A Great Sprout Alternative

I love sprouts, they are a wonderful source of vitamins and minerals and I could eat them with every roast. But my family are not so keen, my son will eat brussels but only one or two, so when I was asked to tryFlower Sprouts I was intrigued to see whether I could get the whole family to give them a go, by incorporating them into every day meals.

First of all what is a Flower Sprout? 

"The inspiration behind the idea for flower sprouts came from a desire to create a Brussels sprout with a more subtle flavourwhich was versatile and looked great. The result - a brand new vegetable which looks a little like a tiny cabbage with green frilly leaves and streaks of purple. Just 100g of Flower Sprouts® contain double the amount of vitamin B6 the vitamin that helps us use and store energy from the food we eat and twice the amount of vitamin C than standard Brussels sprouts."

Well we've tried them in many variations, steamed with a roast dinner, with meatballs and pasta which was one of the recipes from Flower Sprouts.

And probably one of my favourites was as a smoothie, this is a super way to get all the vitamins in one go, whizzed up with some coconut water, banana, a handful of spinach, some cacao, almond butter and a squeeze of agave syrup it is a suitably yummy way to enjoy flower sprouts.

For me, I really enjoyed eating the Flower Sprouts in every form, when cooked they have a wonderfully soft texture, a mix between kale and a sprout, they have a subtle taste and are easy to eat.

My son tried one and said it was excellent, my husband, the veggie hater, tried one raw and said he thought they were better that way than cooked and my daughter tried a bit of one and didn't want anymore. But she is four and still at a slightly fussy stage in her diet, she tried it though and we will persevere to get her to eat them.

There are some wonderful recipes on the Flower Sprouts website and I will be buying more to try with them, I buy normal sprouts even though the rest of the family aren't too keen. Usually if I have them on my plate they will give them another try.

Certainly with the festivities of Christmas these wonderful little veggies make the perfect and pretty alternative to Brussels sprouts. With them looking like flowers they are sure to be a hit with children who don't like the look of normal sprouts. There is certainly place for all types of sprouts on my dinner table though.

NB: This is a collaborative review post, all words and opinions are my own.

Super Green Smoothie

Over on Instagram I have found the fabulous Simple Green Smoothie's feed and it has been an insight into the wonderful world of smoothie making.

Since being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and now a Vitamin D deficiency I have been desperate to boost my intake of fruit and veg and this has been a great way of doing it.

Tasty (although I admit it looks a bit gruesome) it is a super easy way of getting a vitamin hit as well as some slow release energy to keep me going and fill me up.

I have adapted this recipe as it is just for me but you can find this one and more on their website or instagram feed.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Almond Milk
1 Tablespoon of Almond Butter
1 Tablespoon of Cacao (I used Willie's Cacao finely grated)
1 Banana
1 Cup of Spinach

Put all of the ingredients in a blender, I use my Hinari Genie, it's seen better day's but does the job and blends quickly, it's easy to put together and wash afterwards. And blend until everything is liquid.

Poor into a glass and serve...

I have been taking these to work too in a Bonne Maman jar, these are the perfect way to give me an afternoon energy boost.

I have also been adding some strawberries and blueberries if I have them, if you don't have cacao then you can use cocoa but you don't need as much as it is quite strong and bitter and you may need a little honey.

Next up I am going to be trying the Alpro coconut milk, it sounds amazingly tasty and apparently makes things tasty like bounty!

House of germs!

So this week has been a bit quiet on the blog, mainly because we are all full of germs!

Since my daughter started nursery at the beginning of January it has been one sickness after another.

I have felt rough all week and Wednesday couldn't move off the sofa, not sure if it's flu or just a bad cold but now my throat is one fire and the worst thing is I can't take anything for it because I am still breastfeeding my daughter.

Ok, ok so sob story aside I really need to get more vitamins into me and the children so I think I need to start making smoothies and more soups.

Anyone have any smoothie recipes they'd like to share that don't necessarily require a smoothie maker either, I have a food blender and hand blender?