Further smoothie experiments {green going two ways}

I got sick so my post got delayed.
Here it is. I finally managed to make a "real" green smoothie. And the secret was the one I had expected it to be all along. Which is: don't mix your green vegetables with red fruits but rather go for the whole section of yellow and orange fruits. Simple, isn't it? (And it took me that long to figure out....after an art proficiency class. Really.)

Otherwise we're breaking into a rain period here which mean it has been raining non stop since yesterday. We'll see how long it lasts. So if you want to cheer yourself up: Make those smoothies!! ;)

For the first green smoothie, you will need (1 serving):

• 1/2 a package lamb's lettuce (normaler Feldsalat)
• 2/3 of a mango
• 1 small frozen banana
• 1/2 an apple
• vanilla soy yogurt and milk (until you reach your preferred "smoothie-ness")

Blend all of it together in your blender. And that's it!!

I really really loved this one (far better than my not-so-green broccoli smoothie) and I'll probably keep making this one in the future, especially since our markets have lamb's lettuce on a daily basis and spinach....not so much. Also, I'm going to try adding ginger to the whole mixture. Or some fresh mint?! Endless possibilities as so often ;)

Though, I said there were smoothies two ways. Which means, I actually managed to get my hands on some baby spinach the other day, and than this happened. It doesn't look that different (yeah, I know) but it did taste different! And honestly, I couldn't decide between the two of them. Green smoothies simply are awesome, right? Thought so ;)

•  
• 2 1/2 cups baby spinach 
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 2 mandarins
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• a bit vanilla yogurt
• and some fat free Greek yogurt

Blend and enjoy ;)

(and sorry for those dots hanging around there in the middle of nowhere. My blog layout simply refuses to put them anywhere else. Try to figure out this stubborn technology (sight)). Have a fun Tuesday!

A yellow smoothie {trying out the color palette}

Good weather immediately makes me go for smoothies, so that was what happened recently....recently as in three month ago. Jep this is how old this recipe is and this is how long I have been planning to blog about it....but than it never happened. So by now, the weather is rather grey and even going into the cold-ish areas but I'm still fine with posting a smoothie recipe....because really? For whoever loves smoothies as much as I do, weather doesn't really matter ;)
Back then, I was trying out the "colour approach". You know,  like how to dye your smoothies in every possible colour. (Well, it's fun isn't it....or is this just me?). Anyway, after I successfully accomplished my green smoothie, I went for yellow....and than changed my mind half way and went with pale pink. Whups. It still tasted extremely awesome!!! (Ok, and let's be honest. I didn't change my mind, the smoothie simply didn't turn out yellow....but let's just pretend I was changing my mind anyways :D)

Adapted from neverhomemaker's smoothie, you'll need (1 serving):

• 2 mandarins
• 1 small frozen banana
• 1 large handful frozen strawberries
• vanilla soy yogurt and milk (as much as you want)

My mandarins were slightly sour but it gave the whole smoothie a surprisingly welcome freshness, and all in all, I'll keep this one in mind for whenever I really need an energy booster or something to wake me up! 

Happy smoothie making to you all :)

A green smoothie experiment {though I have to admit, they never really look that green....}

...jep. Somehow my green smoothies never really end up looking green, so that's definitely something I'm going to work on. But for now, we're going to work with this:

Broccoli. Yes, you saw and read right.
I made myself a huge bowl of just plain slightly steamed broccoli yesterday and couldn't finish it, so instead of just eating the same thing again today, I tried to come up with something else. And why not, I thought, try and throw it in a smoothie!?
So, that's exactly what I did ;)

In the mixer went:

• 1/2 a frozen banana (I used the unfrozen one only for the picture ;P)
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries
• 1 orange 
• 2/3 of that bowl of slightly steamed broccoli
• 1 large tablespoon non-fat Greek yogurt
• three times the amount of vanilla-soy yogurt
• low fat milk to make it a bit thinner

Put all of this into a blender and mix.

I have to admit that I'd probably have went for more yellow/orange-ish fruits if I had had them, but I simply used all the things I had on hand. But how about mango, oranges and banana with broccoli?! Just get creative!

And: It actually tasted really good!!! I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't sceptical, and saying that you don't taste the broccoli at all would also be a lie, but it definitely wasn't that bad and the broccoli mixed well with the sourness of the orange and the berryness of...well the berries ;)

Go have fun mixing fruits and veggies together!! I feel like spring is just asking for that extra portion of fun, colour and health :)

Selfmade Elderflower syrup {one childhood story}

I've blogged about this recipe earlier (last year) but wasn't quite satisfied which what I came up with in the first place so, this year, I did it again (I would have anyway, go figure).

I love this recipe because, for me, this is my only really "childhood recipe". I sometimes wish I could say we had those awesome cookies my mum always made or something along the way, but we didn't (I guess my childhood cookies are "Prinzenrolle". Store bought. But awesome!). However, we had this syrup. I can't really remember a time where it wasn't around the house, though that must have been the case quite often (since we were three sweet-loving kids and one busy mum who would only attempt one serving size each year. 5 liters for a year...you get it).
This is what my childhood tastes like. And I hope that one day, I'll be able to provide my kids with their own share of childhood recipes...this will definitely be one of them.

A bit unrelated but I had told my dad earlier that I was making elderflower syrup again and he asked me, all confused, why I wasn't just going to the store and bought some. Why do we make DIY stuff?! I believe it's because we love stories! And with everything we create, their is a little story to the thing itself. My story of how I went out and bought elderflower syrup wouldn't probably have turned out so nice. Instead I can say that I went out, just before it got really dark, to ride my bike one last round and go on a hunt for elderflowers....some I would actually be able to reach. And how the fields smelled of fresh dirt and the air felt smooth and cold on my skin while riding my bike. Much better than the store bought version, I assure you!

The syrup is super easy done and if there were Elderflowers all year round I'd probably be doing it...all year round. Yeah, you guessed it right ;)
So follow me on one sweet sugary childhood journey!

You'll need for 5 liters:

• 1 really large pot
• 2 liters water
• 7 natural lemons
• 3kg white sugar
• 1 package Vitamin C (powder)
• 15-18 elder flowers (Those big bundles of them, not the separate teeny tiny flowers...quite logical.)

1. In the large pot, mix together water and sugar. This is the most fun part of the whole recipe, at least for me. Because adding three kg of sugar to two liters of water is simply fun!
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Meanwhile stir occasionally (until the sugar is dissolved). Also, wash you lemons under warm water and cut into lots and lots of slices.
4. When the sugar/water mixture boils (please be careful here! Similar to caramel, this will need longer to heat up because it will reach a higher temperature than the normal 100°C (which would be plain water)! This stuff is hot!) add the melons slices and the elder flowers. 
5. Bring to a boil again and than turn off the heat and put on the lid. You're done with the first part!
6. After one day, add your Vitamin C, by simply stirring it in. 

Now, the whole things need to sit nice and cozy for another six days. Waiting. Ugh.

After a week in total, you'll need:

• containers to store your syrup
• something to fill them with
• boiling water

1. Bring your mixture to a boil again.
2. Meanwhile, boil some more water ind rinse all your containers/bottles/whatever you use (and the container lids!) with boiling water. Be careful again!
3. There are different methods now: For once you could drain your whole syrup through a sieve before you start boiling it, and to make it perfect, through a kitchen towel afterwards. This will leave you with a 100% perfect and clear syrup. Also, you could simply leave it the way it is and just be careful not to get too many elder flowers into your bottle. I did this last year. I did the towel version the year before. This year however, I used a 'spoon sieve' (not to fine) and simply removed as much as the sieve would do. I think I like this version the best because it's fast easy and you can do it while you already started heating up the whole mess and simply forgot you wanted to remove something before you would have done the heating part. Ups. And it is actually quite clean! 
4. When the whole thing is boiling again, carefully fill them into your containers. Close them nice and tightly and you're done!! For the filling process I normally use a large ladle and a funnel. Kitchen gloves for handling the hot containers!

And this will leave you with 5 litters of beautiful golden yellow elderflower syrup. Something to be jealous of! You could use it for simply enriching your water, or wine if it gets more special, pour it over ice cream or make elderflower cupcakes (I'm going to try out those soon, so stay tuned!). The possibilities are endless! Have fun being creative!!

Summer smoothie with garden cress {How my perfect smoothie pictured never happened}

I sometimes think, it's crazy how easy it is to make a story out of something (ups I wanted to say: nothing) A story out of nothing. Anyway). This is the story with the not so promising title 'How my perfect smoothie pictured never happened' but it's probably just, well, who I am.

So, the other day I was feeling like a smoothie (Ok, I probably always do, but that's not the point here). And I conveniently still had a bag of frozen fruits left from the other day where I had intended to make a smoothie but somehow never had gotten around to actually do it.
Having said that, I went into our kitchen, grabbed my bag of fruits from the freezer and let them fall into the mixer. They looked quite good in there. All this red and orange mixed with the much fuller and somehow richer orange from the mango. I added a few leaves of mint and a few other things and was suddenly amazed by how much I actually liked the colour picture of what just had happened inside my mixer (we hadn't pressed the 'mix' button yet!). It was asking for a picture.
I got my camera.
I positioned my piece of art.
And...don't ever ask me how!...this happened:

Yeah. So much about my great smoothie-in-a-mixture-picture (rhyme-schmyn).

Well. I cleaned up the mess (sort of. Cough), assembled the things back together and pretended nothing ever happened in the first place.
Just shortly after that, I also learned why it's not a good idea to just throw all your fruits into a bag and freeze them. Because they freeze as a huge lump. Mixers don't like that.

While penetrating my lump of frozen fruits with a kitchen knife (it would have been so me to destroy the knife during the process as well. That, however, luckily did not happen) I pondered about how one of my older host brothers had just mentioned the other day, how he missed me in the family. 'Life was so much more fun with you. Like on TV'. Uhm...that gives you things to think about. (There was a funny comment I wanted to make about this comment but I forgot. I guess, he's laughing by now if he's reading it. Hey there!!)

With that story, I'll leave you with the recipe for a, still pretty awesome, smoothie. Have fun!
(Oh...I also thought about adding a banana, though in the whole process I forgot about it. Yeah, I know. Anyway, it was good without it but next time I'll add half a frozen or unfrozen banana as well).

You'll need (1 serving):

• one small frozen bag of fruits (appr. 1 1/2 - 2 cups) Mine had: watermelon, mango, pineapple
• two ice cubes
• three large mint leaves
• 1 big Tablespoon of greek yogurt (non fat)
• 1 Tablespoon garden cress (Gartenkresse)
• water and orange juice according to your preferred consistency

Put everything of the above into a blender. Try not to drop the blender and spill out its contents. Blend!

Enjoy ;)

A light-green-smoothie version

I'm sending greetings from my desk, typing on my applications. And, even though right now I'm drinking a coffee, I had this smoothie yesterday to boost me up and motivate me for...uhm...work I guess ;)

Put into a mixer and blend together:

• 1/2 a pear
• 1 1/2 cups frozen fruits (I used a tropical mix so it had different kinds of melon, pineapple, berries and mango in it)
• 3 ice cubs
• 1/2 glass apple juice
• 4-5 fresh mint leaves
• 1 Teaspoon honey
• 50gr (half of one of those little yogurt cups) plain yogurt
• 1 big handful of lamb's lettuce (einfacher Feldsalat)

This really kicks your butt...in a good way ;)

Kann ich mich vielleicht ganz kurz mal beschweren wie kompliziert, gedoppelt und irgendwie...eher unproduktiv diese ganzen Anmeldungsverfahren sind!? Definitiv Platz zur Verbesserung...grummel.

October in Mai

Ok this is going to be a kind of mopey post so I can totally understand if you skip right a head to the smoothie recipe below and leave. Though....you might find yourself a bit in a mopey mood? Or maybe life just sometimes isn't as perfect as it seems...maybe we share something? Uh well, it's still up to you ;)

I decided that moping never made anyone feel better or solved any problems so I'm not going to do it (Oh and my last post just happened to have a bit moping in it as well, so I thought we might need a change haha). And if you start thinking about it...there are always some solutions. You just might have to take a risk. But what would life be, without some risks! No fun, right?!

On my way home, early in the morning. Beautiful rainy skyline.

 Oh, well. Just one really short "mopey-ness" (the longer I stare at this word, the funnier it looks...uhm. Anyway) I thought it needed to be mentioned that we have M-a-i (well, nearly June!! Seriously!!...oh and I did mention that before. Ups)) and it's about a cozy 7°C outside plus: Rain. As in rain. And more rain. And more rain. And more. (Which makes me still wonder, while people got so upset that I was going to Vancouver last year. Because the weather must be horrible there, right!?) Nope. This totally tops it. The good thing. We sort of getting a bit closer to their green-ness level...that is sort of nice. (See! There is always something positive).

That leaves me to say: I hope you had a nice weekend?! (Ignoring the rain-part) and if you need a little booster: Here you go!

This one happened last week (after work). I never feel hungry after work although I know I should (since my breakfast is about 7-8 hours history by then) but somehow the stress and a constant growling stomach during the last three hours lead to...not being hungry when it's time to eat. So this just tweaks it perfectly.
Two ways, as in you can keep it healthy with non fat Greek yogurt or you can substitute the Greek yogurt with ice cream to make it a bit more guilty/ sweet treat like. I opted for the healthy version that particularly day.

1 serving, peanut butter chocolate smoothie

• 1 small frozen banana
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 3 ice cubes
• about 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• milk (according to texture preferences)

Put all of the above into a blender and mix until smooth. Enjoy ;) (This one is not particularly sweet (my banana wasn't so sweet) so you might want to add a bit of maple syrup...though that's optional).

Ok. I do like the green. And the smell of rain. And the way the air feels.

Berry Banana Booster

This one is from last week. I made it feeling pretty beaten up from working while being sick. It's not super healthy, as I went for the ice cream instead of Greek yogurt option, but I also needed some sugar to boost me up. And hey, sometimes ice cream is just as good!

I also did sort of mis-calculate my smoothie size while making it. So this totally could serve two. I, however, drank it all by myself ;)

2 servings, Berry Banana Booster

• 1 small frozen banana
• about 1 cup frozen berries
• 2 scoops vanilla ice cream (go for Greek yogurt to make it healthier)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 5 ice cubes
• milk (according to your preferred consistency)

Put all of the above into a blender and mix it all up. Enjoy ;)

I told you it was huge!! Sorry: Gigantic ;)

Mango Banana Smoothie {As in this stuff is as good as coffee...or caffeine in case you don't drink coffee}

To give you a little boost for the right start into a new week, I'll hand you a cool tall glass filled with a delicious smooth smoothie ;) Enjoy!
(And I'm feeling a little sick, so every booster is welcome. Knock on the wood it's nothing serious!).

Mango Banana Smoothie
You'll need:

• 1 small frozen banana
• 1/3 mango
• 4 ice cubes
• water
• ~75gr (half of those small yogurt cups) plain yogurt

Put all the ingredients into a blender. Mix. Serve. Easy peasy!