Apple, Grapes and Banana lime

This emerged as a part of my refrigerator cleaning process. I had some apples and grapes  leftover from a fruit salad that I made a few days back. I noticed some ripe bananas too on my kitchen rack. And there you go, I blended together all three and squeezed some lemon too and ended up with this super tasty fruit smoothie!!

Ingredients

1 tbsp Lime juice
2 small apples, cored and quartered
2 medium bananas, preferably frozen
1 1/2 cups green grapes, preferably frozen
1 1/2 cups water

Method

Layer ingredients into the blender in the order listed. Puree until completely smooth. Enjoy!

Seedless Green Grape Juice

This is what you do when you have a lot of leftover grapes in your fridge and everyone have had more than enough of it. The best and easiest way to finish off grapes nearing decay and still one of the tastiest of all fresh juices. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups green grapes 
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Sugar only if needed.( I didnt use)

Preparation

In a blender, blend grapes and lemon juice until very smooth, about 1 minute. Pour mixture through a sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on solids.
Serve grape juice in tall glasses.

Avocado Smoothie

Though I am not a big fan of raw avocado, I absolutely love it when it is made into a smoothie. It is tryly yummy when pulsed with vanilla icecream and cold almond milk. A very filling, must try smoothie recipe.

Ingredients

1 ripe avocado, pit and skin removed
¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup Vanilla Icecream
2 teaspoons honey
1 cup ice

Instructions

Combine  avocado, almond milk, Vanilla ice cream and honey in a blender. Add ice, cover and puree until no chunks of ice remain, 30 to 45 seconds.

Avocado Ice cream

This is a not-so-common Ice cream recipe using a variety ingredient, avocado. Avocado is a very healthy and nutritious fruit and including it in your diet makes you quite healthy and can boost your immune system. But if you are like me, you wont like its raw bland taste.This is a perfect dessert recipe to consume avocado and I am sure that everyone would ask for a second helping.

Ingredients

1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1/2 cup milk 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup condensed milk
1 tbsp Cornflour
White Sugar if needed

Directions

Mash avocado with an electric mixer, or use a food processor. Blend in the milk, cornflour, condensed milk, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Chill for about 20 minutes before serving.

Fruit and Vegetable Raita

This is an absolute treat for all diet conscious people out there. This is a very filling snack and almost equalent to a hearty meal. You can include almost all fruits in it and most of the salad veggies too and hence it is a highly nutritious raita.

Ingredients

4 slices Pineapple (cubed)
1 medium Apple (cubed)
1 medium Pear (cubed)
1 large Tomato (cubed and deseeded)
1 medium Cucumber (cubed and deseeded)
1 medium Onion (chopped)
15 Fresh Mint Leaves (chopped)
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Cumin Seeds (roasted and powdered)
Salt to taste
1 cup Yogurt
1/2 cup Fresh Cream
Olives-2 tbs
Sweet corn- Half cup

Method

In a bowl, mix well the roasted cumin powder and yogurt.
Add the coarsely ground pepper, salt and fresh cream to it and mix.
Now add the sweet corn, Olives, chopped fruits and vegetables and mint leaves and mix well.
Serve.

Avocado and Banana Smoothie

This is another tasty smoothie recipe. It is very heavy and quite filling. This is highly nutritious too and can be whipped together easily. It can be an integral part of a healthy diet plan.

Ingredients

1 ripe juicy banana cut into chunks
½ ripe avocado, pit and skin removed
¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
2 teaspoons honey
1 cup ice

Instructions

Combine banana, avocado, almond milk and honey in a blender. Add ice, cover and puree until no chunks of ice remain, 30 to 45 seconds.

Fruit Raita

This can be called as the King of all Raitas. This is a medley of a variety of fruits immersed in a cream and yogurt sauce. A very healthy, rich and easy to prepare raita recipe that can adorn any meal with its presence. A must try recipe for all my diet conscious friends! I've used cucumber here because it helps to balance the sweetness of the raita.

Ingredients

Pear -1
Apple- 1
Peaches -2
Plums- 2
Pineapple -4 slices
Banana -1

Mango -1 

Almonds- 4
Fresh mint leaves -10
Cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
Lemon-1/2 tsp
Yogurt -2 cups
Salt to taste
Black peppercorns,crushed freshly -1/4 teaspoon
Fresh cream -1/2 cup

Cucumber- 1

Method

Wash and chop pear, apple, cucumber,plums, peaches and pineapple . Peel and chop banana and mango. Clean, wash and chop mint leaves. Dry roast the cumin seeds and powder.
Add the roasted cumin powder to the yogurt in a bowl. Add salt, freshly crushed peppercorns, fresh cream and whisk.Add all the chopped fruits and mint leaves and mix well.

Apple Raita

Another great Raita recipe. It is the best accompaniment for rice and biryani and also a perfect snack to satiate the sudden pangs of hunger. One of the healthiest Raita recipes.

Ingredients

1 1⁄4 cups plain yogurt
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
1⁄2apple, peeled and chopped into a small dice

Directions

Put yogurt in a bowl.
Beat lightly with a fork until smooth and creamy.
Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

Mango Strawberry Smoothie

I love smoothies. One tall glass of smoothie and a good movie to watch is a perfect combination for a lazy afternoon. Since a smoothie is thicker than a milk shake, finishing it takes much longer and you can slowly relish each sip.

Ingredients

1/2 cup strawberry sliced
1/2 cup mango sliced
1 Cup Yogurt
4 ice cubes
1 tabkespoon Sugar

Directions

In blender, combine strawberries, mangoes, yogurt, sugar and ice and blend until mixture is smooth and frothy. Pour into 2 tall glasses. Serve with straws, if you like.

Strawberry Milkshake

Milkshakes are the easiest things to prepare and drink inorder to beat the hot summers.
There is nothing more refreshing that a tall glass of cold strawberry milk shake all set for you after you come home from a hard days work. So I make this often for my husband and he adores it!

Ingredients

10 large strawberried
2 cups chilled milk
3 to 4 tbsp sugar or add as required

Instructions

First rinse the strawberries and then drain them.
Slice off the green leafy part from all the strawberries. Then chop the strawberries.
Add the chopped strawberries to a blender jar along with 2 cups chilled milk.
Add 3 tbsp sugar or as required. If the strawberries are very sweet, then you don't need to add any sugar.
Blend till smooth.
Pour in tall glasses and serve strawberry milkshake immediately.

Easy Lemon and Mint Fruit salad

The easiest and very healthy dish to make when you are in a hurry.
Make this fruit salad in about 10 minutes. You can add or subtract different fruit according to your taste and what is in season. It can be considered as a healthy sweet dessert to replace the calorie loaded icecreams and sweets.

Ingredients

Strawberries - cleaned and sliced

Fresh mint juice- a little
Seedless grapes, halved

Water melon sliced
Kiwis, peeled and sliced
Siced Bananas
Sliced Cantaloupes
Sliced Pineapple
Sugar as needed

Lemon juice

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the strawberries, grapes, kiwis, Cantaloupe and bananas. Gently mix in Pineapple and water melon. Sprinkle sugar on top. Pour very little lemonjuice and fresh mint juice over the fruits. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Chiku MilkShake

Though we used to buy it very often while in India, it was the first time we were buying it here. We ate a few as such and kept aside some to make a shake. Just like my husband predicted, it turned out to be really good. One of the best fruit shakes that I've ever tasted.

Ingredients

2 nos Chiku (Sapota)
2 tea spoons sugar
1 glass chilled milk

Method

Remove the skin  and  seeds  of the chiku, and  cut to small pieces.  Blend Chiku pieces, sugar and milk in a blender.  Pour it into a glass and serve chilled.

Fruit Bread

The idea of this fruit bread emerged literally out of the blue. I had made some homemade tutty fruity the day before and it was visibly and neatly kept on my kitchen shelf. Today i had plans of making bread for dinner and immediately i caught sight of my tutty fruity. Plans changed all of a sudden and within minutes, my tutty fruity bread was ready to be baked in the oven. It reminded me of the tea time snacks i used to have during my childhood days. My little boy  had great fun plucking out the tutty fruity from the bread slices and eating it first( just like how i used to do)

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp edible Yellow food colour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup shredded apple
1 cup tuttifruity
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one loaf pan.
Mix flour, Food colour, baking powder, soda, salt, sugar, oil, eggs, apple, tuttifruity, and vanilla only until dry ingredients are moistened.
Bake in greased loaf pan at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes.

Tutti Fruity

I never thought that I would make tutty fruity in my life. I usually buy it from the stores for my recipe. But today when I checked, it was almost finished and I thought ill just check out the recipe. The recipe was found to be very easy and very tempting too. So i thought ill make it by myself this time and it was a huge success. I have it perfectly stored in an airtight container.  Hope it will last long enough for me to try in other recipes before being finished by my dearest foodie family.

Ingredients

200 gms Raw Papaya
2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
edible food color – red, yellow and green, Dark blue(each one pinch)
water as needed

Method

Chop Papaya and remove the seeds along with the white part. Peel off the skin of papaya and chop it into small cubes. It yields around 2 cup of raw papaya. Keep it aside.
Boil 4 cup water in a pan. Once it starts boiling, add chopped raw papaya and let it cook for 3 mins on low-medium flame. Remove from the heat and let the papaya remain in the same water for another 5 mins.

Meanwhile, Cook 2 cup sugar and 3-4 cup water in a pan. Once sugar is completely, add blanched & strained papaya cubes in syrup. Switch to low-medium flame.

Cook until the sugar syrup turns sticky and forms a thin one-string consistency, which may take another 15-20 mins. Follow this time approximately since the time may vary according to the utensil you use. The sugar syrup will turn thick and you can guess easily with that. Switch off the stove and remove pan.
Add few drops of vanilla essence to it. Take 4 bowls and divide sugar syrup into 4 portions.

Add a pinch of each color in 4 different bowls filled with syrup. Mix well and keep it aside for 12-24 hrs.

After 12-24 hrs, take out the papaya cubes from syrup and strain them properly. spread those papaya cubes over a wire net placed on top of a plate. Let them dry till the stickiness is totally absorbed. Store tutti frutti in an airtight container and use whenever needed.

Mixed Fruit Shake

A very comforting and easy drink that anyone can make with whatever fruit is available in the house. A usual summer drink in our house. Come in from the hot sun and take a gulp of this magical cold drink and you will feel like heaven. And the good part is that it is no big deal. Tell your kiddos to do it and give yourself a break. Enjoy.

Ingredients

1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 cup ice cube
1 large mango, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 Apple sliced
1 banana peeled
2 tablespoon sugar

DIRECTIONS

Put yogurt, sugar, ice cubes and apple in a blender and blend until smooth. Now add mango and banana and blend again.
Pour into 2 tall glasses.

Easy Melon 'n' Lemon Crush

Ingredients

Watermelon slice-2 cups
lemon juice -2 tbsp
Sugar-2 tbsp
Ice cubes-a few as required.

Method

Take a bowl ,put watermelon slice,sugar,ice cubes,mix well.
finally add lemon juice ,mix well.
transfer to serving glass.watermelon lemon crush is ready.

Kiwi Kooler

Ingredients

2 kiwi blended
1/2 cup crushed ice
1 tablespoon sugar syrup
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tablespoon sabja seed
1 bottle chilled soda

Method

In a tall glass, place ½ cup of crushed ice.
Pour 1 tbsp of sugar syrup, kiwi blended, sabja seed,  and 1.5 tbsp lemon juice over it and stir using a stirrer.

Top the  glass with ½ bottle of chilled soda water and serve immediately garnished with a slice of kiwi.

Mango Cantaloupe Smoothie

2 ice cubes (crush in blender first)
1 cup of peeled and chopped cantaloupe
1 cup of peeled and chopped frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen milk
Sweetened yoghurt - 2 tablespoon
1/2 cup mango nectar (or juice)
1 to 2 tsp honey
A drop of vanilla essence

Mix everything together in a blender and serve.