fruit and sesame smoothie

With the summer and good weather, surely many of you will try to refresh yourself by drinking sparkling or sugary drinks, but you will surely be aware that beside of those drinks there is a delicious and fruity alternative: we're talking about smoothies. This drink is nowadays very popular in America and Europe because it is considered to be an healthier version of the famous milkshakes. A smoothie is fresh fruit mixed with soya (or regular) milk or yogurt and ice. Occasionally it may also contains peanut butter or even chocolate. The final result is similar to a fruity granita or an italian ice, but more creamy, and that's why it's called "smoothie". It may have a milkshake-like texture, but it differentiates from it because smoothies have no ice cream in their recipe making it lightier. We published also other recipe about healthy and fresh drinks, like our carrot and lemon juice here.

Smoothies are often confused also with frappè, that is a Greek drink very popular in the Mediterranean and easter European area. Frappes are made with coffee espresso, and it is characterized by its foamy consistence, similar the one of a cappuccino.

In the lasts years, with the increasing of the interest in healthy food, smoothies have become more and more healthy, containing super light ingredients. They've become an authentic icon of healthy food lovers. We can find the word "smothee" for the first time in a 1940 advertising for a food mixer. The modern concept of smoothies has been developed in the health addicts world of 1960s California, and from then on it has been a symbol of an healthy and tasty drink without added sugar. It is now much loved by the ones who criticises the omnipresence in America of the commercial sparkling drinks containing lots of sugar.

Today we'll bring you our own version of a classical New York-style smoothie that you can change the fruit we've used according your tastes, and of course you can decide to use peanut butter. We decided to to a different and lightier version, using the tahin sauce instead of the peanut butter. The tahin sauce is made with toasted sesame, and it's very frequently used in the eastern mediterranean cultures, as it's essential to prepare the famous hummus. We decided to change the cow milk with rice milk, which makes it perfect for those with a lactose intolerance, for the vegans and so on!

C'mon, try this recipe, not only because they're so popular right now, but also because they're so healthy, simple and easy to do, and they're perfect for any time of the year too! These drinks will make your sons enjoy all the taste of the fruit and their so important vitamins. This recipe will take no longer than 5 minutes of your time, you'll see! ;)

Ingredients: 

• 1 frozen banana (better if it's a platano de Canarias)
• 250 mixed berries
• 2 spoonful of tahin
• 150 rice milk

Preparation:

Mix in a food processer all the ingredients until you obtain a mix that it's at the same time thick and soft. We suggest you to peel the banana or the platano de Canarias before you freeze it, and to wash the mixed berries or the strawberry before you freeze them.

You can use directly fresh fruit, without freezing it, but in this case you can change the half of the milk with icecubes, to keep the texture and the freshness we're looking for. If you prefer you can add also add some honey, even if the fruit it's pretty sweet anyway. It's also perfect with a couple of dates, too!

Greetings,

AnGie

Canary Islands Stuffed potatoes

Today we'll bring you a family recipe, a recipe from Canary Islands. This one is very versatile and can be adopted to a lot of versions, according everyone's taste, but these ones I'm gonna show you aren't the usual stuffed potatoes you can find anywhere. I have never find this kind of stuffed potatoes outside of the Canary Islands. In the many, many versions of stuffed potatoes you may find that potatoes are bread-crumbed , fried or gratinated, but this one's special. Other kinds of this recipe are from countries like Perù, Colombia or Cuba, between the others, and we'll talk about them in others occasions. Canary Islands have a really great culinary tradition with potatoes, or "papas", as they call them. We have seen for exemple the recipe about "papas arrugadas".

As for the quantity I'm gonna tell you, they are for three to four people (and their appetite!). Just vary the quantity according your guests.

Ingredients:

- Middle sized potatoes (dependig to how many guests, in my case 1,300 kg)

Pimentón y curcuma

- little zucchini (a Canary Island variety called "bubango")
- 200 g. of tomatoes
- 150 g. of red pepper
- Onions ( aprox. 200-250 g)
- 1/4 kg. of minced veal meat
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 2 teeth of garlic
- olive oil
- 1 spoonful of pimenton (or sweet paprika)
- 1 pinch of curcuma (natural dye)
- 2 leaves of laurel
- thyme ( optional)
- Salt
- 1/2 liter of water
- 2 spoonful of flour (optional)

Preparation:

1º- Start with prepping the filling of our potatoes. In a pan, we put two spoonful of olive oil, we put it on heat and we add the half of the minced onion, some 100-150 grams and a garlic. Add fine salt to fasten the cooking, and when the onion start frying add the minced red pepper. Fry a little bit and add the minced tomatoes (some 100 grams). Add the meat to our pan and a little bit of salt too. When the meat is ready, take it out of the heat and put it aside.

 2º- Start preparing the potatoes, in my case I also used bubangoes, that are a Canary Island variety of the classical zucchini. You can in the same way have even stuffed peppers. Peel and wash the potatoes, then punch a hole inside the potatoes with a spoon or a parisien spoon scoop. In this step be careful not to break the potato, you don't want the hole to be big. Do not throw to the garbage the parts of the potatoes you've removed! You can do a spanish tortilla, fry or cook them, and you can put the parts of the zucchini you've removed inside your filling to add a lot of flavour...you can use it all!

3º- With the help of a coffee spoon, fill the potatoes or the veggies you've chosen. To close the hole to be sure our filling won't get out during the cooking time, you have many options. I usually put in a bowl 2 spoonful of flour and I keep adding some water and stirring, until I obtained a sort of thick cream. Then I put some of this thick cream above the hole, and then in a very hot pan I put the potato with the hole on the botto, so that it cook perfectly closing the hole. Another option is to use the removed parts of the potatoes to use them as a sort of cap, but with this option you shall be careful, because not many stuffed potatoes can cook at once, otherwise they would open and the filling will go out.

4º- In another pan we do another sautée, this time with onion, pepper, and the remaining tomato. Add the wine, the aromatich herbs, (laurel and thyme in my case), and put the potatoes with the hole side up. Add water, but not that much water to cover the potatoes. Add the quantity of salt you desire, cover the pan, put it on medium heat and let it cook...blub blub blub!
This step will last half an hour, but it  depends on the variety of potatoes you used, so give them an eye while cooking, and try once in a while if they are ready with a fork: if the fork enter the potato, the potatoes are ready. If potatoes are still not cooked, add water so that the sauce will not dry. Try the salt, you can adjust it while cooking.

resultado final de la cocción

5º- And now your stuffed potatoes are ready to eat! I prefer to eat it as a single course, given that here we have the veggies, the proteines and the hydrates. Eat it with a good wine and enjoy it! Sometimes I use veggies or champignon mushroom filling only, sautéed tuna, chicken or turkey or even with corned beef...you choose! I hope you'll like this dish that's thought for all the family and all year round!

Enjoy it!

saludos

Angie