morning lemon - easy peasy green tea lemonade

Another successful copycat beverage - green tea lemonade. The natural foods store around the corner from me is having an awesome sale on Santa Cruz lemonade (regular and raspberry which is highly addictive) $1.99 a bottle - you should check your local natural store!

I brewed up green tea (I like Yogi brand) - 2 tea bags in approx 2 cups just-before-boiling water - and put into an empty lemonade bottle, which filled it up about halfway. I topped it up with lemonade, gave it a good shake and popped it in the fridge. A bit later over ice it was perfect.

 

morning lemon - a soothing natural cold remedy

When I was young and had a cold, my Mom would fix me a simple drink of lemon, honey and hot water. Like always, Moms know best - why reach for something like NeoCitran which contains some nasty non-medicinal ingredients (here’s a little sample: D&C yellow No. 10, FD&C yellow No. 6, flavours) when all you may need is a vitamin C blast from the lemon, and some antibacterial goodness and energy from the honey to get you feeling better. Plus, it’s really the warm steamy liquid itself that goes a long way in soothing your body and soul.

What could be easier:
- slice up some lemon, squeeze and throw slices into cup
- add a generous squeeze of honey
- add just before boiled water and stir
- enjoy!

 

morning lemon - lemon tomato?

When I was at the
St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market Saturday, I just couldn’t resist the lure of this bright sunny tomato. I’ve seen yellow tomatoes around, but never tried any. We asked the vendor what the difference was in taste from a red tomato, and he said they were milder, and people who have trouble digesting raw red tomatoes would find these easier to eat. Hallelujah! I have tummy trouble with raw tomatoes - cooked is usually not an issue. So I was eager to try these yellow gems. They are a bit more mealy textured, but this actually helps in some recipes, like salads, so the pieces are more firm and not falling apart. The colour definitely brightens up any dish.
So what’s the lemon connection besides being yellow? There are several varieties of yellow tomatoes with lemon in the name - lemon boy and lemon drops are two I have seen while googling.
Do you have a favorite “lemon” variety of yellow tomato, or a favorite way to use yellow tomatoes? Please share!

 

morning lemon - sweet sparkles

So, being pregnant, I have a bit of an exaggerated sweet tooth. I try to keep it in check as best I can, but I figure, hey - I may only get this chance once so I might as well indulge a bit! Of course, even though I want something sweet, it doesn’t mean I want something loaded with high fructose corn syrup and artificial additives. At one of my favorite stores down the street Farmer’s Daughter, I often peek at/covet the elegant bottles of french lemonade. So the other day I thought - today’s the day I’m just going to let myself have one. There is good reason why I don’t indulge in these bottles more often, and it has nothing to do with the ingredients - it’s the price. The bottle I picked up was $7.25 (yikes) so if you ever see them anywhere for less than that, you’re getting a deal.

A short ingredient list - that’s what I love. Especially in these lemonades (I got the classic “french” style which is clear, but there is also a more lemony one, and pink, plus a few other interesting drinks in their product line) when all you’re looking at is carbonated water, beet sugar (as opposed to cane sugar) citric acid, and lemon aroma (which I’m assuming is from some sort of herb - maybe lemon balm?) The pink lemonade is coloured with elderberry concentrate - nice. As it clearly states on the bottle “contains no juice” - so it’s not a nutritional drink, it’s a treat. But a treat you can feel pretty good about instead of having a soda. I’m sure they would make a great mixer for alcoholic drinks at parties as well - I’ll have to get back to you about that sometime next year…

 

morning lemon - lemon beagles

So I googled “lemon” today to see if I came up with any inspiration for a post, and found to my surprise “lemon and white” beagles. This is the name of a type of beagle which is coloured white and light beige, and apparently the true pure-bred kind is hard to find. I searched for a good photo, and found The Daily Puppy, which features puppy photos, including these very cute ones of a lemon and white beagle. Thought you might enjoy a bit of warm fuzzy on this cold and crisp Monday!

 

morning lemon - vanilla lemon cupcake

This is the last remaining cupcake after I filled my first official cupcake order yesterday. It’s a vanilla cupcake with lemon buttercream frosting. I made sure to use an organic lemon, as I used the zest as well as the juice. Non-organic lemons will likely contain pesticide residue in their peel, so organic is the way to go if you’re zesting (organic means pesticide-free, but nothing in life is 100% - we do our best). And organic lemons are not that much more expensive, which is great.

Soon this cupcake will be gone (into someone’s tummy), so I thought I would give it a last shining moment as today’s morning lemon.

 

morning lemon - dress your salad with lemon

Do you have these ingredients in your kitchen? I bet you do - or at least things that are pretty close. In that case, why not make your own salad dressing, instead of buying a bottle from the store? You can control your ingredients (your kind of fat, no added sugar, no yucky additives), you will save money over time, it’s fast, and it tastes great. By using lemon instead of vinegar, you are cutting down on the acidity - great for people who have been told they are “acidic” and need to eat more “alkalinizing” foods, and helpful in case of candida. And besides, balsamic vinegar is great, but variety keeps things interesting.

Here is a recipe you can follow, and once you have made it a few times, experiment away with your own additions!

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 clove garlic finely grated or pressed
sea salt
pepper
dried herbs
1 tbsp flaxseed oil (optional, great addition to get those omega 3s)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Whisk together lemon juice, mustard, garlic,
salt, pepper and herbs.
Slowly add oils to first mixture while whisking.
Pour over salad.

I would love to hear what interesting ingredients or substitutions you like to put in your salad dressing!

 

morning lemon - lemon in my belly

I know it’s Friday, not Monday, but you’re going to have to give the pregnant lady a break. To make things less stressful (stress is one of the worst things for your health!), I am changing the weekly lemon feature to just “morning lemon” so that life’s little unexpected circumstances don’t get in the way as much. Watch out for it any day of the week!
So I was checking out the highlights of pregnancy at week 14 and this is what I found:
Head to bottom, your baby is 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon…
So this gave me a fun visual image - I have a lemon in my belly!

Only 4 weeks to go until I can see what the baby really looks like, and hopefully find out if it is a boy or a girl. I am officially entering my second trimester, and am hoping the all-day on and off nausea subsides, and I can truly enjoy food again. At the moment, food is a bit more like a tool than a pleasure.

What were your favorite foods during pregnancy? Recently, I have been thinking about pasta a lot, and the other day, I just had to have chocolate milk (hadn’t had that in years). I would love to hear your experience, as I am sure I have yet to find out my true pregnancy craving!

 

morning lemon - feeling sick? take a sniff.

So I have been waiting to post this topic for weeks, but I couldn’t until now. I have recently found out that among all the other amazing qualities of the lemon, it is also effective in reducing nausea. Feeling queasy? Just the scent of a cut lemon may be enough to calm those butterflies. Personally, I found that the scent helped, but lemon water was even better. You see, I have been nauseas off and on for about the last 3 months. You probably know that there really is only one explanation for that prolonged a period of nausea - yes, I’m pregnant!

Nutrition is obviously a very important topic for me personally right now, and I will share tips, recipes, and experiences related to pregnancy that I accumulate on this fascinating 9 month journey. I can say that I have already experienced moments where I just needed to eat, no matter what was around, which reinforced the importance of balance to me. Sure, we can do our best 80% of the time, but I don’t want to worry about the 20%. Worrying = stress and that is even more detrimental to health than an extra teaspoon of sugar.

So here’s a question - for anyone out there who has been pregnant, what did you do to calm the nausea? I have tried ginger, and it worked for awhile, but then I just didn’t want it. Sometimes just eating anything helps, and recently cold fruit has been good. I’d love to hear your experience and advice!

 

morning lemon - lemon inspiration

One of my favorite places to look for inspiration when it comes to recipes is the LCBO Food & Drink magazine. Many of you may be familiar with it - it comes out 6 times a year, and the Christmas issue tends to be so popular, that I frequently find myself hunting down my copy by hitting LCBOs which are definitely not in my neighborhood.
These babies get snatched pretty quick, and it is no surprise - the photography is stunning, and the recipes modern, timely and fairly health-conscious. The latest issue (summer 2007) has lots of great ideas including easy salad dressings, a whole section dedicated to limes, and lo and behold - stone fruit trifle with lemon balm cream in a no-cook dinner section. Talk about timely, since I just bought my lemon balm plant 2 weeks ago! I am definitely inspired now.

3 peaches
3 apricots
2 black plums
1 tbsp anisette or pernod to taste (something non-alcoholic would be fine)
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup mascarpone
1/4 cup yogurt
2 tbsp chopped lemon balm (or lemon verbena, or 2 tsp lemon rind)
garnish - sprigs lemon balm, lemon verbena, or mint

- Peel peaches, remove pits and slice into bowl. Pit and slice apricots and plums
and add to bowl. Toss fruit with anisette and 2 tbsp sugar.

- Whip mascarpone and yogurt together with lemon balm and remaining
2 tbsp sugar. Layer fruit in a glass bowl or individual wine glasses and top
with cream. Garnish with a sprig of lemon balm. Serves 4.

(Food & Drink summer 2007, pg. 60)

I think adding a little crunch to this might be nice - toasted almonds or other nuts? What do you think?

If any of you have a lemon balm recipe, I’d love to hear about it. I am on a lemon balm mission!
PS: Sacred Suzie gave me a great lemon balm tip: it can also soothe upset tummies for those who cannot stomach fennel tea! Thanks Suzie!