Mango & Passion Fruit Smoothie

Hello,

How is everyone doing today?

This is by far the most delicious smoothie ever!! It has taken me ages to find some passion fruit. Mango on the other hand is on every counter in the supermarket but passion fruit seems to be a sight for sore eyes in every fruit market and supermarket I have walked into ...

                                                            Ingredients

                                                              mango

                                                             passion fruit

                                                             coconut water

Passion Fruit

Passion Fruit

Mango and Passion Fruit

                                          Instructions

place the mango into the blender and add some coconut water

blend until smooth

pour into a glass cup 

scoop out the passion fruit with a spoon and place on top of the mango mix

Mango and Passion Fruit Smoothie

                                                

                                                                    Enjoy!!

Apple Carrot Orange & Ginger Smoothie

The sun is still shinning in the United Kingdom which makes a great change and another excuse to have a delicious smoothie.

I have a nice mix of summer fruits for you today.

Ingredients

• apple
• carrots
• ginger
• honey(optional)
• water
• oranges

Apples, Oranges, Carrots, Ginger, Honey & Water

Apples, Oranges, Carrots, Ginger, Honey & Water

                                

Delicious with that gingery taste 

Instructions

• peel the skin off your oranges and cut into small pieces,wash your carrots cut them into small pieces
• wash your apples and ginger and cut them into small pieces
• place all your fruits into the blender, add a teaspoon of honey and add water
• blend until smooth
• serve cold

Thick and Tasty

Cheers

Fruit Tips #2

Here's the  #2 fruit tip sheet for this week.

Banana Facts

The Benefits Of Fruit

Anti Cancer Super Fruits

Apple Health Benefits and Tips

Nutritional Fruit Guide

Lemon and Grapefruit for glowing skin

Top water rich fruits

Feeling bloated, have a pineapple

Credit: Images sourced from all over the web

Kitchen Tips #1:- 36 Genius Kitchen Tips That Nobody Told You About

Last week I mentioned that I'll upload a quiz, tips relating to food and fruits, something interactive that will get my readers chatting.

Today I have 36 genius tips that no one told you about from " All day Chic" . 

Check out All Day Chic's blog  http://alldaychic.com/  which has lots of  brilliant tips on anything and everything.

Some of the tips are simply genius. 

Check them out here : http://alldaychic.com/36-kitchen-tips-that-will-make-your-life-easier/

 http://alldaychic.com/36-kitchen-tips-that-will-make-your-life-easier/

Here are some of my favourite tips

Leftover sauce can be frozen and reused.

Easy way to make yoghurt pops for the summer.

 Best way to cut watermelon.

 Chill wine with frozen grapes.

My favourite is the yoghurt popsicle tip.

Blog and picture credit : http://alldaychic.com/

Where to buy foreign fruits and vegetables in Nigeria (Lagos) by Dobby's Signature

Greetings,

From time to time on the blog and on my BBM channel I get questions like where can I get kiwis from in Nigeria? Where can I get plums from in Nigeria? Where can I get papaya from in Nigeria?

It's often difficult to answer these questions as I do not live in Nigeria but I try to answer as much as I can by directing them to the popular shopping malls in Lagos such as Shoprite, which is perhaps the only shopping mall I know of Lol! 

I even had one of my many little sisters say " Sis your blog is not africa friendly as we can not get the fruits you use on your blog"  Lol! Now we can't have that I said to myself and this pushed me to do some research on where the foreign fruits are been sold in Nigeria. Now I know they exist but they come at exorbitant prices.

Whilst doing my research I came across a few details here and there but finally I hit jackpot when I came across Dobby's Signature blog http://www.dobbyssignature.com

Dobby's signature is a Nigerian Food Blog focused on Showcasing Nigerian dishes,exploring traditional food recipes .

Dobby is  a culinary enthusiast with a flair for local cuisines in Nigeria and around the globe. Dobby confesses not to be a professional chef but my goodness I beg to differ and I am sure you will when you have  look at her posts.  Each time I visit her blog she has my tastebuds tingling and my tongue wagging. She is amazing!!

In her words, cooking is one of my major hobbies and I do it well (I concur).
Dobby is also a graphics designer and an illustrator and if you look at her blog you can tell as her passions are displayed across her blog.

Now back to the juicy contents on Dobby's blog which caught my eye for my readers.
Dobby had a post titled " Where to buy foreign fruits  and vegetables in Nigeria( Lagos) and this is the blogspot http://www.dobbyssignature.com/2014/03/where-to-buy-foreign-fruits-and.html?m=0

Here are some pictures from  Dobby's blog on the fruits and vegetables sold from the below traders

Stall Owners :Alhaji Sanni & Alhaji Ibrahim

Courgette & Aubergine 

 Blackberries,Grapes,Beetroot & Broccoli

Lady B - Stall Owner

Click on the link to find out the location of the above traders and to view more pictures of the  other fruits sold  http://www.dobbyssignature.com/2014/03/where-to-buy-foreign-fruits-and.html?m=0

A big thank you to Dobby for letting me share this information with my readers.
Make sure you check out her blog for her different cuisines across the globe and lots more.

I hope you have found this post helpful.


BlogPost  & Photo Credit :http://www.dobbyssignature.com/

Fruit Infused Water

Happy Thursday!!

Water! Water! When I think of water I think of this bland substance in my mouth that continuously makes me run up and down like a puppet! ha ha!!

Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. Water flushes toxins out of your vital organs.

Read more about the benefits of drinking water

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4287/10-Reasons-Why-You-Should-Drink-More-Water.html

Let's be honest most people don't like the taste of water either and don't drink half of the recommended intake.Water they say is good for you and the recommended intake of water is 8 PINTS blimey!! I said it makes me run up and down like a puppet .. after 8 pints I might as well chain my self to the little girls room ha ha!!

In my very first post I talked about researching on how to drink  more water as I knew that water would aid me with my weight loss and one of the very many suggestions that came up was " Infused water". 

What is infused water? Well it's simply infusing your water with fruits, adding fruits to your water to derive a nice flavor to excite your taste buds ...that's my simple definition,it's nothing technical!

Infused water has become my favourite method to drinking lots of water. My fridge is filled with lemons, limes and cucumbers as I infuse my water with these fruits. Sometimes I infuse my water with berries, apples and any other fruit that I have in my fridge. I have gone through lots of bottles of water in the last few months thanks to the infused water method. When I don't drink water I feel thirsty and recognise that I need water.

My water intake in the last few months has increased

Jugs in my fridge with fruits

Lemon, Apples, Grapefruit, Cucumbers

Challenge yourself today to drink more water today!!

There are so many great sites that can help you with suggestion on how to infuse your water 

http://fruitinfusedwaters.com/

http://www.fruitinfusedwater.com/

http://www.zing-anything.co.uk/the-health-benefits-of-infusing-water-with-fruit/ 

Are you drinking enough water? 

Try infusing your water to aid you with your water intake.

Till  the next time ... Keep Smiling! Stay Healthy! Keep Fit! Stay Hydrated!

Yellow Watermelon Smoothie

If you read my last post, you'll see that I got this delicious yellow watermelon from my sister. I had to ...it was too good a fruit to miss! 

Find about a bit more about the yellow watermelon here http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-yellow-watermelon.htm

Now let's make a smoothie ....

Yellow Watermelon

Ingredients

• cold watermelon
• 1 pink lady apple
• few blackberries
• ice cubes (optional)

Watermelon and Apple

Instructions

• Cut watermelon from skin, cut apples, place in blender and blend till smooth
• Pour in glass cup 
• garnish with blackberries (optional)
• serve cold

Yellow Watermelon and Apple

Refreshing and absolutely delicious!!

Breakfast:The Most Important Meal Of The Day!

Good Morning,

Breakfast is the the most important meal of the day.
It is the first meal of the day after the night you have gone to sleep.

Let's think about this for a second? 
You have gone to bed, the food you ate the night before has digested and then you wake up the next day on an empty stomach and skip breakfast. *puzzled face*

Eating breakfast regularly can speed up your metabolism in the morning  and can help you control your weight. Always make sure you have breakfast, don't skip it! 

Often people who skip breakfast tend to have a big lunch to make up for missing breakfast, this is not good practice.

I always have breakfast in the morning, even when I am in a hurry, I'll have it on the go in form of a morning smoothie.


Ingredients

• oats
• raspberries
• strawberries
• pomegranates

Pomegranate seeds, Raspberry and Strawberry

If you do not have the above fruits in your fridge you can add other fruits to your porridge/oats such as grapes, dried raisins, apples, nuts, kiwis, peeled oranges,sliced bananas and lots more. 

Check out the other breakfast porridge on the blog

http://yems-smoothies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/porridge-and-fruit-for-breakfast.html

Have a lovely morning and remember to have breakfast!!

Supermarket Vs Local Market Stalls

What's your preference and why?

The Supermarket or your local market stall?

Every fortnight on a Saturday morning I get ready and head to my local market to pick my fruits and vegetables.

As I walk into the market lane of which I love the atmosphere  I can immediately hear George, 50 my favourite fruit trader call out to shoppers and passers by  " Buy your apples and vegetables here, pound a bowl, pound a bowl all fresh, today's produce, fresh on the stall"  the atmosphere in the market is always buzzing and full of life.

As I walk up to him he says " Ello darling you a'right " ? I reply good thanks George what do you have for me today?  The warm reception and smile makes me giggle, he sometimes compliments me on my hair and my lipstick and I tell him that I know it's a ploy to get me to spend more money on his stall. No darling he replies "you know you're my favourite customer" ....Y eh right I reply I bet you say that to all the girls. 

George hasn't lost his touch as his compliments often works a charm.

His fruits and vegetables are always fresh and he sells

• a bowl of 10 granny smiths apples
• a bowl of golden delicious apples for £1, 
• a bowl of juicy red grapes for a £1, 
• 6 raw beetroots for £1, 
• 6 cucumbers for £1, 
• 6 grapefruits for a £1,
• 4 courgettes for a £1,
• a bowl of ripe cherry tomatoes for 50p and lots more.

Shallots, Strawberries and Courgettes at the local market

Cauliflower and  Potatoes at the local market 

Onions,Green-beans and Sweet Potatoes at the local market 

I must say that even though I spend a lot of money on George's stall I like to look around the market as there are also some brilliant bargains on other stalls. The other day I bought 8 avocados for £1 ..YES 8!! I was in avocado heaven if such a place exists and 3 big butternut squash for £1.50.

The highlight of last week was when I bought 3 trays of strawberries for a whooping sun of £1, thinking about it now I was so silly not to have taken a pictures as I got home and for me that was an immediate wash, bag and freeze process with my other fruits.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I love going to my local market stalls to support the traders and I get real value for my money.#Buylocal #Supportthemarkettraders

Oranges, Apples, Bananas and Kiwis at the local market stall

My local supermarket is great but I am never satisfied when I go there. I don't get that one to one attention from George and I meet with lifeless fruits and vegetables on the shelves.

The thought of weighing my fruit irks me especially as I pay so much for so little. Do not get me wrong the supermarket is a great place to shop for fruits and vegetables if that's your preference but it isn't for me.

The supermarket is great when I run out of my favourite fruits or vegetables and for me to quickly pop in and get my produce but for a big batch I rarely go to the supermarket. The other day I ran out of cucumbers and lemons for my infused water and I popped into the supermarket to get a cucumber and I had to pay 90p for a slim mean looking cucumber, I begrudgingly paid for it of course but kicked myself because I could see George's 6 cucumbers for £1 in my thoughts haha!!!


So what's your preference and why? Is it the Supermarket Or Market Stalls? 


Let me know your thoughts.



Photo Credit: My Sister 

Porridge and Fruit for Breakfast

Happy Monday!!

Porridge and fruit are my favourite breakfast meals.

Complex carbohydrates, found in whole grains, release their energy more slowly into the bloodstream. For this reason, porridge, made from rolled oats, and muesli are better than highly refined breakfast cereals, such as cornflakes. Studies have shown that breakfast that includes protein will release energy at a steady level for hours. " A breakfast that contains protein as well as complex carbohydrates beats anything else.

Porridge and Fruit Breakfast

• Alpro Almond Milk Unsweetened
• Blueberries
• Scottish Oats
• Strawberries

Scottish Oats, Strawberries & Blueberries Breakfast

Enjoy!!

Beetroot Banana and Grapefruit

Hello Beet Lovers,

I love Beets!! Eveytime I cut open a beet I feel like I have cut my hand.

Note to self- always wear gloves.

Raw beets have a strong earthy taste, so it may may take you a while to get used to it.

Beetroot is one of my favorite smoothie ingredients. A little goes a long way and it adds so much nutrition and flavor to a smoothie. The rich red pink color it produces bursts with flavour. The banana and grapefruit balance the sweet, slightly earthy taste of the beetroot juice wonderfully. 

Beetroot, Banana and Grapefruit

• 2 large red grapefruit
• 2 raw beetroots
• 2 frozen bananas
• A cup of Alpro Almond Milk Unsweetened
• Honey to taste
• Raspberries to garnish

Beetroot, Banana and Grapefruit with honey to taste

Rich Red Flavour from the Beet

Cheers Beet!

Enjoy!!