Berry yogurt swirl: summer with EasiYo

Summer food for me equals quick easy meals, simple (or none at all) cooking. Who wants to spend hours by the hot oven? I tend to offer lighter meals to my family, we eat lots of salads and fruit, or even have picnic-style dinners in the garden. We don't necessarily sit on a rug, but we love the idea of finger foods, dips and crudites. We also eat more yogurt in summer.
I do buy yogurt, especially the non-dairy variety, like coconut yogurts, and I enjoy playing with my EasiYo yogurt maker. Greek Style yogurt is one of my top favourites. It is such a versatile yogurt, great for all kinds of recipes, from simple dips with herbs to cakes, from salads to easy berry desserts.

Berry yogurt swirl could be made with any berries like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, red currants or fruit like fresh figs. It's not exactly a recipe, more of an idea of a quick and easy summer dessert which can be made in minutes, with yogurt either bought or homemade.

Berry yogurt swirls (per serving)
Ingredients:
2 big strawberries, blitzed
about 4-5 heaped tbsp of Greek style yogurt
a handful of red currants
mint leaves
1tbsp pistachio nuts, chopped

Blitz strawberries with a hand blender or in a smoothie maker. Assemble your dessert: strawberry sauce first, then yogurt, and repeat. Add fresh red currants, mint leaves and chopped pistachios on top.

EasiYo is an iconic brand which has been around for 20 years, and recently a new redesigned pink EasiYo yogurt maker has been launched.
The new variety incorporates a host of technical, ergonomic and thermal improvements such as an easy grip to twist and open, new sleek shape and size, non-slip feet for added stability, New Zealand wool insulation and an easier to clean jar.

The entire EasiYo Yogurt Maker and jars are manufactured from US & UK FDA approved polypropylene grade PP130RE1. All parts are BPA-free, which is reassuring to know.

It is easy to clean. I've had it for several months, and have used quite a lot.

It is incredibly easy to operate. You just fill in the smaller container with water half-way, add the sachet of powdered yogurt mix, put the lid on and shake well. Then top up with more water and shake again. Place the yogurt tub inside the yogurt maker and pour boiling water to the top of the spacer. Cover tightly with the lid and leave it to "cook" for 8-12 hours or overnight. Chill before serving.

It makes 1kg of delicious yogurt, with no artificial ingredients.

There is a good choice of different flavours.

We love all berry and fruit flavours, but the Greek Style is probably the most versatile.
I add it to soups instead of the soured cream.

And it takes just minutes to assemble the easiest summer dessert of yogurt, berries and nuts or granola.

If you like the sound of EasiYo, at the moment there is a good offer at Lakeland - you can buy an EasiYo 1kg Yogurt Maker and two sachets starter kit at £9.99. I don't know when the offer expires but if you always fancied trying it, now it's a good time.

Disclosure: I received a pink EasiYo yogurt maker back in spring for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are my own.

Strawberry, avocado and tomato salsa

"It's just another manic Monday, I wish it were Sunday"... or even better summer holidays. I am sooo tired of school. School mornings are a grim affair. Eddie gets up with an "I hate school" motto, though by the time he actually arrives to school, he is usually cheerful and eager to meet his friends.
I have just had another espresso to keep me going. After the weekend there is usually so much to do. The house looks like Genghis Khan and his army went through and stayed overnight, horses and all.
Instead of clearing the mess I am procrastinating, catching up on yesterday's episode of Poldark.
On Saturday Eddie and I went to see Despicable Me 3. Eddie liked it a lot, I wasn't so enthusiastic.

Our latest Degustabox delivery was over a week ago, and I still haven't used any of the recipe mixes in sachets. On Sunday I bought a whole chicken, partly for making soup, partly for roasting with a Pulled Chicken spice mix for pulled chicken sandwiches.
To complement the meal, I made a quick and easy salsa, with whatever ingredients I found in the kitchen. I had fresh tomatoes and a piece of cucumber, tinned sweetcorn, an avocado and a handful of strawberries.

1 medium avocado
2 medium tomatoes
3 big strawberries
1/3 cucumber
4 heaped tbsp sweetcorn
1/2tsp onion granules
1tbsp chilli-flavoured oil
1tbsp lime juice
1tbsp chopped fresh mint

The recipe couldn't be easier. Just chop all the ingredients, season with sea salt, chilli oil, lime juice, add onion granules (or fresh thinly sliced onion) and mix well. Make it just before you are going to eat.

For the roast chicken I used a sachet of Schwartz BBQ Pulled Chicken mix, which promises an authentic American flavour. It adds a rich smokey flavour to meat. Ingredients include caster sugar, salt, onion powder, smoked paprika, molasses powder, garlic powder, flavourings such as barley and mustard, malt extract and more. You just need to add 2tbsp of tomato ketchup and water to mix a paste, which you then rub into chicken before roasting. I have added juice of 1/2 lime to the paste.

Strawberry Prosecco Jam

Late summer and autumn for me means making preserves. I mostly use just plain granulated sugar, as many berries have a high pectin content as it is and don't need any extra pectin.
I was recently asked to try a delightful recipe for Strawberry Prosecco Jam, which uses a jam sugar.
This summer preserve is delicious, sweet and refined, perfect with scones and clotted cream.
I used a big punnet of strawberries (750g), and adjusted the quantities of sugar and prosecco accordingly, which was enough for two big Kilner jars.

Strawberry Prosecco Jam (recipe courtesy of Tate & Lyle)
Prep 5 mins
Cooking 15-20 minutes
Makes 5 x 450g jars

150ml prosecco
1kg Tate & Lyle Jam Sugar
1kg strawberries

Put the prosecco, jam sugar and strawberries into a large heavy-based saucepan, placed over a low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Increase the heat and boil steadily for 10 minutes, taking care to keep an eye on the jam to ensure it doesn't boil too rapidly.
Meanwhile, sterilize 4 x450g jars by washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing well, then placing them in a low oven at 150C/Fan 130c/gas mark 2 for 10 minutes.
Test the jam for setting point. To check, remove the saucepan from the heat, spoon a little jam onto a cold plate and leave for 2 minutes - it should wrinkle softly when your finger is pushed over the surface. If this point has not been reached, return the saucepan to the heat and continue to boil for another 2 minutes. Test as before until setting point is reached (you may need to test several times, though be patient, as this testing is crucial to achieve the correct consistency).
Pour the hot jam into the warm sterilised jars. leave to cool, then seal and label.

Check out his and other tasty recipes, using Tate & Lyle's products at Taste and Smile (link removed as comes as broken).

Cook's tip: Chill a stack of small plates in the fridge, so that you have a few lined up for checking the setting point.

Disclosure: I received a pack of jam sugar to try and test the recipe.

Strawberries with Pimm's

Well done, Andy! It was a great day for British sport. Wimbledon and strawberries come hand in hand. Apparently over 28 thousand kilos of strawberries have been sold at Wimbledon this year. While we haven't watched the momentous win from the Royal Box or anywhere in the vicinity of the Centre Court, we have been indulging in a lovely summery dessert of strawberries and Pimm's. What could be more British?

Years ago, when I was a student at Canterbury, my local friends took me to the strawberry fields out of town. Apparently, that's where the Wimbledon strawberries came from, and as soon as the championship was over, the strawberries were left on the fields to rot as nobody picked them afterwards. Mind you, that was 20 years ago, and I don't know if that's still the case. These were truly the tastiest strawberries I have ever tried.

If you fancy an easy summer dessert for grown-ups, halve about 350g of strawberries, add 150g of blackberries, scatter a few fresh mint leaves and pour 100ml of Pimm's + juice of half a lime over the berries. Let them infuse for a few hours, stirring occasionally. Scatter a few lavender flowers before serving (optional).

How do you like to eat your strawberries? Plain, with cream? On Pavlova, shortbread or in scones?

Yoghurty Melts from Kiddylicious (review + giveaway c/d 25 June 2015)

The range of Kiddylicious products has been recently expanded with an addition of two healthy fruit snacks - Yoghurty Melts (in strawberry and passion fruit & peach flavours). If your kids are anything like my son who's grazing through the day, you are probably having a good stash of snacks at home.
Kiddylicious is a brand, well known among the parents who want to treat their little ones to healthy and delicious snacks.

When Eddie was younger, he was very fond of the Kiddylicious snacks, and even now, at the wise age of 4 (5 in summer) he is not averse to trying new kiddie snacks (as long as I don't mention they are for younger kids, since he insists he's a big boy now).
To be honest, the age is just a number. For example, some of the fruit crisps which are targeted for babies and toddlers are actually great for taking on a trip, or even scattering over the porridge or ice cream. The same goes for most of the Kiddylicious snacks. Fruit and vegetable crisps have a universal appeal, for all ages. And I can predict that the new Yoghurty Melts will be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
So, what are they exactly, those Yoghurty Melts? These are snacks made from fruit and yoghurt, which are literally melting in your mouth.

For little ones, they offer an opportunity to learn to feed themselves, as they are small and easy to handle. They are sweet and bursting with fruity flavours.
What are the ingredients? Apple puree concentrate, skimmed milk yoghurt, sugar, peach or strawberry puree, natural tapioca starch, passion fruit concentrate or carrot concentrate. There are no added preservatives, colours or artificial colours, no added salt, no wheat or gluten.
It is 21kcal per 6g portion.
They remind me of freeze-dried strawberries I buy for cake decoration. You need to keep them sealed, as they easily absorb moisture if you leave them in an open pouch or container.
I haven't had a chance to use the melts in any cake decorating or baking project, as they didn't last long enough. Eddie's verdict was "Very yummy!" I have also tried them, and agree, they taste lovely.

If you'd love to try this new range, I have just the right giveaway for you. Lovely people from Kiddylicious have offered a range of Kiddylicious products as a giveaway prize.


One lucky winner will be able to try a whole range of Kiddilycious products including the new Yoghurty Melts.
To be in with a chance of winning, please enter using the Rafflecopter.

Image credit: Kiddylicious

T&Cs:
Only one entry per person is allowed (however, you can tweet daily to increase your chances).
The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.
Once the Rafflecopter picks the winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested. I will contact the winner, if they do not reply within 28 days, the prize will be allocated to another person.
Please don't forget to leave a comment, as it is the only mandatory step, I will make sure the winner selected by Rafflecopter has complied with T&Cs.

The giveaway will close on 25 June 2015 (at midnight)

Good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentine's day menu

How do you woo your amour on Valentine's day? Do you keep things simple and sweet with a box of chocolates, or do you go for a full Monty and cook a 3-course dinner? Or do you fancy recreating that famous food scene from Nine and a Half Weeks? You know, I have just watched it again on Youtube and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. Oldies are always goldies.
While I might be showing my age by reference to 9 and 1/2 weeks, I like to make an effort and cook a special meal on Valentine's day.

Valentine's day menu

If you are looking for a menu which is easy and romantic, the Italian cuisine might be a source of inspiration. The Italians certainly know how to woo their loved ones with the most tantalising recipes. Take Caprese salad, what could be simpler than slicing tomatoes, mozzarella and tearing some basil leaves? Yet it's one of the most satisfying salads.
For my starter I prepared a light Caprese with a twist, as I also added a sliced blood orange to the classic ingredients. Don't knock it off before you tried it.

Caprese salad with blood orange

For a Caprese salad, slice the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, as well as a blood orange. Arrange the slices so that overlap each other. Drizzle some olive oil, tear fresh basil leaves, season with a bit of pepper if you fancy.

Strawberry Spumante cocktail:

To put you in the romantic mood, how about a cocktail with fresh strawberries?

Whizz 4-5 big strawberries into a thick puree, pour 5tbsp of puree in each glass and top up with a sparkling wine. I used Rosamore Vino Spumante Rosato Brut, an Italian fresh pink sparkling wine. It is a lovely aperitif, fresh and fruity.

For a main course impress your love with a dish of duck breast served with a strawberry and blood orange salsa.
Duck with sweet and sour salsa is a winning combination.
Duck with strawberry and orange blood salsa
Ingredients:
2 duck breasts, skin remove
1tsp grated ginger
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 garlic clove
sea salt
2tbsp olive oil

For the salsa:
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1tbsp maple syrup
a small punnet of strawberries
1 blood orange
a handful of pomegranates
1tbsp fresh thyme

First marinade two duck breasts in a mix of grated ginger (1tsp), juice and zest of 1 lime and 1 garlic clove, grated or pressed through the garlic press. Leave them in the marinade for an hour and a half or more.
Cook the breasts in the frying pan with the olive oil. I like my meat well done, so I don't give any suggestions on the time, it depends on how you like your meat.

Mix the balsamic vinegar with the maple syrup, zest and lime juice. Chop the strawberries and put in the bowl with the marinade. Remove the skin from the blood orange, slice it and put together with the berries. Add the pomegranate seeds and chopped thyme. Ideally the salsa should be left to infuse for a couple of hours. Give it an occasional stir.
Serve the duck breasts with the salsa spooned over.

Chocolate for me is a final indulgence. This Nutella and whisky cake tastes divine and finishes the Valentine's day nicely.

Nutella cake

Nutella cake
Ingredients:
4 medium eggs
100g Nutella+ more for decorating
150g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
3tbsp whisky
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
40g ground almonds
zest of 1 blood orange (optional)
100g butter, melted
Dr Oetker Shimmer spray gold and gold pearls (optional)
30+ minutes

Beat the eggs with Nutella and caster sugar. Add the vanilla essence, whisky, flour, baking powder, ground almonds, orange zest and melted butter, mix well. Pour in a heart-shaped cake tin. Bake at 180C for 30+ minutes.
Once cool to touch, spread some Nutella with a knife and smooth the surface. If you like, add a touch of glamour with Dr Oetker shimmer spray gold and gold pears, but this is optional.

If you are full, and feel a bit of slumber, perk up yourself with a nice cup of latte or cappuccino, sprinkled with cocoa.

To help me cook my Valentine's day dinner, OXO sent three kitchen gadgets of my choice to play with. I love OXO Good Grips, and use all my products from the range regularly. If you visit my kitchen, you'll see that I constantly use OXO Good Grips herb mincer, measuring cup and juicer to name but a few.

My first choice was an OXO Good Grips 3-piece Berry Bowl and Colander set. This jolly colourful set is just the right size for rinsing berries, beans and more. The set comes as a nest for compact storage, it has a non-slip bottom. The set is very easy to clean. The colander has an elevated ring along its bottom, so it also stays stable on the working surface or in the sink when you wash the berris. The holes are elongated for efficient draining. There is a lid with seals the bowl for storing the food in the fridge.

I used the set for washing the strawberries for both the salsa and cocktail and used the bowl for preparing the salsa.

OXO Good Grips Simple Mandoline Slicer is an easy-to-use kitchen gadget. I have fancied a mandoline for a long time. You choose a thickness you need for the food you selected: three slice thickness setting, julienne setting and storage setting. The stainless steel blade is angled and cuts the foods into slices with ease. You hold your piece of fruit or vegetable with a spring-loaded food holder which has a big rim to protect fingers. Textured runway prevents food from sticking.
A soft handle is comfy and soft, plus the mandoline comes with non-slip feet which keep it stable.
Once you finished the job and cleaned the mandoline, its leg folds for compact storage.
I used the mandoline for preparing the salad.

Tomatoes sliced with a mandoline

And finally OXO Good Grips Baker's Dusting Wand is a cute little kitchen gadget. It is useful for flouring the cake tin evenly, for sprinkling surfaces for rolling the dough, and of course, for adding icing sugar to your baked goodies or sprinkling cinnamon or cocoa over cappuccino. It is very light. Twist the wand open, scoop some icing sugar or cinnamon, twist to close and dust whatever you fancy.

Disclosure: I received a selection of OXO Good Grips to prepare a menu for Valentine's day.

Beef steak with balsamic strawberry sauce

It seems I am never going to catch up with all my recipe blogging, as I cook daily and take photos, sometimes taking notes of ingredients, sometimes not, rather hoping that I would remember how I cooked the dish. I've got way too many photos which I look at in bewilderment now, trying to recollect which ingredients I used. Some photos are easy to deconstruct, you just look at what's on the dish, but of course, with the spices and sauces it could be tricky. I cooked beef steaks with balsamic strawberry sauce over a week ago, and thankfully scribbled a basic list of ingredients in my battered and splattered notebook.

Beef Steak with Balsamic Strawberry Sauce (serves 2)
Ingredients:
strawberries (a punnet of 227g)
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tsp caster sugar
2 medium sized beef steaks
2tbsp olive oil
for side dish:
a medium sized pumpkin
about 6 plums, halved
cinnamon & nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil

Start by slicing the strawberries. Place them in a small roasting dish or tray, pour the balsamic vinegar over and sprinkle a spoon of sugar. Roast in the oven preheated to 180C for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, put in a bowl and blitz with the blender. This will be your sauce for steaks. It looks a bit like thick ketchup.
The sauce could be cooked ahead.

Put the whole pumpkin in the oven as you roast the strawberries. In 20 minutes it will be soft enough to cut easily into chunks. Remove the seeds but keep the skin on. Place the slices of the pumpkin in the oven with plum halves. Pour some olive oil and sprinkle with the nutmeg and cinnamon. Roast for half an hour.

Cook the steaks. I don't suggest the times, as I like my steak well-done.
Serve it with the pumpkin and plums and the strawberry sauce poured over the steak.

P.S. While taking photos, make sure the shutter is open completely, or you will end up with photos like mine, with black corners. :)

Macedonia with apple blossom & mint

Whenever we stay in Italy at my in-laws' house, almost every meal is finished with a bowl of fruit salad or Macedonia di frutta. It's not that we don't have any other desserts, aunt Giuseppina's ricotta cake and my mother-in-law's apple tart are works of art, but typically there is so much food that by the end of the meal you cannot possibly stuff yourself with a cake. A bit of fruit salad, on the other hand, always sounds like a good idea.

Macedonia with apple blossom and mint
Ingredients:
1 ripe mango, sliced
1 banana, sliced
1 apple, chopped (for example, Gala)
about 200g strawberries, halved
about 100g of raspberries
2 kiwis, sliced
a handful of grapes, halved
2 mint sprigs (optional)
a handful of apple blossom petals (optional)
2tbsp of caster sugar
2tbsp lemon juice

I started by halving the strawberries, and leaving them in a bowl overnight, sprinkled with sugar. You don't have to do it. It's just I was worried they would go too soft if I leave them overnight without sugar, and we didn't fancy them yesterday night.
Cut all the fruit in the bite-size pieces. Mix the cut fruit and berries in a deep bowl, add the torn leaves of mint and apple blossom petals if using. Squeeze some lemon juice, so that the bananas don't go brown.

This fruit salad will keep well for a day in the fridge in the closed container.

Experiment with the fruit, the Italians love peaches in their macedonia, but they are not very tasty at the moment, flown from afar and tasting of nothing much, even when soft. Swap raspberries for blueberries or pomegranate seeds, add some sliced oranges or pears. Be creative!

Old apple trees in our garden

I have long wanted to try the apple blossom petals in a salad, and we are lucky to have several gorgeous apple trees: two old trees, one quite young, and a baby one, which I planted a couple of years ago, and this year it has got its first blossom.

Most of the ingredients in this fruit salad were purchased for the #MorrisonsMum challenge run by BritMums and Morrisons in conjunction with new price cuts (see more about it in my post Lemony salmon hash with spring onions).

Now let's calculate cost per serving. There was enough fruit salad for 4-5 portions. I used 1 mango (£2 for 2), 1 apple (a bag of 6 for 99p), strawberries for 99p, raspberries for 99p, kiwi at £1.49 per pack of 6 (now 99p), 1 banana (£1 for 5), grapes were from a box for £2 (about 1/4). Rose petals and mint were free from the garden, and are optional, so do not count in the total sum. The total would come to about £4.20 or less, i.e. £1.05 or less per serving. Perhaps not that cheap, but if you buy ready-made fruit salads in small punnets, they are more expensive and are not that fresh.

All the fruit and berries were delicious and fresh.

Raspberries and strawberries were so far the least expensive if you compare the prices with the other supermarkets.

Baby apple tree

Disclosure: as mentioned in the previous post with #MorrisonsMum hashtag, all bloggers taking part in the campaign received vouchers to help with the grocery shopping. All opinions are mine.

Lovely Chris from Cooking Around the World is taking us to Italy this month, and the theme is Italian sweets, puddings and cakes. I presume by puddings Chris means desserts in general.

And of course, adding my recipe to another fab linky, Karen's Cooking with Herbs.

And one more linky, No Croutons Required as hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen.

Mum's strawberry jam

Mum's strawberry jam, or should I say The strawberry jam, because that is how it should be done. Duchy originals and TipTree, eat your heart out.
I could never understand why it is so difficult to find a decent strawberry jam in any supermarkets, they all sell some red slushy-looking bio-mass where all the berries are smashed into an indecipherable blob. That's not a starwberry jam, that's a spread. The proper jam should have berries that still resemble berries, each one is preserved in its glory. And of course, the best jam is made of wild strawberries. Each year, when my Mum plans to come and visit me, she cooks her jam and takes several jars with her on a long trip from Russia, carefully packing them in bubble wrap and tissues. The aroma, when you open the lid, is exquisite, and the taste is totally heavenly.
This jam works perfectly with clotted cream on scones. In fact, I would say that clotted cream from Cornwall and the Russian wild strawberry jam is a marriage made in heaven. Mmmmmm