We caught up with James from Edgeworth Osteopathy one of our regular customers and learn't a little about why he loves Newcastle, what his food philosophy is and how to make a killer smoothie!
Tell us your story, what brought you to Newcastle?
My wife Kate is from Newcastle and I’m from NZ, so when we decided it was time to settle down we moved back here to be with family and friends. Newcastle is so beautiful with such a great mix of everything. I miss NZ but Newcastle feels like home now.
What inspires you day to day?
My beautiful family (two gorgeous children), and growing my own (as organic as possible) garden to provide for my family and help teach my kids how to be self sustainable. We have been given such wonderful natural resources it’s up to us to respect, nurture and grow in our environment. I am very health-centred with my job as an Osteopath, and health very much starts with what we eat.
Do you have a food philosophy?
Eat fresh. Eat healthy. Whole foods, and plenty of variety. (Also what my wife tells me to eat which thankfully is very healthy and full of variety which I would lack if left to my own devices!) Also chocolate should be considered a health food. (Dark of course!)
What do you love about YFC?
Supporting local farmers! As a small business I love supporting other small local business. It’s important to help and grow others, especially our farmers with the drought. They take care of us by providing food and we need to take care of them. Knowing they’re getting so much back with YFC is so important. The food is amazingly fresh, vibrant and incredibly tasty. The kids have been more adventurous with trying new things, especially the rainbow carrots. Miss 3 year old loves them! And the sustainability in the farming itself through to the packing is awesome.
What’s your go to in the kitchen at the moment?
We’re dabbling with kombucha at the moment which has been interesting. My go to is smoothies: I often make a breakfast smoothie whilst Kate gets the kids sorted at the table. My favourite is my cocoa avo smoothie (deceptively healthy!) Kate’s recently been obsessed with pumpkin so we’ve had a lot of pumpkin concoctions.
What are you looking forward to?
Building my business, Edgeworth Osteopathy, so I can work from home and have more time with my family. Becoming more self sustainable at home and teaching my kids about living holistically and mindfully. And getting bees…one day in the future.
James’ Choc-Avo smoothie
½ avocado (when it's not avo season why not just use bananas, or berries)
150g ice cubes
1 tablespoon cocoa
30g dates
30g oats
100ml milk
150ml water
Handful of hazelnuts
Tablespoon of psyllium husk
1 carrot
Handful of baby spinach leaves
Chuck everything into a blender and blitz until smooth. Leave out the oats if you’re Coeliac / gluten free. Loosen with more water if necessary.
For our family we double (or 2.5x) the recipe. I also vary the quantities depending on my mood of a morning. If I want it a bit sweet, I’ll add a couple of extra dates. If I want it extra dark, another spoonful of cocoa. I’ve also thrown in the leftover veggies from last night’s dinner (but don’t put in raw broccoli or cucumber – it upsets the flavour in an unfavourable way, in our opinion). The YFC carrots have been a wonderful addition to our smoothies, and we love getting avocados in our veggie box – we do so many things with avocado!
Enjoy and don't forget to share this smoothie and any other local creations with our Foodies of YFC face book group and #YFC&ME.
