mixed berries and banana smoothie

This is my first attempt at making a smoothie and I must say that I am very pleased with the results. *grin*

I decided to make smoothies because we happened to have have quite a lot of fruits in our refrigerator. Nowadays, non-fat plain yoghurt is one of the regular items that we buy whenever we do grocery shopping, so the yoghurt came in handy this time.

In the past, I did not buy plain yoghurt as I did not like the sour taste. Nowadays, I use plain yoghurt to make bread, cakes, etc. It is very versatile.

INGREDIENTS


6 large bananas
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup strawberries (halved)
3 cups non-fat plain yoghurt


METHOD

1. Peel the bananas. Slice them thickly and place them on a baking tray. Place the tray in the freezer and freeze the sliced bananas until they harden.

2. When the bananas have hardened, place the bananas in a blender.

3. Add the blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and plain yoghurt.

4. Blend until the mixture is smooth.

5. Pour the smoothie in a glass and chill before serving.

mock champagne

Whenever Da and I host gatherings at our home, it has always been a challenge to provide drinks that cater to the young and the young-at-heart. Invariably, we end up buying 2 types of drinks for the gathering: non-alcoholic drinks such as juice or carbonated drinks for the children and wine or beer for the adults.

When Da and I had a gathering at our home on 11 October 2008, I decided to make mock champagne. The beauty of this drink is that it is non-alcoholic and yet tastes and looks like champagne. Serve it in a champagne flute and your guests will be none the wiser.

Ingredients

1 litre white grape juice

1 litre bitter lime & lemon

1 lemon

Method

1. Slice the lemon and insert the lemon slices into a 2-litre bottle.

2. Mix the white grape juice and the bitter lime & lemon and pour the mixture into the bottle.

3. Shake the bottle thoroughly and refrigerate.

You will note that when the white grape juice is mixed with the bitter lime & lemon, the mixture turns bubbly (like champagne). It tastes like champagne as well.

For an even nicer presentation, freeze some blueberries and raspberries and put some frozen blueberries and raspberries in each glass when pouring the mixture into the glass.

This drink is popular with children and adults alike.

dragonfruit and banana smoothie

I like to eat dragonfruit but I prefer the type that has white flesh because I find them sweeter.

However, when MIL gave us some dragonfruit with pink flesh, I ate a slice and was pleasantly surprised to find it sweet.

It so happened that FIL gave us some overripe bananas as well. Actually, when FIL gave us the bananas, he told us that the bananas were for me to do baking. I think that FIL has resigned himself to the fact that whenever he gives us bananas, I will save them until they become overripe and then use them for baking. As such, if he has any leftover bananas at home that have become overripe, he now gives them to me.

This is a simple combination of pink dragonfruit and banana. When my family came to our home for dinner and I gave them a glass of the smoothie each, my mother and my brother (LG) liked the smoothie so much that they had a second glass each.

INGREDIENTS

500ml plain non-fat yoghurt
3 large overripe bananas
1 large pink dragonfruit


METHOD

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Chill before serving.

fruit cocktail

What do you do when you have children at your dinner party and you want to offer them drinks other than the usual soft drinks?

My recommendation would be to make your own fruit cocktail. Not only is this cocktail easy to make (in fact, get the children to help mix the cocktail!), it is popular with adults and children alike.

You will need equal parts of mixed fruit juice and Bundaberg lemon lime & bitters.

Slice a lemon and insert the slices into a large empty bottle. Pour equal parts of mixed fruit juice and Bundaberg lemon lime & bitters.

Replace the cap on the bottle and give the bottle a good shake. Voila! The fruit cocktail is ready to be served. To give a treat to the little ones, serve the cocktail in wine glasses.

Nowadays, whenever Da and I host dinner parties at our home and there are children among the guests, I try to involve the children in the party preparations. It could be something as simple as helping to set the table. Or, I would seek their assistance to make the cocktail drinks or to scoop the rice from the rice cooker onto the plates. It helps with bonding and the children enjoy being "Aunty Pebbles' little helper".

ginger and dried longan drink

Here is an age-old remedy for bloatedness. You may be feeling bloated due to overeating or following a surgical procedure.

All you need are water, old ginger and dried longan meat. You do not need to add any sugar.

INGREDIENTS

2 litres water
50g old ginger
1 cup dried longan meat

METHOD

1. Pour the water in a pot and turn the heat to high.

2. Wash the ginger and peel off the skin but do not slice the ginger.

3. Using the back of a knife, smash the ginger to release the flavour.

4. Place the ginger in the pot.

5. When the water has boiled, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Add the dried longan meat and turn the heat to high.

7. When the water has boiled again, reduce the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes.

TIPS

1. When you are bloated, it is advisable to drink at least 2 litres of water. What I usually do is to boil at least 2 litres of this ginger and dried longan drink and consume it within the day. The drink can be drunk hot or when cooled.

2. If you are drinking at least 2 litres of water a day, your urine should be as clear as possible. If it is dark brown or the colour of Chinese tea, you should consult your doctor immediately as it may be a sign that your kidneys are not flushing out the waste in your body.