Breakfast

Fruit salad. Potica. And a highly disturbing deep purple smoothie.

This is my second attempt at potica. I used the same basic recipe as before, but changed the filling to make it less sweet.

Potica filling 2.0

• 2 cups ground walnuts
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/4 cup honey
• scant 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup finely chopped candied citrus peel
• 1/4 cup butter, very soft
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp milk

The verdict? Getting better, but still not quite at the level of these beauties:

Look the swirling! Look at the definition of the layers! Look at the texture, the shape, the elegance! This is the epitome of potica making: the 2010 Slovenian Agriculture and Farm Fair, held in Ptuj's Minorite Monastery in the spring.

And the smoothie? We have them every morning. They are not usually deep purple. It's mildly traumatizing. Crucially, they get us through our mornings without the need for multiple snack breaks. They also make our fingernails grow at alarming rates.

Smoothies For Two

What you need:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups fruit, roughly chopped (bananas, peaches, berries, nectarines, etc.)
• 1/2 cup yogurt

What you do:

• Combine the milk and fruit in a blender, and blend until smooth. Add the yogurt and pulse until just mixed.

Deep Purple Smoothies For Two

• Fruit: one banana, and 1/2 cup each of blackberries and blueberries