Breakfast, Drinks, Snacks · January 6, 2017

Orange Matcha Smoothie

Orange and matcha come together to create a perfect cold busting matcha smoothie!

It’s been a minute (more like 2 weeks!), right? Between the holidays, needed time to chill out and trying to get over two nasty colds, a break was well needed. I have the whole month of January already planned out, so I am excited about the recipes that are coming in the next few weeks! My goal is to start trying to incorporate more savory recipes too, since a girl can’t subsist on waffles and cake alone (much as I might try). My past self must have known that my future self was going to need this power packed matcha smoothie, as I developed the recipe quite a few weeks ago. When I drank a batch of this matcha smoothie this week, it was spot on, exactly what my body needed to recover from all the sickness going around. Between the orange, spinach and a little kick from matcha, there’s a lot of punch in this little glass. I will say that the smoothie as written isn’t very sweet, so if you like yours on the sweeter side, add a tablespoon or two of maple syrup in before blending.

Since I did take quite a long break, I had a chance to reset and refresh on what I’m really focusing on this year. Something I almost always struggle with when I take a break or haven’t blogged in a while, is the photography process. Ironically enough, it’s one of my favorite parts of blogging and has been a newfound love for me in the last few years, but each time I get out of the groove of everything, I fear trying to jump back into it. In everywhere else in life, I’m pretty much a planner at heart (I have trips through July planned already!) and always like to know how long things are going to take and how they are going to go along the way, but with photography, all those tendencies tend to go out the window. I’ve never been one to go by ‘feel’ very much, except with this whole photography thing and I have to say, it feels kind of weird. I rarely have a super clear idea on how I’m going to style a recipe or how exactly it will work in the end and I almost never pull props or dishes before shooting something. That all being said, Jesse shared on her Instagram stories the other day that she sketches out and visualizes how shoots are going to go before leaping into them. I tried that for this recipe and I have to say, it made life SO much easier. I sketched out a few general shot ideas on my tablet and then made a shot list a few days before I went to shoot the matcha smoothies. This method gave me enough room to breathe in terms of creativity, but didn’t feel like I was going into it blind, like I had been doing in the past. Just wanted to share that it isn’t always roses and rainbows here and I think all creative types struggle with this sense of making sure everything is ‘just right’, but also authentic and real, while also trying to put out the best work possible. Trust your gut and plan just a little bit, so leaping into everything isn’t quite so daunting.

I hope you love this smoothie as much as I do! If matcha isn’t something you’ve dealt with in the past, don’t be scared off by its bright green color! I know it seems rather odd that it is a green tea powder, but trust me, it’s worth a try. I often use matcha in the afternoons to make a matcha smoothie or quick latte, because it isn’t quite as caffeinated as coffee and has a slower spike that coffee does. Just make sure you get a high quality version that dissolves well, this isn’t really the place to skimp!