Banana Chia Power Smoothie

So you’re all pooped from the festivities. 

Need an energy booster? 

Or a cure for a hangover? (Do I sound like an ad?)

This was something I picked up from my travels. An instant energy booster. Yummy to boot.

Just the other day, I’d found it on our local grocer’s chiller and wait …. how much was that? You gotta be kidding me?! Forget it, I’ll make my own ….. 

It makes a great breakfast on the go as well. For someone (me) who isn’t into the whole shebang of slicing, toasting, pan frying, buttering, eat, wash and wash some more … this is just brilliant. 

Make it the night before and you’re all set to take on the world the next day!

INGREDIENTS

(Note: measurements are per 250 - 300 ml bottle / mason jars)

1 - 2 small bananas, sliced (this depends on how thick you want your smoothie to be)

1 cup apple juice

1 tbs chia seeds (too much of this and you’ll get pudding)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

honey / sugar (optional)

METHOD

Puree bananas and 1/2 cup of the apple juice in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Put 1 tbs chia seeds and ground cinnamon into bottle / jars. 

Pour in puree and top up with remaining apple juice, cap and shake to mix it up.

Leave overnight in the fridge.

Glug the next day … watch out, world!

Hot and Passionade !

If you're looking for something else that's not about food and drink .... you're on the wrong site. Thank you. And no, I didn't spell that wrongly.

Our weather's absolutely horrid this last couple of weeks. I'm sweating buckets ... hang on ... horses sweat, men perspire and ladies glow. Ok, let me rephrase that.

I'm glowing buckets ... that didn't sound quite right. Anyway, I'm "glowing" so much and not in the mood to work in the kitchen over a hot stove or having the oven on... even with the AC switched on full blast (our electric company's going to be very happy this period), hence the lack of activity on Ping's Drippings.... I mean Pickings.

Don't go away. I promise I'll deal with this. Maybe have an ice-jacket on, or jump into the pool every couple of minutes, or stick my head in the freezer ... or something.

I need a fizz fix every now and then.... especially now. My other half needs a fix too, more often than not. He's satisfied with ginger beer and coke. I like ginger ale ... less sweet. I do like coke but it gets a little too cloyingly sweet after awhile.

Interesting fact: Did you know that the taste of coke and sugar content levels differ from country to country? I've made it a point to have a coke everywhere I go, just to prove this point. If you already knew that, good on you. Just thought I'd mention it. I've found the ones in Malaysia to be seriously sweet, altho they've claimed to have lessened the sugar content over the years. I don't like diet coke for the weird aspartame aftertaste. And there's a strange stickiness in the throat after drinking it ... besides, it's not suppose to be good for you ... not that fizzy drinks are anyway.

It's always the usual fizz flavors on the shelves. I'd sometimes just stand there in the aisles and stare at the bottles wondering which I'd get. Nothing too interesting. But I guess it's the regular normal flavors that sell.

I need something a little different. This weather is driving me up the wall! I need something fizzy, something refreshing, not crazy sweet, something fruity (besides me). I thought about making some ginger ale. Then I noticed some passionfruits sitting in the basket looking all wrinkly. Then the old gears in the head started going .....

Oh, sorry about the missing passionfruits in the pic. I realised I'd used them all up in the soda and not left any to shoot. Oh well ...

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 cup passionfruit pulp (about 5 fruits)

juice of 1 small lemon

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

4 - 5 cups water (room temperature)

METHOD

Combine sugar, 1 cup water and passionfruit pulp in a saucepan.

Heat until all sugar has dissolved.

Leave to cool.

Stir together the yeast and lemon juice and top up with water to measure 1 cup.

Strain cooled syrup into a 2L plastic bottle with a screw cap. Add lemon/yeast mixture.

Add in 4 - 5 cups water.

Seal tightly and give the bottle a good shake to mix.

Leave in room temperature until the sides of the bottle isn't squeezable anymore ... about a day or two, depends on the yeast.

Place bottle in the refrigerator to halt the bubbling process.

*Note: There'll be some yeast residue at the bottom. Just discard that when you get to the bottom.

Also please be careful when opening the cap. Excessive fizz has been known to happen ... speaking from experience ... believe me, it ain't fun.

Carrot Cocktail

(Improv Challenge: Carrots & Ginger)

A toast to all the bunnies out there! Those who were famous during my time and now almost forgotten for the new characters that have taken over the world of classic fairy tales, classic book characters and toons. Now when I see any rabbit featured in a movie or a book, it'll inevitably transform into some gadget wielding, alien fighting machine or sprout wings and fangs, flying off into the midnight hour looking for some luscious neck to sink their teeth into. Sigh .... Where have all the cute cuddly creatures gone? And people wonder why our society is getting more violent. Duh.

What brought this on?

Hmm .. well, let's see ...

~ It was supposed to be something with carrots and ginger for the Improv Challenge organised by Kristen.

~ There were so many ideas going on in my head and then I realised I don't have many beverage posts on this blog of mine.

~ I'm up to my eyeballs in mandarin oranges from Chinese New Year and getting tired of making marmalade.

~ I've some lovely ginger syrup from making Candied Ginger .

~ I have some very good apple juice from Vom Fass.

~ Oh, and a new bottle of Jamaican Rum that needs to be opened and used.

~ And to top it all off, my mother told me to eat more vegetables. I figured I'll drink mine.

[ I guess this post would be more appropriate on Easter, especially for the adults having to run after little kids during Easter egg hunt parties. Right, I shall repost this at Easter. ]

Meanwhile ...

INGREDIENTS

150 ml mandarin orange juice

150 ml carrot juice

150 ml ginger syrup

150 ml spiced apple juice (see recipe below)

50 ml rum

METHOD

Combine all ingredients.

Refrigerate or put in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, baby, shake!

Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with ginger and carrot slices.

Or float a piece of candied ginger in it.

Enjoy!

SPICED APPLE JUICE

INGREDIENTS

1 cup apple juice ( I used Vom Fass apple juice)

3 - 4 allspice pods

1/2 cinnamon stick

METHOD

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight.

(Personally, I prefer a stronger spiced flavor, so I left mine for 2 days before adding to the cocktail or alternatively, just double up the amount of spices if you can't wait).

Breakfast On The Go

Super quick, super healthy and super yummy! The super smoothie!

This is for the days when I'm in a hurry or just too lazy to fix a proper breakfast but need the energy to get a kickstart to my day.

A friend introduced me to this juice bar near where she works where they serve this really delicious, to-die-for breakfast drink. She swears by it and I believe her ... stick thin and she runs on endless energy. I so need that ... the energy and definitely the stick-thinness. At $12 a pop ... I thought I'd try do this myself.

This is so easy, healthy and the best part is that all the ingredients can be stored easily ...yes, even the bananas, which can be frozen (don't mind the color change. It doesn't really affect the goodness or the taste).

I always have frozen bananas in the freezer for the days when I need to satisfy an ice cream crave and don't need to regret it afterwards. I have a one-ingredient ice cream (best eaten freshly made) that does the trick. I guess I could also have this as my breakfast-on-the-go but I like a little variety and I can take this along with me without any drips and messes ... oh, you'll need a really fat straw (I tried it the first time with a regular sized straw .... saw stars and nearly passed out by the time I finished the entire cup).

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup of your favorite muesli

1/2 cup fresh yogurt / frozen yogurt

1 cup fresh milk

1 banana (fresh/frozen)

honey to taste

METHOD

Plonk all ingredients into a blender. Buzz. Slurp.

*Note: I love using frozen bananas for this as it makes the drink super cold and gives it a slushy-like texture as well without having to use ice cubes. I sometimes reduce the milk to make a thicker smoothie but then ... forget the straw, fat or skinny or you'll pass out for sure :D

* Makes 1 breakfast-on-the-go!

My Latest Squeeze: Soy Milk

Nope ... no hot gossip. Just literally "my latest squeeze", as in, hand-squeezed soy bean milk. I know it's such a dinosaur-age method and I do have a soy milk maker that grinds, boils and filters (all-in-one) but somehow (I can't quite put my finger on it) it doesn't taste right. Or maybe my machine isn't as good as it claimed to be...

So for a long while now, it's been sitting in storage,... oh wait, have I given it away? Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. I've resorted to making it this way, not really prehistoric, since I'm using the blender (hehe) but squeezing out the goodness with a cloth strainer bag. Good finger exercise.

I like my soy milk rich but feel free to dilute with more water if you like.

Included in this recipe is a simple syrup flavored with pandan ... a tip handed down through the generations, to mask the beany taste of the beverage.

Makes about 2 liters.

INGREDIENTS (SOY MILK)

300 g soy beans, soaked overnight

1 1/2 cups water to every 2 cups of soaked beans

METHOD

Give the soaked beans a light rubbing to remove as much of the loose skin as possible.

Blend every 2 cups of beans with 1 1/2 cups of water. Pour small amounts at a time into cloth strainer bag, give it a twist to close off the top (so that there'll be no accidental spurts of juice and paste) and squeeze out the milk into a large pot.

Put aside residue. Continue until all beans are used up (each time saving the residue for a second squeeze).

Add another 1 1/2 cups of water to every 2 cups of the residue, blend and squeeze again.

Discard pulp.

Bring the milk to a rolling boil and remove from heat.

Add simple syrup to taste. Can be served hot or cold.

INGREDIENTS (SIMPLE PANDAN SYRUP)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 pandan / pandanus leaf

METHOD

Put both sugar and water into a small pot. Knot the pandan leaf and place it into the pot together with the sugar and water. Heat pot over medium heat for about 10 mins or until sugar has dissolved completely. Discard pandan leaf.

Lemongrass Ginger Ale

Meet Joe Rhizome....

“The Gingerman, he's not too lucky,

He ended up in a pot of curry.

Alas, that is not all to his tale,

He also ended up in my ginger ale.”

≈ ping (Wordsworth, I ain't)

Hot! HOT! HOT! The weather's been rather fickle lately. In this part of the world, there's supposed to be just hot and rainy and it used to be such that even those days have their own times of the year to unleash their wrath upon us hapless folks. But the seasons have all gone wonkers and the monsoons and the dry days seem to come and go as they please. The last 2 days have been sweltering, after a whole week of electrical storms, strong winds and heavy downpours. Did I mention wonky?

I've just finished a good, hard-bashing game of tennis with my tennis-mad posse, and am ready for a long, cool swig of something refreshing. It was very humid and all that sweating... wait, no, not sweat. Ladies, I'm told, perspire... no, no, lemme get this right.... horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow. Aaahh, that's right. Umm... cool drink, ok, so .... I remembered I had a batch of "improvised" ginger ale made 2 days ago and by now it should be nice and fizzy. Yup, glad I made those.

"Improvised" - as in, I added some 3 - 4 crushed lemon grass stalks to the basic ginger ale recipe that you can find here. Add it in at the first step. If you prefer a stronger lemon grass taste, feel free to add more stalks. More improvisation? Some ice and a good glug of vodka, limoncello, gin, etc ... you get happier as you go further along the list.

Aaaaahhhhh.......

Homemade Ginger Ale

Adapted from Aran Goyoaga's recipe @ Design Sponge

This is such a great recipe! I've never thought of making my own soda until I chanced upon this fabulous post. I've tweaked it a little to my taste by adding a little more ginger. I like a bit more oomph to my ginger ale. I've thought of reducing the sugar but then the yeast might not react properly. I'm too chicken to try it out .... yet.
So refreshing on hot, sweaty days ..... like, everyday over here. Sigh, if mother nature would just screw up and let it snow here and have a fair exchange with somewhere far up north or down south where they might appreciate a bit more sunshine. Double sigh. Oh well, I'm allowed to dream.
Meanwhile, back to ginger ale ......

How To Know When It's Ready:

Remember to use a plastic bottle. .The gases from the fermentation can crack a glass jar.

Those 2 liter plastic soda bottles will work just fine. Recycle, recycle.
Feel the bottle by squeezing the sides. When you've just filled it, it's nice and soft and squeezable. After about a day or 2 or 3, you can feel it's more resistant. Refrigerate the bottle once it's ready, to stop further fermentation.
There will be a little residue at the bottom. Not to worry, it's just the yeast. Throw the last bit away when you get to it.

INGREDIENTS

3 tbs grated fresh ginger (2 tbs young ginger + 1 tbs old ginger)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 - 1/2 tsp instant yeast
7 cups water

METHOD

In a small pot, add grated ginger, sugar and 1/2 cup water.
Bring to a boil and let sugar dissolve. Remove pan from heat and allow to steep and cool for about 30 mins.
Strain the syrup through a fine sieve.
Mix in lemon juice, yeast and 7 cups water. Whisk together.
Using a funnel. pour into plastic bottle. Screw the cap on and let it ferment at room temperature for about 2 - 3 days.
Make sure to refrigerate after it starts to carbonate.