I am always looking for different combinations and recipe ideas to make smoothies more interesting to drink and also adding ingredients that provide nutritional and health benefits too. One of the books that I recently discovered is Green Kitchen Smoothies written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl.David and Luise live in Stockholm and are the creators of a food blog calledGreen Kitchen Stories. This recipe is inspired by one of the recipes from the book.
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Banana Snickers Shake
by Nayna Kanabar June-16-2016
Deliciously chocolatey and nutty milkshake.
Ingredients:
2 Frozen Bananas
4 tablespoons Peanut butter
2 tablespoons Cacao Powder
1 pinch Sea salt
Filtered water 250 ml
4 Strawberries to Garnish
Method:
1. Add all the ingredients to the Optimum 9400 blender and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.2. Pour into two glasses and serve immediately.
Details
Prep time: Cook time:None Total time: Yield: 2 servings
I made my smoothie in my Optimum 9400 which is a powerful blender that grinds, pulses, chops, grates, cooks and makes icecreams at a flick of a switch. You can read a review about my Froothie Optimum 9400 here.
At the moment the Optimum 9400 is available at a special offer introductory price of £339 which includes a 30 day trial so that you can return it back postage free if you are not totally satisfied with it. I love options like this because I feel that if I do invest in a gadget I want peace of mind that I can be100 percent happy with it. Also being a brand ambassador for Froothie any one purchasing through this post can you can get Extra 2 years warranty to get this use the code "Special Ambassador Offer" on purchase
As always I love my readers to be able to try, test or read products that I feature at simplyfood, so I am pleased to say that I have one copy of the Green Kitchen Smoothie Book to giveaway to one lucky reader. If you would like to enter visit this post to enter the competition.
Fruit and Vegetables play a big part in my family's diet, I try and incorporate the two in every imaginable way possible to the many dishes I create. One of the easiest way to get your five a day is to use fruits and vegetables in smoothies, juices,salads and raw desserts.
I am always looking for different combinations and recipe ideas to make smoothies more interesting to drink and also adding ingredients that provide nutritional and health benefits too. One of the books that I recently discovered is Green Kitchen Smoothies written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl. David and Luise live in Stockholm and are the creators of a food blog called Green Kitchen Stories.
The book is beautifully illustrated with the most mouthwatering pictures, as we all know we eat with our eyes and something that looks pretty is something we will want to try. The book is divided into sections, there is a section after the introduction which explains how to create a perfect smoothie followed by a section on tools and equipment and a section on tips and tricks.
The first chapter of the book is called Basic recipes, it gives recipes of certain ingredients that are required to be added to other recipes throughout the book.The book follows with a section on simple smoothies, amazing show stopper smoothies, nut milks, juices and finally a section on desserts. Yes I wrote correctly I did mean desserts!! You can find healthy, mouthwatering and droolworthy healthy desserts in this book.
The recipes are easy to follow and most of the ingredients used in the recipes are readily available in the supermarket and specialist health food stores. I found many wonderful recipes that I really want to recreate from the book such as Banana snickers shake, Peanut butter and jam milkshake, Iced almond chai latte, Triple chocolate mint bowl and the Berry Smoothie and salted caramel semifreddo.
These are just a handful of many recipes that I am looking forward to try but I am starting off with the Banana snicker shake which I recreated as per the recipe in the book and it was absolutely delicious. You can see my recipe I made here.
I really like this book and see myself using it a lot. My score rating for the book:
Green Kitchen Smoothies (Hardback) is published by Hardie Grant Books. ISBN 978---784-88046-0 It is available from 16th June and it is priced at £15.00.
I was sent a copy of Green Kitchen Smoothies book to review, all the views and opinions expressed are of my own experience of the book.
I made my smoothie in my Optimum 9400 which is a powerful blender that grinds, pulses, chops, grates, cooks and makes icecreams at a flick of a switch. You can read a review about my Froothie Optimum 9400 here.
At the moment the Optimum 9400 is available at a special offer introductory price of £339 which includes a 30 day trial so that you can return it back postage free if you are not totally satisfied with it. I love options like this because I feel that if I do invest in a gadget I want peace of mind that I can be100 percent happy with it. Also being a brand ambassador for Froothie any one purchasing through this post can you can get Extra 2 years warranty to get this use the code "Special Ambassador Offer" on purchase
As always I love my readers to be able to try, test or read products that I feature at simplyfood, so I am pleased to say that I have one copy of the Green Kitchen Smoothie Book to giveaway to one lucky reader.
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At the weekend I went to the farmers market and got lots of punnets of berries. We ate them fresh but towards the end of the weekend, due to the heat some of the berries were getting a little soft so I decided to make them into a granita. So you may ask what is a granita??
Granita is a semi frozen dessert made from a sugar syrup and flavoured with various different flavourings. It resembles a texture close to shaved ice and it is totally dairy free.It can be served as a dessert or as a palate cleanser between courses. Many flavourings can be used to make granita, commonly used are lemon, oranges, berries and often coffee too.
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Mixed Berry Granita
by Nayna Kanabar June-9-2016
Granita of sweet summer berries, refreshing and delicious.
Ingredients:
3 Cups Mixed Berries
1 cup Water
3/4 cup Sugar
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
6 springs Mint Leaves for garnish
18 Blue berries for garnish
Method:
1. Add the water, sugar and lemon juice in a pan and heat the mixture to a slow simmer. Stir mixture until all the sugar has melted.Remove pan from heat and keep aside.2. Add all the berries into the Optimum 9400 blender and puree the berries until finely blended.3. Pass the mixture through a metal sieve to remove any pips.4. Add the berry puree to the sugar syrup and mix well.5. Pour the mixture into a tupperware and cover with cling film and place in the freezer.6. After 30 minutes stir the mixture and return to the freezer. Repeat this process 5 more times at 30 minute intervals.7. After a total freezing time of 3 hours , the mixture should be sufficiently grainy and look like granita, if the mixture is still a little soft cover and freeze for another hour.8. Spoon the granita into serving bowls using an ice cream scoop, Garnish with mint spring and blueberries.
To blend my berries, I used my Optimum 9400 which is a powerful blender that grinds, pulses, chops, grates, cooks and makes icecreams at a flick of a switch. You can read a review about my Froothie Optimum 9400 here.
At the moment the Optimum 9400 is available at a special offer introductory price of £329 which includes a 30 day trial so that you can return it back postage free if you are not totally satisfied with it. I love options like this because I feel that if I do invest in a gadget I want peace of mind that I can be 100 percent happy with it.
Also being a brand ambassador for Froothie any one purchasing through this post can you can get Extra 2 years warranty to get this use the code "Special Ambassador Offer" on purchase
At simplyfood I do try and post healthy recipes but once in awhile it's nice to bake a cake or a special treat. I made these chocolate brownies to share at work with my colleagues as a treat. I have never baked brownies before so I thought it was best to use a tried and tested recipe and adapt it a little. I took inspiration from the Mary Berry Chocolate Brownie recipe.
The brownies turned out delicious although I think next time I will reduce the baking time by 5 minutes to make them a little bit more gooey in the centre. I found the addition of coffee really highlighted the chocolate taste.
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Chocolate Brownies
by Nayna Kanabar June-4-2016
Chocolatey gooey indulgent chocolate brownies
Ingredients:
375g Plain chocolate chopped up
250g Margarine softened
2 teaspoons Instant coffee
2 tablespoons Hot water
2 Eggs
250g Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
90g Self raising flour
250g White chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon Cocoa for dusting.
Method:
1. Grease and line a loose bottom square baking tin 10x10 size2.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C3. In a microwave safe bowl add the 375g of chopped chocolate and margarine and heat on high for 30 seconds stir and repeat at 30 second intervals until chocolate is melted.Make sure you stir between each stage. Remove the chocolate from the microwave and allow to cool.4. In another large bowl add the coffee and add to it the hot water, mix to melt the coffee. Add the eggs, vanilla and sugar and whisk until the mixture is light and fluffy.5. Slowly add the melted chocolate until it is all incorporated.6. Fold in the flour gently and then stir in the white chocolate chips. Do not over mix.7. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.8. Remove the brownies from the oven when they are soft to touch and crust is crisp but centre is slightly gooey.9. Allow brownies to cool completely, once cooled cut into squares and sieve some cocoa on the top.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 16 pieces
Camargue red rice is a variety of red rice that is cultivated in the wetlands of the Camargue region of southern France. Its outer red bran layer contains 95% of the minerals and dietary fiber of the whole rice which is made up of Iron, Zinc Potassium Sodium and Manganese. The Inner white portion contains carbohydrate and proteins. The rice is rich in fibre and has a lovely nutty taste. It can be used in salads and rice dishes. The rice needs plenty of washing before cooking, and it also takes longer to cook compared to white rice.
Camargue rice has antioxidants that offer many health benefits to the body such as:
Lowering cholesterol
Preventing heart disease,
Lowering s blood glucose
Helping to reducing asthma
Rich in fibre helping in digestion.
Good for bone health,
Lowering the risk of obesity as it reduces hunger pangs
High in vitamin B6 which is needed for organ function
Moong beans is a type of small, green legume that belong to the same plant family as peas and lentils. They are a high source of nutrients including: manganese, potassium, magnesium, folate, copper, zinc and various B vitamins. Like the Red Camargue rice, moong beans are great for the body as they too provide defence against, age-related diseases, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.
Moong beans can be eaten raw, cooked, milled and ground into flour and also sprouted in salads.
To sprout moong beans wash them in plenty of cold water and then drain them in a colander. Get a large muslin or cheesecloth and wring it in some clean water. Place the moong beans on the damp cloth and gather the edges up to form a parcel. Place the muslin parcel in the colander and place the colander in a dark cool place for 24 hours. After 24 hours you will find that they have sprouted. If you want longer sprouts you can sprinkle a few drops of water on the cloth and leave the beans for another 12 hours.You can freeze the sprouted moong beans to use at any time. This technique can be used to sprout any bean or lentil.
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Red Camargue Wild Rice and Sprouted Moong Bean Salad
by Nayna Kanabar June-1-2016
Nutty aromatic Red Camargue wild rice with healthy sprouted moong beans.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Red Camargue wild rice
1 cup Sprouted moong Beans (instructions above on how to sprout)
4 Spring Onion finely sliced whites and green parts.
1/2 Yellow Pepper finely diced
1 Red Chilli finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Chili powder
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/2 tablespoon Olive oil
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
Method:
1. Wash the rice in plenty of water and them soak it in clean water for about an hour.2. Drain the soaked water from the rice and transfer the rice to a large saucepan.Add 1 pint of water and bring the rice to boil, once its boiling bring it to a slow simmer and cook uncovered for 35 minutes or until rice is cooked.3. Drain the rice in a colander and once it is drained spread it out on a plate to cool.4. Place the sprouted moong beans in a microwave safe bowl add, 1 tablespoon of water and cover and cook on high for 4 minutes.5. Remove the cooked sprouted moong beans from the microwave and transfer them to a plate to cool down.6.In a sauce pan add the oil when its hot add the chopped spring onions, diced peppers, red chilli and saute the mixtute for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder and lemon juice and mix into the mixture. Saute the mixture for 1 -2 more minutes and then transfer the mixture to a large bowl.7. To the onion and pepper mixture add the moong beans and the cooked rice and toss well. Transfer the salad to a serving bowl or dish. Salad can be eaten warm or cold.
