Passion Fruit Juice

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. ~Mother Teresa

 

We're so blessed to have a neighbor who sells local produce. Every Sunday, they go to the mountains of Tanay and Laguna area to find fresh and organic fruits and vegetables and I'm such a lucky bee to get these "natural treasures". My hubby encouraged me to buy fruits always. Instead of eating junk foods (like his favorite potato chips) or sweets (like my cupcakes and cookies, ahem!), fruits are great alternatives to satisfy our cravings. Also, we want to teach our children to eat "better" foods. I'm not saying that my baked goodies are not good, but I must admit, fresh and natural are always better!

I always buy fruits in season. Why? They taste great, fresh, and have the best quality at a lower cost. My favorite is lanzones (sorry, I don't have photos). Give me 1kg, and I'll eat it in one sitting. And just recently, I discovered my passion for passion fruit. Yeah, this is a tropical fruit but I just tasted it recently and you know what? I fell in love with it right away.

According to wikipedia, there are different varieties of passion fruit, one of this is purplish in color and the other one is yellowish. The one I have is the yellow kind. Ok,  what's the taste? It's tangy but sweet at the same time. This has the sweetest scent ever! Its smell overpowers the sourness of the pulp. It tastes like mango, guava, orange, four seasons Tang powdered juice, LOL! Hmm, confusing eh? But really, it tastes and smells good! 

I tried making juice out of it. They say ripe passion fruit have wrinkled and dimpled skin. In the picture below, both fruits are ripe, but the wrinkled passion fruit has more juice and sweeter than the smooth one.

I'm going to share with you how I make juice out of passion fruit. I used strainer and spoon because our blender is broken.

INGREDIENTS:
5 pcs passion fruits, cut in half 
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (I used light brown sugar)
3/4 cup water
clean (mineral/distilled/purified) water to fill your bottle/container

THINGS YOU NEED:
strainer
spoon or fork
small bowl
container/bottle (500mL)

PROCEDURE:
1. Put the 3/4 cup of water in a small pan, add the sugar. Let it boil until all the sugar melt. Put in a bowl. Let it cool.

2. Scoop out the seeds of passion fruits and put in a strainer with bowl under it. Gently squish it with spoon or fork to release the juice. Also, take out big bits of pulps and put it in the bowl with juice.

3. Put the juice with pulp in a container or bottle. Add the syrup (sugar and water) and fill the container with water. Put in the refrigerator (I put in the freezer) and chill for couple of hours. Serve cold.

QUICK NOTES:
1. If you'll be using a blender, put the seeds/pulp in the blender. Whiz it for 2 seconds then strain. 
2. Use a sharp knife when cutting the fruit. Make a deep indentation with a knife and cut it at the spot where you made a hole.
3. You may combine it with other fruits like dalandan, orange, or mango. Do your own concoction!
3. Add more syrup if you find the juice sour. If you're asking if you can directly add sugar to the water, of course, you can. But I personally like to melt the sugar in boiling water. Because it takes time for the sugar to melt in water especially if it is cold. And sometimes you get fooled by the taste of the juice, it seems bland at first, so you'll be adding more sugar and when the sugar is completely melted, your juice becomes too sweet. 
4. For a healthier version, use honey to sweeten your juice.
5. You can consume it within a week. But it's better to consume it within the day.

Happy day always,

Rhea

Alkaline Juice

 

Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is essential for optimum health. It naturally detoxifies and heals the body as it provides nutrients that gives you energy and strengthen your immune system. Not only that, fresh fruits and vegetables contain essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, easily absorbed protein, carbohydrates, fiber, water, enzymes, phytonutrients, and phytochemicals. 

I know all these things but the problem is I can't eat the required amount servings of raw vegetables and fruits in a day, especially R-A-W VEGETABLES. This is always my problem not until my brother-in-law shared his breakfast routine. He said that he's making an alkaline juice every morning (see the recipe below). Wow! I haven't thought of that... Juicing can make it possible to reach the goal of 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day without requiring a lot of time and munching.

So here is the recipe, this can be taken an hour after taking the Power Juice. This is really a great tasting juice that feeds and cleanses the body.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cucumber (peeled, optional)
1/2 head of lettuce (iceberg)
2 cups of spinach
2 stalks of celery
1 apple (remove the seeds) or carrot for sweetness
1/2 cup water

Yield: 2 glasses, 1-2 servings

DIRECTIONS:
1. Wash the vegetables and fruit thoroughly.
2. Add all the ingredients in a blender along with a small amount of water.
3. Blend it well and serve it immediately or store in a refrigerator to drink throughout the day.

Happy day always,

Rhea

Power Drink

I finished reading the Morning healing habit by Bo Sanchez⁽¹⁾ and it motivated me to become more conscious with my health. I’m still in my early 30’s but I feel that I’m already in my 40’s or 50’s. I always feel tired, sleepy, sluggish, and weak. Yeah I know what you think… I am LAZY! Ouch! Yes you’re right, I am lazy sometimes because I know that being “lazy” has health benefits too (I will tell you why in my future post). But seriously, I have my annual checkup but the result is good. But what seems to be my problem? Am I just being lazy? Or there is a problem which I do not know. 

After finishing Bo's e-Report, I convince myself to start living healthy and what is the first thing I need to do? Discover ALKALINE food and its wonders! To start with, I follow Bo's morning healing habit, and to share with you, here is a very simple and inexpensive power juice you can make in less than 10 minutes.

INGREDIENT:

28 pcs. Calamansi (Yes! This is the only ingredient)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Wash thoroughly the calamansi. Organic is better but if you can't find any, you can use the ordinary kind but wash it very well.
2. Slice the calamansi at the side avoiding the seeds. It takes on a bitter taste if you accidentally cut the seeds.
3. Squeeze the juice out with the seeds. Mix up the seeds with the juice to get the pulp around the seeds. Please do not use strainers.
4. Mix the calamansi juice with its seeds using a fork.
5. Scoop up the seeds using a fork.
6. Drink your freshly made power juice and enjoy the experience.

RULES:
1. Take this every morning on an empty stomach.
2. Take it pure. Don't add anything even water or sugar or else it will become acidic and loses a lot of its healing effect.
3. Take it green. Not the yellow ripe ones.
4. Don't take anything else for an hour. Let the calamansi juices do its work in your body for an hour.

TIPS:
1. Start taking 4 pcs of calamansi on your first day, 8 pcs on your second day, and so on, until you drink the 28 pcs calamansi on the seventh day.
2. Do not buy calamansi for a whole week's consumption or they'll ripen. Remember Rule#3.
3. You can substitute 2-3 lemons if you can't find any calamansi.

Alkaline foods are essential for our health as these wonder foods neutralize the acids and remove the toxins in our body. Did you know that germs, bacteria, and even cancer cells love to thrive in acidic environment? Now that you know, do your part in making your body and immune system strong. Our body is a self healing organism and making your body alkaline gives you the assurance to enjoy life longer and happier. To God be the glory!

Click here for more info

⁽¹⁾Bo Sanchez is an author, entrepreneur, preacher, celebrity and lay evangelist in the Philippines.


Happy day always,

Rhea