Fruit Salad Smoothie

 

In this journey to eat right and lose weight, the biggest challenge for me has been keeping things interesting and healthy. Smoothies and replacement drinks can be counter productive to your health journey especially those full of cream or juices as their bases. They taste mighty good especially when blended with ice (temptation be gone) and if its a tasty treat you want, then they are fine. However, if you want nutritious and healthy options, having one of those 3 times a day isn't the way to go - or am I just speaking about my tendency to have them 3 times a day?

 

Anyway, I am giving my smoothie blender a mega workout these days with all sorts of concoctions and this fruit salad smoothie is one of my favorites. Its very filling, chock full of yumminess that's good for you and very easy to throw together. There isn't an exact science to this. Just use more of the fruits you prefer over others and don't omit the ginger. That's what makes this smoothie special.

 

You will need:

 

• Watermelon cubes - seeds removed of course
• Orange segments - seeds removed as well
• Pineapple chunks
• Pawpaw chunks - you can include a few of the seeds. They have a peppery taste and add a little something extra to the smoothie
•  Cucumber slices - don't peel or remove the core.
• Apple chunks
• Fresh grated ginger
• Ice cubes

 

You can prep the fruits ahead and store in the freezer in air tight containers and put into the blender when you are ready. You can omit the ice in this case.

Throw everything in a blender and whizz till smooth. I like to leave my smoothie a little chunky so I can chew. I don't feel like I have eaten if I don't chew. LOL

 

Pour into a glass and enjoy 

 

 

 

 

 

And I am baaaaaccckkk!!!!! Really back this time......

Its been an amazing time at Uzo's Food Labs and I admit I haven't had much time to blog. But I finally have a clone (lol) and all is well in the world and I can get back to blogging regularly.

So quick recap of some of the fun stuff I have been up to:

• I started hosting the Friday Food segment on The Spot on EbonyLifeTV (channel 165 on DSTV bouquet) and its been an amazing journey.
• Recreational cooking classes have started and I will share more details in posts to come
• The Uzo's Food Labs website is under construction with lots of fab features that I cant wait to share but you know these things go. Best to keep quiet until its absolutely done in case my web designer disappears.

There are a few more exciting things in the works but until its signed, sealed and delivered, mums the word.

So here we go.....

And I am Baaaaccccckkkkkkkkk

It has been ages since I updated the blog and I promise I have an excellent reason. I had a bun in the oven and my darling baby boy came on January 31st and its been an amazing journey so far.

Mommyhood aside, I have been working on a few exciting projects for Uzo's Food Labs and I am chuffed to bits that I can begin to unveil them slowly.

You can follow us and keep in touch and send feedback or ask questions or just say hey on twitter @uzosfoodlabs and via email uzosfoodlabs@gmail.com. Don't forget to subscribe to the blog as well to get all the updates fresh off the press or off the stove in this case (lame I know)

So buckle up for fun and all round yumminess.

:-)

Minted Strawberries

One evening, after making dinner, I wanted hubby and I to have an interesting dessert that was light, refreshing and light on the calories. I had a 250g pack of strawberries in the fridge and a bag of fresh mint as well. So i decided to throw something together and this has become a staple in our house ever since:

I washed and quartered the strawberries and put in a bowl that had a lid. I sprinkled 1 tablespoon of Splenda over the strawberries and tossed together. Since the first time i made this recipe, I have substituted the Splenda for granulated white sugar and some granulated vanilla sugar with excellent results. I love Splenda though since it is a sweetener that doesnt have a bitter after taste and is better than sugar for me.

The fresh mint packet i got from Shoprite - and they almost always have in stock. I washed about half of the pack well and snipped into the strawberry mixture, tossed together, covered bowl and put in the fridge.

An hour later, the strawberries had released a lot of juice courtesy of the Splenda/Sugar/, the mint was nicely wilted and didnt look too alive (very important if my hubby was going to eat this at all) and all that was left was tasting.

I took a deep breath and took a spoonful. And OH MY WORD. The strawberries were sweet and cold and the juice was sooo fragrant and the bursts of mint made my mouth come alive and it smelt divine. So refreshing and so good.

I served a small portion of this to hubby who was working on his laptop at this point. He absent mindedly put a spoonful in his mouth and his head whipped up. He looked at the bowl, smiled widely, shoveled the rest into his mouth and silently handed me the bowl with a smile, a thumbs up and the words "more please".

Ah - nothing better than a happy hubby.

I have a few ideas for variants on this and will post as soon as I try.

Enjoy!

Oven Bole and Mixed Meat sauce

One sunny saturday afternoon, a few special ladies got together for their first meetup. It was a potluck get together and there was some deliciousness going on - from mini cupcakes in assorted flavours and jerk chicken wings using my jerk marinade recipe provided by yours truly to different types of rice and some serious cocktails that packed a lot of punch.

There was also a some soft bole (roasted plantain) with a palmoil sauce and smoked fish. This was the most popular dish and the ladies oohed and aahed and dug in with copious amounts of paper towels on hand.

When i got home, i thought i could make my own version using what i had in my pantry and suprise hubby with something totally unexpected. I had no recipe and no time to make more elaborate plans - i just went with my gut:

I peeled plantains. Poked them all over with a kebab skewer. Got a disposable foil oven baking tray. I poured a little vegetable oil on the plantains and gave them a nice rub down.
My oven was already pretty hot after being preheated at Gas mark 5 for 15 minutes or so. I put the plantains in the baking tray and started on the sauce. I checked and turned the plantain every 10 mins until golden brown - about 40 mins.

I usually have blended tomato/pepper blend in my freezer for emergency stews and sauces. But this was a real emergency and my stash was frozen solid. However, i had raw tomatoes, red peppers (tatashe and atarodo) in the fridge and onions in the bulb basket. I whipped out my blender and threw a mix of the tomatoes, peppers and onions in there and blitzed. I didnt puree the mixture till it was super smooth. I wanted the sauce to have a slightly chunky texture to it. Once that was done, i set the mixture aside and opened up the fridge again. I had a few pieces of assorted meat left over from making some stew the day before. About 6 pieces in all. The meat was boiled and seasoned and ready to be used. So i chopped the meat into little pieces and set aside.

I got out a little pot. Poured some red kernel oil (palm oil) into the pot and let it get very hot. So hot it began to smoke. Cue the open windows and kitchen door. I threw in some sliced onions and the pureed tomato mix and let the mixture fry. Since I was running out of time as hubby was almost home, i didnt let the mixture fry as long as i wanted. I threw in some ground crayfish, some salt. Added the chopped meat pieces and let the whole mixture fry.

Served up the meal to a very suprised, happy hubby who took pictures and sent to all his male friends with the caption - My wife the performer.

Anyhoo. While it was tasty and definitely moorish, i will make this again with a few tweaks: After blending the pepper mixture, i will boil the mixture to reduce the water content. I didnt have time to do this so the sauce wasnt as thick as i wanted. I would make sure to have some iru(locust beans) to add to the sauce - just a teeny bit for that 'local' touch. I would also make the sauce without chopped meat - substituting that for pieces of stockfish, smoked and whole red dried shrimps.

I will of course write out a proper recipe and update the blog but this is definitely worth making for a change from regular fare. One of my husband's friends sent me a message saying he would love this served to him on a newspaper. Why not?

With Love From South Africa: Food Adventures - Final Part ......And a Giveaway

The hotel where we stayed had an 'exclusive' italian restaurant called Piccolo Mondo which looked so amazing - the decor was so so regal but reservations were required. A day before we left South Africa, we finally got a chance to have dinner there. We started out by ordering a chopped salad and after 30 minutes of waiting, we got this which was a greek salad instead which was nowhere on the menu. Should have been a sign of things to come but we soldiered on;

We then got a palate cleansing sorbet - i tasted mint and some passion fruit. We washed the palate cleansing sorbet down with water

45 minutes later, we got our main courses. At this point, we were irritated and hungry. Hubby had a good old fashioned spaghetti bolognese. Spaghetti bolognese is a staple in Italian cuisine and every italian restaurant worth its salt should be able to breeze through this right? Wrong. The dish was cold, overly tomatoey and no flavour at all. It was promptly sent back.

 

I had a braised lamb shank topped with foie gras on a bed of roasted vegetables and a side of potatoes. *sigh* Sounds nice right? The best thing on this plate was the foie gras. The lamb while pull apart tender was overwhelmed by the red wine and fresh thyme used to braise it. The roasted vegetables had lost all their crunch and the potatoes were stone cold. 

We left very very very disappointed.

For our last night in Johannesburg, we had dinner at Montego Bay - a seafood restaurant that a few people recommended. Hubby started  with bacon wrapped scallops which came with an asian slaw. Of course i tasted this dish. Succulent sweet fresh scallops wrapped with apple smoked bacon - delish. The asian slaw was a mix of regular cabbage and bitter red cabbage and crispy green beans with a peanut dressing. Goodness me. Delicious.

My starter was Moules Meuniere. While it was tasty it was the strangest Moules Meuniere i have ever had. What i am used to is a wine based thin broth with the fresh mussels. This was a cream based sauce which while tasty wasnt what i wanted. So i ate my mussels while gazing longingly at hubby's starter. I offered him a taste of mine and he took a small taste and wrinkled his nose and went back to his. I respected myself and faced my plate jejely

We had the same main course - succulent garlicky prawns which came with chips and rice. Talk about carb overload. We ignored the carbs and had way too much fun beheading the prawns and playing with the shells and acting out scenes from movies including making voices (don't ask). It was yummy but i think since we were having so much fun being silly, it tasted even better.

I would love to read about the most memorable meal you have ever had anywhere - the first 2 stories get a jar of Uzo's All Purpose Spice Mix  - my fabulous blend that took about a year to get right and which i am so so proud of.

With Love From South Africa: Food Adventures Part 2

We decided to try Wangthai - a thai restaurant in Sandton based on a few recommendations from several locals including SuperSports' Gary Bailey.  So off we toddled off for a night of proper dining. This is a formal restaurant so I had a blast getting all dolled up for dinner and we had an amazing table with a fab view. Its a restaurant for romance too with the candles and soft music and fountains.

Anyway - to the food: We started with a seafood hot and sour soup that packed a punch. Oh wee.  It had prawns, mullet, calamari and mussels in it and lots of fresh herbs - I could identify galangal, whole mint leaves and lemongrass. But there was more. Hubby said the soup was way too 'alive' for him :-). I explained to him - Thai cuisine is known for incorporating the taste elements of sweet, sour and heat all in the same dish.

We got a little tray with condiments to adjust the meal to your taste - sugar, chilli flakes, fish sauce and vinegar

 

We also had shrimp rolls that came with a sweet chilli sauce for dipping. Not your regular batter heavy soggy rolls. Whole large shrimp with tails on with sliver thin strips of scallions and holy basil wrapped with a very thin sheet of wrapper and fried till golden brown. Bursting with flavour and the shrimps cooked to perfection. 



For our main meal, we had fragrant jasmine rice which came in this gorgeous silver tureen that i wanted to take home immediately; 

Chicken and cashews thai style. This was definitely different from the chinese version. This was fragrant and a depth of flavour from the holy basil and something else that i asked about and was told it was the addition of dried shrimp paste. 



And keeping with true Thai tradition, we had an unusual curry. If you are a curry person, you know that the options are usually red or green but this was neither. This was a seafood peanut curry that was creamy and sweet yet spicy. Totally moreish. I had an amazing tapioca, ginger mocktail that i will try to replicate at home. We opted not to have any dessert after such a decadent dinner. 

Day 4 was a 'fast food' day. No greasy fried stuff here. Ocean Basket had so many options on the menu, it took me half an hour to decide what to have while ignoring the heavy loud sighs of hubby. I decided to have the mussels and shrimp option with fries which i didnt eat. It came served in this silver bowl thing that was sizzling when it came to me. This meal was sumptuous. The seafood was so fresh and cooked just right and then the lemon mustard sauce was suprisingly mild and very tasty.



The final part coming up and our very first giveaway too. So so excited!