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7 reasons to start your day with lemon water..

22m22 minutes ago

7 reasons to start your day with lemon water:

The health benefits of lemons are numerous, and so are the ways to incorporate them into your diet.Julien McRoberts/Offset.com

The vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients found in fruits make them an essential part of a healthy diet. Lemons, in particular, are rich in vitamin C, which means they’re a great source of antioxidants. Research suggests that antioxidants can decrease the damaging effects of free radicals, which may help prevent certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, and other illnesses.

A single lemon contains 51 percent of your daily vitamin C needs — and 1 ounce (oz) of lemon juice contains 23 percent. Consuming lemons and their juice can help boost your immune system, reduce your risk of asthma and eye diseases, like age-related macular degeneration and cataracts, and benefit your skin.

If you’re a woman, the vitamin C found in lemons and other citrus fruit may help reduce your risk of ischemic stroke, according to researchers at the American Heart Association.

It’s not just the vitamin C that makes lemons so good for you. They’re also high in soluble fiber and have a low glycemic index, which has inspired the American Diabetes Association to promote lemons and other citrus fruits as superfoods for people who have type 2 diabetes.

Tips for Reaping the Health Benefits of Lemons

Lemon juice, pulp, or zest can add a little zing to everything from sauces and dressings to meals, desserts, and drinks.

1. Whip up a simple dressing. Mix lemon juice with olive oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, sea salt, and fresh chives. Pour it on green or grain salads, or use it as a dipping sauce for crudités.

2. Embrace a classic combo. Fish with lemon is a classic pairing, though we suggest passing on the fatty fried fish and chips and going for something healthier, like this Lemon Herb Tilapia With Zucchini instead. In this recipe you marinate the fish in lemon juice, garlic, and herbs. You could also use this marinade with other seafood, poultry, pork, and even beef.

3. Use lemons in your side dishes. This Lemon Lovers’ Asparagus dish features two whole lemons, which are thinly sliced and then roasted alongside spears of asparagus and seasoned with fresh oregano, salt, and ground black pepper. You could also roast lemon slices with other vegetables, like potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, or fennel. Another alternative is to spritz it onto fresh greens or grilled veggies.

4. Create lemony pasta. A quick one-pot meal can be made by tossing cooked pasta with olive oil, lemon juice, a little lemon zest, sea salt, black pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Consider adding spinach, kale, or parsley for an additional nutrient boost.

5. Add lemon juice to keep rice from sticking. A few drops of lemon juice in the cooking water of your rice can help keep the rice from getting sticky and clumpy. It’ll also brighten white rice. But why stop there? Lemon rice is delicious. Once your rice is cooked, toss with more juice, some lemon zest, and fresh herbs.

6. Make a refreshing dessert. With a little water and sugar, your lemons can be transformed into a mouth-watering sorbet. With The Kitchn’s lemon sorbet recipe, you don’t even need an ice cream maker. Shake things up by adding fresh rosemary, mint, or thyme. You can also use lemon (pulp, juice, and zest) to flavor fruit salads — the acid in the juice will also help keep apples, pears, and bananas from browning.

7. Give your drinks a lemon infusion. Try herb- and fruit-infused, fresh-squeezed lemonades. Add lemon slices or lemon juice to tea. Squeeze lemon juice into still or sparkling water — or ice cubes — to enhance flavor. Lemon juice is also a key ingredient in many cocktails; its acidity helps balance out the sweetness. We recommend skipping sugary cocktails in general, but adding 1 oz of lemon juice to a glass of sparkling wine can make an invigorating low-calorie libation. If you’re under the weather, mixing lemon juice with hot water and a little honey can help loosen congestion and prevent dehydration.

8. Try preserved lemons. If you aren’t familiar with them, preserved lemons are typically cured in salt, which basically transforms them into lemon “pickles.” They’re commonly used in Middle Eastern, North African, and Indian cuisines to make couscous dishes, stews, tagines, curries, and sauces. They can also liven up chicken dishes, bean salads, and hummus, and they make a great condiment.

Lemons and Your Skin

Lemons are often touted as a popular home remedy for acne, oily skin, and dandruff, as well as for skin-lightening and anti-aging effects. While consuming lemons and their juice can benefit your skin by contributing to healthy collagen, a key protein for skin and cartilage, dermatology experts like Jessica Wu, MD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, warn against using the fruit — or the juice — topically. In her book, Feed Your Face, Dr. Wu explains that lemon juice can cause rashes on your skin and scalp, and if it gets on your skin and then interacts with UVA rays from the sun, the coumarin compounds in lemons are likely to cause redness, swelling, and blistering. So stick with eating lemons and drinking their juice.

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The Veggie Ottolenghi Uses As A Steak Swap — And It’s Not Cauliflower

October 16, 2020 — 20:18 PM Share on:

You’ve heard of, and maybe even had, a cauliflower steak—but the whole veggie swaps for meats don’t stop there. This recipe, from iconic chef Yotam Ottoleghi‘s new plant-based cooking tome Ottolenghi Flavor, utilizes a lesser-known fall vegetable as the core of this vegan main dish.

Written together with Ixta Belfrage, a recipe developer at Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, the book is chock-full of dinner-party-worthy vegan recipes like these rutabaga steaks. Rutabaga, if you’re not familiar, is a vegetable similar to a turnip that’s generally in season from October to March. Like other root vegetables, they are most often eaten roasted or even in a mash, but this preparation opts for the former.

Because its flavor is actually a bit more mild than a turnip, especially when roasted, rutabagas are an ideal candidate for a spice-heavy recipe—something Ottolenghi and Belfrage take full advantage of with the curry crust they’ve created here. It’s made up largely of garlic, cayenne, turmeric, and fenugreek seeds, which have a powerful flavor reminiscent of maple but slightly more bitter and are known to provide health benefits.

While we may not be having dinner parties at the moment, we’ll be bookmarking this showstopper for when we can again—and until then, we may just have to make this for ourselves on Saturday night.

Curry-Crusted Rutabaga Steaks

Serves 4 as a main

Ingredients

  • 4½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
  • 6 small garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1½ tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 1½ tsp. ground turmeric
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 tbsp. lime juice
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • ¾ tsp. table salt
  • 2 to 3 rutabagas, peeled and cut crosswise into eight 1¼-inch-/3-cm-thick steaks
  • 3 to 4 ruby grapefruits
  • 1 to 2 shallots, finely sliced on a mandoline, if you have one, or by hand
  • 2 red chilies, finely sliced into rounds
  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • ½ cup cilantro leaves
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. lime juice
  • Table salt
  • ½ cup crème fraîche (or coconut yogurt)
  • 2 limes, cut into wedges

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/180°C fan. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. For the marinade: In a spice grinder or the bowl of a small food processor, combine the fenugreek seeds, garlic, cayenne, turmeric, sugar, lime juice, olive oil, and salt and blitz to a paste, scraping the sides as you go if necessary. Put 2 tsp. of the marinade into a small serving bowl and set aside.
  3. Put the remaining marinade into a large bowl with the rutabaga steaks and mix well to coat all sides (this is easiest with gloved hands). Place the steaks, spaced apart, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove the foil, turn the oven to the broil setting, and broil for 3 to 4 minutes, until the rutabaga is cooked through and the marinade has turned into a golden-brown crust.
  4. For the salad: When the rutabaga is nearly cooked, cut the grapefruits into thin wedges by removing the skin and the white pith, then release the segments by cutting in between the white membrane, discarding any seeds. Put the wedges into a large bowl, avoiding the juice (which can be kept for another use).
  5. When you’re ready to serve, add the shallots, chilies, mint, cilantro, olive oil, and lime juice to the bowl with a generous pinch of salt and mix gently together.
  6. Arrange the steaks and any marinade left on the baking sheet on a large platter with the salad (or plate individually). Swirl the crème fraîche into the reserved marinade and serve alongside the steaks, and squeeze the lime wedges over the top.

Reprinted from Ottolenghi Flavor. Copyright © 2020 by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage. Photographs copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Lovekin. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

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Eliza Sullivan

Eliza Sullivanmbg Editorial Assistant Eliza Sullivan is an Editorial Assistant at mindbodygreen. She received a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in english literature with honors from Boston University, and she has previously…

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Black Cherry Oatmeal Bars Recipe

blck ch oat bars tw 28416

Oatmeal bars (or just oats in general) are great for boosting your energy and giving you a much-needed top up of fibre, known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. And apart from being full of health-benefits, added with flavours of cinnamon and vanilla, these oatmeal bars make a tasty snack to eat on the go anywhere.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks (226g) unsalted room temp butter
  • 2 x 2/3 cups of white sugar
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp grounded cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2/3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 big jar black cherry preserve

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC.
  2. Grease a baking pan (I used a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 in) with butter and leave to the side.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together really well.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  5. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan.
  6. Spread the preserves over it in an even layer.
  7. Crumble the remaining mixture, with your hands, over the raspberry preserves.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
  9. Cool completely before cutting.

If you can’t get hold of any Black Cherry preserve then it’s just as easy to make your own – if not easier as you don’t need to leave the house! All you need is pitted black cherries, sugar and lemon. Glaze the cherries with sugar and leave for a couple of hours then simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.

  #Recipes   #baking   #recipe   #Baking   #brunch   #desserts   #christmas   #black cherry   #cherry   #bars

https://www.yumbles.com/post-1377/black-cherry-oatmeal-bars

Posted on

Black Cherry Oatmeal Bars Recipe

blck ch oat bars tw 28416

Oatmeal bars (or just oats in general) are great for boosting your energy and giving you a much-needed top up of fibre, known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. And apart from being full of health-benefits, added with flavours of cinnamon and vanilla, these oatmeal bars make a tasty snack to eat on the go anywhere.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks (226g) unsalted room temp butter
  • 2 x 2/3 cups of white sugar
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp grounded cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2/3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 big jar black cherry preserve

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC.
  2. Grease a baking pan (I used a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 in) with butter and leave to the side.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together really well.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  5. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan.
  6. Spread the preserves over it in an even layer.
  7. Crumble the remaining mixture, with your hands, over the raspberry preserves.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
  9. Cool completely before cutting.

If you can’t get hold of any Black Cherry preserve then it’s just as easy to make your own – if not easier as you don’t need to leave the house! All you need is pitted black cherries, sugar and lemon. Glaze the cherries with sugar and leave for a couple of hours then simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.

  #Recipes   #baking   #recipe   #Baking   #brunch   #desserts   #christmas   #black cherry   #cherry   #bars

https://www.yumbles.com/post-1377/black-cherry-oatmeal-bars

Posted on

Black Cherry Oatmeal Bars Recipe

blck ch oat bars tw 28416

Oatmeal bars (or just oats in general) are great for boosting your energy and giving you a much-needed top up of fibre, known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. And apart from being full of health-benefits, added with flavours of cinnamon and vanilla, these oatmeal bars make a tasty snack to eat on the go anywhere.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks (226g) unsalted room temp butter
  • 2 x 2/3 cups of white sugar
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp grounded cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2/3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 big jar black cherry preserve

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC.
  2. Grease a baking pan (I used a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 in) with butter and leave to the side.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together really well.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  5. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan.
  6. Spread the preserves over it in an even layer.
  7. Crumble the remaining mixture, with your hands, over the raspberry preserves.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
  9. Cool completely before cutting.

If you can’t get hold of any Black Cherry preserve then it’s just as easy to make your own – if not easier as you don’t need to leave the house! All you need is pitted black cherries, sugar and lemon. Glaze the cherries with sugar and leave for a couple of hours then simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.

  #Recipes   #baking   #recipe   #Baking   #brunch   #desserts   #christmas   #black cherry   #cherry   #bars

https://www.yumbles.com/post-1377/black-cherry-oatmeal-bars

Posted on

Black Cherry Oatmeal Bars Recipe

blck ch oat bars tw 28416

Oatmeal bars (or just oats in general) are great for boosting your energy and giving you a much-needed top up of fibre, known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. And apart from being full of health-benefits, added with flavours of cinnamon and vanilla, these oatmeal bars make a tasty snack to eat on the go anywhere.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks (226g) unsalted room temp butter
  • 2 x 2/3 cups of white sugar
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp grounded cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2/3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 big jar black cherry preserve

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC.
  2. Grease a baking pan (I used a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 in) with butter and leave to the side.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together really well.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  5. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan.
  6. Spread the preserves over it in an even layer.
  7. Crumble the remaining mixture, with your hands, over the raspberry preserves.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
  9. Cool completely before cutting.

If you can’t get hold of any Black Cherry preserve then it’s just as easy to make your own – if not easier as you don’t need to leave the house! All you need is pitted black cherries, sugar and lemon. Glaze the cherries with sugar and leave for a couple of hours then simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.

  #Recipes   #baking   #recipe   #Baking   #brunch   #desserts   #christmas   #black cherry   #cherry   #bars

https://www.yumbles.com/post-1377/black-cherry-oatmeal-bars