FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW

Or, that were today.

Long time no smoothie! I have a bit of chaga at home of so I made an antioxidant-rich smoothie out of chilled chaga-tea, mango, some cherries and physalis.

Admiring my super huge (1,81m) Mucha-poster that I ordered from the Mucha museum. I saw the original sized theatre posters there when performing in Prague earlier this year but couldn't get it then due to luggage restrictions. I ordered it on Wednesday in the afternoon and it arrived in less than 24 hours on Thursday morning! I will glue it to a board and then hang it in our living room.

And then on with a lurex dress and out to listen to music! Went to the Russian centre of culture for a mesmerizing concert of Altai' music with Alexey Chichakov. (He is playing in Heinävesi Sat 13. and Tampere Sun 14., go listen if you have the chance!)

And oh! Next week season 2 of Vintage-Valtakunta starts. Tuesday 16th at 20, Yle 1! Finland only I'm afraid.

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Cherry-Banana-Nectarine Fresh Summer Smoothie

Long time no smoothie...Not only since I've written a recipe on my blog, but since I've actually prepared one at home for myself. There were many reasons for that, but most of the time I was too busy for being able to focus a couple of minutes only for writing down and blogging a recipe - not only a smoothie one, but a recipe in general.

Let's hope those times are long gone and I'm far away from the cooking blogging's block. Today I was not only full time back in the kitchen, but I also had a brilliant smoothie idea. 

For a long time, I wanted to use cherries - my favorite fruits on earth - as ingredients of a smoothie, but wasn't not sure how to match them. Cherries are for me the perfect fruit in terms of natural sweetness therefore, enjoying their taste without any other add-on was always what I did. However, creative cooking means that my mind should keep finding interesting solutions and ideas. I had a look over my fridge and found: a ripe banana and two fresh nectarines. What about ?

The rest is (tasty) history...

Ingredients

150 gr. fresh black cherries

1 big banana

2 nectarines, medium size sliced

250 cold water

If you want, you can also add half a spoon of white/brown sugar or honey, but the fruits used are all too sweet naturally to need additional sweetness.

Directions

Mix all the ingredients in the blender at moderate speed for maximum 3 minutes.

Drink it cold, preferably outdoors while reading a relaxing - why not, foodie - book.

Your fresh smoothie is ready!

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

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Banana, Baby Spinach, Strawberries, Ginger and Matcha Smoothie

I love energy smoothies, where not only the healthy ingredients are melted together, but also covering a variety of delicious flavours. Without too much sugar as I love to taste the original fruit sweetness, colourful and cold, this is how my smoothies should be.

This recipe was made by using some fresh fruits, plus a spoon of matcha from a past collaboration with Dream Matcha and a lot of baby spinach. I experienced before with adding spinach to the smoothies, but I am far from being at the end of the possibilities. Served cold it is a perfect companion for ending the day with some energy boost. Enough for preparing you for just another busy day.

Ingredients

1 medium-sized banana, sliced

7 big strawberries, halved

50 gr. baby Bio spinach

1/4 teaspoon Matcha

1/2 tablespoon honey

1/4 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

600 ml. cold water

Directions

Add the ingredients into the blender, one by one, and mix them for 1 minutes at medium speed. Pour in glasses and let to rest in the fridge for around 30 minutes before serving.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

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FLUFFY GREEN SPRING SMOOTHIE

(because at this time of year, you can just name everything starting with "spring"-)

Apparently there's some gene that determines weather you like celery or not. Same goes for cilantro. (The source being solely "what people way" and the internet so I have no idea how much truth there is in that, but it sure makes a great excuse for people to use.) Good for me I seem to have neither of those genes, because I love celery - and cilantro as well, altough I did not put it in this smoothie, even though one surely could; it'd fit great.

Pineapple makes smoothies wonderfully fluffy. You can add one or two drops of apple cider vinegar as well if you want your smoothie a bit more edgy.

So, here we go:
Cloudy apple juice
Celery
Wheat grass
The juice of one lime
About a coffe cup of frozen small pineapple chunks

Woom! in the blender and there you have it!

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