Friday 25 July 2014

Breakfast Salad


It's always fun to try out new things, so instead of having my usual bowl of cereal for breakfast this morning, I chose to make myself a slight variation of this breakfast salad that I found at Natural Delights.  Although this salad is very simple, preparing it took much longer than preparing my typical bowl of cereal, but it's the summer holidays for me and I'm glad that I used that bit more time to make an enjoyable breakfast.

Ingredients
2 oranges
1 banana
6 dates

Instructions
  1. Peel both oranges and separate into segments.  Places orange segments into bowl.
  2. Remove the seeds from the dates and chop the dates into pieces.  Add to bowl.
  3. Top with slices of banana and enjoy! 

 
 

Friday 18 July 2014

Watermelon and Raspberry Cooler


It's summertime in the UK, and from what I can tell, it is either reasonably warm or raining heavily (at the time of writing this, it's not raining, but from where I am inside, I can't feel the sun on my arms or anything).  In any case, one of the things that you do when it's hot in summer is to keep cool and hydrated.  According to a few DIY blogs that I've read, watermelons are supposed to be the new "it" (i.e. fashionable) fruit to be seen in design, and I've actually come across watermelon necklace pendants and how to make a watermelon serving tray during my glancing through blogs for things that I might want to make (not food), and of course, I've recently posted a watermelon ice lolly recipe that I found in a book (which can be found here).  I found this recipe for making watermelon and raspberry coolers in the Tesco Food and Living magazine for July/August 2014, which would be perfect for a summertime picnic or dinner.

Ingredients (to make 12 glasses)
1 kg (2lb) watermelon (about half a large watermelon), flesh sliced into triangles
300g (10oz) raspberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons mint leaves, plus extra to serve
ice cubes
sparkling water, to taste

Instructions
  1. Put three-quarters of the sliced watermelon into a blender and add 200g (7oz) raspberries, the sugar and mint.  Blend to a purée, then pass the mixture through a sieve.  Chill until needed.
  2. Add enough watermelon purée to fill half of each glass, add a couple of ice cubes, a few of the remaining raspberries and a reserved watermelon slice.  Top up with sparkling water and decorate with extra mint leaves to serve. 

Friday 11 July 2014

Bircher Muesli


Over the past month or so, I have become a regular reader of the wonderful Australian blogger Ally Sheehan's adventures on Tumblr and Instagram at agirlnamedally. My first post on this blog was one for her vegan-friendly banana and blueberry ice cream (Ally has been a vegan since late 2013, and she often offers advice about being a vegan to her readers on Tumblr), and I have learned through reading her posts that she loves bircher muesli and breakfast in general. So, adapting her recipe as a guest on this blog Happy Little Veganmite, I made a bowl of bircher muesli with what I could find in the kitchen at 11pm at night (when grocery shopping hasn't yet been done ...)

Ingredients (these have not been measured, but just poured into a bowl)
Rolled oats
Sultanas
Sesame seeds
Dark chocolate, chopped
Dates
Water

Method
  1. Pour the desired amount of rolled oats into a bowl.
  2. Top with sultanas, sesame seeds, chopped chocolate and anything else as desired.
  3. Pour water over the mixture in the bowl and leave to soak for a few hours or overnight.
  4. Top with dates, grapes, blueberries or anything else, and eat!



Saturday 5 July 2014

Spiced Apple Smoothie


Last week, I found this recipe amongst several other delicious-looking smoothie recipes in Smoothies and Juices from The Marks & Spencer Essentials Collection, published in 2002.  I chose Spiced Apple Smoothie as the recipe to try as I already had the available ingredients at home.


Ingredients (serves 2)
250ml/9 fl oz apple juice
1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
2 teaspoons grated fresh root ginger
2 bananas, sliced and frozen
slices of fresh banana on cocktail sticks to decorate

Method
  1. Pour the apple juice into a food processor.  Add the cinnamon and ginger and process gently until combined.
  2. Add the banana and process until the mixture reaches a smooth consistency.
  3. Pour the mixture into tall glasses and decorate with slices of fresh banana on cocktail sticks. 
  4. Serve immediately.