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

Ciambella alla menta, cocco e limone

Oggi vi mostriamo un dolce di quelli che nascono un po' per caso, sperimentando, e poi rimangono nel tuo ricettario per sempre. 
Adoro le erbe aromatiche e quelle medicinali, le uso moltissimo e negli ultimi tempi le ho piantate un po' in tutta casa ahahahah! E allora, mi è venuto in mente, perchè non utilizzarle anche nei miei dolci?



Questa ciambella è fatta con menta hierba buena, un erba che dà un tocco differente, un tocco fresco.
Inoltre l'ho fatta con olio d'oliva al posto del burro, cosa che rende il dolce ancora più leggero senza perdere nulla del suo gusto. Vi invito caldamente a provarla!

Ingredienti:

• 1 yogurt di cocco (o naturale)
• 125 ml. di olio d'oliva
• 250 di zucchero di canna
• 4 uova
• 125 ml di buttermilk (latticello)*
• 450 g. di farina
• 1 limone (sia succo che la scorza)
• 1 pizzico di sale
• Menta tipo hierba buena (20 foglie circa)
• 80 g. di cocco gratugiato
• 15 g. di lievito in povere

* Il buttermilk si vende già fatto, ma io di solito me lo faccio in casa. 15 minuti circa di iniziare a fare il vostro dolce, preparate in una tazza il latte necessario e aggiungete il succo di limone. Lasciate riposare per il tempo richiesto e vedrete che otterrete una specie di latte rancido: non vi preoccupate, va bene così! Rigirate il tutto e utilizzatelo così direttamente. Questo ingrediente renderà ancora più soffici i vostri dolci.

Preparazione:

1- In una ciotola mettiamo le uova intere e lo zucchero. Mescoliamo il tutto a velocità media.

2- Al nostro mix di uova aggiungiamo anche l'olio, il succo di limone e lo yogurt. Mescoliamo ancora.

3- Sminuzziamo finemente la menta tipo hierba buena (quella che si usa per fare ad esempio il mojito) con un coltello e la aggiungiamo al nostro mix, assieme alla scorza di limone.

4- In una ciotola a parte, mettiamo la farina, il lievito e il sale. Setacciamo il tutto e lo mettiamo da parte.

5- Aggiungiamo poco a poco il nostro mix di farina, alternandolo con il buttermilk, cioè mettendo nella ciotola 1/3 di farina, rigiriamo bene e poi mettiamo 1/3 di buttermilk, e così via fino a esaurire i nostri ingredienti.

6- ungiamo lo stampo per ciambelle, versiamo il nostro mix e lo mettiamo in un forno preriscaldato a 180°C, per circa 45-50 minuti. Metteremo il nostro dolce a media altezza nel nostro forno e se inizia a dorarsi in superficie ma (bucandolo con un ago da cucina) vediamo che ancora non è pronto, possiamo coprirlo con un foglio di alluminio o carta da forno.

7- Quando sarà pronto, lo togliamo dallo stampo e lo lasceremo raffreddare su una teglia, e quando sarà pronto lo spolvereremo con zucchero a vero per decorarlo.

E' ideale per essere mangiato con una tazza di tè, perciò...voi preparate il tè, che noi portiamo la ciambella! ;)

Un salutone!

AnGie

Spearmint, coconut and lemon cake

Today we bring you one of those cakes that comes off almost by chance, and the result...well, you keep the recipe you've invented forever and ever! 
I absolutely love aromatic and medicinal herbs, I use them so much, and lately I have many of them planted everywhere around my house he he he! So I thought: why don't we use them in sweets too?


This cake is made with spearmint, which gave to the cake a fresh and different touch.
it's made with olive oil instead of butter too, which makes it lightier too, without losing the moisture of this sweet. I suggest you to try it!



Ingredients:

• 1 coconut yogurt (or a natural one)
• 125 ml. of olive oil
• 250 of brown sugar
• 4eggs
• 125 ml of buttermilk*
• 450 g. of all purpose flour
• 1 lemon (juice and zest too)
• 1 pinch of salt
• spearmint (some 20 leaves)
• 80 g. of grated coconut
• 15 g. of baking powder

* You can buy the buttermilk, but I tend to prepare it at home. Some 15 minutes before you start doing your cake, prepare in a mug the needed quantity of milk, and add the juice of an half of a lemon. Let it rest enough time, and you'll see a sort of sour milk: do not worry, it's good like that! Stir it and use it as it is. This ingredient add will help your cakes to be super moist.

Preparation:

1- In a bowl, put the eggs (both the yolk and the egg white) and the sugar. Mix it well at medium speed.

2- We add to the mix of the eggs the olive oil, the lemon juice and the yogurt. Mix it well.

3- Mince finely the spearmint with a knife and toss it into our mix, together with the lemon zest.

4- In another bowl, put some flour, the yeast and the salt. Sift it all and put it aside.

5- We add our mix of flour little by little, mixing it well, after that we pour some buttermilk and then return to flour. Repeat the operation. We want to add 1/3 of our flour, then 1/3 of our buttermilk, and go on like this until there's no flour and buttermilk left.

6- Grease the mould, add the mix and pop it into the preheated oven at 180°C, for about 45 to 50 minutes. Be careful to put the mould in the middle rack of the oven, and if it starts to becoming golden brown the surface but the interior is still not baked, cover the surface with an aluminium foil or a baking sheet.

7- When it is baked, we take it off its mould and we let it cool completely over a rack, and after that we sprinkle with icing sugar to decorate it.

It is quite perfect to be eaten with a good ol' cup of tea, so...please, prepare the tea, that we'll bring the cake! ;)

Greetings!

AnGie