summer salad feat. avocado rose attempt 1

The sun is STILL shining here in Belfast - summer has lasted longer than a day, yay! I really crave salad when it's sunny outside so here we have a random assortment of fruits (blueberries were a weird but good addition!) / veggies I found in the fridge, teamed with steamed baby spuds.

I've been seeing avocado roses all over Instagram recently - I've been dying to try making my own, so behold my first attempt! It turned out okay, however I will definitely cut the slices thinner next time.. If you're trying this please remember to use a firm (but still ripe!) avocado - mushy avos will just collapse.

Check out this link if you're interested in attempting your own avocado rose!

banana-berry nice-cream

Summer has finally decided to rear it's lovely little head here in Belfast, this can mean only one thing - ICE-CREAM!

None of the shops local to me sell vegan ice-cream (yet-!!) so I decided to whip up some nice-cream using only fruit and a tiny bit of coconut milk - this more than satisfied my sweet tooth and left me feeling relatively guilt free. 

Ingredients:

• 3 frozen bananas - peel and chop before freezing
• Handful of frozen mixed berries 
• Punnet of fresh blueberries
• Handful of fresh strawberries
• Any dairy free mylk - coconut, almond, rice and soy mylks are all good for this!
• Poppy seeds for topping - this is all I had, however any nut/seed combo will work.
• Fruit for topping

Method:

Using a high speed blender, blend together all of the fruits with a dash of coconut milk. Bear in mind that it's better to add a little milk at first then increase if needed, if too much is added the mixture will take on a smoothie consistency as opposed to ice-cream. Once blended spoon into a bowl and top with fresh fruit and your choice of nuts/seeds, et voila! DIG IN. 

There are endless possibilities where nice-cream is concerned so I'll definitely experiment more in future! I think I'll try it using frozen mango next, and possibly some frozen avocado to add some extra creaminess :)