Grab and go....frozen smoothie packs!

Green smoothies are a great way to get fresh leafy greens into you and if you mix them up with sweet fruits, you won't even know you are drinking spinach!

But it can get a little tedious preparing smoothies with all the peeling and chopping going on every time you want one.

I was introduced to the idea of frozen smoothie packs over on pinterest...but I wasn't convinced.
So, after doing a little research on freezing leafy greens and fruits it seems that yes, freezing does work!

So yesterday I made a whole bunch of packs to put in the freezer and today after completing the taste test challenge, I can report that Alhamdulillah, its great!

I took my pack out the freezer about an hour before I wanted to blitz to allow it to thaw out a little. And what I got was a refreshing cold green smoothie Alhamdulillah!

How easy will this make drinking smoothies through-out the week inshaAllah.....just grab a bag, dump it in the blender with some water and voila! No washing, chopping or juice dripping all over the work tops! An instant breakfast, snack or lunch!

It also helps to keep your fruits and leafy greens fresh....theres nothing worse than having a packet of spinach wilt away before you got to use the whole thing, or berries growing mould in the fridge! By freezing, you are able to lock in the nutriants and stop them spoiling bi'ithnillah.

All you need to do to make these are wash and prepare whatever greens and fruits you want, and distribute them between freezer bags. Press the bags down to squeeze out as much air as you can and seal before storing in the freezer.

If you have a high-speed blender such as a nutribullet you can add nuts and seeds to your smoothie to get additional good fats such as omega 3 in flaxseed, because the blades totally pulverise open the tiny seed shells Alhamdulillah! - But I personally would add these to the blender fresh when you are ready to blend rather than freezing ahead.

If you have any smoothie making tips, I'd love to hear them in the comments section below!
 

Yummy crunchy granola made at home

I went in the kitchen today with my 8 year old and we put together this granola recipe Alhamdulillah!

With supermarkets everywhere stocking over-priced, over sugared, chemical laden granola, making your own is a much cheaper and healthier alternative.... and so so simple to do!

To be honest, whenever I make granola I usually just wing it....I put in whatever we have to hand; raisons, currents, dried mango, banana chips, pecans, walnuts  (dare I tell you erm...chopped up chocolate pieces!) without giving much attention given to quantities.
However, today I did make note of what we put in and this evening I quickly wrote it out as a recipe sheet which I have uploaded onto Scribd to make it easy to read on your ipad or tablet in the kitchen...if you don't have a mobile devise it should still work on a regular computer inshaAllah! (I think of scribd as a cheaper alternative to kindle!)
You can view this granola recipe over on Scribd {here}!

I've read a couple of ebooks on Scribd and as a reader, I found it great to use! But I've never used it to upload anything before, so this recipe sheet is my experiment to find out how it works!
I'd love to hear your feedback and let me know what you think of Scribd - I have a whole host of ideas I want to work on from fun kids activities and crafts through to home-school help!
So if my dear readers find scribd to be easy to use then it would be really exciting to plan some future projects around the Scribd format inshaAllah!

Okay, so I have digressed a little from todays post.....back to granola!

If you don't want to use Scribd, then here is the recipe we used today (with extra images!)




What you will need (approximately)
4 cups oats
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 to 3/4 cup honey
1 cup mixed dried fruit of your choice
1 cup chopped nuts of your choice

Before you begin, pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius / 320 degrees Fahrenheit

 Heat a pan on a medium heat and add approximately 2 tablespoons coconut oil and about half a cup of honey (I measured about 4 heaped wooden cooking spoons)

Depending on the strength of your honey you may need to add a little more or less.

Mix together until you have a nice runny liquid.

 

Pour honey over 4 cups of oats in a mixing bowl (or you can add the oats to the pan).

Mix until well combined.

You can at this stage add your chopped nuts, however if you want greater nutritional value, make sure you buy them raw and add at the end after the oats have been baked!

 

Line a large baking tray with baking paper and thinly spread the oat mix. If you have too much mixture for your tray, just grab another!

Put into the oven for approximetly 15 minutes.

 

After 15 minutes take out and mix the oats.

Put back into oven for 5 minutes before bringing out and mixing again.

 

Again, back into the oven for 5 minutes then bring out to mix.

Keep repeating this 5 minute bake and mix until your oats are all evenly golden brown.

They shouldn't be clumping together.

Leave to cool before adding your choice of mixed dried fruits (1 cup)  and nuts (1 cup) ...for a naughty Jummah treat the kids will love, add a little chopped chocolate!

Store in an air-tight container and enjoy!

Remember, you can view this recipe on your mobile devise with the Scribd App, or if you'd like to download and print you can click on the high-lighted text below...
{ Granola Recipe}

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Fruity summer ices!

Alhamdulillah we're enjoying some beautiful warm whether over here in the UK at the moment!
To cool down the temperature as the kiddos sweat it out in the garden, try one of these all-natural home made lollys!

Take some sweet local market fruit... stick them in a juicer....pour into lolly moulds.... freeze....and after a couple of hours you have some yummy 100% natural fruit juice lollys to cool down the kids (and maybe you!) on a lovely hot summers day!

If you don't have a juicer, throw them into a blender, they'll taste just as great inshaAllah!
No preservatives, no e-numbers, no artificial colours or flavouring....just 100% all natural fruit juice!
                                                                                     And what tastes better than that alhamdulillah!

Sweet n Sticky bites!

Want to give the kids a sweet treat without the additives, MSG's and e-numbers that keep them bouncing off the walls?

Try one of these sweet n sticky bites, a nutritious snack with all the taste!

Ingredient quantities are approximate, alter as you feel necessary to get a consistency that will stick together and hold its shape.









What you need

• approx 1 cup dates
• approx 1 cup of nuts
• 2 tea spoons raw cacoa powder (you can leave out if don't have)
• goji berries and /or raisins
• desiccated coconut

Method

1. Grind the nuts in the food processor.
2. Pit dates and add to the nuts in the processor
3. After nuts and dates finely chopped and blended, add a few drops of water (as needed) to make sticky and bind together.
4. Add the raw cacoa powder and blend to mix in.
5. Add the berries and combine with hands.
6. Line a small square tin with grease paper, pour out the mixture and spread evenly, pressing down as firm as you can so mixture will hold shape when cut. (or instead of in a tin, you can just mould the mixture with your hands into a square shape)
7. Sprinkle the dessicated coconut on top.
8. Cut into bite size squares and refrigerate for about an hour before serving to allow the mixture to firm up.

For variant recipies, you could try adding a few whole nuts or seeds to give abit of crunch, or a couple of spoons of raw honey!

Quick lunch.....pitta-pizza's!

Need lunch in a hurry? This pitta-pizza idea is something I'd seen from a couple of friends and the kids loved them alhamdulillah!

All you need are pitta bread (alhamdulillah pitta's are great to store in the freezer ready on standby!), tomato puree, and any melting cheese.

I usually lightly toast the pittas in the toaster before just spreading a very small amount of puree, finish with cheese and any other topping that might be in the fridge!

Put under the grill to melt then cut into quarters and serve on a big sharing plate!

Lunch in 5 minutes....done!

Snack time...Date & Pecan bites!

Need a quick sweet yummy snack in a hurry? Try these bite size treats with only 2 ingredients...yes only 2 ingredients!

What you need:
Dates
Pecan nuts (or any other nut of your choice)

What to do:
I don't think it is rocket science working out what you need to do... looking at the picture, its pretty self explanatory!
Simply take out the date stone by pressing a knife into the side of the date to open, insert the nut in place of the stone, and close up leaving the nut popping out the top.

I plated them in a circle with a mini box of raisins in the centre. Tuck in and enjoy!

Cookie Crafts!

Today the girls with their friends made some cookies and packaged them up to take home!

This could be a neat project for older kids to make a product and do their own "branding"...I might keep that idea to use a few years down inshallah!

We just used a simple shortbread recipe, using a heart cutter to shape. The packaging was made from some craft paper, and some punches which we put together to hide the clear bag seal at the top.

Recipe:

250g butter
100-150g caster sugar (the recipe actually states 50g but I tasted the dough before baking and added abit extra)
250g Plain flour
125g Cornflour

Oven approx 170 degrees C.

With your hands nead the ingredients together until they come together to make a dough. Store in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up before rolling and cutting.

Place on a greased baking tray and bake.

We baked until they were a nice yellow golden brown, approx 10 minutes. (they burn quickly...you want them to still be quite yellow)