Strawberry Smoothie and a Cherry Oven Pancake

The Christmas/New Year period often means that your fridge is bursting with food of every description as you deal with numerous guests, special celebrations and an abundance of scrumptious summer (or winter) fruit and vegetables.  Often we tend to 'bite off more than we can chew' if you know what I mean and fruit and veg become a little too sad to present in their raw form.

My New Year's Resolution for 2011 (well, apart from the perennial 'must become healthier') is to continue my journey towards a sustainable environment and part of that means taking only what I need.  Our grandparents lived a simple life and 'wastefulness' was not in their vocabulary.    So as I went through my fridge, rather than simply 'throwing out' the food that wasn't as pretty as it was when I purchased it, I decided to turn it into something that would once again please the mouths I feed.

I should point out that I don't mean using produce that has developed a green furry coating!  Just when the strawberries or cherries lose that shiny gloss or the mushrooms and bananas become a little brown.

So I decided to kick-start my day with a healthy strawberry smoothie.   No dear, not a strawberry daiquiri which is more suited to the END of the day.

Smoothies are not only nutritious (generally speaking) but also a fast, delicious and easy brekky for those in a rush.

Strawberry Smoothie

Strawberries - not quite as plump and shiny as they were a few days ago but still quite edible

Ingredients

6 Strawberries

1/2 cup of low fat yogurt

1 cup of low fat milk 

Method:

Blend all ingredients in a food processor/blender and there you have a delicious, fresh smoothie.

* For my taste, I wanted it a little sweeter so I added a couple of fresh chunks of pineapple I'd cut the previous day and a little of the juice however you can add banana or other fruit.   You could also try a tiny drizzle of honey.

My strawberry smoothie - delicious & satisfing

Cherry Oven Pancake

Back to the fridge and the remaining cherries that TBG bought a few days ago on special are also beginning to look like they need to be eaten NOW!   I'd just read one of my favourite food blogs, Not Quite Nigella, and the author Lorraine had cooked a delicious Rhubarb and Cherry Oven Pancake.   It sounded intriguing and looked like a great way to use the last of the cherries.  I was not disappointed in my cherry version.

It's a very simple recipe and the texture reminded me a little of my mother's baked custards that we'd eat after the Sunday roast when I was growing up.    I'm sure it would taste even more delicious with a dash of cream and a drizzle of maple syrup as Lorraine suggests however in sticking to my New Year's Resolution, it was still a treat without the added kilojoules.

For the recipe, visit Lorraine's blog Not Quite Nigella

My Cherry Oven Pancake

Wishing you all a happy New Year!

Enjoy...

Love Annie