2 Spinach Recipes to Boost Your Morning Energies

Especially in the last days, due to some overload of work, baby screams and other life assignments I cannot delegate to anyone, I felt like all my energies are just out in the wild, leaving me completely alone to deal with the everyday life nasty challenges. But despite all odds, I keep being optimistic by nature, trying to find the best ways to challenge the lemons life throws on me once in a while.

As usually, being creative and offering myself something good - and a bit sweet too - is my answer to all those problems. Although I do have my second thoughts about spinach, I've tried to do my best to include it at on our menu at least once the month, with an easy recipe that the baby loves too. This time, I was looking for an overload of energy and iron, which the spinach contains in big chunks, can balance my deep fatigue. In combination with other healthy fruits, I created fast two good recipes to boost your mornings with lots of good and healthy energy.

Surprisingly for me, the spinach is blending perfectly, the metallic taste being taken over by the combination with the other ingredients. Instead, it offers a good colourful healthy basis for the smoothie. 

Spinach, banana and pomegranate milk smoothie

Ingredients

2 medium size bananas, cut into chunks

1 cup spinach, clean

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1 cup milk - the same amount of water can be also used

1 full tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Add all the ingredients to the blender. Mix them at medium speed for 2 minutes. Let it rest for a minute. Because the pomegranate do have some small seeds which might be annoying, you may consider using a strain to clear them out. Serve it cold or at the room temperature.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Serves: 4 full glasses of smoothie

Spinach, raspberry and banana smoothie

Ingredients
2 medium size banana, in chunks
1 full cup of fresh spinach leaves, cleaned
1 cup raspberry, cleaned
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cups water

Directions
Add all the ingredients in the blender and mix them at medium speed for around 2 minutes. Serve it fresh, or leave it for a couple of minutes in the freezer. It is a light, delicious and very fresh smoothie. Baby fully approves it too!

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Serves: 4 big full glasses of smoothie

Milk Banana and Tehina Smoothie

Long time no smoothie! I went through a smoothie' block, combined to an impressive amount of time and coconut milk canes spent experiencing with sachlav (the recipe was updated accordingly, so worth to have a look at it), because winter season is always sachlav season.

As I had some extra tehina spread in the kitchen (for a recipe to be revealed soon), I wanted to use it extensively for various sweet and savory recipes. Why not combine milk with bananas and some tehina plus plus plus...?

I didn't need too much encouragement to proceed to the next step of what turned to be a very successful smoothie - and baby D. loved it too!

It is easy to prepare, nourishing, with a pleasant taste and goes well with any daily meal, including as a meal in itself.

Ingredients

3 very ripe medium-sized bananas, each cut into 4 medium-sized pieces

2 1/2 cup of cold milk

16 gr. Vanilla sugar

1 full tablespoon tehina spread (I purchased mine from a BIO Company store)

1 tablespoon acacia honey

100 gr. pistachio for decoration

Directions

Add in the blender the bananas, the milk, the vanilla sugar, the tehina and acacia honey. Wait a minute or two for the ingredients to get together. Mix them at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour it in glasses and decorate with pistachio. 

To be served cold.

Serves: 4 big glasses

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Bon Appétit!

Milk banana blueberry smoothie (or raw pudding) with rose water

This recipe can be used in two different ways, depending on the amount of milk you want to use. For instance, if you use more than 125 ml. of milk, it turns into a smoothie. In the case of a lesser amount, with the other ingredients unchanged, you have to pour the final result in a bowl and serve it as a pudding.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 big banana

100 gr. blueberries

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 tablespoon rose water

milk - either 125 ml. or 250 ml.

Mix all the ingredients in a blender for around 2 minutes at maximum speed.

Add some blueberries or/and coconut shreds for decoration.

Keep it in the fridge for around 45 minutes.

It has a special consistency and a beautiful color, and the rose water adds a distinguished perfume. 

Bon Appetit!

Strawberry-banana-matcha detox smoothie

Ready to take a healthy break from the overwhelming delicious meals of this season? You may say that you have a lot of time to do it afterwards, or even that you were on a strict diet long time before the cooking spree started. It doesn't count. Right now, I am talking about a short healthy break in-between greasy, oily, but irresistible meals. I tried today to be as fast as possible, yet using healthy ingredients, as follows:

1 big banana

250 gr. fresh strawberries, halved

1 tablespoon matcha powder

250 ml. fresh water

Put into blender and mix at moderate speed for around 2 minutes.

His Highness the smoothie is ready. The preparation time is of maximum 5 minutes - if you are fast at cutting strawberries. It serves two. Before serving, I refrigerated for around 30 minutes.

My biggest pleasure in enjoying this smoothie was how the tastes so different of the ingredients melted together and created a completely new, refreshing and with a very modest sugar concentration. As the banana was quite ripe, I was expecting more sugar, but luckily it wasn't which made the tasting experience even more enjoyable. 

Overall, a pleasant experience to be repeated as soon and often as possible.

Now, time to go back to the table for more enjoyable feasts!

The summer of smoothies

This summer was hot in Berlin and with a very active professional life and an advanced pregnancy I had to offer myself the best mixture of vitamins and hydration, prepared with a limited budget and in just a couple of minutes. Yes, I know, I always want too much from life! I started with the easiest smoothie ever: strawberries. 

All I had to do was to clean them and add water and a bit of brown sugar. My juice was ready in just a couple of minutes. If I was not thirsty enough, I kept it in the fridge for one hour and had a very refreshing treat. 

Another frequent combination for my early morning involed several fruits: blueberries and bananas, to whom I added once in a while one avocado or some kiwis too. When I had kiwis and blueberries, the liquid base was always water. In the case of bananas and avocado, I preferred at least once the week to add some milk. The sugar was not necessary for the bananas combinations. In all cases, I preferred brown sugar. Avocado can stand alone, as it is creamy and tasty enough for providing the energy offered by a rich breakfast. With some ice cubes,  it tastes even better. A pinch of cinnamon or Muscat added to simple avocado or banana shakes makes the taste richer and very perfumed.

As for now, I stayed away of too complex recipes, with spinach or vegetables, but the time has come to improve my skills and get more vitamins and energy into my life.