Green Smoothies

On twitter I follow mostly food people - bloggers, suppliers, restaurants - and one thing that pops up occasionally and that I wonder about, is how does everyone EAT like this all the time (and drink, seriously, some of you have me worried) and stay healthy? The booze effects aside I am certain that many of us are carrying a few extra pounds/kilos/stones that we would easily shed if we didn't dream of truffle egg toast, the latest gelato or extravagant multi course meals. But we do. This is pleasure and we are fortunate to get to indulge ourselves. So lucky.

Whenever I see a tweet about over indulgence and excess food pounds, I think to myself: "green smoothy".

Around the same time of the debate on the toxicity of sugar I was thinking about an upcoming beach holiday. I had never been on a holiday where the primary activities were beach bumming and pool side relaxing so I was anxious about putting on a swimsuit (let alone a two piece - terrifying!) and wanted something to help me tighten up. The basic gist of the toxic sugar debate (or at least what I took from it) is that natural sugars are fine as long as you balance them with their natural fibres - so the sugar in an apple is balanced by the fibre of the apple. If you up your fibre level you are less likely to crave sugar and less likely to snack or binge eat. This may be completely false. But this is what I took from it and right around this time I stumbled across a recipe idea for green smoothies to start your day and to help your body with cravings. Excellent. The two ideas complimented each other perfectly and I started drinking a green smoothy every morning.

In a blender:

a banana
a massive handful of spinach
a nice sized handful of frozen fruit (mango is my favourite)
a cup of water (or so)

Blend. Drink.


This totally changed the way I ate during the day. I had this massive influx of veggie fibre goodness first thing in the morning and I didn't crave anything (I was full) and I ate a small lunch, followed by a regular meal. I think it helps cure hangovers. It makes me feel hydrated. None of these assertions are based on anything but my own experience, but that is enough for me!

So, lovely food bloggers and others who find that their hobby has literally grown on them – green smoothies, five days a week for a month, see if you notice a difference and then report back to me. I mean, clearly the answer was never to cut back on going out and eating deliciousness, the answer must be to make room for the awesome by shifting other food.

Figs with cheese

and a drizzle of honey.

That's all.

Saturday Supper Strawberry Shortcake

C indulges me. In alot of things.

So when I said I wanted to make strawberry shortcake with the strawberries he merely nodded and went about his business, as I expected him to do. BUT. He didn't know what to expect. The Strawberry Shortcake that he knew was the one his sister played with and who is trademarked by Hallmark.

So he was rather pleased when I put this before him for dinner on Saturday night.


Simple, light and airy cakes (thin ones- I don't like them thick) still slightly warm from the oven. Sliced strawberries with a touch of vanilla sugar and a drop or two of balsamic vinegar. And ice cream. Not whipped cream. Ice cream.

Summer on a plate.

And yes, it was dinner. We're the grown ups now. We make our own rules.

How to eat a banana

I don't like bananas. I don't like their texture, their taste or their smell. I dislike them in smoothies, or as fillers in juice. Peeling them grosses me out. I eat them occasionally because they're good for you. But I never like them. (Though I did like them in Peru. They were better there. Smaller.)

For the month of July C&I got an organic box from Growing Communities in Hackney. It has contained a variety of nice yummy things but it always, always contains at least three bananas.

The first week we ate them. Dutifully. The second week we ate them begrudgingly. The third week they sat on the counter and looked at me every morning and I just ignored them. Now it's the weekend of the fourth delivery of bananas and we have way too many of them and they are starting to get brown spots on them. And I cannot eat them with brown spots on them. I just can't. I'm not that grown up.

So this weekend I baked. On Saturday I made banana pancakes care of Nigella. (Verdict: Not bad, quite moist, but banana-y. Sang along to Jack Johnson's Banana Pancake song in my head. ) Today I made banana bread, inspired by Joy of Cooking but with extra bits of goodness (almonds and cinnamon). I still don't think I'll like it, but if I put enough nutella on it, it should be ok.

UPDATE: With enough nutella ANYTHING tastes good.

Pear Pudding

My Great Aunt Jessie, whom I never met, is something of a legend in my mind. She was a formidable woman. She yelled a lot. I think my mom and the other kids thought she was kind of mean. But the woman could cook. Oh, god could she cook! Many of my mom's standard recipes are from Auntie Jesse.

One of my favorite comfort desserts is her Hasty Apple Pudding. It's not pretty, but it's warm and luscious and homey. My mom used to make it. Then she taught me to make it. I made a version for two tonight using the lovely pears in the photo and flavouring the sauce with some star anise.

Here's the full recipe. The halved one needs some tweaking. But this one would be perfect for a cold night and a family of four. Ice cream isn't absolutely necessary, but certainly wouldn't be amiss.

Hasty Apple/Pear Pudding

4-6 apples or pears

Slice the fruit and place them in a pan with a dusting of cinnamon.

Batter

50 g butter
100 g white sugar (flavored with a vanilla bean if that's what you've got!)
1 egg
250 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg.

Alternate between the dry ingredients and the milk til blended. Spoon over the pears.

Sauce

250g brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter (that's 15 grams if you're weighing things. I like to weigh things. Spoons, lemons, pinches...)
1 tablespoon flour
1-1/2c water
a star anise for the pears or a tiny splash of vanilla for apples

Mix all the ingredients in a pot and let boil for five minutes. Pour over battered fruit.

Toss in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cake is done.

Ode to a Blueberry

Photo by Kevin Lawver

I haven’t been cooking much. It’s been too hot to turn on the oven, despite the recent purchase of a saucepan that goes from stovetop to oven (how exciting). So lately dinner has consisted of a pile of salad greens on a plate with some simply cooked protein thrown on top with lemon wedges. It’s been remarkably satisfying but nothing to blog about.

What is worth blogging about is the lovely delicious and perfect blueberries we’ve been eating by the handful after (ok, and before) dinner.

Blueberries can be prohibitively expensive. Last year I didn’t eat a single one, even though they are my favorite berry, because I couldn’t bring myself to pay x amount of dollars for blueberries in a plastic container shipped from California. They didn’t inspire any confidence what so ever that they would taste like summer like the ones I used to pick at Toby Elliot’s place.

This year though I found them at the farmer’s market at the St Lawrence market. Great piles of berries freshly picked from a place I could drive to, if I had a car. And cheap enough that I didn’t feel the least bit indulgent buying them and taking them home to pop into my mouth and savor.

Why are they called bilberries in some places? Are they different? Why are they called blueberries when you bite into them they are white and rather alien eyeball looking?

Last Saturday they weren’t any blueberries. Maybe we were too late to the market that day and they’d all been gobbled up. Or maybe the season is over. Which is sad, but oddly satisfying, to know that my favorite food of the season can’t quite be reproduced by hydroponics gardens in California. I find that comforting.