Recipe | Alex's Famous Salad

Alex's Famous Salad

If you're salad lovers like us, do try out Alex's salad recipe. It's famous! ;) Finally decided to post this so that we could share it with our friends and family. A healthy, hearty dish for you and your loved ones.

Serves: 2-4 people

Ingredients:

Base Salad

•     1 Red Onion (finely sliced)
•     1 Red Capsicum (diced)
•     6-8 Tomatoes (diced)
•     4 Cucumbers (preferably Lebanese - sliced)
•     1 Apple (Granny Smith or Pink Lady - diced)
•     1 Eggplant (cubed & pan fried)
•     ¼ cup of Cashew Nuts (roasted, unsalted)
•     Handful of Snow Peas (sliced)
•     ½-1 Avocado (cubed)
•     Cheddar cheese (cubed)

Season With

•     Salt
•     White Pepper
•     Fresh Lemon/Lime juice
•     Olive Oil
•     1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (optional)
•     Sour Cream (optional with chicken)

Variations (choose at least 5 others)

•     Handful of Alfalfa/Bean Sprouts
•     Handful of Baby Spinach
•     4-5 Red Radishes (sliced)
•     1 small White Radish (sliced)
•     4-5 Eggs (soft boiled & chopped)
•     4-5 White Mushrooms (sliced & pan fried)
•     Chicken (pan fried & cubed)
•     Coriander (chopped)
•     Bok Choy (chopped & pan fried)
•     Asparagus (pan fried, but still firm) 
•     Zucchini (cubed & pan fried)
•     Feta Cheese
•     Smoked Salmon

Method:

1. In a large bowl, add all the prepared ingredients.
2. Season and mix it all up.
3. That's it!

In this combination we (by "we" I really mean Alex) made the base salad with bean sprouts, baby spinach, red radish, white radish, mushrooms, chicken and sour cream. See photo's below.

Radishes, Snow Peas, Capsicum

Apple, Cheese, Baby Spinach

Cucumbers, Onion, Mushrooms

Tomatoes

Pan fried Chicken breast

Cut Chicken into cubes

Season, Mix & Enjoy!

We hope you'll enjoy this recipe!

If you made this, we'd love to hear about it! :)

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Recipe | Bite Sized Chocolate Fridge Cake

This is a no bake chocolate cake recipe inspired from Jamie Oliver's Chocolate Fridge Cake recipe. The first time I tried making this was in Singapore, suggested by a dear friend. Since then I've modified the recipe based on the ingredients we had on board and it works just as well.

Makes: around 36 pieces

Ingredients:

• 200 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
• 150 g unsalted butter
• 1-2 tablespoons of honey
• A pinch of salt
• 150 g digestive biscuits, broken into small/fine pieces
• 150 g mixed nuts, roughly chopped (i.e. cashew, almond, walnuts)
• 2 tablespoons of dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of granola with dried fruits (optional)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix the digestive biscuits, nuts, seeds, cranberries and granola.
2. In a heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate, butter, honey and a pinch of salt either over a pot of simmering water, or in a microwave. Stir occasionally until smooth.
3. Mix both the contents together.
4. Spoon the mixed contents into a mould. I used plastic egg cartons.
5. Close the cover and put into fridge to firm up.
6. Once it's firm, you can turn over the mould and pop the pieces out.
7. Store in fridge in an airtight container. The flavour improves after a few days.

Note: If you prefer it as a whole cake, instead of bite sized pieces. Use a 8x4 bread/loaf pan. Line the pan with clingfilm to help you turn it over once it's firm. Leave extra film at the edges so you can fold over the top. Follow steps 4 through 7. If you're allergic to nuts then simply leave them out of the recipe.

200g of Dark Chocolate 
This is not the best dark chocolate but we make do with what we have and it turned out well

Melt Butter and Chocolate, Add Honey & a pinch of Salt

Digestive biscuits, Mixed nuts, Cranberries, Granola

Melted chocolate with butter, honey and pinch of salt

Mix contents together

Like so..

Spoon the mixture into the mould, close the lid and put in fridge to firm

That's it!

Really like this recipe because it doesn't require any baking! Hope you'll like it too.

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Recipe | Chipotle Burrito Bowl

We had our first Burrito Bowl at Chipotle Mexican Grill in the US last September, and loved it! What's a girl to do when there is no Chipotle branch in Trinidad? She makes her own! :)

We had all the ingredients here except coriander! I've included it in the recipe below anyway because it's an essential ingredient and should be used when you have it! When on a boat in a foreign land, we have to make do with what we have.

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

Salsa

• 4-5 Tomatoes - diced
• 1 Red Onion - finely chopped
• 3 Cucumbers - diced
• 3 small Red Raddish (optional) - diced
• Handful of Coriander - finely chopped
• 1 Lime - cut in half

Veggie Stir Fry

• 1 Capsicum - sliced into strings
• 1 Eggplant - sliced into strings
• 1 White Onion - sliced into strings
• Broccoli (optional) - sliced into strings

Guacamole

• 1 large ripe Avocado - mashed
• 1 Lime - cut in half

Note: You can follow Chipotle's Guacamole Recipe if you prefer.

Rice

• 2 cups of Brown Rice
• 2 tablespoons of Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons of Coriander - finely chopped

Others

• 1 can of Corn
• 1 Lettuce - finely chopped
• Cheddar Cheese - shredded
• Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
• Chicken, Pork or Beef (optional)
• Beans (optional) - none for us, Captain's orders

Method:

Salsa

1. Mix the diced tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, coriander and red raddish in a bowl.
2. Squeeze in the lime and season with salt & black pepper to taste.
3. Set aside.

Veggie Stir Fry

1. Heat olive oil in pan.
2. Add in the onions and sauté for 3 minutes or when starting to brown.
3. Add in the eggplant, cook till partially soft.
4. Add in the capsicum and cook until vegetables are soft.
5. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
6. Set aside.

Guacamole

1. In a bowl, mash the avocado with a fork (chunky or smooth, it's up to you).
2. Squeeze in the lime and season with salt to taste.
3. Set aside.

Rice

1. Cook the rice as you normally would i.e. in a rice cooker or in a pot.
2. Once the rice is cooked, add in the butter and 2 heaped spoonfuls of chopped coriander.
3. Mix well. 
4. Set aside.

Assembling the Burrito Bowl

1. In a bowl (large enough to mix the ingredients later), first add the rice.
2. Then place some salsa, corn and veggie stir fry on top of the rice.
3. Add a spoonful or two of guacamole & sour cream.
4. Top it with chopped lettuce and shredded cheese.
5. That's it! Mix and enjoy!

It's a little tedious to make but definitely worth the effort! Healthy & hearty meal.

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Recipe | Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Nutella, Cocoa, Cashew Nut & Chia Seed Whole Wheat Banana Bread 
(photo looks a little dark but rest assured it's not burnt.. It's the chocolate!) :)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 ripe bananas (mashed)
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• a pinch of salt 
• 1 egg
• 1½ cups of whole wheat flour/all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar or nutella (optional)
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)
• 1 teaspoon flax seeds (optional)
• 3 tablespoons of crushed nuts peanuts/hazelnuts/cashews/walnuts/almonds (optional)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas & butter until soft and smooth with a fork.

2. Mix in the vanilla extract, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder or sugar. Stir in the beaten egg.

3. Add in the nuts, seeds, nutella (optional). Mix in the flour.

4. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Lightly grease a 4x8 inch loaf pan with olive oil. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick (inserted in the middle of the loaf) comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven, let bread cool in pan for 5 minutes and turn it out on to rack. Slice & serve.

Note: Sometimes I pour half the batter into the loaf pan, then spread a layer of nutella before pouring the rest of the batter in for a sweeter version and a layer of nuts at the top. 😊

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