Fruit Inspired Archives - Joie De Vivre

Cake & Cupcake Heaven, Fruit Inspired, Sweet

Apple Muesli Breakfast Muffins

After nearly two years of homeschooling, we are finally back to full-blown school with snack times and unearthly early mornings. Which comes to my need to find some nourishing breakfast staples that can be made in a jiffy and will keep the kids going till snack time in school. Our roster typically includes fruit / nut butter / maple syrup topped porridge, vegan oat chia seed pancakes, buttered honey toast, grilled cheese toast, dosa/ uttapam and buttermilk pancakes, with a side of storybook time.

There are some mornings when the struggle to get anything in order, on schedule, seems truly impossible. It is for those days, that I would stash Read more…

April 12, 2022 | 0 comment

Bread, Cake & Cupcake Heaven, Fruit Inspired, Sweet

Lemon Almond Yoghurt Cake

In the Covid-19 haze, I don’t know what inspiration hit me to decide to do a lemon cake. Possibly the overkill of banana breads spreading over my Instagram feed made it a little bit of a cringe-worthy feel to bake that. I do appreciate the need to use up bananas that are a bit too mushy for anything else – but there’s great other options for bananas. Here are some of my staples:

1. Slice and freeze bananas to use in oats, smoothies, parfaits or any other breakfast or snack concoction.
2. Freeze and blend with good quality cocoa powder for amazing nice cream. I always have a batch in my freezer for those midnight sweet cravings during our non stop Netflix and eat sessions.
3. Banana oat pancakes with cinnamon vanilla and a splash of almond milk – greatest breakfast or treat for all ages (including my 9 month old!) Read more…

April 10, 2020 | 0 comment

Appetisers and Hors D'oeuvres, Fruit Inspired, Salads, Savoury, Vegetables & Sides

Pomelo Salad [VG] [GF]

Pomelo isn’t the regular, run of the mill kind of fruit you’d just find, lying around your house. But if you do find it, you know, just lying around the house, be sure to make this salad with it! My Pomelo Salad uses humble ingredients like coriander, mint. peanuts, shredded coconut, onion, chilli, sugar, soy sauce and peanuts to give that amazing mouthful of sweet, savoury, nutty, sour, spicy and crunchiness, all in each and every bite! Pomelo salad is a staple Thai salad, which can also be replaced with grapefruit or even raw papaya.

I’ve buried my nose in Samin Nosrat’s book, Salt Fat Acid Heat, which explores how to cook, rather than what to cook using a recipe. Of course, the book does have recipes, but the fundamental idea that sets this book apart from a “cookbook” is that the book makes you understand the rules elements of cooking – how to use acid, how to cook with fat, how to season your food with layers of salt, how to apply (or not apply) heat. AND, the one essential unwritten rule that would take you the furthest when you pick up an apron is this: TASTE, TASTE, TASTE. Read more…

October 8, 2018 | 1 Comment

Appetisers and Hors D'oeuvres, Fruit Inspired, Salads, Savoury, Vegetables & Sides

Kale Salad with Pecans, Cranberries, Apple and Baby Radish

Is there a thing such as ‘Blogger’s Block’, you know, like writer’s block? Essentially, I too am writing, but just online and on a blog, so does that make me not a writer? I’m not so sure about that hypothesis, but what I am sure about at this hot, humid, sticky moment in the beginning of what threatens to be a horrendous summer, is that I have a case of whatever block you may term it. So now coming to the crux of my irrelevant public analysis of what block I am being plagued by – I am basically looking for an excuse to not continue tapping my fingers feverishly over the keyboard, as if it is a mission which I cannot fail.

But today, I am going to delve right into this beautiful, summary and fresh salad recipe. I know I’m (fashionably) late to join the Kale Revolution – but better late than never! This salad first came together as a beautiful mish-mash of ingredients in the fridge plus a big bunch of kale that was incredibly inviting at the supermarket, I had to get my hands on it. I started with apple, to add a bit of sweetness to the otherwise bitter kale, but this batch of american kale was far from bitter! Adding some thinly sliced baby radish, plump ruby red cranberries, toasted pecans, white & black sesame seeds and a few tablespoons of garlic scented cheese (you can easily substitute cheddar or crumbly cheeses like feta or goats cheese) with a basic and effective honey mustard vinaigrette to tie it all together!

Fruit & Nut Chocolate Slab (without the extra calories!)

Yes, its true. Chocolate can save the world, one tongue at a time. And my quick and easy recipe combines fruit and nut mix with semi sweet chocolate, perfectly forming a Fruit & Nut Chocolate Slab (without the extra calories!). Remember, because I use semi sweet chocolate, I am effectively lowering the calorie count, and by adding nuts and dried fruit – we counter the bitterness of the chocolate with a hullabaloo of a mixture of chewy, crunchy and crispy! Now I do not obviously advise eating slabs by the handful, rather having a 1 or 2″ square would be enough to give you your kick of sugar, without the unnecessary guilt!

Christmas Baking: Strawberry Shortcake

Want to make a desert this festive season?

But you want it to be quick, simple, lacking any kind of technique?

And most importantly, need it to look rustically perfect?

Well, have I got all those criteria marked off, and more!

You see, my Strawberry Shortcakes not only make the best and most beautiful centrepiece to your table this festive season, but take literally no time to make, use fresh in season luscious strawberries and is topped off with vanilla bean infused whipped cream. How do you not salivate?! And with christmas around the corner, the redness of the strawberries make the desert look even more festive and inviting!