mavala chilli and spice collection

Posted on May 14, 2013 by andrea

the new mavala chilli and spice collection has me all fired up. the colours! so sizzling and summery i could just kiss them.

i got a sneak peek at the range last week at a summer preview event, and chose to have my nails painted in the gorgeous bright red cuzco.

i was lucky enough to bring home the collection with me to test out and this week, i’m into bali, a hot hot hot pink.

the six shades in the collection will keep me feeling bright and cheery all summer, even if the british weather doesn’t cooperate – particularly loving the nautical trinidad blue and jaipur orange.

which is your favourite?

cookie dough cheesecake bars

Posted on May 13, 2013 by andrea

i’ve been on a bit of a health kick with my recipes lately, what with summer holidays and beach time fast approaching. lean green smoothies, quinoa salads and guilt-free grapefruit brûlée… so unlike me. i’m craving something indulgent. cookie dough cheesecake bars? that’s more like it.

the ingredients list looks long for this recipe, because it’s split into three sections for ease of reading, but it’s all pretty standard stuff that is usually lurking in your fridge or pantry – making it the perfect recipe for those rainy sunday afternoons when you feel the sudden need to bake something delicious.

the instructions are incredibly easy – the only thing to know ahead is that you’ll need to clean your freestanding mixer in between making the cookie dough and cheesecake layers. unless you happen to have two. which nobody does, unless you’re martha stewart. or nigella, who seems to have a kitchenaid in every colour. but if you’re normal, you’ll need to clean out your one mixer. no biggie.

cookie dough layer:

70g brown sugar
35g regular sugar
75g room temp unsalted butter
1tsp vanilla extract
75g plain flour
135g chocolate chips (milk or dark)
pinch of salt

cheesecake layer:

285g room temp cream cheese
1 room temp egg
1tsp vanilla extract
50g regular sugar

crumb crust layer:

140g digestive biscuit (graham cracker) crumbs
75g melted unsalted butter

pre-heat oven to 175c. combine the melted butter and digestive biscuit crumbs (make crumbs by bashing biscuits in a freezer bag) until it resembles wet sand. press into a lined baking pan and bake for 10 minutes. remove from oven and allow to cool.

in the meantime make your cheesecake and cookie dough layers. in a freestanding mixer, beat all the cheesecake ingredients – ensure the cream cheese is at room temperature before doing this, otherwise you will have lumps.

pour the cheesecake filling on top of the crumb crust. clean out your mixing bowl and attachment, and then mix together all of the cookie dough ingredients except the flour and chocolate chips. add the flour slowly and beat to combine, then fold in the chocolate chips.

take small handfuls of the cookie dough and place gently atop the cheesecake. the aim is to completely cover the cheesecake, so pressing the cookie dough chunks flat with your hands before placing will help get a mostly even layer, like this…

bake in the oven at 175c for 30 minutes. remove and allow to cool completely, and then refrigerate for a few hours. this will challenge your willpower, but i have faith in you. going at it too soon will result in runny cheesecake filling everywhere. we don’t want that now, do we?

when you can’t handle the temptation any longer, remove from the fridge and cut into bars. just try to stop at one.

lean green smoothie

Posted on April 8, 2013 by andrea

i am the last person in the world you’d expect to be whizzing up a green smoothie for breakfast. i only eat things that taste good, and a glass of green slush doesn’t exactly look like it would be a party for my taste buds.

i’m all for banana, berry or peanut butter smoothies, but those ridiculously healthy green monsters? no thanks. and then last week, something weird happened. i was making a banana and mango smoothie, and on a random whim, decided to throw in a handful of the spinach i was trying to use up (i bought wayyyyy too much by accident) – just to see. i was feeling wild.

and you know what? it was delicious. i was shocked too. the sweetness of the banana and mango completely balanced out the spinach flavour, and i got over the green-ness of it after the first sip.

you can throw all sorts of extras into a smoothie to give it a boost, like protein powder, chia seeds, goji berries etc (i opened a pro-biotic capsule and chucked the powder in there for a healthy tum) but my basic recipe for a generous helping is:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 large banana frozen
1 cup diced mango frozen
1 large handful spinach

you may need a touch more milk if it’s too thick for you. i freeze my banana in large batches to have on hand and bought pre-diced mango from the grocery store – too easy.

if you don’t like almond milk just use regular. i love almond milk in my smoothies and porridge, and my halo shines just a little bit brighter when i drink it. just call me healthy harriet.

true clean-eating healthy people would probably roll their eyes at me crowing about how virtuous i feel. don’t expect me to start throwing carrots and kale into my smoothies anytime soon. regardless, there’s nothing bad in this, so i feel entirely halo-worthy with my simple, sin-free recipe.