Christmas Pudding Liqueur (with a happy ending!)

A delicious whiskey based liqueur, made from all natural ingredients.

Make this delicious, Christmassy liqueur, perfect for a Christmas Eve tipple, or as a gift - and after straining, save the ingredients which are perfect for using in Christmas makes and bakes!

 

Frozen Daiquiris - Strawberry, Mango etc. ( includes Thermomix instructions)

Just the thing for a hot summer's day!

Maybe it even counts as one of  your five a day? There's certainly plenty of fruit in it (oh yes, and alcohol!). I was making these a couple of years ago, and had perfected the recipe to our tastes and memorized it - but not blogged it! D'Oh! So given that it has been a couple of years since I last made daiquiris, and my memory is blighted by age (and a summer of daiquiris, probably!) I had to guess at what I roughly remembered the ingredients to be, then add to them to get the balance right for our tastes again, and THIS time I have done the 'sensible' thing, and written it down, so I don't forget again next time.

Delicious strawberry daiquiris... or as I told my children, strawberry smoothies...

I think my favourite is mango, but we had one of those last night, and strawberries look so pretty, so obviously I had to make a batch of strawberry daquiris today to take a photo... remember to drink sensibly and all that, darlings!

***UPDATE - a new level of deliciousness has been discovered!!! You can make the most amazing tropical daiquiri with a blend of pineapple, mango and papaya - which you just so happen to be able to buy in the frozen section of Sainsburys... just saying!***

Contains 8 units of alcohol (UK 25ml measures of 40% spirits), and makes four servings of 140ml.

For the calorie / Syn counters, the values are as follows for one serving (a quarter of a quantity as per the recipe below):

1 serving of strawberry daiquiri - 169 calories / 8 Syns
1 serving of pineapple daiquiri - 176 calories / 8.25 Syns
1 serving of mango daiquiri - 189 calories / 8.75 Syns

Water Kefir - getting started with live grains.

So, making your own water kefir can all seem a bit daunting - like it's some kind of exclusive club?

Well, fortunately the process is actually really easy, and there are lots of places and people out there full of information! Not only that, you're getting your own fantastic and refreshing probiotic drink for a fraction of the price of buying expensive little bottles of drinking yoghurt full of additives.

As I happily share my surplus grains (when I can find people to share them with, living in the UK!), I've just put together this little post to help those starting out with live grains - once you get going, you'll find it's simple and you just need to drain the kefir water from your grains once every day or two (depending on the ratio of grains to water and sugar and the temperature of where they're stored) - you can tell when the kefir water is ready, as it no longer tastes sweet.

So, first things first - what equipment do you need, and which ingredients?

Chocolate Orange Liqueur - Orange Optional (includes Thermomix method)

A decadent after-dinner treat, delicious poured over ice, or into coffee...

You can choose to make this with or without the orange flavour, and have 'just' a chocolate liqueur if you prefer - or you can tart it up with a few drops of mint essence, or a splash of frangelico for a hazelnut / praline flavour.

           

I mean... it's chocolate - what could possibly go wrong?!

So anyway, however you fancy your chocolate liqueur, here's how to make it! It will yield just over 1,200ml, so if you use 40% spirits to make it, then your end result will be around 12% alcohol by volume (abv), and if you use scrupulously clean equipment to make it, and store in sterilised bottles in the fridge, it should keep for a couple of months (if it lasts that long!!). If you give this to people as a gift, you will have their undying love and loyalty for the rest of your life (possibly).

A couple of 'retro' ingredients, but the tasters agree it's rather good! And it's under half the price you'd pay if you bought chocolate liqueur ready made!

Simple Green Smoothie

Green smoothies are everywhere...

And there's really nothing to making one. The only reason I've blogged this, is because I was curious as to how many calories were in a serving, which meant I had to weigh what I used (rather than just bunging handfuls into the blender) then calculate the calories of each ingredient - so I might as well write it down while I'm at it! You don't need a recipe, you can just use your imagination, or have a look here or on Google for some great green smoothie ideas. And remember - if you're using them as a vehicle to get fruit and vegetables into your kids, you need to give them an appealing name - maybe something to do with Kermit, or the Incredible Hulk etc. depending on their age and preferences! (Or just tell them it's yours and they can't have any...)

This one is nice and mild and refreshing, so a great introduction if you haven't had one before (or you're trying to get someone else to try one).

Serves two (easily doubled), 125 calories per serving [calories in square brackets].