Blueberry & Raspberry Smoothie

This is the first recipe we (well actually Miss O!) made in our new Optimum 9400 blender. It's a super-easy, but really tasty, chilled fruit smoothie...

Serves 1

• ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• ½ cup fresh or frozen raspberries
• ½ cup ice cubes
• ½ cup apple juice

Lightly crush the ice for a few seconds in the blender.
Add the remaining ingredients and blend on medium-high for 45-60 seconds).
Pour and serve.

Smoothie benefits: Rich in  vitamin C, Vitamin K and fibre. 
Top tips: This smoothie is quite sharp-tasting, so younger children may prefer it sweetened with a drop of agave or date syrup.

Easy Halloumi Cheese Pie

I've made this recipe before, but last time I made it, I altered it quite a bit and made pastry-less mini-pies! This time, I've more or less stuck to the original recipe...

Eftychia of 'Dream of Cakes' lives in Cyprus and mainly blogs dessert and cake recipes, however she also posts many other delicious Greek recipes, one of them being this amazing halloumi pie. I adapted it slightly this time (using filo rather than puff pastry and swapping the polenta for cornflour), but other than that I followed the recipe.

As you can see, it looks quite impressive when baked, but is really easy to make. It can be served hot, warm or cold and makes a great addition to a meze or a picnic. It also looks good enough to serve for a dinner party or special occasion, slices well and can even be (slightly under) baked in advance and re-heated if needed.

I'm entering this recipe to July's Bookmarked Recipes Challenge over at Tinned Tomatoes.

Gigantes Plaki (Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce)

Traditionally, gigantes plaki is made from soaked, dried butter/lima beans and baked in the oven. My quick version relies on tinned beans and is cooked on the hob, but you could make a big batch using dried beans and cook in the slow cooker (boil the beans for 10 minutes before slow cooking). This dish can be serve warm a part of a meze or hot as a main dish with rice or bread.

My version costs around £1 to make, using budget-brand beans and tinned tomatoes. 

Serves 2-4

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes or around 400g/1 lb chopped fresh tomatoes.
• 1 tin butter/lima beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp chopped fresh dill
• ½ tsp sugar, optional
• ½ tsp paprika
• a pinch of cinnamon or a small cinnamon stick, optional 

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion, carrot and garlic for a few minutes.

Add all of the remaining ingredients, apart from the beans, and stir well.

Cover and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes. 

Add the beans, stir and simmer (with the lid on)  for a further 10-20 minutes, until the carrots are tender.

Lower fat alternative: Just use 1 tsp of oil. 
Camping version: Simmer a jar of tomato pasta sauce with a drained tin of butter beans. Serve with warm pittas.

I'm linking this recipe to 'The Vegetable Palette'  over at  A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table.  This month's colour theme is red.