Fruit Infused Water

All this sunshine has really set the bar for summer now. Bye bye boots, there's no going back - it's flip flops all the way till September now. 

Over the weekend I saw loads of girls with fruit infused water so I thought I'd have a go at creating my own. 

The beauty with this instant detox fix is that there's no set list of ingredients - go wild with that 5 a day!

In my old Yankee candle holder mason jar there is:

• Sliced cucumber
• Sliced lemon
• Frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants)
• H2o baby

Pop it in the fridge and leave it to infuse 'till your heart's content. 

You know how some people say fruit tea smells amazing but taste of nothing? Not this. Obviously, the longer you leave it to infuse the stronger the taste, but I poured after about 20 minutes and it was really fruity. 

Pour into a glass or bottle (or drink straight from a straw), and top up the water as necessary.. bearing in mind the flavour won't be as strong, so you might want to add more fruit too.

I've left my second infusion in the fridge overnight, I hope it's really strong in the morning..

Apparently mint and strawberry make a cracking combination, so that's definitely one to try this weekend.

(Sorry about the blurred quality of the photos, it was dark! I don't know how this beaut manages to make mason jars look so good..) Plenty of more beautiful images to drool over on Pinterest.

Any other infusion combinations I should try?!

Simple lunch box idea: roasted ratatouille

This recipe is the ultimate accompaniment to any lunch or dinner - make a big batch that will last you a few servings and you've got home-made lunches sorted all week.

It's clean, healthy, really tasty and so easy to make.

It's also one of those dishes where you can swap in and out vegetables according to taste (or, in my case, what's left in the fridge on a Sunday).

What I used:

1 butternut squash
1 courgette
1 red pepper
3 field mushrooms
3 celery sticks
1 tub tomato passata
Turmeric
Paprika
Salt & Pepper

If I'd had any, I would've added aubergine and an onion too.

Chop your veg. Throw it all into an oven proof dish:

Add a little extra virgin olive oil, then pour over the passata, turmeric and  paprika. Season with black pepper. I use a whole tub of passata to give it a liquidy consistency, but if you want it to look like this:

... only use half.

Put it in the oven at a low temperature (around 110 degrees), and leave it for an hour.

I like it with chicken breast & spinach, salmon & feta but it also tastes amazing on its own as a ratatouille.

After an hour, when it's looking like this, take it out and leave to cool. Serve as you will.

Boom! Cheap, healthy lunch.. come at me!