Zesty Cook » fruit

Three Fruit Protein Smoothie

zesty — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:11:43 +0000

Holy Snow! The weather has been a little on the snowy side the last couple of days and the wind – well just nuts. I don’t have a lot of time to spend with you today but I o have a couple of things to note. I am buying a new lens for my SLR camera which makes me excited. I am picking up the Canon 50 mm f/1.8 lens as well as buying an umbrella lighting kit. Trying to fool around with my pictures and stay on top of my game.

I have been noticing my pictures are somewhat boring and drab as of late. Speaking of pictures… I was playing around with the camera yesterday as you can see below just practicing different settings and techniques. I made this awesome smoothie using up some fruit that we bought over the weekend.

I prefer fruit smoothies over veggie smoothies but I will drink both. This one was packed with blueberries, raspberries, and cherries!

I know….. cherries – they took a bit of work to remove the pits but added a nice flavor.

Ingredients

1 Cup Raspberries
1 Cup Blueberries
1 Cup Cherries ( pit removed )
1 Scoop Protein powder
2 Tbsp. Flax seed
1/2 Cup Astro Plain Yogurt
Drizzle of Agave Syrup
1/2 Cup Skim milk or Soy Milk

Method

Add yogurt, milk, berries, protein powder, syrup and flax.
Blend together adding more yogurt or milk if needed.
ENJOY!

Enjoy the day where ever you are in the world and I will see you on Friday. Oh before I go, I have a question to ask you regarding smoothies. What is your go to ingredient when it comes to smoothies? Are you a creamy smoothie person or do you prefer them juicy? Just curious really. I find myself always going back to the Juicer recipes just because I can drink them faster. The only problem with that is I get a brain freeze and the juicer takes longer to clean. Have a super Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

A Front End Loaded Waffle

zesty — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:52:51 +0000

Welcome to the day after Canada Day!! We survived and had a great time. We went down to Charlottetown Summerfest at the waterfront, we had a family barbecue ( which I forgot to take my camera ) but the food was amazing and we stayed up for the fireworks.

I will give you a little recap on the fireworks and include a short video compliments of Jeff Docherty at Jeffdoc.com after I share with you my off the cuff front end loaded waffles that I made this morning. Because I have the way off today, breakfast can be a little more elaborate. Not to say this is over the moon but I must say it was pretty tasty and filling.

For breakfast, are you all about taste or more about wondering if you can make it to lunch before dying of starvation? I think I am a little bit of both.

Ingredients

3 Waffles
Raspberries
Banana ( sliced )
Ground Flax seed
Maple Syrup
Molasses
Raspberry Yogurt
Grapes

Method

Cook your waffles according to your liking. I just used frozen waffles but feel free to make your own in your waffle maker with a simple pancake batter.
Top with remaining ingredients

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I may hold off on the yogurt as it was a bit too heavy and it started to make them soggy. I may opt for a dollop of whip cream or omit altogether.

2010 Charlottetown Fireworks

Again, before we begin, I cannot take any credit for this next piece as Jeff Docherty at Jeffdoc.com uploaded the video and the quality is excellent. Thanks Jeff.

I hope you have a great friday and a wonderful weekend. We are contemplating a trip to the zoo, a zesty junior haircut, and possibly some lawn tractor shopping. I know can you believe it… our grass has started!!

Take care

zesty

Honey of a Salad and House Update

zesty — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:00:44 +0000

Another Monday gone and Tuesday begins. I hope you had a great day yesterday. It seems like the days are flying by even faster with the time change on the weekend. It is getting dark so early.

I want to talk about a couple of things… one being about a killer fruit salad with a honey lime dressing and the other topic being the house. The fruit salad is simple yet so refreshing. I am always trying to find nice fruit all year around but it gets tougher as the season comes closer to winter. This recipe will give you a great idea for a breakfast/lunch addition or just something to have on hand at all times for both kids and adults.

As for the house, it is coming along quite well ( minus the window issue ). The painters started yesterday and rolling on the primer like there is no tomorrow. We hope to have the whole house primed and painted one coat by Thursday.

Before the update I have a funny story. Last night we drove out to the house after work to take some new pictures on the progress thus far. We were rushing as it was getting late so we ran up to the front door, turned the knob and looked at each other – uh oh it was locked. We started to laugh as we both knew there was no key for the door knobs as they were just old knobs the builders had hanging around at their house. We ran to the side door…. locked. Back door…. locked. Windows…. locked. Oh dear the only reason I went to the house was to get pictures for you. I then realized that the tiny little basement window was left open for the hoses to run outside so I crawled in there and jumped down. All in all… too funny.

Ingredients

Any fruit you want ( cut into cubes)
1/4 Cup fresh lime juice
1/2 Cup honey
1 Tsp. grated lime peel

Method

Peel and prepare all the fruit in a large mixing bowl
Mix the lime juice and honey and add the lime peel at the end.
Toss, let rest and serve
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: The acid in the lime juice will prevent the fruit from bruising and becoming brown in color.

House Update

As promised, some interior shots after the drywall, seam filling and now some painting. The picture quality is not great due lack of lighting.

Upstairs Hallway

Bonus Room

Family Room

Kitchen

Interior Doors (just delivered)

Awaken your Senses Reminder

Here’s how to vote for me:

1. Go to www.youtube.com/quakertalk. Click on the VOTE tab. Click on my video entitled “Autumn Medley.”

2. Click on the BIG GREEN THUMBS UP to cast your vote. Voting closes Friday, November 6th.

3. Please tell your family and friends and pretty much everyone you know to vote too!

Zesty visits Pete's Frootique

zesty — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:00:34 +0000

Have you ever heard of Pete’s Frootique? What an amazing place. I love going there when I visit Halifax so I thought I would share you some photos and some of the great food choices at Pete’s. As you know, yesterday I traveled over to Halifax and we had a blast. Such a nice drive and nice not to go to work every now and again.

Check out some great pictures inside the store.

We were kind of in a rush so we didn’t have a lot of time to browse but of course I ran up and down pretty much every aisle to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The salad bar is amazing and the fresh fruit is second to none. I also noticed potato chips from the UK that I just had to try. They were so goooood. I really loved the ketchup flavor and they are all natural.

In addition to the fruit, I had to of course check the bakery…. oh my! They had freshly made soft chewy ginger cookies. I was so excited to get back to the truck and rip them open. They were delicious.

Well I hope you have a great Friday and I hope you stay tuned for what I will call a very special MONDAY. I slipped down to the house last night and there has been great progress made. I will keep you posted with an update next week.

Take care

zesty

A Sunday Breakfast

zesty — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:00:14 +0000

Welcome back from the weekend! We had a great couple days off. We did some family visiting, some relaxing as well as spending time preparing for the week.

The next couple weeks will be the biggest in Zesty history. Now zestycook.com being only 6 months old – that is not that big of deal. However this will will mark the launch of the new and improved look for zestycook as well as the much anticipated free E-Book feature recipes from myself as well as other amazing foodies. I am very excited and looking forward to sharing with you all the hard work.

As for today’s post, I was debating what to post especially with all the sweet treats last week so I opted for a breakfast post. I do eat breakfast everyday… but I rarely post breakfast recipes. Even though there will be no recipe today, here’s a breakfast I prepared yesterday. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Let me know what you think of this somewhat balanced breakfast.

Granola with Yogurt & Berries

1/2 Cup Fibre Flax Granola
1/2 Cup Vanilla Yogurt
Strawberries and Blueberries

Multi Grain Toast, Raspberry Jam and Eggs

2 Pieces of Toast
2 Eggs Soft Boiled (7 minutes)
1 Tbsp. Raspberry Jam

Multi grain toast with oatmeal on top (love the oatmeal).

2 Soft boiled eggs (cooked just right)

Yum!

Raspberry jam on toast with spoonful of egg… oh I really love that.

Me trying to get fancy with the camera… not sure it worked

So there you have it! A zesty Sunday breakfast – pretty easy, pretty tasty, and (for the most part) healthy. I hope you have a great Monday whether you are at the office, in the classroom or at home.

Take care

zesty

5 Simple Steps to Fantastic Fruit Pies

zesty — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:00:43 +0000

Growing up with a mother and grandmomther who loved to bake – it was evident I was going to have the same passion when it comes to pastries and a sweet tooth.

Below I put together some simple tips to take to your kitchen the next time you decide to throw some flour on the counter top to ensure a delicious fruit pie.

Keep in mind I just added a few of my favorite flavorings – so feel free to switch it up and try your own twists.

Pie Chart for Double-Crust Fruit Pies

Type Of Pie	Prepared Fruit	Granulated Sugar	All Purpose Flour	Flavorings
Blueberry	4 Cups ( 1 L)	2/3 Cup (150 ml)	3 tbsp (45 ml)	1 tsp (5 ml) grated lemon rind
Peach	5 cups ( 1.25 L) peeled and sliced	3/4 cup ( 175 ml)	4 tbsp (60 ml)	2 tbsp ( 25ml) chopped candied ginger
Plum	5 Cups (1.25L) quartered if large halved if small	1 Cup (250 ml)	4 tbsp (60 ml)	1/2 tsp (2 ml) cinnamon
Raspberry	4 Cups (1 L)	1 Cup (250 ml)	3 tbsp (45 ml)	None Needed
Cherry	4 Cups (1 L) Pitted	1 Cup (250 ml)	3 tbsp (45 ml)	1/2 tsp (2 ml) almond extract

5 Steps to Perfect Pies

1. Line 9 inch (23 cm) pie plate with pastry.

2. In a large bowl, combine prepared fruit, sugar, flour, 1 tbsp lemon juice and flavoring

3. Fill pastry shell with fruit mixture; dot filling with 1tbsp of butter

4. Moisten edges of bottom crust. Cover with top crust. Trim and flute edges. Cut steam vents. Brush top with milk or cream; sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.

5. Bake in 425 degree (220 C) oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45-60 minutes longer or until fruit is tender, filling in thickened nd crust golden.

You can also freeze well-wrapped unbaked pies or up to 4 months, with the following changes: increase the amount of flour in each pie by 1 tbsp and don’t cut steam vents until just before baking. Bake still-frozen pies in 450 degree oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 375 degrees for up to 60 minutes longer or until filling in thickened and crust in golden brown.

If you don’t have time to bake pies now, you can freeze fruit without sugar in the quantities needed for pies (see pie chart), then thaw just enough to separate; make pies following the 5 steps to Perfect Fruit Pies, increasing flour by 1 tbsp, then baking for up to 60 minutes. If fruit has been frozen with sugar, subtract the amount of sugar in the fruit from the amount of sugar you add to the pie.