Virgin Strawberry Mojito

Mojito is a Cuban cocktail that is made using five key ingredients, rum, sugar, lime juice, mint leaves and sparkling water. This is a twist to the traditional Mojito where I have made it nonalcoholic by omitting the rum and adding a summer  flavouring to it with the use of strawberries.

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Virgin Strawberry Mojito

by Nayna Kanabar April-28-2016

Luscious strawberries, aromatic mint muddled to create this refreshing strawberry mojito.

Ingredients:

• 200ml Sparkling water
• 10 Mint leaves
• 4 tablespoons Strawberry Syrup
• 6 Fresh strawberries hulled and diced
• 1 Lime
• 2 cups Ice cubes
• 2 Mint leaves for garnish
• 2 Lime slices for garnish
• 2, Strawberries whole for garnish

Method:

1. Cut the lime in half and cut two slices for garnish, cut the remaining lime in to quarters.

2. In a jug add the lime quarters, diced strawberries, mint leaves and muddle to release the flavours. Divide this mixture equally into two tall glasses.

3. Add two tablespoons of strawberry syrup into each glass and fill the glass with ice cubes.4. Pour sparkling water into the glasses and garnish with the reserved lime slices, mint leaves and strawberries.5. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time:none Total time: 10 mins Yield: Serves 2

NB-You can find the recipe for the strawberry sauce/syrup here, alternatively you can use shop bought.

Since the strawberries are now coming into season you may like some more ideas in which you can make sure of them.
Strawberry Icecream
Strawberry Marble cake
Strawberry Lemonade

Strawberry Sauce

My favorite berry is the strawberry, I love the tartness and the texture of it as it hits my lips. As soon as I see strawberries hit the shops I go mad and buy punnet loads, then of course I have strawberry fever in my kitchen and the dilemma as to what to create with them all. This simple strawberry sauce is one of my favorite recipes that I make when ever I can get my hands on ripe strawberries. Its perfect drizzled on pancakes, icecreams in drinks and also poured on porridge.

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Strawberry Sauce

by Nayna Kanabar April-25-2016

A fruity and delicious Strawberry Sauce.

Ingredients:

• 240g Strawberries hulled and cut into quarters.
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Method:

1. Place the strawberries, lemon juice,sugar and water in a pan and bring the mixture to boil.2.Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce the temperature and simmer on a medium heat for 15 minutes until strawberries start to break and look mushy.3. Turn off the heat and sieve the mixture through a stainless steel sieve. If you want clear strawberry syrup than do not push the cooked strawberries through the sieve, just strain and keep the liquid.If you require thick strawberry sauce than push the strawberry through the sieve to get a thicker mixture.(In this recipe I pushed the strawberries through the sieve which is why mixture is thick and not clear.)4. Allow the sauce to cool and then transfer it to a bottle. You can use this in drinks or to drizzle over ice cream. Store the sauce in the fridge.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 1 small bottle

If like me you too love strawberries  then here are some more delicious recipes to create with them.
Strawberry Icecream
Strawberry Marble cake
Strawberry Lemonade

Green Bean Rice

In this delicious rice dish I have used the OXO vegetarian stock pot, which turned the plain boiled rice into a flavoursome and delectable dish that can be made in a jiffy. The stock posts are concentrated so don't be tempted to add extra spices and salt. The Oxo stock pots are packed with intense flavour and are perfect to add to your soups, stirfries, curries, rice dishes or pasta. They are versatile in use and available 3 different flavour combinations; Garden vegetable with parsley and bay, rich beef with onion and rosemary, succulent chicken with garlic and thyme.

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Green Bean Rice

by Nayna Kanabar April-15-2016

Fragrant lemony rice with green beans and courgettes.

Ingredients:

• 480g Cold boiled basmati rice
• 120g Green beans
• 1 Medium Courgette
• 1 Small white onion finely sliced
• 1 OXO stock pot (garden vegetable with parsley and bay)
• 1 Green chilli finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1/2 tablespoon Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice

Method:

1.Top and tail the green beans and cut them into 1 cm pieces.2.Top and tail the courgettes and cut it into 2cm julienne pieces.3.Add the oil into the wok and once it's hot add the onion, courgettes and green beans and stir fry them for about 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables start to take slight colour.4. Add the contents of 1 OXO stock pot to the vegetables and the lemon juice and turmeric and toss all the ingredients together until all the vegetables are coated.5. Add the rice and green chilli and stir fry the rice for 3-4 minutes until its full warmed through and is totally mixed with the vegetables and flavouring.6. Transfer the rice to serving bowls and enjoy with a curry or cucumber raita.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: Serves 4

I love trying new products and as always I would like my readers to have a chance to try the products too. Oxo have been really generous and have put together a goody bag of some lovely things that I have to give way to one simplyfood reader.

The goodybag consists of:

1x Ladle, 1x Mackie’s Soup Mug, 1x Sistema Microwavable Travel Mug, 1x OXO Cookbook and a selection of x5 OXO Stock Pots.

How To Enter:

·         Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries

·         Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc

·         Please read the rules they form the terms and conditions of this Giveaway

·         Closing date – 30th April 2016 12.00 am

How Rafflecopter works:

• You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box. Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.
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Tidbits in my Pantry from Bloggers Party

This month I have had an interesting collection of products in my pantry to sample. They did not arrive through the post, instead I had the opportunity to attend the Bloggers tea party where a few of these brands were showcasing their products. I had the chance to meet the creators behind the brands and taste their awesome products.

Fruit Jerky- A delicious vegan gluten free fruit snack made from misshapen rescued fruit. Two delicious flavours Apple and Raspberry and Apple and Mango.These are the perfect on the go snacks.

Pic's Peanut Butter -  Pure peanut butter made from roasted peanuts and ground to make peanut butter. There is the smooth or crunchy variety. No other additives are found in this jar of goodness from New Zealand.The crunchy peanut butter was divine.

Chika's A taste of the Exotic- A collection  of tasty snacks from West Africa which include Chickpea crisps, cashew nuts , peanuts, smoked almonds and plantain crisps.There were truly delectable and moreish,I could continue to nibble on these fore ever.

Jakes Boost- All natural nut and seed butter which is sugar-free, palm oil-free, salt-free, gluten- and dairy free and vegan.I loved the addition of the seeds and the crunchy texture they gave the butter.

Biotifuldairy's Kefir Organic Cultured milk smoothies - Smoothies with probiotic cultures and vitamins and minerals in 4 different flavours Honey and Mint, Morello Cherry, Riazhenka(baked milk) and Kefir. I had never tried Kefir before so was pleasantly surprised at the taste.

Drink me chai-  Drink Me Chai Latte is range of delicious award winning Chai Latte’s inspired by the original Chai from India.Being a chai drinker these collection of chai's really rocked my boat.

Just Bee Honey water- Natural spring water enriched with a drop of honey in three delicious flavours Blueberry, Lemon and Green tea and Apple and ginger.I was really  so impressed with this drink and really enjoyed the Apple and ginger one although all three flavours were great.












I would like to Thank all the brands that  gave me their product samples to taste. All views and opinions are my own.

Vegetables in Tao Pan Sauce with Garlic Rice #PowerofFrozen

During the week when I work, I always plan my meals the night before and make a point of cooking meals that can be done in less than 45 minutes. To achieve this, I rely a lot on my freezer for pre prepared frozen vegetables, herbs and spices and some pre prepared home cooked meals. New freezing methods used nowadays ensure that the full nutritional value of the vegetables and their freshness is retained fully so that I can reach out to my freezer at anytime and can be assured that the vegetables we consume are at their best. I am a big fan of freezing vegetables when they are in season so I have use of  them all the year around.

This delicious Garlic Rice and Vegetables in Tao Pan sauce with cashew nuts is one of my family's most favorite meals and I can have it from wok to table in less than 45 minutes.

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Vegetables in Tao Pan Sauce 

by Nayna Kanabar March-2-2016

A medley of vegetables cooked in a sweet and sour Tao Pan sauce with cashew nuts served with aromatic Garlic Rice.

Ingredients:

• 450g Iceland Mixed peppers
• 450 g Iceland Broccoli mix (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots)
• 200g Tinned Pineapple cubes (drained and serve juice)
• 6 Spring Onions (finely chopped)
• 3 Garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• 1 Red Chilli finely sliced
• 4 tablespoons Sweet and sour chilli and garlic sauce
• 2 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup
• 1 tablespoon White wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Dark Soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Pineapple juice
• 1 teaspoon  Corn flour
• 1 teaspoon Fresh ginger(finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon Iceland Taste red chilli flakes
• 1 tablespoon Sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons Cashew Nuts

Method:

1. Chop the broccoli and cauliflower florets into smaller pieces.2. In a wok add the oil, when the oil is hot add the cashew nuts and fry them until they are golden brown, remove them from the oil and drain them onto kitchen paper.3. To the remaining oil, add the garlic and spring onions followed by the peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, red chilli and carrots and stir fry the vegetables on high heat for 3-4 minutes until they are cooked through.4. In a jug add the pineapple juice and corn flour and whisk together. To this mixture add the salt, garlic chilli sauce, tomato ketchup, soya sauce, fresh ginger, red chilli flakes and whisk together again. Add this sauce to the vegetables in the wok and stir fry until all the vegetables are fully coated with the sweet and sour sauce.5. Toss in the pineapple chunks and  the fried cashew nuts. Transfer the Tao pan vegetables from the wok into a serving bowl.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: Serves 4

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Garlic Rice

by Nayna Kanabar March-2-2016

Aromatic grains of Chinese rice fragranced with sauteed garlic, scallions and a hint of chilli.

Ingredients

• 3 bags Iceland Easy Steam white rice
• 1 tablespoon Soya sauce
• 6 Garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Red chilli(finely sliced)
• 1/2 teaspoon Iceland Taste red chilli flakes
• 4 Spring Onions(finely sliced)
• 1 tablespoon Sunflower oil

Method:

1. Place the Iceland Easy Steam white rice bags in the microwave for 6 minutes.2. Peel the garlic and cut it into thin round slices.3.Remove the rice from the microwave and carefully cut open the bags and transfer the rice onto a plate and allow it to cool slightly.4.Add oil into a wok and allow it to heat up. Add the garlic slices and saute until they start to turn slightly brown. Remove the sauteed garlic slices from the oil onto kitchen paper.5. To the remaining oil, add the spring onions, red chilli slices, chilli flakes, salt and the rice and toss the rice. Add the soya sauce and a sprinkle of salt and then toss the rice until it is well infused with the garlic oil flavours. Add the pre sauteed garlic slices and toss them into the rice.Transfer the rice to a serving bowl.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: Serves 4

This post was in collaboration with Iceland as part of the #Powerof Frozen Campaign. To learn more about Icelands frozen foods, do visit the #Powerof Frozen website where you will find lots more recipe ideas.

You can also see some delicious recipes created by some of my friends below, please note they are not all vegetarian.:

Emilys Five Spice Scallops with Noodles
Kerry's Chocolate Berry Crumble
Kate's Pesto and Cauliflower picnic pies
Sarah's Five Fish Pie
Jacqueline's Creamy Mushroom Potatoes