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Showing posts with the label Drinks

Plum and strawberry smoothie

This is the season for plums, and we also have a few last strawberries in the garden, enough to add to smoothies and make them sweet! In fact I love the fact that plums are a little tart, but they do benefit from the strawberry sweetness. As a base I used half apple juice and half coconut water. Perfect breakfast! And now a few things from my garden! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Vitamin smoothie: Kiwi, spinach and berries

So yummy: Kiwi, baby spinach leaves and frozen mixed berries, plus some coconut water. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Kiwi smoothie

Time for vitamin C! This smoothie is just kiwi, banana and coconut water, a real meal in a glass! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Three yummy green smoothies

Baby spinach, kiwi, coconut water Celery (add a few leaves), frozen mango cubes, coconut water Baby cavolo nero, banana, spirulina and natural apple juice Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Feijoa and spirulina smoothie

I love feijoas  They are perfect for breakfast! For 2 smoothies I just used 6 feijoas (peeled), 400 ml natural apple juice and half a tsp of spirulina. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Red beetroot juice with carrots, celery, cucumber and pears

1 large red beetroot, 6 large carrots, 4 stalks of celery, half a cucumber and 6 pears. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Celery, cucumber and coriander juice

Green, cleansing and refreshing!  Celery stalks and leaves, cucumber, and a few sprigs and leaves of coriander (to taste, it can be really strong). Happy detoxing! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Grape juice

There are some beautiful grapes on sale at the  Dragicevich  Orchard in Oratia, those old fashion grapes that really smell and taste like grapes (not like the stuff that you find in supermarkets). And they make a wonderful juice. Apparently grape juice has antioxidant effects, well, this would be a bonus, but the only thing that I can say so far is that it is delicious, and the aroma brings back happy childhood memories of picking grapes at my Grandma's in Italy. Yes, memories in a small glass!  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Fresh juice using beetroot stalks and leaves, carrots, apples and ginger

… plus beetroots from the garden, carrots, apples, and a little ginger. For five juices I used about 1.5 kg of carrots, plus a few local apples, and i picked two beetroots from my veggie garden, they were small but the leaves and stalks are perfect for juicing too (of salad) so nothing get wasted. I used just a little ginger (not all the piece in the photo) to give the juice a little zest. It was really sweet and delicious!   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Melon and apricot smoothie

 This one is a smoothie and the kids made it: melon, natural apple juice, banana and apricot, decorated with borage flowers (edible). Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Green Juice for kids

With summer here it is easy to make juices and to eat more raw food. Green juices are the best, of course, above celery, cucumber and green apple, light and refreshing. Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Orange and carrot juice: so delicious!

The juice of the day is just carrots and orange. Usually I have this in winter, but I had a couple of oranges to use and it is refreshing (it has been hot!) Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Plum smoothie, and purple heaven

Another day, another smoothie. I used some free stone plums from Oratia Orchard (they have many variety of plums, freshly picked), drinking yogurt, one banana and ice cubes. Perfect for breakfast and I love the colour! In fact I love all hues of purple and plum, here are some of my favourite. Well, my blueberries should be blue by now, bus a bug ate half of my plant form the inside, and the birds tend to get to the berries before me as soon as they turn blue! No blueberry jam this year, but they look pretty in the garden.  And these I adore, tiny little pansies from the garden. Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini

Watermelon juice with lemongrass and mint

  I used the flesh of a small watermelon (blend with ice and a bit of water - to get the blender moving) and then passed the juice through a sieve (not too fine, just enough to keep the seed pieces out) and then stirred it with a stick of lemongrass (best if you can leave it in the fridge with the lemongrass for 30 minutes). My mint is quite 'strong' so I added it only at the end, for decoration and a hint of fragrance. Serve with ice. I am sure that there will be readers that will think of vodka too! Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Detox! Celery, rhubarb, cucumber and apple juice

This juice tastes good and feels good! For four glasses I used seven stalks of celery (no leaves this time) half a telegraph cucumber, two stalks of rhubarb from the garden (yes, raw!) and then topped up to taste with natural apple juice (no sugar added). The apple juice is optional, of course, but I like it ;-). For a change in my weekly bouquet from the garden I picked some parsley flowers. They look quite pretty actually, and there is no parsley smell around (I was a bit worried about that!). Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Raw juice magic: celery, lemon and apple juice

I am so into juicing these days, and the kids drink all sort of vegetable and fruit juices, the greener the better! This one is particularly good: for four glasses I used half a stalk of celery (I use the stalks and only a few leaves - mostly to give it colour, usually I keep the leaves for cooking) then half a lemon and  to top a little (about 10-20%) natural apple juice. I will make this again and again, too good! And now for something completely different: Nearly bought this one… :-)   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Rose Cordial, step by step

If you have roses in your garden, and they have not been sprayed (organic) you can make your own rose cordial, beautiful and pink! The recipe is the same as for the  elderberry flower syrup . For this you will need 1 l of water, 1 kg of sugar, organic rose petals (at least 1 cup full, but the more the better), 30 g of citric acid and 3 organic lemons.  Wash and cut the lemons and put them in a pot with all the other ingredients (or in a large jar, if you have it). Let this mixture stand for three days, stirring from time to time. Don't go over three days or it may ferment.  After this time filter the syrup through a muslin cloth, squeezing the lemons and flowers well.  Boil the filtered syrup for 5 minutes, removing any possible scam forming at the top. Cool down and filter again, through a finer cotton cloth this time (I do this in a funnel directly over the bottles. Use as a cordial for water, or as a syrup for cakes and dessert...

Spinach, banana, blueberry and apple smoothie

Yes we should all eat more raw fruit and vegetables! This smoothie is super easy, for 4 glasses use 2 bananas, two cups of baby spinach leaves, one cup of blueberries and 2 cups of natural apple juice (from Oratia). Do you like fresh juices and smoothies? This recipe is for  Sweet New Zealand #3 5 , the blogging event open to all Kiwi bloggers (living in NZ or overseas) and expats blogging from NZ. June's host is  Amanda from Move Love Eat    Click   here  to share you sweet creations with the Sweet New Zealand team! Also let me know if you are keen to be a host in 2014, and book a month for you!   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Elderberry Flowers Syrup and Elder flower Tea

Elderberry Flowers Syrup For this you will need 1 l of water, 1 kg of sugar, about a dozen elderberry flower heads, 30 g of citric acid and 3 organic lemons (I picked some juicy organic lemons from Regina's garden).  Wash and cut the lemons and put them in a pot with all the other ingredients (or in a large jar, if you have it). Let this mixture stand for three days, stirring from time to time. Don't go over three days or it may ferment. After this time filter the syrup through a muslin cloth, squeezing the lemons and flowers well. Boil the filtered syrup for 5 minutes, removing any possible scam forming at the top. Cool down and filter again, through a finer cotton cloth this time.  Bottle and use as a cordial (it is very thirst-quenching), or to flavour desserts (like  panna cotta or  blamanche ), ice cream, fruit salads and berries. Elder flower Tea I am drying the remaining flowers for tea. Dry them in the shade and keep them for w...