A post St. Valentine's breakfast

Have you tried the post St. Valentine’s Day supper? If you did and it was a success, now you may have a guest to for breakfast.

An omelette is an easy option especially in your electric wok. Decide on your filling or fillings, I like more than one. There are a myriad of ingredients from cheeses to vegetables to meat to seafood. We’ll keep this one simple but very tasty.

Sundried tomatoes and feta cheese;

Having a jar of sundried tomatoes in olive oil is a must in your stock cupboard, have a largish jar. There are so many dishes you can use them in.

Another good addition to your stock cupboard is red peppers in olive oil. Again they can be used in just about any dish you make.

Back to the omelette; Heat up your wok to a mediumish high temperature add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and ground in black pepper to your taste preference.

Spoon out two tablespoons of tomatoes onto a folded piece of kitchen role, to soak of the excess olive. Crumble up the feta cheese, the amount depending how cheesy you like it.

Beat, or much better a in blender, two eggs and two to three tablespoons of egg white (another good addition to you stock cupboard, it lasts quite awhile in the fridge) some sea salt to taste. I use that little dip in the palm of my cupped hand as a general measure. Add a little milk to bulk up the mixture.

When you blend the egg mixture, you get a lot more from the eggs. Making a much bigger omelette or more scrambled egg.

Add the tomatoes to the wok to heat through for a few minutes.

You may have to move the tomato pieces around when you’ve pored in the egg mixture.

Here is the trick wok cooking omelettes. Making sure the oil is nice and hot, swirl the oil around so it coats the wok sides. Pour in the egg mixture swirling this up the sides as well. If the wok is hot enough it should stay on the sides. Using your wooden spatula break up the bottom of the omelette to let it cook through.

Drop in the feta cheese and let start to melt.

Here’s the trickiest part, carefully fold over the sides to cover the cheese and tomato. Of course try to do all this without burning the omelette.

While you were doing this and quietly swearing under your breath, cursing the guy whoever told you could make an omelette in a wok. Your guest could have been making the toast and the coffee and setting the table. After all they have to earn their breakfast. If they haven’t already!

You could serve this with a side of grilled bacon and mushrooms or tomatoes. This omelette should be big enough for two if you gave the egg mixture a good beating.

Of course you could do all this in your Calphalon frying pan/skillet. www.calphalon.com.

To be honest these days now I have a proper kitchen. I do use regular pans on a stovetop to cook foods I had had to cook in the electric wok.

When you are buying pans get the best you can. It pays in the end. 

During the UK’s skirmish with the Argentina, I was sent to Ascension Island to do my bit for Queen and Maggie Thatcher.

Green Mountain

Rock scape from the Extinct Volcanos

Ascension island  it's self is quite a remarkable place, just a lump of rock made by the erupting volcanos.
The British navy used it has a guard island when they had shut  Napoleon away on the island of St. Helena.
There was no vegetation to speak of. The marines that were stationed there had the bright idea of making there own rainforest. They started to carry bags of soil to the top of what is now known as Green Mountain. They chose this extinct volcano because most of the time it was in cloud, subsequently natural watering. So much soil was carried there bamboo plants were planted to attract even more moisture.
Now the marines were able to grow there own produce.
The marines have gone now but there is a flourishing produce among the islanders living there.

I would stand in amazement watching a Philippino chef, cook any style of egg on a hot plate (No not poached). For an omelette he would pour the egg mixture onto the plate and fashion to a round shape, add whatever ingredients your wanted and in minutes you’d have your perfect omelette. He’d cook scrambled egg the same but obviously fashion it into scrambled egg.

Enjoy your breakfast and the rest of the day.

How was you're St. valentine's day?

How was your St. Valentine’s Day? A great success or not so good. You forgot to book a table. You always have to book a table regardless when it is. The number of times I’ve seen an embarrassed guy and a disappointed lady turned away from a restaurant, it’s totally avoidable. Book even if it’s a cold wet Monday night in the middle of February.

This post is not about restaurant booking but a meal idea to show your appreciation, or. Eh, sorry I won’t let that happen again.

A COLD SUPPER AT HOME:

First setting the scene, it’s St. Valentine’s week.

Don’t forget the flowers and candles. Everyone likes flowers and a nice smell from a candle. Girls, even guys like to receive flowers.

My favourite place for candles is L’Occitane, especially the lavender and amber candle, www.loccitane.com.

 

Decide whether it would be better sat at a table, maybe a low coffee table. 

If your only pet is a goldfish you could sit on the floor on a nice soft blanket or rug.

Have a nice tablecloth for the spread of food.

Go out and buy a chocolate fondue warmer and the Ghirardelli dark chocolate at least 60% cacoa baking chips. Make sure you can get good quality strawberries. This is for the dessert and maybe afters as well.

Have few chocolate covered strawberries ready. Have the rest when you’re sat cosying up together.

Do some research, find out what romantic or happy weepy film your intended guest would like to see. It could be a relatively new film, French kiss or Four weddings and a funeral, maybe an oldie like Casablanca or Affair to remember. Not “Fatal Attraction”.  “Love in the time of Cholera”, should be okay!!

A new friend of mine told me about Paradiso. But beware of foreign movies, one, you have to read the lines, two, your guest may not understand it anyway.

Now the meal, you can plan all this a few days before and do the shopping. There are only a few things that’d be better bought on the day. Like fresh bread and such.

This is going to be a cold dish casual supper. What you use is purely your choice and what you know your guest will appreciate. Here in Vegas, Smiths www.smithsfoodanddrug.com have a wide range of good quality cold cuts and cheeses as do the other major supermarkets. In the UK Sainsbury’s or Waitrose have always been very good. It’s hard to beat Marks & Spencer as well.

Selections you may think of: A good quality ham, turkey breast maybe roast beef. Italian salamis are hard to resist, if you like them that is. They’re so many types.

Smoked salmon is one of my favourites, you can serve with a soft cheese spread or dill spread. Salmon caviar or even proper caviar.

I really hit the spot one time and had a dozen oysters.

Pâté is a must, take your pick of the many choices, serve with wedges of lemon on fresh Italian or French bread. Don’t bother with toast, just break or cut off chunks of the bread.

Cheeses; you’ll have to be careful here. Not everyone likes cheese smelling of old socks, blue cheese isn’t for everyone. Go for European cheeses, much tastier than American varieties. Wholefoods market probably has the best selection here in Vegas. I don’t know of any cheese specialist here. Wherever you live they’ll be a good cheese shop.

Don’t forget the crackers, not Grahams. Get English style dry crackers for cheese.

Salad buy one of the pre-packed variety, save you time and messing about. Just to show you are a bit of a chef make your own dressings. They’re easy enough and quick to make, if you have a blender and much nicer than bought stuff.

What you’ll need: Balsamic vinegar, white vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon or lime juice, 3 garlic cloves, small onion i.e. shallot, Dijon mustard and pinch thyme or oregano, or any herb that you like and a little soft brown sugar (optional but nicer), sea salt and fresh ground pepper

My simple dressing: Crush or mince 2 garlic cloves into a cup or whatever container you use, add equal amounts of white vinegar and olive oil, lemon/lime juice and brown sugar to your taste. Mix it well or blend it all. Set aside, make it early it’s better when it’s stood for awhile.

Made too much, so’k it’ll keep in the fridge for a few days.

Balsamic vinaigrette; (from the South beach diet book): Combine 3 table spoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 minced or crushed clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon minced onion and a pinch of the herb. Whisk or blend all together, add salt and pepper to taste.

This also keeps okay for a few days in the fridge.

Bread, there are so many good breads around these days it’s hard to go wrong. I’d go for an Italian and French Artisan bread, really good stuff.

This would be better bought on the day if you know they’ll be plenty of stock.

Fruits, the magic strawberries, maybe some grapes or pineapple. Something that you can have all ready before hand.

Drinks; Sparkling mineral water, my preferred is S. Pelligrino. 

Wine, you could go over board and have a bottle of champagne. A choice of a good white and good red will do. The choice these days is outstanding whether in a supermarket or booze specialist. For a white Pino grigio is nice and light. A lot of people play safe and go for a chardonnay, they can be a bit strong tasting for some though. Reds are more difficult as they can be more of a personal choice, Pino noir or Merlot are usually safe. The selection from Chile and Argentiniam Malbac are now getting the attention they deserve.

Don’t forget your guest might like a beer. Get something good like Fat tire, there are plenty of good Amercan dark beers around now, or a good English/Irish beer. For lager you can’t beat Stella.

A check list: Cold cuts of meat, salami, smoked salmon, pâté, cheeses, salad, bread, fruit, drinks.

The South Beach Diet Regime

South Beach Diet

For the past 14 days I’ve been manfully following the South beach diet regime. That’s phase one nearly over, because of a few slips I’ll carry phase 1 on to Friday. It’s been quite painful for me. I love my bread and potatoes. The lack of fresh carb power has made me irritable and gave me a slight headache. Especially trying to keep up my exercise sessions at the gym.

It made it quite difficult for me to adjust my eating habits. You have to ditch the carbs for two weeks. No sugar or starchy foods, no alcohol of any kind. I did wonder if you could use beer or wine in the recipes. As the alcohol is burnt of during cooking.

Eating five times a day is hard to adjust to. That’s five prescribed types of meal. No carbs. I felt I was preparing food all day long, as I was not used to preparing food the South Beach way.

Like now I only had lunch a little while ago and I’m hungry already.  I could have my afternoon snack of ½ a cup of dry roasted soy nuts and a glass of 1% or fat free milk, which has no taste at all.

Have you ever eaten Ricotta cream, I hadn’t on it’s own before or in a cheesecake. Never again, I’ll have to find another way to eat it, without it touching my mouth. The same with avocados, I can’t eat those if I feel their texture. No doughnuts or sugary cakes as a quick snack.

I could just kill a couple of English scones (home made) strawberry jam and Devonshire clotted cream, available from Whole food markets, a  typical English cream tea. www.wholefoodsmarket.com.

But besides all the grumbling I have lost between 6 and 8 lbs. and my waist, where ever that is, has diminished nearly an inch. Only 12 more pounds and 6 inches to go, losing the inches, is more important than the pounds.

The South beach diet book gives you a suggested daily meal plain and the recipes to go with it.

Most of them are quite tasty if you add a few embellishments. No extra fat or sugars, starchy food though, a few tastier vegetables and spices.

Here are a couple recipes I used and modified to my liking.

Cod with tomato and peppers;

Ingredients;

Extra-virgin olive                                                Can of diced tomatoes

A medium zucchini cut into ¼ inch slices

2 pequillo peppers sliced thinly. Buy them in a jar.

1 small sliced onion
6 oz cod fillet per person

3 garlic cloves minced                                    2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Fresh lemon zest                                                asparagus

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

I also added Sundried tomatoes and fire roasted red peppers. These were from a jar; 2 sticks of celery; a can of anchovies. These were wrapped around a caper. What a job to have on your CV! Plain anchovies work fine drain them from the oil. I didn’t but a handful of capers would give a nice touch of taste, as would some pitted olives.

I used fresh pequillo peppers the first time I made this dish, I didn’t feel they added any taste. The second time I didn’t have pequillo peppers, I’ll have to buy a jar they maybe tastier.

Method

In a large enough frying pan or your electric wok, on a medium heat, heat the olive oil with some ground black pepper, I have this thing about putting in fresh ground pepper in with the oil. Add the garlic for a few minutes to cook the flavour into the oil. Add the onions to slightly soften then add the zucchini, celery, peppers and sun dried tomatoes. Add the anchovies being careful while stirring trying not to break them up. Fry these together for a few minutes to blend the flavours, stirring to make sure nothing burns then add the tinned tomatoes. Stir everything in together and simmer for about 10 minutes. Do a taste test to see if you need to season with salt and pepper.

Nestle in the cod fillets into the sauce, covering the fish with some of the mixture. Let the dish simmer for about 10 minutes or until the fish is looking opaque and cooked through.

Serve on a warmed plate.

Make a gremalata with the lemon zest and parsley, squeeze a little lemon juice in with gremalata. Sprinkle over the dish when served.

This would be great with wholemeal pasta, sweet potato fries, boiled new potatoes or brown rice.

With South beach diet, just a side salad and asparagus.

To cook the asparagus, heat a little extra-virgin (I love that phrase) olive oil, grind in some black pepper, fry the asparagus just enough to soften.
I learnt last night one of the American chefs, Rachael Domenica Ray, I think, I've never seen her show calls Extra-virgin olive oil "EVOO". Would she like me to call her "RaDaR?
Why can't they just speak English?

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes, Spinach and Capers

Ingredients

6oz salmon fillet per person                                    3ozs baby spinach 3 cups

1 pound plum tomatoes                                           1 medium onion

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil                                    1 Tbsp washed drain capers

2 minced garlic cloves                                             4 Lemon wedges

2 sticks of celery Optional, I like to add celery to almost anything.

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

While you were preparing the ingredients have the grill/broiler on to heat up to maximum heat. Cover the grill pan with kitchen foil and brush with olive oil. You could spray with that awful cooking spray stuff.

Place the salmon flesh side up in the grill pan, season with salt and pepper to your taste. Grill without turning until salmon is cooked through, 8-10 minutes depending on your grill.

While the salmon is grilling in a large frying pan or saucepan or even better your wok. Heat the oil; add the onion and garlic and celery if using, stirring occasionally until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, spinach and capers. Cook for a few minutes, being careful not to over cook the spinach.

The salmon should be ready now. Transfer to warmed plates and spoon over the tomato mixture, squeeze over the lemon juice and serve warm.

The fried asparagus goes well with salmon.

Serve with a green and red leave salad, remember this a South beach diet meal and a blue cheese dressing.

Blue cheese dressing: Blend together ½ cup of low fat mayonnaise, 2 Tbsp of crumbled blue cheese, 1 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice and few dashes Tabasco sauce. Whisk in ¼ cup of fat-free buttermilk, season to taste with salt and black pepper.

One very thing about the South Beach diet book it has some very good recipes for quick salad dressings.

These are just a few of the meal ideas, there are plenty of meat dishes you can try.


These meals can be easily cooked in your electric wok.

Decadent slow cooked Lamb shanks

LAMB SHANKS IN PORT AND RED WINE WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES

My first signature dish, everyone needs a signature dish or two, maybe three. Something you cook really well.

This recipe I combined from a few recipes I’d seen and eaten.

My first experience of this recipe was at a country pub not too far from Bath, www.visitbath.co.uk. The meal was so popular at the pub you would have to give your order at the time of reserving a table.

When my daughter told me this I was wondering why it was so popular. Once eating the meal I knew why, it was very good. It had to be ordered in advance as it takes a few hours to cook.

My version is cooked wholly in my electric wok and slow cooker. You can use a heavy frying pan and a casserole dish in the oven. Or even completely on a low setting in your wok.

Now the recipe:

Ingredients:

Lamb shanks                           1 per person

Plain flour                          

Virgin olive oil

Sprigs of fresh rosemary                                   

Small onions                           2 or 3 per shank

Sundried tomatoes                  half a cup drained

Port                                           125 ml

Dry red wine                             375 ml                 

Chicken stock                          125ml

Chopped parsley

Method: 

Toss the lamb shanks in the flour:

Heat the olive oil and brown the shanks with a few  sprigs of rosemary.

Drain off the excess oil on kitchen roll:

Put the shanks into your slow cooker or slow cook in the oven:

Fry the onions with the rosemary for a few minutes to soften a little, I feel this brings out more of the onion flavour, remove the rosemary.

Add the onions, sun dried tomatoes, port, red wine and chicken stock.

Cook slowly 4 to 6 hours until shanks are fully cooked; i.e. flesh beginning to fall off the bone.

Add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary towards end of cooking.

Remove shanks and keep warm. Put the heat setting on your slow cooker to high and simmer the juices until sauce thickens. Add corn flour thickener if necessary.

Sprinkle over the chopped parsley

Serve with broccoli or asparagus and fresh baby carrots.

I fry asparagus in a little olive oil and fresh ground black pepper and sprinkle with fresh lemon zest. Don't over cook the asparagus.

John’s style roast potatoes.

 Drinks, wine; a good quality rose or a light red wine. It is quite a rich dish so nothing too heavy.

Serve a lemon sorbet to clean the pallet before serving dessert.

Try a measure of peppermint liqueur or cordial with the lemon sorbet.

Something I found out getting rid of a bottle of Crème de Menthe.

Save the richer red wine and rest of the port for after dinner cheese and biscuits.

Two easy stir-fry recipes

CHILLI BLACK BEAN CHICKEN WITH PEPPER AND

OYSTER MUSHROOMS

INGREDIENTS

2 Chicken breasts sliced

            3 tbsp corn flour

            2-3 tbsp groundnut oil

            1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

            1 green pepper, sliced

            100 g oyster mushrooms, coarsely sliced

            Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

For the black bean sauce

            3 large cloves garlic finely chopped

            2 cm piece ginger finely chopped

            2 red chillies seeds removed and finely chopped

            2 tbsp light soy sauce

            2 tbsp fermented salted black beans, washed and crushed

METHOD

1. For the black bean sauce: combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside until needed.

2. Coat the chicken lightly in the corn flour. Heat a wok over high heat and add the groundnut oil. Add the chicken, let it settle for less than a minute and then start to stir-fry. When the chicken starts to turn opaque, add the rice wine. Stir-fry for less than 2 minutes until the chicken has cooked through. Set aside on a plate.

3. Add the peppers and oyster mushrooms to the wok with a splash of water to create some steam and stir-fry until al dente for 1 minute. Return the chicken to the wok, add the prepared black bean sauce and stir and cook for 30 seconds.

4. To serve, place a mound of jasmine rice on the side of the plate and ladle the chicken stir-fry on the side.

This recipe is from Ching he Huang recipes

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry Recipe

Ingredients

            2 tablespoon soy sauce, reduced-sodium

            1 tablespoon cornstarch

            1 tablespoon rice vinegar

            1 tablespoon ginger, fresh, grated

            1/4 teaspoon pepper, red, crushed

            2 clove(s) garlic, minced, minced

            12 ounce(s) beef, top sirloin steak

            1 bunch(es) broccoli

            2 teaspoon oil, cooking

            2 medium carrot(s), bias-sliced 1/8 inch thick

            3/4 cup(s) broth, reduced-sodium beef

            4 scallion(s) (spring onions), sliced lengthways

       Noodles or Jasmine rice

Preparation

1. For marinade, in a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, cornstarch, vinegar, ginger, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Trim fat from meat. Cut meat across the grain into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Add meat to marinade; toss to coat. Cover and marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes. Drain meat, discarding marinade.

2. Meanwhile, cut broccoli florets from stems. If desired, peel stems. Cut stems into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

3. In your wok 1 teaspoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add meat; cook and stir in hot oil for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly pink in center. Remove meat from wok or skillet.

4. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil to hot wok or skillet. Add broccoli and carrots; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add beef broth: cook and stir for 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of wok or skillet. Return cooked meat to wok or skillet. Add green onions; heat through. Serve noodles or jasmine rice

Stir-Fry my way

STIR FRY MY WAY

Staying with the healthy eating theme lets look at cooking a stir-fry.

Stir-fry’s are really quite easy once you have the hang of it.

I prefer the traditional round bottom wok I understand the flat bottom wok is to accommodate electric cookers.

The first time I saw a wok being used was at the food stalls in Singapore where the food was cooked fresh in front of you. There the round bottom would sit comfortably inside the gas ring with the flames licking up the sides. It was quite mesmerising to watch these wizened Chinese cooks throw the noodles and vegetables around in and out of the wok with such dexterity.

When I cook a stir-fry I like to have colour, lots of red and green vegetables, with a blend of tastes from the Asian sauces. I recently went to stir-fry demonstration at a local posh kitchenware shop. Their dishes tasted okay but lacked the excitement or colour and different tastes.

A great website for Chinese and stir-fry cooking is www.chinghehuang.com. I may have mentioned the website on a previous post but it is well worth checking out the site.

Ching he Huang cookery books and Ching’s wok are available from; www.amazon.com

www.amazon.co.uk

What you’ll need for your Stir-Fry;

A round bottom non-stick wok; I like electric for a few reasons, your not tied to cooking over a hot oven. You can place them anywhere in the kitchen or cooking area, close to where you’re chopping up the meat and vegetables. When the weather is okay you can cook outside, that’ll save the cooking smell inside. Electric woks are so convenient, very easy to take apart and wash, even in the dishwasher.

Provisions;

It’s best if you can keep a supply of meats or seafood and vegetables in the fridge or freezer. Not forgetting the sauces and spices you may like. Once you’ve mastered your favourite stir-fry’s you’ll cook them more than once a week. They are quite quick and easy to prepare.

Any meat you fancy, even a mix will do. I only mix white meats like chicken and pork. Good quality beef cuts are a must. I’ve never used lamb. Prawns a must when thinking of seafood but just about all seafood are fine for stir-fry. Fish, you have to be a bit more selective, salmon is fantastic tuna works as well.

The vegetables, green and red; Onions red or white, shallots, spring onions (scallions) fresh ginger, garlic, broccoli, mangetout, asparagus, celery, baby carrots, red and green bell peppers, red and green chillies, baby sweet corn, bean sprouts, cilantro, there maybe more you like. Just try them and experiment, trial and error that is how the recipes are discovered.

Asian sauces and spices; Chinese 5 spice powder, light soy sauce, Thai fish sauce, Shao Hsing rice cooking wine, plum, hoisin, black bean, teriyaki, oyster sauces and any that I’ve missed. Canola and sesame oil, sesame gives your stir-fry a more subtle flavour.

The noodles, there oodles of noodle types. My preference is the fat pansit style noodle that comes from Philippines. You get some equally good nodles from Thailand, what ever you prefer. I always get those you just pour boiling water over for a few minutes before adding to the main event.

How I cook a stir-fry;

I would first get all the ingredients together, sauces and spices, meat and or seafood and the vegetables. Then prepare the meat/seafood and the vegetables you’ll be using.

Lets say a chicken breast and prawn dish; the prawns break off the head and the leggy bits, leaving on the main shell and tail. The chicken breast cut into thinnish strips so it will cook quickly and evenly. You could also use pork loin.

Then prepare the vegetables;

Onion or shallot thinly sliced, crushed cloves of garlic to your taste, finely chopped or grated ginger.

Broccoli broken into florets, mangetout, celery, a note about celery. You don’t have to cut off and throw away the leaves, if they are fresh chop them up with the celery and cook with the dish.

That’s enough greenery, red pepper de-seeded and cut long ways, carrots cut the same way for Feng shui or cut into slivers with a potato peeler. If you like a little spicy heat a few whole red chillies. Keep them whole and whoever doesn’t like them can avoid them.

The sauces, decide what you’ll use, not too many. Maybe hoisin and plum this time and a little oyster sauce.

Boil a kettle of water to have ready to pour over the noodles, have the noodles in a suitable bowl or saucepan.

Have the wok nice and hot, pour in a little oil to cook the chicken and prawns. Cook until the prawns are pink and the chicken slightly cooked coloured all over. Remove from the wok and keep warm.

In with a little more oil if needed and fry the onions, garlic, ginger, celery and chillies if you’re using. Fry until onions starting to go translucent add the sauces you’ll be using, using a teaspoon. Taste to see if you like adding a little more if needed. Add a little soy sauce and rice wine, with a little fish sauce for a salty taste. Then add the broccoli, mangetout and carrots. Cook for a few minutes stirring in well with all the sauce, don’t over cook the broccoli, it looks horrible.

Add the chicken and prawns mixing in well the vegetables.

While you were doming all this, you would have poured the boiling water over the noodles to soften them. Drain of the water in a sieve and stir in well with the sauce, meat and vegetables.

Garnish with cilantro (coriander) and/or spring onions cut length ways.

You could serve the noodles separately.

Healthy Snack Time

Hungry when you’re finished at the gym and fed up with extortionate price of a smoothie or sandwich at the gym.

 Or just need a healthy snack during the morning.

Make your own smoothie, they ‘re really easy if we’re not too lazy to make them. It takes longer to clean the processor/blender than it does to make them.

What you’ll need;

A food processor or blender, a good blender is not that expensive and doesn’t take up too much room.

What to use:

Low fat plain yoghurt. You could get flavoured but plain is better.

Low fat milk.

Wheat germ (a healthy option);

Honey, optional.

Bananas

Frozen berries such as strawberries, blue berries or any that take your fancy.

Optional, a melon, not water melon. Believe it not watermelon is packed with sugar according to the Low GI brigade.

Method;

Put the yoghurt and a banana in the blender with the frozen berries you choose just strawberries or a cocktail. Experiment. The honey if you use.

Blend all this together, add some milk if you think it’s too thick.

Add a dessertspoon of wheat germ and blend till mixed in. Wheat germ is full of all sorts of good stuff, vitamin E and folic acid. No sodium or cholesterol.

Add more if you don’t mind the taste, it’s supposed to give you more vitality. Energy.

You can add it to just about anything you eat or cook.

One thing to remember, it’s still alive if you can imagine a plant still alive. Once you’ve opened it you have to keep it the fridge. You’d be surprised what will start crawling around in it. Nothing harmful.

I didn’t know this when I first bought it. I was living in the Middle East then. To my horror I found all these crawly things in my food cupboard. My cupboards needed a clean out anyway.

I still eat it though and full of vitality.

A healthy sandwich;

Banana and peanut butter on whole meal or multi grain bread. Bananas are at there best when you start to get brown speckles on the skin, they go over quite quickly after this, but still okay for your smoothie.

Just spread over the sliced banana and peanut butter, have it topless or with a top on.

This is great toasted as well for the afternoon or mid-morning snack.

You could sprinkle over a teaspoon of wheat germ for good measure.

Another sandwich;

You’ll need a pitta bread per person.

Fresh lemon juice, olive oil.

White cabbage, parsley,  celery, tomato.

A healthy meat choice to your liking, turkey breast maybe.

Salad cream or mayonnaise, salad cream is a British thing. We do have Hellimans mayonnaise in the UK but I prefer salad cream.

In Las Vegas the best place to buy it is the ‘Fresh & Easy store. They stock a good supply of British stuff at a reasonable price.

Http://www.freshandeasy.com

Make a Cypriot style salad of chopped cabbage, stick or two of celery and chopped parsley. Mix together with the lemon juice, go easy on the lemon juice and olive oil.

Warm the pitta bread either in the microwave or under the grill (broiler). Not too much, you need to keep the bread soft. Just enough so you can split the bread and spread on the salad cream or mayonnaise and fill with the salad, tomato and meat.

If the warmed bread stayed soft enough you should be able to fold or roll.