Rainbow Salad with Chocolate Dip

Last Friday (26th June 2015), shortly after I published my post for last week, it was announced that same-sex marriage has now been legalised in all 50 states of the USA.  Although I'm UK-based, where legislation to allow same-sex marriage was passed in July 2013 and came into force in March 2014, I think that it's a great step for Americans to be granted this right as well.  So many couples have been negatively affected by their relationships not being acknowledged by the American government and in some cases, the medical system.  One example of this that I have been reading about is Shane Bitney Crone, who was prevented from seeing his partner, Tom Bridegroom, who had accidentally fallen from a friend's roof.  Crone and Bridegroom's 6 year relationship was not acknowledged by the hospital or the government, thus Crone was not considered as "family" when it came to knowing about Bridegroom's condition.  Unfortunately, Crone was also banned from attending his partner's funeral by Bridegroom's parents, who threatened Crone with violence should he attend the funeral.  I hope that this step forward will prevent things like this from happening to anyone else in the future, but with so many countries still to legalise same-sex marriage and some to even decriminalise homosexuality, there is still a long way to go.

However, to celebrate this (and a late Pride weekend), it could be fun for a Pride party to prepare a rainbow assortment of fruits on a plate for guests to dip in chocolate.

Ingredients

A handful or two of strawberries
1 orange
1 banana
1 green apple
A handful or two of blueberries
A handful or two of purple grapes
Approximately 50-75g good quality dark, dairy-free chocolate

Instructions

1. Wash and prepare all fruits – a sieve may be useful here. Remove skin from orange and banana, and cut both these and the apple into slices.
2. Place all fruit into a large bowl or plate.
3. To make fondue, break chocolate into pieces, place into a bowl and heat, either in a microwave or in a saucepan filled with water over low heat for a few minutes.
4. Dip fruit pieces in melted chocolate to serve.

Cucumber, Fennel and Parsley Salad

As we near the end of June, it's getting even hotter - well, not THAT hot, but it was 21 degrees Celsius here on Wednesday and we needed the windows open while having lunch in the car in Leeds and it also made me feel really sleepy.  This weekend, I'm heading down to Cambridge for the first of two family meet-ups for this summer and if the weather's good (it's usually better in Cambridge than it is here in the cold North), we'll be having a barbecue in my cousins' garden.  Since we're only going to be arriving in the late-afternoon, I probably won't quite have enough time (or the ingredients) to make anything, but if I were to make a contribution to the barbecue party, I make a couple of batches of this salad recipe that I found in the Tesco Food Family Living magazine for June 2015.  It's full of greens and herbs, so eat plenty!

Ingredients (to serve 6)

1 cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds scooped out, and finely sliced
2 fennel bulbs, finely sliced
1/2 x 60g bag lamb's lettuce
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 lemon, zested
1 teaspoon poppy seeds

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 x 31g pack fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 lemon, juiced

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumber, fennel, lamb's lettuce, chives and lemon zest.  Scatter over the poppy seeds.
2. To make the dressing, put the olive oil, parsley, garlic and lemon juice in a blender and whizz to combine.
3. Gradually add 1-2 tablespoons of water until the mixture reaches a pourable consistency. 
4. Serve the dressing on the side to spoon over the salad.

Healthy Green Smoothie

Today marks the official end of my 2nd year at uni with Party on the Amp, at which I'm helping with the media coverage as a runner.  That means that I'll be liaising with the technical crew about musical acts, posting on the university student union's social media accounts about what's going on, and hopefully interviewing a few bands.  With a little luck, the weather will be nice (I didn't go last year due to work, but it apparently rained a lot) and there'll be ice cream, candyfloss, popcorn, BBQ stuff, and smoothies.  Speaking of smoothies, today's healthy green treat was inspired by this smoothie from the wonderful agirlnamedally (a.k.a. Tie-Dye Girl or My Aussie Soul-Sister).  Imagine if I was sipping that at Party on the Amp - mmmmmmmm.

Ingredients (to fill a pint glass of smoothie)

3 bananas
3 dessert spoons spinach
a handful of cucumber sticks
a dash or two of cold water

Instructions

1. Cut bananas into slices.
2. Blend banana slices a bit at a time, and add cucumber sticks, spinach and water gradually (i.e. add a bit of bananas, cucumber, spinach and water each time and blend).
3. Pour into a pint glass/mug and enjoy!

Lemon Ice Cream

It's been quite warm and sunny here in the UK over this Easter week, so it's time for a little summer post.  If your first choice is ice cream, you're in luck!  This lemon ice cream from The IceCreamists is refreshing, sweet, zingy and dairy-free, so it's suitable for vegans or anyone with lactose intolerance or dairy allergy!

Ingredients

200ml (7fl oz) water
200g (7oz) caster sugar
150ml (5fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons
1 heaped tsp grated lemon zest, plus extra to decorate

Instructions

1. Pour the water into a saucepan and add the sugar.  Place over a low heat and bring to the boil, whisking often, until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, continuing to whisk until the liquid turns into a syrup.
2. Pour the syrup into a heatproof bowl and set aside for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooled to room temperature. For more rapid chilling, half-fill a sink with cold water and ice and place the bowl of mixture in it for 20 minutes.
3. Add the lemon juice to the syrup and mix with a stick blender. Cover and refrigerate, ideally overnight, until thoroughly chilled (at least 4 degrees Celsius).
4. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.
5. When the churning is completed, use a spoon or spatula to scrape the sorbetto into a freezer-proof container with a lid. Freeze until it reaches the correct scooping texture (at least 2-3 hours).
6. Decorate each portion with a pinch of lemon zest before serving.

Summer Berry Salad

 

One late Saturday morning, I ended up in the kitchen about half an hour before lunchtime, filling a bowl with delicious fruits, taking them back to my bedroom with me, sitting on my bed in my denim shortalls, and eating them while reading an old Lizzie McGuire book. I think I then filled my plate with a rainbow-coloured assortment of fruits for my lunch – more strawberries, oranges, slices of Golden Delicious apple, green grapes, more blueberries, and purple grapes. The salad below is bliss. Quantities of ingredients are not given because I just wash however much fruit I want without measuring it out – just eat however much you want!  This was several weeks ago now, and I'm dreading having to give up these fruits for the winter again ... why can't they be available at a good price all year round?

Ingredients

Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Cherries

Instructions

1. Remove stalks from strawberries and cherries, wash all fruit (it may be a bit easier to do this using a sieve and running water over the fruit) and dry.
2. Cut the strawberries into halves.
3. Throw all the fruits into a bowl and enjoy!