Recycling Jars For Smoothie Storage

Happy Sunday!!

How is everyone doing today? I hope you are all enjoying the long bank holiday weekend.

I get a few questions about where I get my smoothie jars from the BBM channel and on the blog.

I do not really spend money on smoothie jars from Amazon or eBay....ah well that's a bit of a fib haha!! because earlier this year I was tempted and bought these beautiful jars from a store in town called "Clas Ohlson". 

http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Screwtop-Preserving-Jar/Pr349882000

I love the mason jars from Amazon & eBay and if I was ever tempted to buy them I will definitely charter them in bulk and end up spending lots of money on these fancy jars. 

Mason Jars Sold Online with Straws

Mason Jars

Instead of spending money on all these fancy jars I decided to recycle  my empty sauce jars and make the best use of them.I am big on recycling and yes I am that neighbour that selects all her bottles, cardboard boxes, plastics into the correct recycling box for collection ....I do my bit for the environment.

Read more about recycling http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/importance.html

Empty Sauce Jars

Empty Sauce Jars

 I use the empty bottles from my Spaghetti bolognese sauce, pickled onions and beetroot.

Recycled Jar for Smoothies

These jars are just as nice as the mason jars and they'll vary from size to size depending on the content of the recycled jar. Also think of the good you are doing for the environment by recycling your bottles and let's not forget the pennies you can save from spending on these jars.

I hope I have encouraged you to recycle your jars  for your smoothies and save those pennies for a rainy day.

Have a wonderful day.

My Healthy Lunch Prep for the Week - Part II

Happy Sunday Everyone!!

Last week I shared my lunch prep for the week.

If you missed the blogspot, have no fear! Here is the post
http://yems-smoothies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/my-healthy-lunch-prep-for-week.html

This week I will be sharing my lunch prep again. I would like to encourage to find time and make your packed lunch for a few days and see how you feel and like it?

In my humble opinion home made lunches are@

• Cost effective
• Fresh
• Healthier
• Hygienic
• Quality
• More productive
• And enables better time management

Here is my packed lunch for the week.

Salad Base Prep  - Salad leaves and sweetcorn

Salami Salad, Cod Fillet Salad, Sweet Potato & Vegetables & Frankfurter Salad

Salami Salad, Cod Fillet Salad, Sweet Potato & Vegetables & Frankfurter Salad

Salami Salad, Cod Fillet Salad, Sweet Potato & Vegetables & Frankfurter Salad

Have you decided to make a change and create time to start bringing lunch to work once or twice a week, or make a transition away from the office canteen food options? 

Try it and I can assure you that the results will be worth it.  
Do you bring your lunch to work? If so, what are your favourite things to bring?

Let me know in the comments box.

Have a lovely working week ahead.

Fruit Tips #3 Storing Your Fruits For Smoothies

Bananas, Raspberry, Strawberry & Sandwich bags

Bananas, Raspberry & Strawberry

Bananas, Raspberry & Strawberry

Bagged and ready to be frozen

 

Spinach frozen for green smoothies

Prep for mango, pineapple and banana to be frozen

Banana, Raspberry & Strawberry  Smoothie

                           

Green Smoothie On the Go For Breakfast

Top of the morning to you all,

Wishing you all a Wonderful Wednesday!!

I was in such a hurry this morning that I had to make my breakfast smoothie a " takeaway/ on the go smoothie".

Ingredients

• cucumber
• kale
• dates (as a sweetener to combat the bitterness)
• water 

Cucumber, Dates, Kale & Water

Instructions

• wash the kale, chop the cucumbers and place in the blender
• add the dates and lots of water
• blend till smooth
• pour in glass and enjoy

Ready to be blended

Delicious & yummy

Ready for the GO!!

On the move with my green smoothie for breakfast!

Don't be afraid to try a green smoothie!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday :-)

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

My Healthy Lunch Prep for the Week

I remember growing up my mum always made the kids packed lunch which consisted of an egg sandwich or a jam sandwich and some other bits, I loved jam sandwiches and hated the egg sandwiches but had no other choice than to eat it. Then we graduated to the school lunches which I can hardly recall what we were fed but I know we enjoyed it. ha-ha!!

It is very rare to come by a healthy lunch option of meals in the office canteen these days as they are more concerned about feeding the masses than the healthy options. From time to time you'll find the odd looking salad which quite frankly isn't up to par.

Nowadays the concept of lunch does not exist in our offices as we are likely to spend lunch at our desks stuffing down a dry cheese & pickle sandwich from the office canteen , topped up with some cheese & onion crisps washed down with a "so called diet coke or Dr Pepper", then a Mars bar for afters.

Many of us rarely have a break as we are in the middle of deadlines. Given all the above circumstances, how can you feel healthy and do your best at work when most of your lunch is enjoyed at your desk or not taken at all?

I have been a victim of my above narration and in the last two years I made a conscious decision and habit not to eat at my desk and also to bring in my own lunch. I have had the best meals which makes me feel healthy and ready to combat the pile of work plunked on my desk or the emails awaiting my attention. 

In my humble opinion home made lunches are :

• Cost effective 
• Fresh
• Healthier
• Hygienic
• Quality
• More productive
• And enables  better time management 

Lunch Prep for the week

My Lunch for this week consists of :

Monday:       Egg Salad

Tuesday:      Tuna Salad

Wednesday:  Salami & Sweet corn salad

Thursday:     Salmon & Corn on the corn Salad

Friday:         Noodle Salad

Spare:          Olive & pepper Salad

I get a lot of my ideas from the salad counter in the supermarkets and sometimes make them up with the contents of my fridge. The other day I went into Sainsburys and looked at their lunch menus and spotted the noodle salad for £3.40 and my home made noodle salad cost me less than that.

Tuna Salad, Egg Salad, Salami Salad and Noodle Salad

Mixed Salad with pomegranate, Olives, Peppers, Sweetcorn  & Salad Sweet Corn & Salmon

Egg  & Tomato Salad ,Tuna Salad, Noodle Salad  and Salami  Salad

Mixed Salad with pomegranate, Olives, Peppers, Sweetcorn  & Salad Sweet Corn & Salmon

Have you decided to make a change and create time to start bringing lunch to work once or twice a week, or make a transition away from the office canteen food options? 

Try it and I can assure you that the results will be worth it.  

Do you bring your lunch to work? If so, what are your favourite things to bring?

Let me know in the comments box.

Have a lovely day.

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 Quiz #1 - Answers

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a lovely and sunny weekend.

Quick post to give you the answers to the fruit quiz #1 I posted last week.

http://yems-smoothies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/fruit-quiz-1.html

1 Physalis (Cape gooseberry)	2 Carambola (starfruit)	3 Cherimoya (custard apple)	4 Passion fruit
5 Jackfruit	6 Rambutan	7 Sapodilla or Chikoo	8 Pitaya  (dragon fruit)
9 Eeijoa or Guavasteen	10 Kiwano (horned melon)	11 Mango	12 Durian
13  Chayote  (vegetable pear)	14 Guanabana or Soursop	15  Opuntia ((prickly pear)	16 Mangosteen
17                Pomegrante	18 Papaya	19 Amarilo (tree tomato	20 Lychee

    

Did you get all the answers right ? You must be a fruit expert if you did as I have never heard of some of these fruits before.

Till the next quick ...have a lovely week ahead.

Fruit Quiz #1

Happy Fabulous Friday!!

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

So today I have our first fruit quiz.

I know this isn't the easiest fruit quiz as there are some very interesting fruits on here but hopefully it will inspire you to try out some of the wonderful variety of mother nature's produce.

A few days ago one of my little sisters said  " Yems your blog is not Africa friendly, I can not find the fruits you use". I laughed my head off. The exotic fruits you use are too expensive in Africa she said.

I bet when she sees this fruit quiz she will have something to say. haha!!

I will try and and use very simple fruits in my smoothies for those who can not find my exotic fruits in their countries.

Go ahead take part in the quiz by leaving your answers below in the comments box:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Can you name these fruits?

Have fun and No Cheating!