Mix together the sweetness of red strawberries and the sharpness of lemonade and you’ve got yourself a refreshing drink, perfect for a warm day! It not only quenches your thirst, it looks really pretty too!
Ingredients:
2 cups freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries
1/2 cup of sugar
3 cups of water
Crushed Ice
Procedure:
Squeeze lemon juice into pitcher. In a blender, place strawberries and 1 cup water. Blend for a few seconds. You may want to sieve the strawberry puree into a bowl, but you can also do without the straining. Stir in the strawberry puree, water into the lemon juice. Add sugar …read more

It’s the perfect time of year for my favorite fruit: strawberries!

Strawberry season actually varies depending on which region you’re in: they peek in April in Florida and Texas, May in the deep South, and in early June in middle sections and later June in the far northern US and Canada.
If you’re lucky enough to have your own little crop of berries, you may have ended up running out to grab a few more when using them in a recipe. If you buy them from the store, though, you’ve probably found that berries in those little plastic baskets aren’t …read more

I plan on going for an early bike ride tomorrow morning, so I need something easy for my kids to eat. I found this recipe for Strawberry White Chocolate Muffins from the Glynn House Inn in Ashland, New Hampshire that features fresh strawberries. Luckily I have just enough out front in my garden, but if you don’t have fresh, substitute frozen. You can thaw them quickly by putting them in a colander and running cold water over them.
The below directions are a bit on the sparse side, so don’t forget to slice your strawberries and I’d use about 2/3 a …read more

Looking for a way to spice up your Memorial Day barbeque and break out of the traditional pasta or potato salad mode? The Western Pistachio Association recommends incorporating pistachios into your Memorial Day meal for a tasty, yet healthy option.

Nuts like pistachios have immense health benefits and are an easy way to improve cholesterol levels and reduce the effects of stress according to recent research conducted by Penn State University and the University of Toronto. In fact, pistachios are a great source of protein and potassium and provide more dietary fiber than any other nut.
The recipe below for an …read more

Late May and early June is strawberry season in Ohio. The local markets abound with affordable red fruit and pick-your-own farms allow city dwellers to bring home bushels of strawberries for canning, freezing, jellies, and jam. Below are a few facts about growing strawberries:

* The garden strawberry was first bred in England in the 18th century.
* The United States is by far the world’s largest commercial strawberry producer.
* Strawberries propagate by sending runners from the “mother” plant.
* A serving of strawberries (about eight) has more vitamin C than an orange.
* Ninety-four percent of …read more

Mid-May begins strawberry season in the Midwest. Strawberries can be found in local farmers markets, at pick-you-own farms, and at your local grocery. What better way to enjoy this affordable, healthy, and tasty fruit than in this easy-to-make salad? The recipe is courtesy of the California Strawberry Commission.

Mexican Fruit Salad
4 cups (about 1 1/4 pounds) halved stemmed California strawberries
2 cups mango chunks
2 cups melon chunks
1 cup pineapple chunks
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
In large bowl, combine strawberries, mango, melon and pineapple. Add orange juice, lime …read more

Slowly, I am getting a picture of what a fabulously healthy breakfast should be:
Coffee, strawberry probiotic yoghurt, cereals with cranberries, and… orange juice.
Coffee for your brain, strawberries too, probiotic yoghurt for your gut, cranberries for a healthy bladder, and orange juice to prevent kidney stones.
Orange juice, researchers found, boosted the levels of citrate in the urine and reduced the crystallization of uric acid and calcium oxalate – the most frequently found ingredient in kidney stones.
According to their study, lemonade, another citrus juice with comparable citrate content, did not have the same effect. The researchers think the form in which the …read more

For those of you who are at the prime of their lives, there’s Aging Fabulous, your guide to staying fabulous as years pass by. As I’m sure SP Bragg will agree, eating the right foods can be one of the main keys to aging gracefully.
Strawberries and blueberries, for example, have been shown in mice to help protect against the damage that causes a decline in learning and motor skills commonly seen with aging. These fruits are rich in polyphenols, antioxidants which protect the brain against oxidative stress, thereby helping us keep our brains sharp even as we age.
If …read more