Rainbow Fruit Kebabs

It's been a sunny weekend here and we have started thinking about Easter food; something that will be good for a barbecue if the weather's sunny over the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend.  Talking ideas through with Sous Chef J we decided that a fruit kebab, to balance out any chocolate egg-eating overload, would be a tempting and simple end to an Easter-time meal al fresco.

With sunny days in mind, we bought a selection of fruits which would look appealing and taste great. We also spotted some Easter Floral crockery in Sainsbury's that was decorated with bright, springlike flowers and decided a couple of pieces would be just the way to serve our kebabs.

Having bought pineapple, bananas, kiwi fruit, nectarines, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, mangoes and plums we started preparing the fruit for 'spearing' on bamboo skewers.

It was a lovely sunny day, so we decided to make the most of the weather and took everything we needed into the garden and began preparing the fruit...  this was a simple task of peeling (where necessary) and chopping into suitably sized pieces. 

Once the fruit was prepared and laid out in colour order, threading onto the bamboo skewers began. 

Choosing the order of strawberries, mango, nectarine, kiwi fruit or green grape, plums and blueberries... Sous Chef J worked through all the prepared fruit to get the Rainbow Fruit Kebabs ready.

Our Rainbow Fruit Kebabs were served just as prepared but they could be eaten with a melted chocolate (perhaps made from excess Easter eggs?) dip or, if barbecuing, a melted marshmallow drizzle.  YUM!

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!