Waste not, what not!

I have a bit of an issue with throwing food away. I can find the most ingenious ways of using left over food to make great meals, but give me carte blanch to make a meal from scratch, throw in some guests and I get totally over whelmed … issues?

One of my favourite waste management tricks is with fruit. I like having fruit around but I’m not the biggest fruit eater, so more often than not I have some which if not used soon will need to be thrown out! I could turned it into some kind of fruit crumble or serve it poached with ice cream but I don’t encourage too much dessert eating unless we are really treating ourselves. So, I usually just cut it into smallish chunks and freeze it - ready for smoothies whenever we want them.

Frozen banana is great as it gives that lovely creamy finish to a smoothie and frozen grapes give the extra sweetness so you don’t need to add sugar. Freeze pineapple, mango, melon, apple, pears, plums - pretty much any fruit you can think of.

I like to have bought frozen berries in my freezer as they are a easy dessert when needed and I like to add a few to my smoothies.

To the frozen fruit, I usually add yoghurt and fruit juice and blend it up with a hand blender – that simple. To make it a complete breakfast smoothie I add some oats, nuts and seeds. You can add sugar if needed, coconut milk, water, ice, ice cream – some spices like cinnamon or chia spice can also be fun… get creative.

For an adult alternative use the fruit for a daiquiri by blending the frozen fruit with ice, fruit juice, sugar and your favourite white spirit. Mmm… Now that is good enough reason for me to never to throw fruit away again.