Sweet Saturday #13: Strawberry-Kiwi Lemonade!

Once again, we had a great turn out last Sweet Saturday. Yay! Thanks to everyone who linked up! Let's make it BIGGER this time, ok? I'm officially addicted to having a large turn-out at my link parties now :) ...


Today's recipe was inspired by this tasty-looking treat I came across last week that I just had to try: Strawberry Lemonade from Addicted to Recipes. Mine is a little different because I used less sweetener and added kiwi since I had 2 that were a bit overripe and needing to be eaten. The result came out REALLY GOOD, so I hope you like it enough to try it. Let me know if you do!

What a pretty color, right?

Strawberry-Kiwi Lemonade
(makes 1 pitcher full)

Ingredients:

3-4 lemons
1 cup strawberries
2 kiwis
1/2 cup sugar or 1/3 cup stevia
1 1/2 cup water
1 small aloe leaf
4 cups water

Heat the sugar or stevia with the 1/2 cup of water over medium heat until dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat once sugar or stevia is completely dissolved and allow to cool. Meanwhile, juice the lemons and set aside. Hull and halve then quarter the strawberries then put into blender with 1 cup if water. 

Strawberries in water

Slice the aloe leaf lengthwise so one side of the leaf exposes the gel. Scoop the gel out and add it to the strawberries and water. Next, add the sugar syrup and hit puree. Lastly, add the lemon juice and water. You can just mix them together with the strawberry concoction if your blender has a "Mix" or "Stir" setting, or just pour everything into a pitcher and stir it up that way.

It will look like this once you blend it all up

And you may have a mess to clean up that looks something like this

You can serve this sweet and refreshing drink with fresh fruit or mint as garnish. Additionally, you could also add some ginger and/or cucumber to the mix, similar to the last lemonade recipe I posted. I recommend allowing to sit your fridge overnight, or at least for a few hours, before serving, to allow the flavors to blend properly. I know my first sip was almost too sour-tasting, but the next morning when I had a glass it was perfect!


This lemonade is particularly healthy and detoxifying with the added benefit of aloe. Aloe is already largely well known for it's cleansing benefits, as well as its soothing benefits when used topically on burns. But, did you know aloe also helps to halt tumor growth, lower blood sugar and cholesterol, prevent kidney stones, and boost cardiovascular performance, among many other things? Read this link to learn more!

This is terrific punch to serve to your family, friends, or at a party. It will be a hit with everyone, especially the kids. Adding the kiwi to this makes me reminisce about the Strawberry-Kiwi flavor Snapple used to make, but this is so much better! Better tasting and better for you ;)

Notice I added aloe gel to this; I use aloe all the time. It's the best burn treatment and can easily be added to any fresh juice of smoothy. But, alone it tastes rather bitter. You can even use it as a moisturizer and to speed up the healing process on cuts and scrapes by apply a little bit right onto the wound. Aloe truly is a wonder plant!

This is how one of my plants looks when the leaves aren't all chopped off. This image is courtesy guide-to-houseplants.com

I will warn you of one thing when consuming aloe, though: it's diuretic, so don't give too much to little ones unless you want them to poop a lot! Just a tip ;)

OK, now it's your turn! Follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me if you aren't already, and our guest-hostess, Mary, at A Day in the Life. Leave us a comment if you are a new follower so we can follow you back!

3. Hop around and say hi. 

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)


Please show Mary and her lovely blog lots of love, she's new to the blogging scene- plus she has really cute twins for you to ogle!

Thanks so much for linking up, I really do love the weekend even more because of this :)

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Thanksgiving Leftovers: Simple Turkey Soup

Here is the second recipe in my Thanksgiving series, and will likely be the final one unless I come up with something else awesome. This one is pretty quick and simple as long as you have the stock ready. This would make the ideal quick lunch, at home or to-go.

Simple Turkey Soup

4 cups turkey stock (click here for recipe)

2 cups water

2 cups chunks of roast turkey

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 celery stalks, sliced

1 small or medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Saute the onion and garlic with the seasonings in the olive oil until fragrant for about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and veggies and stir around until coated with the aromatics for about 1 minute then add the stock and water. Boil until carrots are softened. Add seasoning to your liking. Ready to serve or store! Great with crackers and cheese or rolls fresh out of the oven.

This is super easy. You can even make it per bowl if you have everything right on hand; in fact, that’s what I did when I made a version of this with just the turkey, veggies and a little seasoning in broth. I simply boiled the stock then threw in all the ingredients, cooking for 5 minutes on high. Even easier!

I neglected to talk about the health benefits of turkey in my last post, so here’s that info now if you were wondering. First of all, not only is turkey particularly high in protein, but- as we all know –it contains a significant amount of tryptophan, which is notoriously known to promote sleepiness, when in fact there is no research that proves this. It also contains, selenium, B6 and B12, and is a good choice if you are on a low fat diet as it is not associated with the health risks that eating red meat is.

Now I want to talk about celery, which is actually a pretty amazing detoxifier. It contains a large amount of vitamin K as most green veggies do, and a fair share of folate, and vitamins A and C. Celery has cholesterol and blood pressure lowering benefits and acts as a strong diuretic making it the perfect addition to your detoxifying fresh-squeezed juice. In fact, here’s a really good recipe for your juicer if you happen to have one.

Detoxifier

1 apple

2 regular size carrots or 1 large one

2 celery stalks

1 small piece of ginger, approximately the size of your thumb

Squirt of lemon juice

Throw it all in the juicer according to instructions and top off with a squirt of lemon before drinking. Very refreshing!

I also just found out, according to WHFoods.com, that celery contains “coumarins that help prevent free radicals from damaging cells, thus decreasing the mutations that increase the potential for cells to become cancerous.” Pretty interesting! This is a vegetable that is often over looked and merely thought of as a “diet food” or filler for soups and stews, when in fact it is good for you in a number of ways. Makes a great snack with some peanut butter or pimento spread on top!

Lily loves celery with peanut butter on it; it’s the only way she’ll eat it actually! Celery is very good for your little one who has trouble eliminating due to it’s diuretic properties and large amount of fiber. If your young child or toddler (with teeth) has tummy troubles, give them a piece of celery to chew on.

Here’s a classic you may already know that your kids will enjoy:

Frogs on a Log

2-4 celery stalks cut into quarters

Cream cheese

2-4 green olives, sliced

Spread some cream cheese onto each celery section enough so that the little cavern is filled. Top with 4-6 olive slices as shown in the picture below. Serve as an afternoon snack.

Image courtesy delish.com

Kids will like the name and you will like that it’s healthy and easy to make. You could also use peanut butter and raisins instead!

Do you have any interesting celery recipes to share? Share in the comments!

November Cookies: White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I used to work at a Crabtree & Evelyn a few years ago and they sold cookies like the ones in the recipe below; they were my favorite! I figured I could try and make them myself, so here is a version that uses whole wheat flour and less sugar than most cookie recipes. The tartness of the cranberries with the delicate white chocolate makes them sweet enough, and the whole wheat flour and oats add the whole grain goodness that make these cookies guilt-free.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

    ½ cup sugar

    ½ cup packed brown sugar

    1 cup butter, softened

    2 large eggs

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    ½  teaspoon salt

    1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

    1 ½ cups rolled oats

    1 cup dried cranberries

    1 cup white chocolate chips

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the sugars, butter and vanilla together until smooth, then add the eggs one at a time. Bit by bit, add the dry ingredients to the wet, beating until well blended. Once the flour has been added, add the oats and then lastly add the white chocolate chips and cranberries.

Preheat the oven to 350. Drop rounded spoonfuls of cookie dough onto ungreased baking sheets in rows, at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-15 minutes in oven on center rack until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving and then enjoy.

Once again I did not have an image of them readily available, but this picture courtesy cookingchanneltv.com looks a lot like how mine turned out the last time I made them

Cranberries are a well-known diuretic that help prevent urinary track infection, and help your bladder in general. Because of this, they are great for helping flush out your system if there are toxins in your body you want to eliminate; I suggest giving some to your baby or child after they’ve had vaccines to help remove toxic preservative chemicals left over from the initial shot (apples and lemon juice are also verygood to help draw out the aluminum found in most vaccines). Cranberriesalso contain a fair amount of anti-oxidants, vitamin C, manganese andfiber. They’re also in season now, and these cookies would even make a great treat for after your big Thanksgiving meal this year.

These cookies are great for little ones the same way the Honey, Flax ‘n Almond Cookies are since they use whole wheat flour; honey can also be used in place of sugar if you want, just use about 25% less (3/4 cup).

Here is a bonus recipe since it’s flu season now and my little Lily has a little cold right now, giving her the runniest nose I have ever seen. Since she hasn’t quite mastered soup yet, I made her some chicken broth-infused pasta for dinner yesterday which she gobbled up, and it genuinely seemed to make her feel a lot better. Here it is below:

Lily-style Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup chicken broth (preferably organic)

¼ cup small-shaped pasta (I used alphabet shapes)

1 clove garlic, diced

1 tsp olive oil

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil in a small pot for about 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then add the pasta and cook until fairly soft, or to your child’s preference. Serve the pasta strained from the broth, but still very wet. Add a little grated cheese like Parmesan (Lily’s favorite) to entice your tike even more, but just a little as the dairy could make their phlegm thicker. You can also add chopped veggies, like peas and carrots, to this soup; I would’ve, but not only was I out of any ready-to-use frozen veggies, but Lily has also been quite picky due to her little cold. You can keep the broth for other uses, or just drink it yourself (I gave it to Paul since he’s been sick too, hence why Lily now is and why I most likely will be by the weekend d%@%it!). 

Num-num pasta

My little sickface. She likes to take her bibs off now as you can see

Do you have any sick-busting recipes you’re kids enjoy that you’d like to share? Tell me about them in the comments! Have a great weekend!