Tag Archives: lemon

Natural Safe Ways to Clean your Produce

3 Apr

I’ve mentioned to you already how I like to use a produce cleaner like Fit to clean my fruits and vegetables from the chemicals, pesticides and wax companies throw over produce to make them look particularly pretty for display at the supermarkets. They might look pretty, but those chemicals are definitely no good for our health.

But what do you do if you don’t have Fit or any other commercially available produce wash with you??

There are indeed natural ways to clean your fruits and vegetables… using lemon juice, vinegar or a combination of the two.

Limas 2

Grapes are fruits we enjoy a lot – we love to welcome in the New Year by eating 12 grapes to ask for 12 wishes for the new year. And after 10 days of fasting and cleansing your system, the last thing you want is to intoxicate your body with the pesticides and wax non-organic grapes are coated with.

All you need to do is soak the grapes in water and add the juice of 2-3 lemons or limes to the water the grapes are soaked in. Try for the grapes to be submerged as much as possible in the acidic solution. If not possible, then be vigilant and rotate the grapes so at some point they’re all soaked with the acidulated water. If using vinegar, try 2 tsps per gallon of water. Soak the grapes for only 20 minutes to 30 minutes tops. After that, the grapes start to soak the acidic water and they start to become mealy… not a good thing.

The acidic nature of lemon juice or vinegar dissolves and breaks down the wax covering the grapes… Check out this side by side pic of grapes washed in just water and grapes washed in the lemon water.

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Knowing this method, we were able to thoroughly wash grapes we purchased right on the streets of Allahabad. Lemons are very common in India and unfortunately, waxed grapes are too.

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After the grapes, or any other fruits you wish to enjoy, are cleaned… just dry them off and store as you would usually do – in the fridge or countertop. Or just go ahead and eat them immediately!!!

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Mixed Green Salad… great way to return to the land of the eaters

11 Mar

After a week without eating solid foods, you certainly want to maintain your system as clean as possible. We are encouraged to eat only fruits and salads after we finish our spiritual retreats.

This was the salad I made right after we came back to the “land of the eaters”… it was improvised by what was freshest at the market on New Year’s Day, but it turned out to be so delicious, that we prepared it exactly the same for a few days after because I got so enamored of the flavors.

This is my way to get you enamored with salads too… hope it works!!!!

Salad - After Retiro

MIXED GREEN SALAD

2 large handfuls of Baby Arugula
1 large handful of Baby Spinach
1 handful of Alfalfa sprouts
1 Tomato, sliced
¼ cup sliced Almonds
¼ cup dried Cranberries
Lemon Vinaigrette – Lime juice, Extra Virgin Olive oil, Salt and Pepper
  1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large salad bowl. Squirt the juice of ½ a lemon, drizzle some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss all the ingredients with your hands to combine well.
  2. Eat immediately… as the lettuces will wilt if you let this salad sit for too long.

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Grilled Asparagus

11 Oct

It might seem weird to you that I am posting an asparagus recipe in the Fall… but I had these pictures taken for a few months now, but never got around to write a post about it. And given I have noticed how many readers we have from the Southern Hemisphere, then it should be just as appropriate to post something that goes with their Spring season starting just now.

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The asparagus I grew up with were canned and I usually ate them almost exclusively in a party sandwich like these…

But I have come to develop a great love for asparagus, especially when they’re abundant and fresh in season in every farmer’s market near you.  This is an easy delicious recipe to snack on or as a side dish…

GRILLED ASPARAGUS

½ a bunch of asparagus
Salt and Pepper to taste
The juice of ½ lemon or lime
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

 

I like to use a grill pan for this… and I like pencil-thin asparagus.

  1. Clean the asparagus by trimming the end where the asparagus breaks on its own when you bend the stalk. That end will be stringy and not pleasant to eat anyway. You can keep it to flavor some vegetable stock if you want. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and massage the asparagus to make sure they’re all coated and seasoned.
  2. Heat grill pan over medium-high heat. Place your asparagus as flat as possible on top of grill pan. Allow them to cook for a few minutes. Turn them around by rolling them on their side so they get grill marks on various sides.
  3. When they turn bright green, about 4-5 minutes, they’re most probably done. Turn off the stove and squirt some lemon juice on top. Take them off the grill pan and serve, sprinkling some grated parmesan cheese on top to season.

 

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Home Remedies – Pure Lime Juice to stop Nausea and Vomiting

23 Apr

Sorry that we’re talking about these unsightly symptoms… but if we like to eat, sometimes, unfortunately we’ll eat something that does not agrees with us. It’s life…

I have found that drinking the pure juice of 1-2 limes when I have nausea helps ease the stomach in such a way that it settles in a little while. This is partly the reason why I always like to have limes and lemons in my kitchen.

Lemons and limes are acidic in the outside world… but when ingested, they alkalinize the blood and eases any upset stomach symptom. I am no scientist, but I have used this remedy many more times than I would like to admit. And it works. I squeeze the juice out of the fruit and drink it like a shot – all at once.

Lime juice is also good to stop diarrhea. If by any chance you have “the runs” and they won’t stop… try drinking a shot of lime juice to see if you feel better. I have a friend that took a colon cleansing tea… and afterwards she would not stop going to the bathroom. She was getting worried and drank some lime juice and “the runs” stopped. It’s an amazing remedy…

Hope you never have to use it. But if you do, now you know a natural way, right??

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Peach Cherry Crisp

9 Aug

I raided Costco the other day and bought a whole case of peaches… and a case of cherries. All, just for myself. Well, I did share some with my mom when she came over to visit, but before she came over I was puzzled on what would I do with a case of peaches all for me.

I have made already this plum and blueberry crisp… so I tried the same concept with peaches and cherries to see if it would work. The results??? It DID!!!!

When I asked a bunch of you on FaceBook what should I make with these peaches, Adriana recommended a peach pecan something… that gave me the idea to add pecans to the crisp topping. A hit!!!

 

PEACH CHERRY CRISP

2 medium peaches, peeled and cut into pieces
About 14 cherries, pitted and cut into pieces
3 tsps cornstarch
¼ cup raw sugar
The juice of ¼ lemon
Pinch of ground cinnamon
 
For the crisp topping
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup rolled oats
3 tbs butter
¼ cup raw sugar
2 handfuls of pecans… about ¼ cup
Butter Spray
  1. In a glass baking dish, sprayed with butter spray, add the cut fruit. Add the cornstarch, sugar, lemon zest and juice and finally the cinnamon. Stir well to combine.
  2. Pre—heat oven to 350F.
  3. In the bowl of a food processor combine the crisp topping ingredients – flour, oats, butter, sugar and pecans. Pulse a few times for all the ingredients to combine and form a sand-like consistency. If you want to make this crisp gluten-free or even dairy free, just follow the instructions for the crisp topping I use here. It’ll work all the same.
  4. Place crisp topping over the fruits in the glass dish. You can be generous.
  5. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes, until the topping is golden and you see the fruit juices starting to bubble a bit. If you would like to avoid spills in your oven or toaster over, place the glass dish over a sheet pan to catch any drippings.

I did this the other night for a dinner with my friend Walter… he is not into sweets and he had seconds. I hope that meant it tasted awesome!!!!

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