cooker and pull apart)

Bottom line is that if you replace all of the Bad Stuff in your kitchen with Good Stuff, you’ll find it next to impossible to eat badly, make a bad decision, or to panic and get fast or fast(er) food.

Hope this has helped!

Please comment below if you’ve had success with this ‘clean out the pantry/desk/drawers/fridge’ method.

For the Love of Food: How to Cook Baby Bock Choy

By on August 12, 2010 in Real Food Recipes · Comments { 2 }

How to Cook Baby Bok Choy:

1. Rinse 2-4  well and pat dry

2. Chop a very little bit off the hard end

3. Slice each baby bok choy in half, lengthwise

4. Melt a big pad of butter ( Kerrygold Irish Butter) in a saute pan

5. Place each bok choy half in the pan, face down. Sprinkle black cracked pepper on top

6. Cover and cook on medium for 5-6 minutes

7. Flip each piece carefully, trying not to break the halves into smaller pieces

8. Cook for another 5-6 minutes or until soft

EAT!

For The Love of Food: Mouthwatering Food Photo Gallery from PARIS!

By on August 10, 2010 in Nutrition Articles · Comments { 1 }

Over the last 6 years, Justin and I have grown an insatiable love of cooking, dining, eating, and talking about all things food. Our dinners are sometimes epic, our parties are all about the food, and we’ve spent more time talking about food and ingredients than you can imagine. We’re not gourmet chefs in the slightest, in fact we tend to cook very simple meals. But when we go out, we do it up right.

As we planned our wedding earlier this year, our choice of honeymoon locale was easy – a place that had amazing food, great wine, an interesting culture, and plenty of city to explore. Naturally, Paris topped the list. We spent an incredible week in the city of love (and food) – we saw some amazing sites, looked at famous works of art, people-watched, relaxed, and ate, ate, ate. To help us ensure that the meals were unforgettable, we documented everything we ate, and we’re sharing it here!

REGARDING VACATION EATING: This was our honeymoon – the nutritional value of our foods played a very minor role in our decisions of what to eat.  However, since we’ve been eating ‘real foods’ ( no gluten, sugar, processed crap)  most of the time for almost two years now, we were naturally drawn to the foods that would leave us full and happy. While we did indulge in pastries, croissants and crepes ( it’s Paris!!), we were happiest with a good steak and glass of wine.

Try not to drool on your keyboard.

Yes, that’s a brain about halfway down.

For the Love of Food: Whole chicken on the grill with roasted asparagus and mushrooms

By on August 6, 2010 in Real Food Recipes · Comments { 0 }

Chicken is a great source of protein, it’s mild enough for picky eaters, it’s easy to tell when it’s done, and there are a ton of recipes for it. The problem with chicken, though, is that it’s pretty boring and it often dries out if you saute or bake it.

Thankfully, I found a great new recipe for chicken that’s flavorful, juicy, and looks like a leaping frog! I first heard about the recipe when I heard an interview on NPR radio with Maricel Presilla, a food historian ( best job EVER?), who discovered the recipe in Argentina. The recipe is listed here at Gourmet.com.  Since the recipe isn’t one of our originals, I refrained from posting it here, but I did include a helpful tutorial about preparing the chicken for the grill ( also from Gourmet.com) , and some photos from our experience.

“(1) With the drumsticks of the chicken facing you, cut between the body and one drumstick, leaving the drumstick attached. (2) Widen the area around the thigh joint and bend the leg back until it pops out of joint but still remains attached. It’s not difficult to do; it’s actually a matter of feel. You’ll see, the next drumstick will go much faster. (3) Exchange your knife for kitchen or poultry shears. Lifting up the breast, cut through the ribs all the way to the shoulder joint, first on one side, then on the other. Now the bird is essentially in two pieces that are hinged at the shoulders. Turning over the chicken so that it is skin side up, open it so that it’s splayed out on the work surface. (4) With the heel of one hand, press down hard on the breastbone to crack and flatten it. (5) Stand back and admire your work.”

We also roasted some asparagus with mushrooms, black pepper, oregano, olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Combine all ingredients on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes, turning the pieces over at about 8 minutes in.

If you have any questions, or if there is something that you don’t understand from the recipe listed on Gourmet.com, post them below! If you make this recipe, post your thoughts!

Baby Step #2, Pack Your Lunch

By on August 3, 2010 in Nutrition Articles · Comments { 4 }

Your baby step #2 for eating and feeling better is to PACK YOUR LUNCH. Every single day. Just like you did when you were a kid. It wasn’t very hard to do back then, and it’s even easier now. Now that you’ve got a few healthy recipes under your belt, making lunches will be a breeze! Here are a few tips for making sure that brown bagging it is ALWAYS the cheaper, easier, and healthier choice.

Cook For An Army: Double or triple the portions of food you make for dinner, so you always have a reserve for the next day. Lunches are exactly like dinners – they should include a lean meat, a vegetable, and some good fat. So why not just take your dinner to work and call it lunch? It’s a no-brainer and requires minimal extra time, since you’re already cooking.

 

One man's leftovers are another man's lunch

Buy a slow cooker and Use it Weekly: CrockPot Slow cookers are cheap and require minimal culinary expertise. Let’s make Sunday your slow cooker day. Every Sunday at some point during the day or evening, follow these easy steps and you’ll have no excuse on Monday morning.

1. Buy a big chunk of meat. Brisket and pork roasts are two of our favorites.

2. Spice the meat as necessary (pepper, garlic powder, mustard powder, paprika, chili powder and coriander are all great together)

3. Put the meat in the slow cooker with some liquid (red wine or low sodium broth work well) or if it has a decent amount of fat on it, then omit the liquid. Turn the slow cooker on, and walk away.

4. About 6 hours later, follow your nose to the amazing aroma in your kitchen and your meat will be cooked to perfection.

Keep a Full Pantry/Fridge: Your food choices should happen at the grocery store, not on your lunch break as you drive past countless fast food places and chain restaurants, or while you’re standing in front of a plate of cookies your coworker made. If you make an effort to buy MORE food on your weekly shopping trip, you’ll never be at a loss for a healthy snack or addition to your lunch while you’re at work. Bad food decisions are usually make in moments of desperation and intense hunger. If you always keep good food handy, you’ll never need to make another bad decision.

 

That’s our fridge!

Multi-Task: It’s as easy as boiling water. Literally. Just take a a few big pots, fill them each 3/4 of the way with water and put something into them. Hardboiled eggs (8 min), sweet potatoes (12-15 minutes), Chicken thighs (10 min), or broccoli (5 minutes, very little water) are great options. Remove from water and season. Some quickies:

1. Slice up your hardboiled eggs and add avocado, chopped onion and Frank’s Red Hot.

2. Sprinkle cinnamon on your sweet potatoes

3. Shred the chicken thighs and put jarred sun-dried tomatoes or pesto and olive oil on them.

Go Semi-Homemade: If your culinary creativity is failing you, or time seems to be moving extra fast on a particular morning, leaving you with few options for an entire meal, then consider bringing something from home and supplementing with something from a local supermarket or deli. For instance, bring a bunch of grilled chicken from home, and add it to a Greek or garden salad from the local deli. Or bring last night’s vegetable leftovers and add some meat from the hot bar at Whole Foods, lunch meats from the deli counter (ask for the brand with the least preservatives), or tuna straight from the can with a little olive oil.

And there you have it. Great suggestions for helping you take Baby Step #2. After reading this post, go back and re-read it, take notes if necessary, and implement what you’ve learned immediately. You’ll feel good that you did, and you’ll officially have no excuse for not being able to pack a lunch for yourself every single day.

What did you think? Was this post helpful? How does your current lunch differ from these options? What is one thing you will do today to help bring you closer to packing a lunch daily? Use your success stories to support the newbies, the non-cooks, and people who have never made their own lunch. Comment below!

For the Love of Food: Quick and Easy Escarole

By on July 28, 2010 in Real Food Recipes · Comments { 0 }

Escarole is awesome. It’s a member of the endive family,  looks pretty similar to green leaf lettuce, and can be eaten raw or lightly cooked. It’s a great source of vitamin A, K , folic acid and dietary fiber. It tastes great, and is super-easy to prepare. We think it should be added to your food repertoire TODAY!

Rinse about 10-12 ‘baby bella’ or crimini mushrooms ( cut the large ones in half, if necessary) and toss them with olive oil in a deep pot.

Add 1/4 of a white onion cut into slivers, and some chopped garlic ( about 2 cloves) into the pot. Season with black pepper and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Cook these on medium heat until the mushrooms turn a darker shade of tan, and the onions soften.

While the mushrooms and onions are cooking, rinse and chop one head of escarole into 2 inch squares. Dry the leaves in a salad spinner, or place on paper towels until they dry. Add them to the pot, stir to mix the olive oil and veggies into the leaves. Cook just until the leaves start to soften. Don’t overcook.

And that’s it! Just another super-simple recipe to remind you that yes, you can cook.

For the Love of Food: Almond Crusted Spicy Pork Chops with a Hot Salad

By on July 23, 2010 in Real Food Recipes · Comments { 2 }

Some people, when given a plate full of salad topped with chicken, will say “its not enough. I won’t get full”, or “I don’t like salads”. But if you put a plate of chicken, broccoli, zucchini, squash, cooked spinach, and cauliflower infront of them, they’ll gladly eat it and consider it a meal. Other than containing slightly more variety of vegetables than a salad, the only difference between plate 1 and plate 2 is the temperature and seasonings on the vegetables.

For most people, ‘cooking’ a salad is an easy way to show them that they do, in fact, like vegetables!

On a plate, combine some almond meal (Trader Joe’s has this pretty cheap) with some cayenne pepper, chili powder, cilantro and garlic powder. In a bowl, mix together two eggs. Drag 4 pork chops through the egg, then the almond meal, coating them on all sides.

Cook the pork chops in some olive oil on the stove.  Turn over carefully about halfway through. These were thick, so they took about 12-15 minutes total.

Meanwhile, gather some ingredients that you might put into a salad ( any veggies, really) and chop into small rounds. Rinse and chop a head of green leaf lettuce. I used carrots, zucchini and eggplant, as shown in this picture.

“Roast” some garlic in the microwave by peeling and poking 2 or 3 cloves, setting them on a plate with some olive oil, and putting them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Add them to the sliced veggies and cook in a deep pot, with some coconut oil and Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning.

Once the veggies have softened, add in the green leaf lettuce.

At this point, your pork should be done.

Put it on a plate and eat it. ( The audible “nom,nom,nom” is optional).

Baby Step #1: Change Your Breakfast

By on July 20, 2010 in Nutrition Articles · Comments { 16 }

Making a lifestyle change, whether it’s quitting a bad habit, or starting a new one, sometimes requires baby steps. For a lot people, the shock of the ‘ripping the band aid off’ approach just isn’t sustainable. It’s common to see people make a radical lifestyle change,  then accidentally have a relapse, feel guilty about it, and then head straight back to the back place from which they first came.

If you’ve tried this approach to fitness, nutrition ( cabbage soup diet, anyone?), or life in general in the past, and you’re still struggling with the same problem years later, perhaps you need to find a new approach. Let’s take your leaps and bounds and scale them down to baby steps and see what happens…

Baby Step #1: Change Your Breakfast.

Whether you typically eat a bowl of Kashi, a cup of coffee, an egg white omelet,  or nothing at all, there’s probably some room for improvement in your breakfast.

Remember that food is fuel. And breakfast is the most important fuel of the day.  If your first meal is full of nutrient dense calories, it gives your brain and body the what it needs to have a productive morning and will positively effect your energy levels, mental clarity, and ability to make other good food choices throughout the rest of your day. And if the meal is processed, has sugar, is too high in carbohydrates, or is non-existent, your body and brain are being shortchanged before your day has even begun!

To review the types of food you should and shouldn’t be eating, read this first. Then, go out and buy a carton of eggs. Next, sit down and read this post.

Breakfast is just like any other meal. Most of us grew up thinking that breakfast was  a wondrous kind of meal with special foods that you wouldn’t eat at any other meal. If you ever got the rare chance to eat ‘breakfast for dinner’, you knew you had done something right that day. That’s because you were actually being fed dessert for breakfast ( I know I was!). Sugar floating in a bowl of sugar ( aka cereal in milk) or sugar topped with sticky sugar ( waffles with syrup) don’t count as a meal.

A ‘real foods’ meal, as you now know, should consist of three basic things – a protein (usually meat or fish), a vegetable, and a good fat source. Nothing about that changes for breakfast. What needs to change, however, is your perception of what breakfast actually is. Starting today, shake that notion that certain foods aren’t ‘breakfast foods’.  Chicken for breakfast? Sure. Ground beef and eggs? Yes, please. Turkey and avocado? Fill er up. Food is food, and should be eaten throughout the day, as you get hungry. It’s as simple as that!

The Magic Formula. A super simple way to transition yourself from cereal, a breakfast sandwich, croissant, or whatever you normally eat, to a ‘real foods approved’ breakfast is to learn a simple formula. (Don’t panic -its not like real math -this formula is easy…and so delicious)

Eggs + Leftovers = Breakfast

(allow me to repeat myself)

Eggs + Leftovers = Breakfast

Eggs are a great way to start off the day with a big helping of good protein. For best results here, use eggs from free range chickens. The yolks are a nice, deep orange-yellow and they taste, well, more like eggs.

 

Free Range Chicken - each egg looks a little different, just like nature intended.

Leftovers is pretty explanatory. It’s what you ate last night. If you’re eating right, then it should be some type meat and vegetable. If you’re not eating well, please refrain from putting pizza in your omelet.

 

Step 1: Butter a small saute or omelet pan with Kerrygold butter (GrassFed, Free-range Irish butter, available for cheap at Trader Joe’s)

Step 2: Chop up some of last night’s meat, fish, chicken, or veggies into small pieces and add to the pan.

Pulled pork and broccoli - still lookin' good, even the morning after. ;)

Step 3: Crack 2 or 3 eggs ( or 4 or 5 if your body needs that many) right into the pan and scramble them around a bit with a spatula, just enough to break up the yolks and mix them into the leftovers.

Dark meat chicken with collard greens...stick THAT in your cereal bowl and eat it.

Step 4: After a few minutes, once the bottom of the omelet has set, flip the omelet and cook for an additional minute on the other side. Remove from the heat and eat!

 

The perfect omelet always tastes better than it looks.

As simple as it is to eat eggs and leftovers for breakfast, we hear a TON of excuses as to why people don’t do it. Here are some of the most common, and our responses:

I don’t have time to cook in the morning – While cooking an omelet does take more time than pouring a bowl of cereal it doesn’t take THAT much more time, especially if you break the eggs right into the pan just after you add the meat. You can continue your morning routine as the egg cooks, flip it once, and eat.  TIP: Set out your plate, fork and saute pan the night before, and set  your alarm a whole 3 minutes earlier than normal. You can’t go wrong.

I don’t have time to eat at home / I’m not hungry when I first wake up Thank god for Tupperware! Just plop you omelet into a re-sealable container, and bring it to work/school/wherever. Eat it when you’re ready. I bring my omelet to work every day and eat it 2 hours after I wake up. I love to see my co-workers salivate…

I don’t know how to cook Now you do! I just showed you how. Its really that simple. The omelet is one of the first things that people learn to cook, so you’re starting with the basics. It’s okay if it looks ugly or if you overcook it. It’ll still taste the same, and you will learn as you go. It took me 2 full years of sloshing eggy goop over the side of the pan onto the stovetop before I learned how to flip a huge 6 egg omelet without using a spatula! ( Those 6 eggs feed two people, by the way).

I don’t like eggs Luckily, much like all of our food suggestions, there are substitutions available! First, try the recipe above once. Just to make sure it’s eggs you don’t like, and not the fake stuff that they microwave and slap on bread at Dunkin Donuts. If you really don’t like, or can’t stomach eggs, then you can just eat leftovers as is, or try some turkey with avocado, sausage with peppers, or any combo of meat & veggies that you feel like eating in the morning.

Now that we got the excuses out of the way, here are some leftovers that make for great omelets:

Ground beef and onions

Spinach and mushrooms

Chicken and peppers

Pork and hot sauce

Bacon and anything at all

Shrimp and avocado

Beef brisket

Steak and sweet potatoes

Curry chicken

Shrimp and peppers

You get the point….basically everything can be paired with eggs for the ultimate breakfast !

 

Why are we asking you to change your breakfast?

Because you’re here to make a big life change. You want to look better, feel better and become more physically capable, and making this tiny change will help you do just that.

Because breakfast is the natural ‘first step’ to take. It sets the tone for the day. It’s not easy to ruin a satisfying breakfast with a lunch that will make you sleepy and feeling gross.

Because omelets are easy to make. They are the kindergarten of cooking, and these are baby steps that we’re taking.  If you haven’t made any of our recipes thus far, make this the first one you try.

Tell us what you think!

Try and omelet today and POST YOUR THOUGHTS TO COMMENTS. What did/didn’t you like? Are you unsure about whether your breakfast is ‘real foods’ -approved? Got any suggestions for newbies?

This is the first in a series of posts about slowly transitioning yourself over to eating only foods that are good for you. While the concepts may sound simple, this change can be really hard for most people, so show your support – we’re in this together!

For the Love of Food: Chicken with mushrooms and roasted eggplant with a side of parsnip fries

By on July 16, 2010 in Real Food Recipes · Comments { 2 }

This Just In: Parsnips are soooooo good! If you haven’t cooked them before, please try them in this recipe!

Chicken with mushrooms and roasted eggplant with a side of parsnip fries

Turn the oven onto 325 degrees and put one medium and one large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Cut 3 chicken breasts into 2 or 3 pieces each and drop them into the larger pot of water.

Slice two baby eggplants lengthwise into thin pieces, place them on a baking sheet and cover in 2T olive oil (not enough to saturate each piece, but try to get every piece at least somewhat coated)

Cut up 3 medium parsnips into chunks put them into the medium pot of boiling water.

Flip the eggplant slices after 8-9 minutes in the oven.

Slice up 1/4 of a red onion into thin strips and cut up about 6-8 baby portobello or crimini mushrooms into slices. Place both into a large saute pan with olive oil on low-medium heat.

Drain the water from the two pots on the stove after about 15 minutes, or when the center of each piece is white ( slightly pink in the very center is okay, just as long as it’s not fleshy). Set aside and let cool.

Remove the eggplant from the oven. The pieces should be dark, but not burnt, and should look pretty dry.

Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces, chop the parsnips into rounds, and cut the eggplant pieces in half.

Put the parsnips in a saute pan with 2T olive oil on medium heat and shake back and forth to coat all of the pieces. Flip the pieces over often ( just flip your wrist a little to get the pieces to ‘jump’ in the air.

Add the chicken and the eggplant to the large saute pan with the onions and mushrooms and mix the ingredients around. Flip the parsnips again!

Make a quick dressing for chicken dish – combine 2T olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, some stone ground mustard and some ground pepper.  Mix those ingredients together and pour on the chicken and other vegetables.

Flip the parsnips!

Serve and EAT!

For the Love of Food: Banana Custard

By on July 11, 2010 in Real Food Recipes · Comments { 2 }

In the heat of the summer, there are some cravings that just can’t be satisfied without giving in. Try as you might, an apple just isn’t going to cut it when all you want is ice cream.  Banana Custard, (recipe originally heard on The Paleo Podcast by Robb Wolf) however, will be there when you need it. It’s the perfect chilly treat for those hot summer nights. It’s naturally sweet, and heavy on fat, so it actually fills you up!

WARNING: This stuff is addictive. After it’s solidified in the fridge, portion it out into smaller containers, or use this as a very difficult exercise in self control.

Slice 3 bananas into small chunks. Combine them with 2 cans of  coconut milk ( not light coconut milk) in a pot on the stove.

Cook on medium and stir for about 5-7 minutes, or until the bananas feel slightly softer than when you put them in. Sprinkle cinnamon, to taste.

Pour the contents of the pot into a blender (do this over the sink) and pulse on low, then high, for about 20-30 seconds total.

Pour into a container with a lid and refrigerate for 4-6 hours before eating.

ANOTHER WARNING: This is NOT something we recommend you make and eat on a constant basis over the summer. Rather, this is your new occasional indulgence. So treat it as such and save it for those times when other foods just won’t do.