Yu! Healthy yoghurt and fruit snacks

Yu! is a new range of fruit bars and pieces, their products are made from real fruit and are completely free from artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives, using only the best ingredients without compromising on taste. The new range includes:     

• 100% Jus Fruit (RRP £0.67) – delicious bite-sized pieces of dried fruit, one of your 5-a-day and less than 90 calories.
• Yogurt-CoatedFruit Pieces (RRP £0.45)– tasty fruit bites covered in a creamy yogurt coating, containing real fruit and real yogurt.
• Yu! Bars (RRP £1.79 for 3) – 40% fruit combined with cereal in a gorgeously healthy yogurt-coating.

We were sent a few of each flavour for review, they are sweet but taste really natural and wholesome, I'm a sucker for anything yoghurt coated, so these were perfect for me. I have a long commute to work on the tube and I don't always plan my time well enough in the mornings to have breakfast, these were perfect as a snack to tide me over until I could grab a proper breakfast near my office. I also snacked on them before the training runs for my 10k this weekend, as they were light but gave me energy.

I preferred the Yu! Bars over the other products as they were very convenient and handbag friendly, and are available in a range of flavours including strawberry, cherry, wild berry and apricot. I also think the price is great value for money and I will certainly be buying these again to snack on!

I'm sure these would also be great for kid's lunch boxes as they are free from artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives.

I

Find the perfect healthy snack for Yu! with the dried fruit snacks in the home baking sections of Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores nationwide now. 

I

Review: The Wet Fish Cafe

This week we went on a West London adventure to the Wet Fish Cafe in West Hampstead. The restaurant is on the old premises of a 'wet fish shop' hence the unusual name. The walls are tiled with beautiful green art deco wall tiles which give it a really unique feel.

The restaurant is now in its eighth year of serving modern comfort food to the people of West Hampstead. We arrived around eight and were greeted by the friendly waiting staff and a glass of pink bubbly each! The owner, Andre came over for a quick chat and filled us in about the history of the building.

We both had starters which were beautifully presented, Hayley had crispy squid with sweet chilli mayo. I did sneak a squid ring or two and they were lovely and crispy on the outside and the squid itself was just right and not at all chewy.

I had the scallops with squash houmous and pomegranate dressing. The scallops were big and juicy and although I thought the houmous was an unusual pairing it did work.

The Wet Fish Cafe feature a fish market special on their menu every day and I enjoyed a sea bass broth with summer vegetables and cockles. The sea bass was perfectly cooked and the broth was flavourful and light, my only reservation was that the vegetables were very chunky which I wasn't sure about. The broth also had a scattering of samphire which I adore, it's absolutely fantastic and adds a real depth of flavour.

Hayley had another of the specials, a crayfish and spinach linguine. Although the crayfish was very tasty the portion was a little big and it seemed like there was too much pasta to crayfish.

We also both enjoyed a glass a homemade lemonade, which was refreshing and delicately flavoured with mint, without being overpowering.

I would recommend this restaurant for a casual dinner with friends, this tasty and light, modern comfort food was just right for a warm summer evening. The staff are friendly and welcoming and the unusual decor is a feast for the eyes. If you would like to book, it can be done easily online by clicking here.

Thanks so much for a lovely evening, The Wet Fish Cafe!

Italian Tomatoes and Buffalo Mozzarella

A quick and delicious dish that I grew up with, serve with warm bread.

Ingredients
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella
4 large tomatoes
Olive oil
Basil or parsley

Method
Slice your tomatoes thinly and arrange so they cover a plate. Drain your mozzarella and tear it with your hands., arranging over the tomatoes.

Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, and add a few leaves of basil or parsley to serve.

French Prawns

A quick and tasty dish that can be served as a dinner party starter or whipped up as a quick supper.

Ingredients

Salted butter

King prawns

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

Parsley

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Melt a little butter in a small frying pan.
2. Add your finely chopped onion and fry on a low heat until soft
3. Add your king prawns and stir into the onions
4. Chop your tomatoes finely and add to the pan, along with 2 whole peeled garlic gloves
5. When the tomatoes have softened and released their juices snip the parsley into the pan and stir
6. Season to taste and serve immediately

10 Minute Roasted Peppers for Cheats

Take a handful of sweet peppers and add a big glug of olive oil to a frying pan. When the oil begins to smoke carefully add the peppers, and keep the heat high.

After about 5 minutes your kitchen should begin to smell of delicious roasting peppers and the underside of the peppers should be blackening.

When the underside is blackened flip your peppers and reduce the heat slightly, allow the other side to cook and then remove from the heat.

Place some kitchen paper over a plate and drain your peppers there.

Serve with a quarter of lemon for squeezing. You have now made time consuming roasted peppers into a 10 minute job and just as delicious!

Review: Poppies Fish and Chips Spitalfields

Poppies describe themselves as "service without compromise. Pop and his family have been serving fish and chips in the East End since 1945. No nonsense, friendly and quick. Takeaway or sit in to enjoy the informal, friendly surroundings and great value."

I couldn't disagree with them.  Everything tasted fresh, the potatoes for the chips were fluffy but crisp, more importantly the batter was not too oily, as that is always a deciding factor when eating fish and chips.  I went for the scampi and chips as I have a 'thing' where I can't order the same thing as someone else on the table. 

The real quirk about this place is its old, vintage feel about the place bringing a bit of traditional East End to the trend. 

If I am being completely honest, I have been here a few times before and I don't have any complaints, but have never sat down to eat, and I think in future, I will just stick to the takeaway.  There's something more exciting about eating fish and chips from cardboard whilst desperately trying not to drop any chips onto the pavement.  That's alsmost the fun of getting fish and chips.  Also, the fact that I was charged 1p for tap water seemed strange.  That makes me sound like a cheap-skate, but when it's free everywhere else, and given the choice, what would you go for?

Image taken from Poppies website

Creamy Herb Dip

An easy creamy herb dip, great for a veggie lunch box or to serve with crisps and vegetable batons. Could also work well stirred into a pasta salad.

Ingredients

A selection of herbs; parsley, basil, chives for example

Watercress

Rocket

Spinach

1/4 white onion finely chopped

3 tbsps cream cheese

3 tbsps natural yoghurt

1 tbsp mayonaisse

Sprinkle of paprika 

Splash of Tabasco sauce

Squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Roughly chop your mixed herbs and the salad leaves, and squeeze over some lemon juice
2. Finely chop a quarter of an onion and add to a food processor along with the greens
3. Add the cream cheese, yoghurt and mayonnaise and pulse together
4. Taste and add more yoghurt to loosen if needed. Add the paprika, tabasco and lemon juice and transfer to a bowl
5. Stir to ensure all ingredients are well combined, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Powerbar Vanilla & Coconut

Here's what they say: "You should always eat 30-45 minutes before training as working on an empty stomach will negatively affect performance. Try a Protein plus Power bar, developed according to the needs of world class athletes to be a great-tasting and excellent source of protein. Made up of a scientifically proven ratio of protein and carbohydrate to replenish spent glycogen stores and aid muscle growth."

What did I think?

Vanilla & Coconut Flavour

I was looking forward to trying this bar as an alternative to the dust flavoured protein shakes I've tried in the past. Although the vanilla and coconut (and white chocolate) flavouring of the bar came through there was still an aftertaste of what the powder tastes likes...but it's not supposed to be a treat.


I'd just had a big bottle of water to hydrate for my run but this made me very thirsty, I would advise that you follow the PowerBar advice and eat this around half an hour before training.

PowerBar Protein Plus is priced at £1.85 per 55g bar available from www.powerbar.co.uk

Let's all have a mezze!

It's July! And this weekend at least, it certainly feels like Summer, so to celebrate I made a big mezze spread for Saturday lunch including a herb dip, roasted garlic, sourdough bread, french prawns, cheats roasted peppers and a tomato and buffallo mozzarella salad.

Keep an eye on the blog as I will be uploading one recipe a day from this lunch spread for the next week! Today's recipe is Giant Roasted Garlic using a Terracotta Garlic Roaster from The Garlic Farm on the Isle of White

Click here to go to the recipe.

Enjoy!