Healthy Summer Fruits Drink with a dash of Mint

                  

Hey Lovelies,
If anyone told me this summer was going to be as hot as this, I would have said, Shut Up!!!. It is really so hot and humid. Don't get me wrong; I love when the sun is out but when it is humid and hot at the same time, I am super uncomfortable and thirsty. I decided to stop wasting money buying cool refreshing drinks and make me and the BF a home made pitcher of refreshing freshness....:-)

I opted to make this refreshing summer drink with seasonal fruits, mint leaves and some ice. It was one of the most refreshing drinks I have had all summer and it cost me much less than buying it in a restaurant. Plus, it was healthy and very easy to make..Let's get started, shall we?

What you need
Strawberry
Apples
Pineapples
Lemon
Lime
Cucumber
Red/Black Grapes
Apple Juice (Any Juice you fancy is fine)
Mango Juice
Ice Cubes
Mint Leaves
Jug
Strain
Blender/Juice Maker
Glasses/Tumblers
Straws

Method
1. Wash all fruits and Slice the Strawberry, Apple, Pineapples, Cucumber, Lemon and Lime into small pieces and place in different bowls; it would be ideal to divide them into two separate portions.

               

2. Wash the Mint leaves and remove the stalks by hand. You can cut the mint leaves into tiny pieces with your hand.



3. Blend one portion of the already sliced fruits into the blender with one half of the mint leaves, add some ice and blend for about one minute.

4. Strain the blended mixture to get the juice and place in a separate cup/jug.

5. Slice the Lemon and Lime into small circles and the strawberry into two parts and place in the fridge for later.

6. Into the Jug, add, the remaining portion of previously sliced small pieces of the rest of the fruits with remaining mint leaves.

7. Add the juice obtained from the blended fruits into the jug and add some ice and stir.

8.  Add the packaged juice of your choice into the whole mixture (I used apple juice and mango juice) and close the jug and shake vigorously with the ice until well mixed.

9. Get a clean glass, add some small pieces of fruits if you have any left with mint leaves, pour the summer drink from the jug into the glass.

10. Get your slice of strawberry, lemon and lime from the fridge and add it to the side of the glass.

11. Give it a cheeky little stir and add your straw.

12. Voila!!! you have the most refreshing and amazing summer drink all made by yourself...

13. Sit back, feet on stool, grab the TV control and watch your fav program in between sips..

If you get bored of this drink and you want to switch it up a little, you can add a tiny shot of an alcoholic cocktail or mocktail (If you don't like alcohol) into the mixture. I used the Sainsbury Magarita Cocktail Mix..
It was bliss.......

I decided to make some mini meals to go with out summer drink...so I whipped up some mini hot dogs, hot dog wraps, chicken wings, salmon kebabs/skewers...

.........And a platter of fruit for dessert. 

After wolfing down this lil' feast (more like a mighty feast), I just went for a straight nap...I just had to but it was a well deserved nap despite the heat wave... If you want any of the recipes, let me know in the comment box and I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed drinking this refreshing summer drink...See you in my next post....xxxx

Affordable Quickie Lunch- Sweet Chilli Chicken Noodle Salad

Hi Lovelies,

It's midweek which means the week is halfway gone and the weekend is almost here. This week I have not had the time to make my usual Rice and Beans for lunch which is my all time favorite. But, I have found a quick and easy lunch for work which is healthy (a little hahaha) and affordable plus you can make it within 5 minutes. I make mine in the kitchen at work and it is freshly prepared. I leave all the ingredients in the fridge as well and thankfully there are no food thieving imps here so my food is always available when i need it.

P.S. I have finally fixed the comments box below, so you can comment below without having to register with blogger. Try it and let me know if it works now..x

Now, for this wonderful lunch you will need the following:


                         Free Range Egg Noodles
You can buy these anywhere but I prefer the one from Marks and Spencers (£1.05-very affordable) because it tastes better. While egg noodles have a good amount of carbohydrate, it is quite low in fat (1.5 gram per 1/2 cup serving) and low in sodium. I have a moderate amount of this (about 1/3rd of the pack) which is so yummy. You can cook this for 3 minutes or just warm it in the microwave for about 30 seconds which is what I do and prepare other ingredients while it cools off.

                       

                                                           Sweet Leaf Salad
I love salads a lot and this one from Sainsbury's is my favourite. It is pretty easy to prepare, just pour into your plate and that's all. This one is already washed and ready to eat. It contains cabbage, lettuce, carrots, red pepper, green pepper, etc. It is full of fibre and vitamins plus you can eat as much as you can without worrying about your waist line. I don't like eating my salads with dressings normally because I do not like the tastes of many dressings except sweet chilli which is not really a salad dressing. This bag costs only £1 so there is no excuse for not eating healthily.

                        

                                                  Avocado
This is my new favorite fruit/vegetable. I don't know what category it falls into and I don't really care to know because it tastes too glorious to be worrying about such (lol). When I was younger, I could not stand it  but now I just laarrrrve it. Sadly, it is quite pricey here in the UK (It costs about £2 for 2 avocados). I eat this in moderation because it contains a large amount of fat but it is good fat which your body will benefit from. It also contains carotene-oids and 18 essential amino acids. Amazing!! I definitely don't consume a whole avocado, I just slice it into half, sometimes I 1/3rd of it.

                            

                                                           Sweet Chili Dressing
I always keep this small tub for mixing my sweet chili dressing. I am currently a little obsessed with the taste of sweet chili dressing. I mix this little tub with three different types from M&S but you can use any type of sweet chili dressing. It does not matter at all. Sweet chilies are known to increase body metabolism so you can be burning fat with these fiery babies. It also contains sugar and vinegar so you really need very very moderate quantities; just enough to add a little flavor.

                        

                                                                   
                                                                              Chicken
I don't think this needs any introduction because it is one of the most popular kinds of white meat available world wide. It is full of protein and fats as well if you eat the skin like me :-). I eat the skin sometimes but if it is very greasy, I bin it. I prefer beef though but I think Chicken tastes much better with this meal so I opted for it. Asides that, Beef is pretty expensive here in the UK. 

Stewed Chicken (that's why it looks a lil greasy)

                        

                         How to Prepare a Quick Sweet Chili  Chicken Noodle 

1. Place your Noodles on a nice plate and warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds only. If it is being cooked, you can cook for 3 minutes but the microwave has a higher heat energy so 30 seconds is just about right.

2. Slice your Avocado into half and place remaining back in the fridge for another day(wrap in a clean bag) or place in the fridge like that if you are at home (I prefer to wrap it up because it is a public fridge).

3. Slice the half Avocado into smaller cubes and place in a clean plate aside for later.

4. Place your Salad in your plate beside your noodles which has been previously warmed and should be cool by now.

5. Place your delicious yummy chicken by the side.

6. Sprinkle some avocado all around the salad and the noodles if you want.

7. Add your sweet chili dressing all around your noodles and salad (if you like) just to give it a nice taste.

8. Find your favourite spot ; either at work or at home and settle down to a well deserved meal.

Terrace upstairs at work when the sun is out is my favorite lunch corner...:-)

Easy peasy, innit? I love this meal and it is indeed very filling and nutritious. Best part, it's very easy to make and affordable which means you do not have to dash out during lunch and spend unnecessary money. You can have gourmet style (hehehehe) freshly prepared by you.




It was such a beautiful day in Westminster with the sun shinning brightly, I could not resist taking a sneaky shot of Big Ben!! 

          

P.S. I have finally fixed the comments box below, so you can comment below without having to register with blogger. Try it and let me know if it works now..x

 I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. What's your favorite quickie lunch at work (or home)? Let me know...xxx

Food Memories - Home Made, Takeaway and Restaurant Style

              

Let's talk about food. I am not writing about health or fitness or anything related in this post. I am just talking about food and meals i have enjoyed. Hopefully, a healthy food/fitness blog post will be up soon. Back to this post, I enjoy eating good food because i see food as a fuel to re-energise your body and supply nutrition to our bodies. Most times, I create time to prepare home-made meals, other times, I opt for a restaurant made meal or just a normal takeaway meal. I love trying new food but i find that i am more drawn to meals that are spicy mainly because of my background and culture. I am just going to share a few pictures of some home made meals or take away meals which I have wonderful memories of.

                  

Home -Made Corned Beef Pasta with Garden Salad:

Basically, I just boiled some pasta with a dash of olive oil and salt and drained it when it was done. For the sauce, I sauteed some corned beef, peppers, tomatoes, pesto and tomato sauce into a nice spicy sauce. I added some chunks of beef because i love meat. I mixed the sauce and pasta and voila!! My corned beef pasta was birthed. I really love this meal because it is really tasty; the corned beef gives it a rich taste and it is very filling with the garden salad which i just bought from sainsburys. This meal took about 30 mins to prepare.

Gianni's Grilled Salmon, Salads and Chips:
This has to be my favorite Eat-In meal from a Takeaway restaurant near my office in Central London. The Eat-In is called Gianni's which is an Italian owned shop with lovely pastas, sandwiches, chips and any nice meal you can think about. They do breakfast, brunch and lunch which i think is really good because some people just want to grab a quick breakfast before work or have a nice brunch with clients or just a nice home made style lunch with colleagues. I mainly just have lunch there when i can afford to. This meal is grilled salmon served with thick cut chips and salad of the day. It is very very filling and i suggest you eat this when you do not have many meetings to attend afterwards because i felt very fuuuuuuulllll. I am a ig lover of salmon and this salmon was well prepared with all the juices intact. The chips were equally good and crisp which i love. I hate soggy chips and the salad vegetables were very fresh. I don't have my meals in Gianni's often because it is about £5 for this meal which is not too bad but it is not what i would want spend every day.

              

Restaurant Style Potsu Medium Chargrilled Chicken accompanied with brown wild rice and spruced up with Ithai sauce: This meal was one of the most delicious and healthy meals i have eaten in a long while.  It is from ITSU shop in London. It was so good i actually dedicated a whole blog post to it. See link

Buffet Style Semi-British Breakfast Medley:  This is not quite an English breakfast but different mixes. I have some Croissant which was the most divine chocolate croissant ever. On my plate, my greedy self has croissant, sausage, bacon, potatoes and egg. It was in a buffet for a work conference in Warwick and I absolutely looked forward to breakfast every morning. It is a sure way to get fat but hey! this was for only 3 days. Hahaha!

Home Made Rice and Beans with Beef Stew: This is my favorite lunch for work because it is very filling and nutritious. The beans and beef provide protein which balances out the carbs in the rice. It is so easy to make as well and it reminds me of home a lot because this was one of my favorite meals when i was younger. The Beef stew could be a bit tricky but it is so worth the stress and I make it really spicy. Yum!!

Home Made Nigerian Poundo Yam with Egusi Soup: This meal is delicious and very very filling. You don't want to eat this at night at all. A little background info; this is a typical Nigerian meal which is made up of the Soup and the Swallow. The Soup is obviously a soup but it is not runny or watery, it is more like a thick paste. It is called Egusi Soup because it is made of Egusi (Melon Seed) which is well blended and made with some crayfish, palm oil and dry fish with some spinach and bitter leaf for good measure. I may do a recipe soon( Leave a comment if you want it). The Swallow is basically Poundo yam which is made from powdered Yam flour made with some hot water to a semi solid little ball. Teamed together, this makes the most amazing and satisfying meal. I feel hungry just looking at the picture. :-)

I hope I tantalized your palettes and I am sure you can tell i love good food. Let me know in the comments section which meal you would like a recipe of. Enjoy the rest of your week..xx

Lunch Time at ITSU Restaurant, London

                 
Hi Lovelies,
I hope everyone has had a nice week so far. Normally, I take my homemade lunch to work because it is cheaper, I love eating them and I can monitor how much and what I am eating, etc. You know all those reasons. It doesn't mean I don't try out new places when I can. I work somewhere in Central London and the shops/restaurants/eateries are really expensive so I steer clear of them. Anyways, I happened to be working in another office for a day and i didn't bring my lunch so i just thought, hey, I might as well try out one of the places around to get a decent healthy lunch.

          


          

I came across ITSU restaurant (i think it is, it just says ITSU) and i was attracted by the lovely posters and signage outside the building. It had bright colors and the price did not seem too bad so I ventured in. By the way, they have a different shops and diners all around London (link to ITSU Locations)
                        

The interior was pretty cool and the waitresses were very friendly, polite and patient with me because i could not decide what I was getting (poor waitresses being stressed by all my questions)
Everything looked really healthy, fresh and clean. They had a decent amount of customers in there who wanted to grab a quick lunch. They had a wide variety of prepacked lunches in either medium or large pots or plates which had very attractive packaging. They also had a small station where they had different sauces and seeds to spruce up your meal.

           
                           
After a lot of looking around, I opted for a Potsu Medium Chargrilled Chicken accompanied with brown wild rice and spruced up with Ithai sauce, Kombu and 7 vegetables medley which include Mange Tout, Green Beans, Green Peppers, Red peppers, etc which was a decent 360 Calories. I also ordered a Fro-Go which a Zero Fat Probiotic Yogurt with chocolate belle sprinkles (Guys, I was not even thinking of being healthy at this point hahahaha cos this bad boy has 200 calories in it).

                   
                     
The taste was heavenly and i felt my body was being nourished by the food. The presentation was very appealing and I could tell the ingredients were fresh. Surprisingly, I felt really full even though i ordered a medium Potsu. I was a very happy bear.

                 
I proceeded to demolish my Fro-go but I could not complete this because I was really full but I had a nice spoonful. It tasted really really good and the chocolate sprinkles tasted like it was a mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolates which are my favorite types of chocolates. I had to put it in the fridge at work for later when i felt perkish.

                       

Overall, I had a nice time in Itsu with their Potsu and Frogo. I loved the exterior and interior of the building and they were really attractive and eye catching to me. The presentation of the food was excellent and the packaging was very colorful as well. 

                       


                       

The Potsu pots were very durable and i did not experience any leaks or spillages which was excellent. The yogurt packaging was not too bad but i don't expect people to carry a frozen yogurt for a long walk. I also liked the fact that their tissue/serviette was customized with a nice little message talking about their food and the prices.

                     

The prices were a bit on the high side so I don't imagine myself coming here too often but I will say it is good value for what you get.  The Medium Chargrilled Chicken Potsu I had cost £4.49 and the Chocolate Belle Sprinkled Fro-Go cost £2.99 which i think is a bit extravagant but I can only speak for myself.

                   
                                 Medium Potsu Chargrilled Chicken with Brown Wild Rice £4.49

                       
                               Chocloate Belle Sprinkle Fro-Go £2.99
Lastly, i really like how they put pictures of hot guys and girl on the Potsu packaging maybe it is a ploy to make you think eating healthily (at Itsu) may result in such amazing bodies...hahahaha

                           
                               

On another side of the packaging, there is a little story about eating beautiful which dates back to the ancient times...

                 
All in all, I had a lovely time in there and I would have taken more pictures of the interior but I am still very shy to take pictures in public places especially when people just want to get their lunches and race back to their offices but I guess with time I will become bolder...

Here is a link to their website: ITSU

Have you ever been to an ITSU Shop or Diner?