The new year is well and truly underway. With the new year inevitably brings resolutions, many of which fall by the wayside. After the indulgence of the christmas period we instinctively want to eat more healthily and hit the gym, which most find easy to start with. Keeping it going can be the difficult part. Having just come back from the Caribbean it struck me how easy it is to eat healthy when theres such an array of seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables available. Im quite fussy for a chef, I don’t like the texture of some fruit and vegetables but I love the taste. Its with all this in mind that I wanted to give you two recipes for drinks that are packed full of flavour and goodness. As February brings us the joys of valentines day, I wanted to give you a healthy aphrodisiac as an alternate to all those chocolates!
See you next month.
Beetroot, Carrot and Apple Juice
This ruby red juice is a good source of both vitamins C and K. It also contains Beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the body-good for skin and night vision
Ingredients
2 medium beets, trimmed and scrubbed
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
3 medium carrots, peeled
1 tablespoon flax seed oil, optional
Method
Juice the beetroots, apples and carrots together. Stir in the flax seed oil. Serve the juice over ice.
Watermelon, strawberry, Vanilla and Vodka Cocktail
This is the perfect pre dinner cocktail for valentines day, but if you take out the vodka you have a great juice for the mornings.
1⁄2 (about 2.2kg) seedless watermelon, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 tea spoon grated ginger
3 table spoons lime juice
1 tea spoon vanilla essence
1 papaya de seeded and peeled
Ice cubes and mint to serve
75ml – 100ml vodka depending on preference
Method
Place watermelon, papaya, vanilla, ginger and lime juice in the jug of a blender and blend until smooth.
Strain through a fine sieve into a seeing jug. Add mint, vodka and ice cubes and stir to combine.
Serve immediately.
John is at Rosemary Shrager’s Cookery School,
Tunbridge Wells. www.rosemaryshrager.com
