Weekend Juicing

I've never been a big juice drinker, not like the kids today who are guzzling all these store bought cartons of different punches and fruit combos.  Back in Pakistan (where I grew up) juice was a treat..   whenever you're out on the streets you could buy deliciously sweet and refreshing sugar cane juice, which I adored!

Two of my favourite juices in the world are sugar cane and carrot juice! My dad brought a juicer home one day and I remember my mother making carrot juice for us.  Vibrant orange, sweet, frothy thick and refreshing with a hint of earthiness, I drank every drop of the stuff!

In my teens I did some juicing, introducing beets, celery and ginger to my favourite orange drink for health benefits.  Lately (as in the last couple of years) I haven't done any juicing, and I don't know how good it is (other than a treat) because I've been reading about some controversial studies but after dusting off the hamilton beach juicer and on a gorgeous day like today it seemed like the perfect project!

I ran over to the supermarket, picked up a bunch of goodies and here you see them all set out onto my kitchen table, then the juicing began!


Some new ingredients that I tried today were Kale & Spinach, alone they were so strong but mixed into the rest of the juices like a cocktail it was really quite delectable!

I can't believe I drank 4 glasses of the stuff though, haha.

Incase you're wondering about the pumpkin seed oil, it's a product that was recommended to me by the shop owner while I spent yesterday morning at the St.Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto.  I got to taste a sample before buying, and it tastes AMAZING! Not for cooking but cold applications of just taken by the teaspoon before bed to replenish vitamin supply in the body.  If you're interested read up more under "Austrian Pumpkin seed oil" or "Styrian gold" and check out the photo sequence of my day yesterday as well here 

So if you've been inspired today to get back into juicing (like me) or try it for the first time then how about making an event out of it? Throw a juicing party and have an array of fresh fruit and veg so that your guests can choose fun combinations that you (or they) can run through the juicer and make fresh juice on the spot!

I think it totally makes the cleanup worth it!

Froyo... and Gelato?

Seems everywhere I look now there is a new froyo place! They're popping up everywhere in the GTA.

I've never been a fan of ice cream, and even less a fan of froyo since I prefer my yogurt balkan, full fat, natural meaning PLAIN not VANILLA (no sugar)  - Once I sent someone to the store to get me plain yogurt and ended up with vanilla, didn't realize that most people don't actually eat plain yogurt, which is the only way we ate it in the Middle East (and for thousands of years I'm sure!) 

Give me a piece of bread, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt over my yogurt (strained yogurt- Lebnah) and I'm a happy girl! 

With all that said I still like to try something new from time to time and since ci gusta! advertised gelato I went in there and found out that it was soft serve, so I chose the salted caramel which was delicious! 

Earlier in the week I ventured over to one of the newly opened Menchie's. They offered tons of varieties of flavours and toppings. I can see why the place was packed with kids, they must love it! A little overwhelming but I liked it just as much if not more than Yogurty's (sorry :( it's just their yogurt tends to melt so quickly which I don't like) Menchie's watermelon was yummy! Didn't like the chocolate or red velvet though. 

Nigella's Blackberry Orange Trifle

Nigella's Blackberry Orange Marmalade Trifle

Super easy and tasty dessert from Nigella that whips up in seconds. Nigella used pound cake, but I'm using a store bought day old angel food cake for this variation.

The steps on her television show were as follows, but I copied the recipe from foodnetwork star for you guys below, although it's slightly different on there and does not use the marmalade. 

2 pound cakes or one angel food cake, sliced and layered on a plate

Marmalade mixed with some hot water into a syrup and drizzled over. 

Zest of 1 orange, thicker longer zest pieces and reserve juice of orange to drizzle over cake either mixed into the marmalade or overtop. 

Top with soft clouds of whipped cream (whipped into soft peaks and not any more - heavy cream/vanilla extract/1 tbsp powder sugar)
Garnish with blackberries and orange zest.

Tastes great the following day too if covered well in the fridge 

Source: Food network 

Ingredients

1 store-bought pound cake

1/3 cup orange liqueur (recommended: Cointreau)

1 orange or 2 clementines

1 cup heavy cream

10 ounces blackberries (about 2 cups, or blueberries if blackberries can't be found)

Directions

Cut the cake into slices and arrange them on a plate or a wide, shallow dish. Drizzle with the orange liqueur.

Zest the orange or clementines into a bowl and set aside. Squeeze the juice from the orange or clementines, over the liqueur-soaked cake.

Whip the cream in a small bowl until thick but soft, and spoon it unfancily over the top of the saturated, not to say gloriously sodden, cake.

Arrange the blackberries over the top of the whipped cream, then scatter with the reserved zest before serving.

Over the last week

We've had quite a busy week, and these are some quick meals that were thrown together. Everyone from humans to cats were satisfied by the spread :D

Chicken soup, with carrots, and kale... didn't have any noodles so we used some dry spaetzle (which are German style egg noodles) turned out great!

Beefy Mushroom soup, with a small grazing spread as a light dinner meal