Triple Melon Ice Blocks (Vegan, Sugar Free)

The monthly Sweet Adventures Blog Hop is always a good excuse to dust off my dessert thinking cap and make something for my sweet tooth. The only problem this month is that I'm on a detox. Yep - things have been a little indulgent around here during December and January and I figured that my body needed a good clean out! So for the last 9 days I've been on a strict detox (except for Saturday night when I went to a hen's night - oops). It's going great, I feel fantastic and I've lost 5 kilos in the last 9 days. I can share my detox plan with you guys if you like.

So, desserts have been a bit limited in my house lately. Mostly just eating fruit for dessert! This  month's theme is 'Licence to Chill' and at first all I could think of was ice cream cake and ice cream pie, semifredo etc. Not on my detox. For a little while I thought I might have to sit this one out, but then later in the day, when I was eating a huge bowl of cut up melon chunks, inspiration struck.

This is the result! They are a delicious and incredibly healthy snack for your sweet tooth. Perfect for dessert, breakfast, snacking or whenever you want really. The recipe is very simple and the resulting ice blocks look very pretty! I haven't added any sugar to mine, because it's not on my detox - and also because, well, when you eat a delicious bowl of chopped up melon you don't sprinkle sugar on top do you? So I don't think it needs it, but if you want to sweeten it you can.

I'm sure somebody will come out with criticism because I've labelled this sugar free but obviously the fruit contains sugar. In my opinion a dish is sugar free if I haven't added any sugars myself (cane sugar, coconut sugar, rapidura sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar or any other type of sugar) but I'm simply relying on the natural sweetness of fruit.

Triple Melon Ice Blocks (Sugar Free)

Ingredients

2/3 cup chopped watermelon

2/3 cup chopped honey dew melon

1 cup chopped rock melon (cantaloupe)

3 tsp fresh lemon juice

You'll also need:

A set of ice block moulds (making 4)

4 paddle pop sticks

NOTE: The quantities needed may vary depending on the size of your ice block moulds.

To Make:

1. Blend the watermelon with 1 tsp of the lemon juice. Pour evenly into the bottom third of your ice block mould and then put in the freezer for an hour. (The watermelon layer will separate out into 2 layers, giving the ice blocks the 4 layered effect)

2. After an hour, blend the honey dew melon with 1 tsp lemon juice and gently pour into the middle third of the ice block moulds. Place in the freezer for 35 minutes.

3. Remove from the freezer and gently insert the paddle pop sticks - the mixture should be frozen enough to hold the sticks upright but soft enough so that you can easily insert them. Return to the freezer for another 25 minutes.

4. Blend the rock melon with the remaining tsp of lemon juice and gently pour on top, filling up the ice block moulds. Place in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until completely set.

Makes 4 ice blocks.

To eat, run some hot water around the outside of the mould to allow the ice block to slide out easily.

Enjoy!

Love Heart Melon Bouquet for Valentine's Day

It's getting close to Valentine's Day now and, although my partner and I don't do anything on Valentine's Day, I thought I might share with you this special and healthy Valentine's treat. Because you should always do nice things for the people that you love!

Sometimes I find that there are just a few too many occasions in the year in which overeating and 'indulging' are expected. Overeating is the order of the day on Xmas - usually at several Xmas gatherings (and often in the form of chocolates for Xmas presents), then suddenly it's New Year and it's champagne, cocktails and more parties. The beginning of the year is for recovery and getting yourself back on a healthier eating plan, but then suddenly it's Valentine's Day and you're facing more chocolate. Then before you know it around comes Easter and it's hot cross buns and LOTS more chocolate. Then there's his birthday, your birthday, your mum's birthday, dad's birthday - all of which mean CAKE and often dinner out at somewhere less than healthy (pizza, thai etc.) Then it's your anniversary and you're celebrating with wine/champagne, dinner out and yes, chocolates. Then around comes Xmas again and it all starts over! That doesn't even include friend's birthday's (more cake!) or weddings (open bar! - oh and more cake!).

Looking at that then it's no wonder that obesity is so rife in Western nations! Your body barely has time to recover before it's another onslaught of of 'special event' food. It's great to have so many things to celebrate every year and I love all the excuses to get together with friends and enjoy good food and wine. My solution is to try and make at least some of those celebrations healthy. That doesn't mean it's not special!! Honestly there are so many wonderful and healthy special things to eat and drink on your celebratory occasions.

This bright bouquet of melon can be arranged in a vase or wrapped in cellophane and ribbon to give to somebody you love. Paper wrapping is not advised though - the melon is too juicy and will soak the paper. To make this you'll need a cookie cutter shaped like a heart - preferably a small-medium one as you'll find it too difficult with a large one. If you don't have a heart shaped cookie cutter you could cut a stencil out of plastic (paper will get too soggy) and use a sharp knife to cut around the stencil (a more time consuming method).

Ingredients

Watermelon

Rock Melon (cantaloupe)

Honey Dew Melon

Long skewers

To Make

1. Cut a slice of each of the melons about 1.5cm thick. Use the cookie cutter to cut heart shapes out of the melon flesh. Continue to do this until you have as many as you want for your bouquet.

2. Insert a skewer into the bottom of each love heart. If you are displaying them in a vase, trim the bottom of the skewers so that they are all different lengths. This will make arranging them prettily easier.

TIPS

~ The skewers can be prepared in advance and kept in a sealed container in the fridge and then assembled when needed

~ Cutting the honey dew and rock melon can be a challenge if you're cutter is bigger than the radius of the flesh. See?

To overcome this - take your 1/2 rock melon and cut the bottom half off it and then slice it.. Like this:

Sorted! You can do the same with the Honey Dew Melon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Summer's Glow (Yellow Watermelon Cocktail)

You know how I've been posting and tweeting about improving my food photos? Well, this one is shamefully a testament to how far I had to go. Sadly, food photos take patience and sometimes I just want to put down the camera and eat or drink whatever is there immediately. In some cases, if I failed to get any good shots then I make the recipe again and have another go. In this case, that wasn't possible.

Why? Because it contains a somewhat obscure ingredient. Yellow Watermelon! My lovely partner currently works in the fruit and vegetable department of a supermarket, and one day when they were cutting up the watermelons they cut one open to find that it was bright yellow inside! The staff immediately bought all the pieces of it and my partner proudly brought it home, knowing I would be excited by a somewhat exotic ingredient! In another sad photography fail, I didn't actually take any photos of the yellow watermelon, but you can check out what a yellow watermelon looks like here.

Most of it I just chopped up and ate. But I thought it would be silly of me not to blog something about it, and it just so happens that the Eat the Alphabet challenge bloghop is on it's last hop for the year. That means it's X, Y and Z time. Somewhat challenging letters, but luckily I can show you my Yellow Watermelon Summer Cocktail.

Summer's Glow Cocktail

Ingredients

500g yellow watermelon

2 cups vodka

1L lemonade

Juice of 2 limes

Fresh mint

Ice, to serve

To Make

1. Chop the watermelon and remove the seeds.

2. Place in a blender with the vodka and a few pieces of ice. Blend until completely liquid.

3. Add the lemonade, lime juice and plenty of torn fresh mint. Stir gently and transfer to a large jug or glass bottle to serve. Serve over ice, with additional mint sprigs, if desired.

Serves 6.

NOTES:
~ You can, of course, make this with pink watermelon instead. It will be just as delicious, although I would suggest calling it a Lover's Glow, to suit the pink colour.
~ It is preferable to chill the watermelon, lemonade and vodka before hand, so that the drink will be nice and cold when you serve it.

Chilled Watermelon Salad with Ginger and Passionfruit Syrup

This salad is perfect for a light and refreshing snack on a hot day. The cool, juicy watermelon paired with the slightly spicy ginger and the zingy, flavoursome passionfruit makes for a most lovely combination. Elegant and sophisticated enough to take to party, and easy enough to make and keep in the fridge for when you're feeling peckish, this salad has all occasions covered.

Ingredients:
3kg watermelon, chilled beforehand.
The pulp of 1-2 passionfruits

Syrup:
3 Tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice

3 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp of chopped fresh ginger
3 Tbsp of agave nectar or maple syrup

How to make:
1. In a small saucepan, add all syrup ingredients and bring to the boil, simmering for 3 mins.
2. Take saucepan off the heat and let sit for 15mins. Chill for 1 hour.
3. Prepare the watermelon by either chopping into cubes or scooping out small and delicious spheres with a melon baller (this is way funner!). Add to your serving bowl/s.
4. Strain the ginger from the syrup and drizzle over the salad, adding a few of the reserved peices of ginger if you like.
5. Top with the passionfruit pulp and enjoy!

Serves 4