Total 0% Greek Yoghurt Split Pots

Look at this lovely parcel of goodies that arrived for me a couple of weeks ago!

Last year I really enjoyed sampling and reviewing a selection of Total Greek Yoghurt so when they contacted me again to see if I would like to try out their new range of 0% Greek Yoghurt Split Pots I was more than willing to give them a try.

So, as you can see, I was sent a great selection of different flavours, all neatly parcelled up in a little cool bag (which will come in very handy for our summer picnics!). The split pots are available in four flavours - Honey, Blueberry, Strawberry and Tropical Fruits and combine Total's natural, fat-free Greek yoghurt with a side portion of honey or fruit compote. These yoghurts are higher in protein than other varieties and contain fewer than 130 calories, except for the honey which has 167 calories.

These definitely get the thumbs up from me. I found the fruit compotes to be very sweet, especially the strawberry and blueberry, however in contrast the yoghurt, which has no added sugar or artificial sweeteners, is very tart and, when mixed with the fruit or honey, creates a perfect balance.

Overall I preferred the tropical fruits and honey to the strawberry and blueberry (I've always preferred these two fruits in their natural state), although they were all really nice. The portions are very generous and they definitely kept the hunger pangs away for quite a while. The only small "issue" I had with the honey pots is that the honey was solid when I came to eat them, presumably from being kept in the fridge. I didn't mind too much as I love honey like this, however some people might get frustrated at having to dig the honey out!

If you're interested in giving these a try you can find them in most Waitrose stores for 79p per pot (usual price 1.09)

Thanks to Total for sending me these samples to try.

Prawn Curry

This is just a quick post so that I can share this lovely prawn curry recipe I came across a couple of weeks ago. I found it on one of my favourite food blogs - The Goddess's Kitchen. I love Maria's blog as the recipes she writes about always sound so tempting and are just the sorts of things I like to cook. This one in particular appealed to me as it sounded perfect for weeknight dinners.

It turned out just as I'd hoped - straightforward and delicious. You could even make the sauce in advance and then add the prawns and reheat it later if you wanted to save some more time.

You can find the recipe here.

Rhubarb Yoghurt Jelly

This recipe has been on my pending pile since the summer and now the evenings are drawing in (and aren't they just at a rate of knots?!) I'd thought I dig it out and post it as a reminder of warmer days. This was one of the things I made as part of my Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment when the lovely people at Total supplied me with a VERY large quantity of Greek Yoghurt to play with.

Anyway, this recipe wouldn't get anyone through to the final of Masterchef, in fact it's a bit of a stretch to even call it a recipe. It's an old favourite, though, and certainly worth a mention. To be honest I don't think the greek yoghurt worked as well as regular natural yoghurt as it didn't mix in particularly well. Still tasted good though.

I should say that the following recipe is merely a rough guide - it doesn't matter in the slightest if you have more or less of any of the ingredients.

Rhubarb Yoghurt Jelly

(My Mum passed this recipe on to me - original source unknown)

Approx 400g rhubarb

Caster Sugar

1 pack of jelly - I usually use Strawberry or Raspberry

Approx 150g - 200g plain yoghurt

1) Start by chopping up the rhubarb and stewing it in a saucepan over a low heat until soft. You can a little sugar if you like or if the rhubarb is particularly sharp but the jelly will add its own sweetness later on. Leave to cool.

2) When the rhubarb is cool, make up the jelly in a large dish. Leave it in the fridge for a short while to cool down and begin to set (probably half an hour to an hour).

3) When the jelly is cool just mix in the rhubarb and yoghurt and then return it to the fridge to set completely.

Makes one largeish bowlful.

Delia's Rhubarb & Ginger Brulee

I love rhubarb - in cakes, in puddings or just plain stewed - I'll take as much as you can throw at me. So when I came across this recipe recently I just knew it was for me, particularly as it also includes Greek yoghurt, making it an ideal candidate for my Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment. Thanks again to Total for providing me with such a generous number of samples to play with.

You've probably seen the recent Waitrose campaign involving Heston & Delia on the television and in Waitrose stores. This recipe is one of the ones advertised by Delia and was a great success. The combination of slightly sharp rhubarb, the soft creamy middle and sweet, crunchy sugar on the top was just heavenly. I highly recommend you give this one a try.

You can find the recipe on the Waitrose website, here.

For a couple more of my favourite rhubarb recipes, click on the links below:

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

Lamb Cutlets with Yoghurt & Cumin

Here's another recipe which I came across as I searched for new and interesting ways to use Greek yoghurt (kindly supplied by Total). I had been having some trouble finding savoury recipes which included yoghurt in the dish rather than just using it as an accompaniment but this was just what I was looking for.

This recipe, Lamb Cutlets Marinated in Yoghurt and Cumin, comes from Nigella's Forever Summer book and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Lamb cutlets are not something I cook very often but this recipe has encouraged me to put them on my shopping list more often. Marinating them in the yoghurt made the meat wonderfully moist and the hints of onion and cumin coming through made for a very enjoyable dinner.

Lamb Cutlets with Yoghurt and Cumin

(adapted from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson)

1 450g-500g pot Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 large onion

1 head of garlic

1 tsp Maldon salt

20 lamb cutlets

1) Empty the yoghurt pot into a large shallow dish (which will be big enough to accommodate all of the lamb cutlets) and then stir in the cumin. Peel and roughly chop the onion and mix it into the yoghurt. Break up the head of garlic, peel them and squash them slightly then stir into the yoghurt together with the salt.

2) Arrange the lamb cutlets in the dish and slowly stir them and spoon the yoghurt mix over them. Don't worry if there doesn't seem to be enough yoghurt - the lamb only needs to be lightly covered by it.

3) Cover the dish and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

4) When you're ready to eat cook the lamb cutlets on a ridged griddle pan on the hob or under the grill. Wipe them gently with some kitchen towel beforehand to remove the excess yoghurt and bits of onion. Fry or grill for a few minutes each side and then serve hot, warm or cold.

Serves 6-8

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

The recipe that follows is another great vehicle for yoghurt - something I have had a great deal of recently, thanks to the people at Total, who supplied me with a fridge-filling amount with which to experiment. My previous posts on the subject can be found here and here and there's more still to come!

This also happens to be one of my favourite fruit-based cakes. It's moist and sweet and utterly gorgeous while still warm from the oven. It keeps pretty well too, mind, and makes a great pudding with a bit of ice cream on the side.

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

(adapted from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson)

500g/1 lb 2 oz rhubarb

300g/10 1/2 oz caster sugar

150g/5 1/2 oz plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

155g/5 1/2 oz fine cornmeal (polenta)

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g/4 1/2 oz unsalted butter, soft

250g/9 oz natural yoghurt, prefarably bio (my greek yoghurt worked just fine)

23cm springform or loose-bottomed tin, greased and lined

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4

2) Wash and dry the rhubarb if necessary, and then trim and cut into 1/2cm slices. Put in a glass or china bowl and cover with 100g of the sugar. Leave to sit for up to half an hour.

3) Mix the flour, bicarb, salt, cinnamon and cornmeal together. With a fork beat together the eggs and vanilla and a small bowl or jug.

4) In a large bowl cream the butter and the rest of the sugar, then gradually add the egg and vanilla mixture, beating while you do. Then add the flour-cornmeal mixture alternately with the yoghurt. Don't overmix.

5) Finally, add the rhubarb and any sugary juices and fold together. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until springy to touch. You may need to cover with foil after about 40 minutes so the top doesn't catch. Leave to cool in the tin for a while before unmoulding.

Serves 8-10

Lemon Drop Scones

This is another recipe I've discovered as part of my Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment and one I came across while I was sifting through the recipes on the Total website.

I was surprisingly impressed with these. Not that I thought they wouldn't be nice, I just didn't expect the yoghurt to make such a difference. Somehow though it added a lovely creamy flavour to the pancakes and this, together with the lemon, made these a cut above your average pancake. This might just be my new go-to pancake recipe.

You can find the recipe here.

My Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment

I have recently been given the opportunity to sample some Greek yoghurt, thanks to the lovely people at Total. I was more than happy to take them up on their offer and awaited my samples with much excitement. And boy did I get some samples! 20 pots no less, some of which you can see below.

My delivery included Total's 10% fat yoghurt, 0% fat yoghurt and their 2% yoghurt with honey. For more information and loads of yoghurty recipes you might want to take a look at Total's website which you can find here.

So, I've started my experiment with a few simple dessert/sweet recipes.

For me, one of the best uses for yoghurt is served simply with some fruit and, as shown in the picture below, with some granola or museli. You can find the recipe for the granola in the picture here.

Next up, a simple pudding made with layers of rhubarb and yoghurt and topped with some crumbled biscuits. Very nice too, although I could have been more generous with the sugar in the stewed rhubarb.

The following is a Berry Yoghurt Bake - a recipe I had pulled out of a delicious magazine some years ago and put aside in my "to make" file. Quite unusual this one but lovely nonetheless. I liked it warm rather than hot from the oven and Mr Half a Pot said it went down very well with some ice cream on the side.

Berry Yoghurt Bake

(adapted from delicious magazine)

4 medium eggs, beaten

70g clear honey

250g think Greek yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cornflour

200g mixed fresh raspberries and blueberries

Icing sugar, to dust

1) Preheat the oven to 160c/fan 140c/ gas 3

2) Whisk the eggs, honey, yoghurt, vanilla and cornflour together in a bowl.

3) Put half the berries in a 23cm round baking dish and top with the yoghurt mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the berries over the top, then bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until just set. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot or warm.

Serves 4

This final recipe for Mango and Greek Yoghurt Mousse comes from the Total website itself. These little mousse's would make a lovely light summery pudding when you don't want anything too filling. A word of warning though - don't make them too far in advance as I found mine tended to separate a bit after a couple of days.

You can find the recipe here.

A wonderfully simple pudding

This is another recipe from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt called Orange Caramel Yoghurt.  However if peeling and slicing an orange is too much trouble you can substitute it with some chopped strawberries and blueberries, as I did today, or raspberries or pretty much anything you like.

Orange Caramel Yoghurt 

(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt)

2 large juicy oranges

250-350ml greek yoghurt

2 tablespoons dark or light brown sugar or muscovado sugar

1) Using a sharp knife cut of the skin and pith from the oranges and thinly slice.

2)  Place in the base of two dishes and spoon over.

3) Scatter over the sugar and leave for just a few minutes for the sugar to dissolve and create a caramel syrup.  The longer you leave it, the more the caramel dissolves into the yoghurt.

Serves 2