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Beat the heat this January with this delicious and healthy berry blitz smoothie recipe.

Berry blitz smoothie 

Serves 1 

Add 1 cup frozen mixed berries to a blender along with 1 frozen sliced banana, 1 cup low-fat yoghurt and 2 Tbsp chia seeds. Blend for 30 seconds until smooth and thick. Pour into a glass and top with extra berries or a sprinkle of granola. 

Smoothie central 

Amp up your nutrients with these tweaks: 

Meal prepper 

– Prep fresh ingredients for your morning or afternoon smoothie and add them to a ziplock bag. Refrigerate until needed.
– Take advantage of meal prepping for the week by peeling, cutting and portioning your smoothies into ziplock bags or containers. Freeze until needed.
– Blending frozen ingredients creates a creamy, thick smoothie, whereas using room temp ingredients makes a runnier smoothie.
– To up the fibre content, add seeds and oats aft er blending.
– Almost anything can be added to a smoothie. Fruits such as apples, bananas and pears will add sweetness. They also enhance the flavour when paired with ingredients such as spinach, kale, cauliflower, beetroot and other veggies. 

Protein power 

– Adding a scoop of protein powder is always great if you’re looking for an energy boost after an intense gym session, but there are more natural ways to get in your protein quota for the day. Try adding a sprinkle of the following to keep you full and recharge those muscles. 

• Oats: ¼ – ½ cup added before or aft er blending
• Dairy products: 1–2 cups yoghurt, cream cheese or milk
• Seeds: 1–2 Tbsp sunflower-, chia-, pumpkin- or flax seeds

Recipes & styling: Sjaan van der Ploeg 

Photographs: Zhann Solomons, supplied 

Also read: 3 refreshing smoothie bowls for summer 

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Bulk up and build muscle in the best way this summer with these flavoursome protein and carb-rich lunches  

Pork meatball mini subs  

SERVES 4 // TOTAL TIME 25 MINS 

Ingredients 

1 pack pork bangers
Canola oil, for frying
1 large baguette, cut into 4 (quarters)
½ punnet fresh coriander or parsley
½ cup mayonnaise
Salt and black pepper
Handful lettuce, torn or shredded
3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin sticks 1⁄2 cucumber, shaved into strips (use
a vegetable peeler)
½ pineapple, peeled and cut into cubes (or use tinned pineapple)
Sprouts or micro greens (optional)   

Method 

1. Remove pork meat from the sausage casing and roll into golf-sized balls.
2. Heat a glug of oil in a large pan and fry the meatballs in batches for 6-8 minutes, until cooked through and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
3. Slice each portion of the baguette horizontally to resemble a sub.
4. Blitz the coriander or parsley and mayonnaise until smooth. Season well. 
5. Spread half the coriander mayo inside each mini sub.
6. Layer the lettuce, carrots, cucumber and pineapple in each sub.
7. Top each sub with 3-4 meatballs and drizzle over the remaining coriander mayo. Serve immediately. 

The dagwood stack  

SERVES 1 // TOTAL TIME 10 MINS 

Ingredients 

1 teaspoon canola oil
1 egg
3 slices seeded rye bread, toasted
2 tablespoons basil pesto
Handful butter lettuce
2-3 slices smoked chicken, ham or salami 
1⁄4 cucumber, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
2-3 slices Emmenthal cheese 
1 teaspoon chopped chives  

Method 

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the egg for 3-4 minutes, until crispy round the edges. 
2. Spread pesto on each slice of rye toast. 
3. Layer lettuce, meat, cucumber, tomato and egg on the bottom slice of toast.
4. Top with the second slice of toast and repeat the layering process, this time using lettuce, meat, cucumber and cheese. 
5. Sprinkle with chives and add the final slice of rye toast. 

Honey & paprika steak wraps 

SERVES 2 // TOTAL TIME 25 MINS 

Ingredients 

1 sirloin or porterhouse steak
Salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika (smoked or regular) 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1–2 tablespoons honey (or syrup)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Juice of 1 lemon  

For serving 

2 beetroot wraps (or regular wheat wraps) 2 tablespoons hummus, mayonnaise
or pesto
1⁄2 red, yellow or green pepper, sliced and fried
Small handful lettuce, shredded 1⁄4 red or green cabbage, shredded   

Method 

1. In a bowl, season the steak and add the paprika, garlic and honey. Toss to
   coat evenly.
2. Heat oil in a large pan. Fry steak for 3-4 minutes on each side (for medium-rare).
3. Add the butter to the pan a minute before the end of cooking. Allow it to melt and add the lemon juice.
4. Use a spoon to baste the steak with the melted lemon butter. 
5. Allow the steak to cool before slicing. 
6. To assemble wraps, spread hummus, mayo or pesto on the wraps and layer the sliced pepper, lettuce and red cabbage.
7. Top with steak slices and fold the wraps to enclose the filling.  

Spicy & zesty chicken taco bowl  

SERVES 1 // TOTAL TIME 25  MINS 

Ingredients 

1 chicken breast fillet, scored
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin 
Handful lettuce leaves, chopped 
¼ cup tinned corn kernels, rinsed 
1 tomato, chopped 
1 avocado, sliced
Juice of 1 lime or lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander Nacho chips, for serving  

Method 

1. Drizzle 1 spoon of oil over chicken and season with salt, pepper and spices. 
2. Fry chicken in a pan for 6-8 minutes per side, until cooked through.
3. Remove, cool and slice into strips. 
4. In a bowl, arrange the lettuce, corn, tomato, avocado and chicken strips.
5. Whisk 2 spoons of oil with lime or lemon juice and coriander. Season well. 
6. Drizzle dressing over the taco bowl and serve with nachos. 

Recipes & styling: Chad January
Photography: Zhann Solomons

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Indulge in a guilt-free breakfast full of flavour to start your day in the best way. Thanks to LANCEWOOD’s Cottage Cheese range, mornings have never been as nutritious.

SERVES 2 // TOTAL TIME 10 MIN

Ingredients

1 tub (250g) LANCEWOOD® Cottage Cheese
1 tsp xylitol
½ tsp vanilla essence
Fresh fruit of your choice
Nuts & seeds, to taste
A drizzle of honey, to taste

Method

1. Spoon cottage cheese into a bowl and stir through xylitol and vanilla essence.
2. Top with fruit, nuts and seeds and honey before serving.

FRUIT TOPPING

Add a pop of colour and flavour to your breakfast bowl with these fruit options:

Ingredients

Tropical trio:

2 Tbsp granadilla pulp
½ cup chopped fresh pineapple
1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
3 Tbsp coconut flakes, toasted

Berry and muesli:

½ cup fresh berries of your choice, chopped
¼ cup muesli

RECIPE: SUPPLIED
PHOTOGRAPHS: ZHANN SOLOMONS

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These chicken, corn and chive mini quiches are an easy way to up your veggie intake as well as a great snack to put in your or your little ones’ lunch box.

INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk
2 sheets shortcrust pastry
125 g roast chicken, shredded
125 g tin corn, drained
2 tbsp finely chopped chives
¼ cup white Cheddar, grated

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 12-hole mini muffin tin. 
2. Whisk together the eggs and milk in a jug and season.
3. Gently unroll pastry and cut out 12 discs using a 7 cm round cookie cutter. Press the discs into pan holes. Divide the chicken, corn and chives between pastry cases. Top with the egg mixture and sprinkle over the cheese.
4. Bake for 25 min or until quiches are set, and the pastry is browned lightly.

If you’re feeling like something light for dinner tonight, then these spicy pork lettuce wraps will be perfect.

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The growing number of new plant-based product options available, matched with the developing market of plant-based consumers, has resulted in the runaway trend of our time: many brands are starting to include plant-based options in their existing ranges. Identifying consumer preferences and consumption habits will be important for finding a gap in the plant-based category.

It is important to decide whether your product will satisfy consumers looking for meat alternatives or meat replacements. Meat alternatives are usually developed to be high in protein, so that they are a good nutritional alternative to meat. Meat replacements are products which mimic the taste and texture of meat, creating a sensory experience that can easily lead you to believe that you’re eating meat.

Texturised (yellow) pea protein (TPP) ticks many of the boxes for nutritional claims, but is also surprisingly suitable in terms of its appeal to the senses. Aspects such as its ability to take on flavouring, and to be adapted to offer a number of different textures, make this plant-based protein ingredient an asset in the development kitchen.

The use of fine or coarse yellow pea protein flour for crumbing can be fine-tuned for taking on flavours and delivering a crispy texture – and it provides the opportunity to offer a gluten-free product, which means a new ingredient option for the consumer seeking plant-based products. Thus, variations of pea protein may be considered both for meat alternatives and for meat replacements.

Considering the growing list of requirements in the product development process, and as it’s a single-ingredient foodstuff which brings taste and texture into focus and is not a common allergen, yellow pea protein is an excellent foundation for product development.

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