The Green Thirst Quencher

Recently my husband and I went out on a dinner date to a lovely Japanese restaurant, where I sampled a green juice similar to the one I have made here. What is so lovely about this particular juice is that you can taste all the different levels of fruit and veg within. Blending the pulp as well keeps all of the goodness in!

I can totally see myself having this drink over and over again definitely a thirst quencher whether in the winter when you need a immune vitamin boost or in the summer when you need something so very refreshing!

INGREDIENTS

2 sticks of celery
8 green grapes
Handful of fresh mint
Handful of spinach
100ml apple juice
50ml water
Dash of fresh lime

METHOD

Add all ingredients into a drinks blender and whizz til smooth

Serve cold, but do stir as the celery will sink to the bottom of the glass

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Avocado, Banana Smoothie

So you know when you first have a baby and the first foods to wean them on are avocado and banana smashed together.  I never tried it until now! But I can see why  babies like it.  I incorporated these two wonderful superpower food ingredients into the smoothie for today with blueberries full of antioxidants but to add a slight kick with a strawberry cordial running through it!

Such a creamy consistency. Blend yourself one…sit back and enjoy your weekend! Much love D x

INGREDIENTS

Half an avocado
1 small banana
Handful of frozen blueberries
200ml diluted strawberry cordial drink

METHOD

Blitz well in a blender or smoothie maker. Add water if you like it more juice like

The Calm Me Down Smoothie!

Recently there has been a lot of change to my daily routine as now my two boys are in school and I find myself alone at home with our pet rabbit Alfie. It’s lovely having some quiet time but mostly I find myself constantly running around like a headless chicken.  This morning I went food shopping which I absolutely adore.  I feel all stocked up and ready to invent more recipes. . I also cleaned the kitchen!

For when I need to calm down and relax I have come up with this wonderful soothing smoothie recipe to help me unwind.  No caffeine, no added sugar just pure peaceful bliss. The chamomile and mint tea does the trick!

INGREDIENTS

200ml of cold mint & chamomile tea
1 small banana
1 nectarine in halves
Handful of frozen blueberries
Handful of baby spinach

METHOD

Place all the ingredients into a blender or NutriBullet and blitz till smooth.  Serve with ice if desired

A Minty Fruit Smoothie

We are going to have pizza tonight, so an hour before I decided to line my stomach with a fresh minty and fruity smoothie.  This way I’ll feel a little less guilty knowing that I have fruit in my tummy before I consume huge amounts of pizza yumminess!

INGREDIENTS

1 small banana peeled
7 strawberries
1 pear sliced into chunks
A few sprigs of fresh mint
1 cup pineapple juice

METHOD

Blitz all the ingredients in a Nutri Bullet or blender until smooth

Serve with some ice or add a little water if the smoothie is too thick

Carrot, Strawberry & Ginger Smoothie

Every morning we have a new flavour of smoothie. Having Mr Shivaay Delights working from home gives me the opportunity to spoil him with healthy breakfast shakes.

If I forget then I will be subtly reminded to make him one. So I guess he is enjoying the smoothies that come flying out of our kitchen.

Keep your eye on more fruity and nutritional smoothie recipes coming up!

Hope you’re all are having a beautiful day. Much love, D x

INGREDIENTS

1 medium carrot peeled and chopped
Handful of strawberries
2 apples cored and chopped
Dash of orange juice
Fresh ginger to taste

METHOD

Put all the ingredients into your blender/nutri bullet.  Blitz to a fine blend

Add more water if too thick to achieve desired consistency

Blueberry & Super Seed Smoothie

I do not get through much fruit unless its in a cake on a cake or around a cake!

So having invested in a smoothie maker is the best thing I could have done for me especially! I love chewing on seeds but am not partial to the goji berry. Which is extremely good for you.

This way I get all my antioxidant goodness in the one glass first thing in the morning and I’m ready to face the day with a healthy outlook…until I eat the naughty treat I shouldn’t have had at lunch…lol 😉

I’ll be putting up more of my smoothie recipes. I hope you enjoy them friends!

INGREDIENTS

Large handful of blueberries
1 medium banana
1 satsuma
Sprinkling of seeds and goji berries
Water

METHOD

Using the NutriBullet or a blender.  Place all the ingredients in and blitz til desired consistency

If too thick, stir in more water…

Ice & Bananas

Juicy Garlic Baked Tomatoes

This is the beauty about cooking…Making the most simplest food and dishes with maximum flavour. Why make life so complicated when it can be so simple!

Tomatoes, garlic and olive oil! That’s it!!! that’s all you will need!

Have a look…Give them a go and let me know how you like the simplicity of these tasty garlic infused tomatoes.

Have a relaxing weekend, I’m off to cook some more food…Much love, D x

INGREDIENTS

4 big tomatoes
3-4 cloves of garlic sliced finely
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170°c

Make tiny cuts in the tomato and slot the garlic slices in

Repeat for all the tomatoes

Place the tomatoes on a baking tray

Drizzle a little olive oil onto the prepped tomatoes

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked all the way through

Caramel Pear Upside Down Cake Flan

Good Morning! I thought it was time for another new cake recipe from Shivaay Delights! I wanted to treat ourselves as we have been really good with our new healthy found diet. I still used a low fat butter spread which was lovely in this!
So apart from the sugar that I also reduced, the recipe is not extremely fattening!

I love upside down cakes and prefer making the caramel topping in the oven! Saves on washing lol! And the whole house is set off with the brown sugary sweet aroma, followed by the scent of juicy pears being permeated by this buttery caramel!

I wanted to achieve not a sponge cake risen base but more a sponge flan base. By beating the eggs and butter together really achieved this. A very velvety texture on the tongue with sweetness and a little sharpness from the pear provides us with a great combination! My little one thought that the caramel topping was chocolate and it went down even faster! Lol!

Have a wonderful day! Enjoy…what are you cooking today?
Much love D x

INGREDIENTS

For the caramel and topping
3 heaped tbsp dark muscavado sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3-4 small pears, peeled, cored & thinly sliced

For the cake base
200g self raising flour
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
40g light brown sugar
40g caster sugar
2 large eggs
100g butter/low fat butter spread

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180°c/350°f. Put the unsalted butter and 3 tablespoons of muscavado sugar in a greased cake tin

• Place in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the sugar has started to melt into the butter. You may need to add a tablespoon of water to the caramel and stir

• Carefully arrange the thin pear slices onto the caramel and set aside

• Whilst the caramel is cooking in the oven. Beat together the butter and eggs together until combined

• Throw in all the dry ingredients plus the milk and vanilla extract, mix well. The batter should be of a drop like consistency, if not then add a little more milk

• Pour in the batter over the pear and caramel, with a spatula level out

• Place in the oven for 35-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when poked into the cake

• Leave the cake to rest in the tin for 10 minutes. Slowly invert cake out onto a large dish

Serve warm with a little vanilla ice cream

Melt In Your Mouth Peach Pudding!

I do surprise myself sometimes when I just make up random recipes and they work! This particular dessert was intended to be a sponge type traybake, but in the end it turned out to be a melt in the mouth peach pudding! I think it actually was better than what I thought it would have been originally. I guess that’s why I really like to develop my own recipes and I look forward to what will actually come out of the oven!

The taste is so fudgy because of the brown sugar. The peach slices add that slight acidity and then you have the texture which is absolutely soft and silky and just melts, melts, melts on your tongue!

It was a sure winner here, I really hope you all enjoy it friends!
Have a beautiful day, much love D x

INGREDIENTS

150g softened unsalted butter
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
100g soft dark brown sugar
35g white sugar
Tin of peach slices drained
2 large eggs
½ cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Icing sugar to dust

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170°c and grease a rectangular baking deep dish. Also line with some grease proof paper

Cream the butter and both types of sugar together in a large mixing bowl, add the eggs one by one and stir

Fold in the flour with the salt and baking powder, pour in the milk and vanilla essence. At this point you should have a drop like consistency batter

Spread half the batter mixture into the dish, layer the peaches in rows to cover the batter. Gently spread the remaining mixture onto the peaches, level out as much as possible with a spatula

Bake in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean

Let it cool in the tray and when ready to serve, slice into squares and dust with plenty of icing sugar