Berry Bonanza (with Chocolate!)

Finally, we woke up to find the sunshining and blue skies here in the UK.  Having tried, and failed, to go "Pick Your Owning" last weekend, we decided it was worth another try today.

Once at the local farm, we were not disappointed with the rows and rows of raspberries and strawberries waiting to be picked.  We split into two groups so B and Sous Chef J went to pick raspberries and I went in search of strawberries.  It is great that strawberries are now grown about a metre off the ground in an irrigated bag system.  The fruits literally drop off the plants - no grovelling around in mud and straw to locate an unblemished specimen these days!

The haul we had in less than ten minutes of picking was 2.5kg strawberries and a kilo of raspberries.  Once home, the challenge was what to do with them.  Obviously, some didn't make it home, some were eaten on arrival and we did  a 'healthy' chocolate fondue with some more.

For the fondue (a favourite "dish" of Sous Chef J) we used a few pieces of an Aldi Swiss chocolate bar, heated in the fondue and then dipped in a selection of goodies.  This time, as well as the berries, we used cashews and walnut pieces for dipping.... but you can use sliced bananas, nectarine pieces, chopped kiwi fruit, marshmallows, dried fruit and so on.

Sadly, Sous Chef J was more keen on eating than taking a picture of the dipping... so here's a shot of the fondue once he'd finished!

Strawberry Smoothie

 Today the sun has been shining and there have also been clouds.  Sous Chef J decided he needed a summery drink to 'get into summer' so decided to make a smoothie.

As is good practice, he gathered the ingredients (but forgot the orange juice in this pic) then set about preparing his Vitamin C packed drink of delight.

It's a simple to make concoction.  He puts all the ingredients into a container then whizzes them with the Braun Hand Blender (although, after seeing a Vitamix demo at last week's Good Food Show, he keeps telling me one of their blenders would be better!!)

Using a handful of hulled strawberries, juice of one orange and a whole ripe banana as a base he added a squirt of lemon, a squeeze of runny honey, a splodge of natural (home made) yoghurt and a dash of vanilla extract.

Then WHIZZZZZZZ.  Pour out into "suitable receptacles" and enjoy!

Strawberry and Clotted Cream Cookie Tasting

To say sous chef J was delighted to receive a parcel containing 'goodies' for him to try is an understatement. He was thrilled and desperate to begin testing the contents... so much so that he rushed through his photograph taking in an attempt to get eating as soon as possible.

This is the parcel from Beyond the Bean that caused so much excitement...Inside it, we found 2 large Strawberry and Clotted Cream Cookies from Byron Bay's Gluten Free range. We'd spotted a tweet on twitter from @ByronBayCookies about their newly launched flavour and had been lucky enough to get a sample sent out to try for ourselves.Having opened the cookies (which were a little less than perfect after their journey through the post) sous chef J declared the flavour to be "amazing" - he particularly liked the little pieces of strawberry within the cookie.

Being a kind chap, this is what he left at the end of his taste test...... but, even from that small sample, it was agreed the Strawberry and Clotted Cream Cookies would make a great accompaniment to a cup of tea!

We'll certainly be keeping a look out for these when we're out and about over the summer.