BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE (Lassi)

BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE (Lassi)

Canada is a country of berries, we get many types of berries in plenty in their season. To name a few of them strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, black mulberry, cranberry etc. I am not only enjoying them as fresh fruits but am using them a lot in my kitchen and testing and making a lot of new recipes out of them.

These berries were not available in some places of Africa,where I lived for many years. We only got them tinned or canned. In Canada, I see them freshly available in the shops. Some of the berries I have seen for the first time in my life!

Where you live influences the kind of fruits and vegetables available there. Like I remember, when I was in Kisumu, Kenya in 80's I really missed apples, which are easily available in many parts of the world, but not there. Only very small (lime) size apples were available in the winter for a very short period of time. Maybe now, because of modern transportation, they are available in Kisumu also today.

Blueberries available here are not only yummy, they are full of nutrients as well, and I have read many articles on them being good for the health of women. In this smoothie I have used frozen blueberries because smoothies are consumed cold, it is very easy to use the frozen ones, they need to be taken out from the freezer 30 minutes before you use them.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 200 grams blueberries (frozen or fresh)
• 400 ml yoghurt
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 glasses of cold water

METHOD

• Thaw or wash blueberries properly.
• Put yogurt, water, and sugar in a blender and pulse for few minutes.
• Add blueberries and pulse again for few minutes.
• Serve chilled.
  5-6 glasses can be made.

I am sharing this recipe as my blog post entry with Cook Blog Share, and with Healthy Happy and green blog hop, and with Tasty Tuesday C Kids,, and with Hearth and Soul blog hop, and with Waywow link up party, with Food year link up August, and with Full plate Thursday , and with My two fav things on Thursday, with Real Food Friday, Fiesta Friday and with Food and Fitness Friday, and with Funtastic Friday, and with Friday free for all, and with Meatless Monday and What do you do this weekend, and with Wordless Wednesday.

MANGO SMOOTHIE

MANGO LASSI

I love mangoes and I always wait for their season, when I will get a chance to eat sweet ripe mangoes. Before the season, I always look out for hard green unripe mangoes in the shops for pickling. Mango pickle is a favorite of everybody in my family, and hence is made on a large scale in my house, see my mango pickle recipe here.

In Indian cuisine a variety of pickles and chutneys are made with unripe, raw and sour mangoes. My favorite chutney is the mango pachadi, made in Kerala style. Sweet ripe mangoes are used not only in Indian cuisine but also in many world cuisines particularly for making desserts, cakes and drinks.

These days, mango smoothie (lassi) is very famous all over the world, in almost all Indian restaurants it is available. It is a nice cool sweet drink, which people normally think as a summer drink but I would say, it is a all season drink. If you ask me, I really enjoy it in the winter too, particularly during lunch time with some light lunch.

In winter the mangoes available here are not very tasty if we eat as it is. But if I use them in smoothies they are very nice. Sometime I use frozen mangoes when fresh is not available. When I need a light version of the smoothie, I use the low or fat-free yoghurt.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:-

• ½ l yoghurt (Dahi)
• 1 ripe mango medium size
• 250 ml water
• 2 tbs Sugar ( or less to taste)

Method

• Wash, peel and chop mangoes in small pieces.
• In a blender add yoghurt, mango and sugar and water.
• Pulse for 2-3 minutes, pour in a glass and add ice cubes.
• Serve chilled with or without food as a sweet, cold drink.

This can be served to 2-3 people.

I am sharing this recipe with Weekend Recipe link party, and also with Cook blog share, I am also sharing this recipe with Tasty Tuesday event, and for January family foodie, and Foodie Friday, and for Inspire Me Monday, also with pure blog love party, and with creative Mondays, and with Hearth and soul, and with Food year linkup for Jan, and with Healthy breakfast recipes with Jebbicas world,

           
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

   

RED PLUMS YOGURT SMOOTHIE

RED PLUMS YOGURT SMOOTHIE

Winter is in full swing here, this week we got a good amount of first snow, but plums can still be seen on the shelves in the shop. Soon they will disappear, (it will be difficult to find them) so this is the time to use them, last time in this season. When we receive the first snow fall here, the surroundings look so good, everything is white and shining. But when we go out, the wind chill makes the cold even worse.

One day I and my daughter had a discussion about the seasons in Canada, she was explaining to me about the four seasons here, their duration and timings etc. Then I told her that according to me, there are only two seasons in Canada, the first one when everything and surrounding is really green and the other one when everything and surrounding is white. Then we laughed a lot because that is a true scene here.

Sometimes fruits are sitting in my fridge, and my children have no time to eat. They find it easier to eat a banana because they can just grab and go, but fruits like plums- they have no time to cut and eat them. So I use my own ways of feeding them fruits by making fruit chaats or drinks like smoothies, shakes. In this way I satisfy my self by assuming, I am helping them and saving their time, on the other end I assume they will at least get the benefit of the nutrients in the fruits.

When I am talking about all these summer fruits here, I am thinking of my friends in South Africa, who might be welcoming the summer season with open arms as I use to do when I was there, as I really love summer fruits. Soon my friends there will be enjoying all summer fruits, to name few of them like plums, peaches, mangoes and grapes. I miss South Africa where fruits and veg shops are full of locally grown, fresh fruits in huge sizes in summer. Being in the southern hemisphere, the summer season there lasts from October to March.

This is a flavorful, colourful, sweet and sour smoothie, which everybody likes in my family. The colour and taste both are awesome and it is very easy and quick to make.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup plain yoghurt
• 1 medium size plum
• 2 tbs sugar (to taste)
• 1 cup water

METHOD

• Wash and cut plums in small size, remove the stone.
• Put water and plums in blender and pulse for 2 minutes
• Add yoghurt and sugar and pulse again for 2-3 minutes.

One big glass of smoothie is ready. It should be served cold with breakfast or lunch depending on your preference.

This recipe I am sending as my blog entry for event here.
This recipe I am sending as my blog entry for the First blog anniversary event.

       

 This recipe I am also sending as my blog entry for the event, and another event, and for Recipe of the week event, and for Weekend Recipe link up,and with Meatless Monday.and with What'd you do this weekend, and with Food year linkup.

  

HOMEMADE LEMONADE

HOMEMADE LEMONADE

#Edited: This recipe was featured at Tasty Tuesday Creative kids weekly party on 13th January 2015.

Summer is in full swing in the northern hemisphere, though this is not my favourite season, but I like it when everything is green around here in Calgary. The best part of summer for me is when my grandchildren run around in the garden and enjoy their water bath with sprinklers, I know running around the garden means, coming again and again for a glass of water. Even us, in summer, we drink endless glasses of water.

Lemonade is the best summer drink and this recipe is very easy to make and very little ingredients are required. In this lemonade, no preservative or colour is added and it can last in the fridge for one month or more. I call it all-season-drink because it helps in managing symptoms like nausea, disturbances in stomach or indigestion. According to my explanation, it sounds like this is a medicine but actually, it is a cool drink which I can say from personal experience that it helps in managing these symptoms.

In 2011, I went to Delhi in July, to enjoy my holidays, which is the onset of the monsoon rains. This season is not good if you are travelling to Delhi because it is very hot and humid. Almost every day in the evening I was feeling uncomfortable as if I can not breathe properly or something like that because of the humidity. This lemonade was the only remedy, with added black salt and black pepper. A cool glass of this was all I needed to cool me down.

Instead of buying from the shop it is better to make lemonade at home. I tried many ready made ones from the shops but never enjoyed the taste as compared to this home made one. It is much better compared to fizzy drinks. According to Ayurveda, lemons have a cooling effect on the skin because they help us sweat and sweat facilitates the elimination of toxin through the skin so it is good in summer.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kg sugar
• 300 ml lemon juice ( 6-8 big lemons)
• ½ liter water for syrup
• Black salt and pepper to taste, few leaves of mint. (to be added later individually for one serving)

METHOD

• Put water and sugar in a pot on a medium flame to make sugar syrup.
• One thread sugar syrup is required, it will take 15-20 minutes. Leave it to cool.
• Squeeze the juice from lemons carefully, and measure 300ml.
• When the sugar syrup is cold add the lemon juice in it.
• Keep in a sterilize glass jar or bottle is the fridge.

When serving, add 2-3 tablespoon of this lemonade (according to your taste) in a 250 ml cold water with some ice cubes, sprinkle pinch black salt and black pepper in it (optional), add few chopped fresh mint leaves. This can be served with or without food.

I am sending this recipe as my blog entry for the event.   I am also sending this recipe as my blog entry for the event.

And for The Hearth and Soul Hop event, and also for Tasty Tuesdays January , and with Foodie Friday,and with Thriving on Thursday link party, and with Create and share link party, and with What'd do you do this weekend, and with Creative Mondays, and with Creative spark link party, and with Inspire Us Tuesday party, with Brilliant blog post, and with Full plate Thursday, and with Two favourite things on Thursday.