Fruitfull Smoothie

Full of nature's goodness!

Smoothies can be served at any time of the day as a healthy snack or a morning quick fix.

In our house, I make them after the kids arrived from school. We love our smoothies packed with different types of fruits, especially berries.

These days you can buy berries all year around or just buy them frozen which ever your budget allows.
There are so many recipes to try. I have made smoothies with non-dairy milks like almond and oat milk, which kids absolutely loved.

Next time flovour your smoothie with your favorite ice cream for a treat, one scoop goes a long way.

Garlic and Lime Hummus

Hummus is way too easy and it does last in the fridge. It is as easy as soak, cook and crush. Soak chickpeas overnight and boil until cooked. Once cooked drain it and process in the food processor until smooth. Add crushed garlic, salt, pepper, tahini, lime juice to taste. That is it! It is also a great money saving dip :)

Pickle Pickle

How to pickle? hmmm, quite difficult task I thought at first.  I gave it a go bravely, and it quickly became apparent that this is a simple task which anyone can master! I didn't start with a recipe as most of my cooking is free form.  So, here it goes ... I chopped cauliflowers, carrots and Jerusalem artichoke and place them in a strainer.  Pour salt over it until they are covered fully in salt! Left them over night until all the water drained out of the vegetables.  Boiled water with salt (quite salty) and let it cool.  Added oregano, garlic cloves and bell peppers (from the garden) and place them in a jar.  Splash of cider vinegar in the jar and fill the jar with the salted water.  Close and forget it for about a week and then it is ready! Come summer time and I will give it a go with gherkins.

Queen of Fruits

I remember years ago I reluctantly purchased a few of these at around $15.00 a kilo and thought I got ripped off.  Once tasted all my doubts went away.  It was refreshing semi-sweet delicate fruit and nothing that compared with the look of this fruit.  Later, I found out this is the "Queen of Fruits" Mangosteen.  When I travel, specially somewhere I haven't been before, a trip to the local supermarket is a must! not long ago, in a supermarket in Hong Kong I saw the perfect-est fruits from Japan which made me feel I was in a museum and what an eye candy they are! Then I saw something familiar, at around HK$20 for 6 Mangosteens so fresh you could smell it through the packaging ...  and I knew it was a bargain! Along with the freshest and string-free mangoes, I was in fruit haven! Last weekend, again I saw these at $20 something a kilo, so old and tired from the all the travelling these fruits had to do to make it to our supermarket shelves and there was one thing on my mind ... I wish I lived in the tropics!

my dear polenta

Weekends are for relaxing and doing those chores we dread all week. Polenta chips are a little different but a lot quicker than frying potatoes. This is one task I have been dreading all week. Cook up a batch of instant polenta add a little grated cheese and pour it in a pyrex dish to set. Once set, cut it into fingers and place it on an oven trays brushed with olive oil. Bake this at 200C until golden. Serve with aioli and chopped flat leaf parsley. The best time to do this is when you plan Sunday Roast and what a nice change from potatoes!

Pasta Pronto

We are in the middle of winter in New Zealand and oddly enough fresh aubergines were on supermarket shelves today. I had a thought when I walked past these, to grill them and toss it in pasta for a nice variation and not to mention to match the name of this blog. It has been years since the start of Jamie Oliver TV shows in which he used to show how quickly he could cook weeknight dinners and invite his friends over to tuck in.

I am no Jamie Oliver, but I do know one or two things about quick dinners and that is multi tasking. Chop onions and garlic, then a generous dash of olive oil and let the high heat of a gas stove do the trick. At this stage, I added some dried oregano and chopped capsicum. Let it cook for a bit longer until the capsicum is soft enough. Add some Spanish olives, a can of chopped and peeled tomatoes, a dash of boiled water from the kettle, sea salt and cracked pepper and the lid goes on and reduce heat. While the sauce is simmering, slice an aubergine to 1-2cm thick, brush with olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper and dried oregano and place under a hot grill (220C). Grilling aubergine slices or eggplants takes few minutes on each side. Once done add to simmering sauce and boil the kettle. Boil pasta and by now your sauce has reduced enough. Add the pasta to sauce, stir and serve. All of this for a mere 30 minutes.