Fruits of the Forest Smoothie

Fruits of the Forest Luxury Smoothie

This is such a quick and easy recipe and tastes absolutely delicious. All you need is one pint glass,  blender and the ingredients.

Serves two

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 pint Frozen Fruits of the Forest (Blackberries, red currents, raspberries, blackcurrants)
• 1 Vanilla pod (It might not be from our forest, but it is from a forest…)
• 1.5 pints of non-dairy milk (soy milk / almond milk / rice milk) My favourite is almond milk.
• Sprinkle of dried coconut flakes
• Sprinkle of walnut pieces to taste

Method

• Add the frozen fruit, vanilla pod seeds and milk into a good blender (as the fruit is frozen it will need a beating).
• Blend until smooth (if you berries are really frozen, you may need to add some more milk or water, as it could become more like a sorbet!)
• Sprinkle your desired amount of dried coconut flakes and walnut pieces on top.

Qing bu liang

Qing bu liang [清補涼] is a real Hainan summer evening speciality. Commonly sold from small carts on blisteringly hot Hainanese evenings. You can choose the ingredients you’d like in your soup. Common options include dates, mung beans, barley, taro, watermelon, quail eggs, and glutinous rice balls. These are made together and then added to a base of either iced coconut milk or sweetened ice water.

This is my recipe that can be created using UK ingredients…:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Coconut Milk (the kind you buy as milk, not the cream in the can) [ye nai 椰奶]
• 3 dates [Hai Zao 海枣]
• 1 tablespoons of cooked barley [da mai 大麦 ]
• 1 tablespoon watermelon [Xi gua 西瓜]
• 1 tablespoon raisins or sultanas [Pútáogān 葡萄干]
• 1 tablespoon mung beans (other beans such as azuki are acceptable!) [Lǜdòu 绿豆 ]
• 1/2 avocado (I am not a massive fan of this addition, however, it is becoming more popular) [È lí 鳄梨 ]

Method:

1. If you are having your dish cold, make sure you chill your coconut milk and ingredients. If you are having your meal warm, gently warm the coconut milk until a good drinking temperature.
2. Chop and add all of the other ingredients
3. Enjoy!

It really is as simple as that, what might seem a rather odd, mishmash of ingredients really is a truly delectable dish.

Best wishes – yílùshùnfēng – 路顺风

 

Community Gardening

One of the most splendid trends growing in gardening in the past few years has been the interest in community gardening. Whereas gardening used to be a rather solitary activity, in the new community gardens it is all about support, community reconnection, laughter, fun and food!

For hundreds of years, the British have relied on community gardens as a very important source of food. Community allotments were set up in inner-city sites during the Second World War in order to provide affordable fruit and vegetables to the local areas.

In the 1960’s the comtemporary gardening movement began, with an interest in ‘green cities’. Many local residents would transform vacant sites into green spaces where fruit, vegetables and flowers could grow. As these spaces evolved, they were used to address social and health problems.

“They can be tiny plots, gardens on roofs, school gardens, private or open to the public” said Caroline Fernandez, the Local Food Project Coordinator of the Women’s Environmental Network (WEN), which have been bringing minority women together for the last seven years. Not only do these spaces provide fresh foods but also they are a place for wildlife, play areas and even as an outdoor classroom and these are immensely valuable resources to neighbourhoods across the country.

“What unites all of these green spaces, is the fact that they are run by a management committee formed by local people, usually working on a voluntary basis.” explained Ken Elkes of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens.

“The environmental benefits of community gardening are self-evident, but it’s the benefits to the community as a whole that really makes it worthwhil.” said Renee Dodds, PR & Promotions Executive of RHS Britain in Bloom & Neighbourhood Awards who has witnessed an increasing interest in community gardening, with more than a thousand communities taking part in RHS Britain in Bloom last year alone.

If you don’t have a garden of your own and want to get involved in your local community, try joining a neighbourhood greening project. See BBC’s map to find a project near you, or learn more about starting your own.

For those in my neck of the woods – >> here << is a useful map of the Bristol gardens!

Useful resources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/today_in_your_garden/community_about.shtml

http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/blog/community-gardening/

www.thegoldenhillcommunitygarden.com – for those in Bristol

Raw-Vegan Chocolate Pudding – HAPPY EASTER!

Now its Easter…. a holiday previously seen with me stuffing my face with copious amounts of chocolate that my parents had hidden from me, this time for my own pleasure, but sillyly enough left me clues as to where to find it. But say goodbye to the ‘unhealthy’ chocolate / pudding myth! Easter CAN and WILL be healthy, and not without chocolate!

I crave chocolate, like most people, but there is absolutely no need to blow the calorie bank whilst doing it! Being vegan, on a massive budget, restricts me from buying all these vegan chocolates and such, and buying stuff…. where’s the fun in that!

You can even get in two of your five a day with this recipe, or even more if you are really pushing the boat out! You could add blueberries (they don’t blend too well through so could be a bit grainy!) Raspberries would be divine in this recipe. When I try it out I’ll add it to the recipe if needs be!

Nuts can also be added to this recipe bumping up the cals and fat, but they’re good cals and fat, nothing better than a new nuts!

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 3 strawberries
• 2 tbs raw cocoa powder
• (some kind of sweetener if you want, but it really doesn’t need it!)

Method

1. Blend the strawberries and banana till a thick paste
2. Add the cocoa powder and blend in well
3. Serve!

 

You’ll never go back!

Baked Bananas

Still on my vegan hype, I am loving baked fruit topped with Alpro Soya Vanilla Yoghurt. I love the stuff, can’t get enough. I may have to do an entire post on it some time soon!

But anyway, here are some baked bananas, probably the easiest pudding, other than raw fruit, that there is!

 

• Put the bananas in the oven, either in their skins or pealed and halved (either is yummy, skin on prevents juices leaving though)
• Bake for 15 minutes on 180’c
• Remove from oven (peal off skin, if it is on, it should be blackened by now)
• Serve with dairy free yoghurt, ice cream or what ever you want really!

Fruit Crème Brûlée

The first time that I was introduced to fruit crème brûlée I must have been age 13. My brother had just started food tech at school and this was one of his assignment, he came home, told my mum that he liked them (to her astonishment, as sometimes it seems like he doesn’t like anything) and it became a family favourite!

The earliest known reference to crème brûlée as it is known today appears in Francois Massialot’s 1691 cookbook, and the French name was used in the English translation of this book, but the 1731 edition of Massialot’s Cuisinier roial et bourgeois changed the name of the same recipe from “crème brûlée” to “crème anglaise“. In the early eighteenth century, the dessert was called “burnt cream” in English.

This take on the crème brûlée adds summer fruits and uses 0% fat Greek yogurt and is probably one of the tastiest health desserts out there!

Ingredients

• Summer Fruits
• 0% Fat Greek Yogurt
• Brown Sugar

Method

1. In ramekins, place half of it full of summer fruits and the other half of the yogurt
2. Cook in a pre-heated oven (180 ‘c)  for 10 minutes
3. Sprinkle brown sugar on the top of the yogurt (the pro’s use a cooking blow torch but I just use a grill and it works just as well) ad put under the grill until the sugar has melted.
4. Remove from the oven and cool until the sugar has formed a hard surface and serve!

Frozen Grapes!

I first came across frozen grapes when watching a Jamie Oliver program when I was about 13 and it has stuck with me ever since! Jamie paired his with some dark chocolate and a glass of red wine, however, I like eat mine as a snack as is tastes exactly like a sorbet! I know, once again, more of a summer recipe but a girl can dream right?!

There is not so much of a recipe to this, other than it is your decision to decide between red and white grapes! Other than grapes you can freeze any other kind of fruit, I do this mainly to prolong the lovely (and many) raspberries, black berries and strawberries that my allotment produces over the spring, summer and autumn. Furthermore, making a smoothie out of frozen fruit can cut out the ice added in order to make it cold and delicious! To check out some smoothie recipes see more of my blog or just click on the links below!

https://livingthegreendream.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/bananas-for-bananas/

https://livingthegreendream.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/banana-and-raspberry-smoothie/