Free Recipes Journal

Pre-Holiday Party Fruit Juice

Alex — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:21:19 +0000

I like to drink this fruit juice on the days when I’m going to a holiday party. It’s full of vitamin C and the juice from cranberries is supposed to help fight viruses. Ginger helps with upset stomachs in case you are prone to nerves before a party. The fact that this is incredibly tasty doesn’t hurt the cause. If you plan to drink alcohol at the party, be sure to eat something else that will help absorb the “spirits”.

cherries - 1 cup
cranberries - 1 cup
Pineapple - 1/2
pear - 1
ginger - 1 inch

This combination makes more than 16 oz of juice. Sweet, tart and spicy.

Healthy Juice - Fruit and Vegetable Recipe

Alex — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:47:16 +0000

This is a powerfully healthy juice I like to drink at night as part of my dinner a couple of days a week. My four year old son and my wife don’t have a taste for this one, it’s certainly an acquired taste. I really like it though. Using a little ginger root in the mix helps cover the beet and asparagus flavors if you aren’t used to drinking them. I like ginger enough to mix it in many of my juices. Asparagus, carrots and beets are very healthy vegetables. By combining them with the very healthy fruits, apples and pears, this juice is hard to beat (no pun intended) for nutrition. With enough carrots, the sweetness almost overwhelms the drink.

I made this tonight in my juicer and ended up with almost 24 ounces of juice. Depending on the size of your fruits and vegetables, that’s a pretty safe estimate on what you’ll end up with. Since my wife and son didn’t want any I had it all to myself, which worked out well for me.

1 Apple
1 Pear
Ginger Root - less than 1 inch, pealed
1/2 Beet
Asparagus - A solid handful
5 Carrots

Before I start juicing I like to add a few pieces of crushed ice to the bottom of my glass to help chill the juice as it comes out. By the time I start drinking it, most of the ice is melted and the juice is nice and cold.

Easy Fruit Juice Drinks - Part 2

Alex — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:06:02 +0000

Part 1 of Easy Fruit Juice Drinks used only one fruit. This is still easy and only uses two fruits. I love the simplicity of this juice. It’s full of vitamin C and easy easy to make. I like it especially when I have a cold since it’s not too thick and feels like it hydrates me very quickly. Both lemons and watermelon have a ton of vitamin C which has been proven to help with a cold’s duration. Lemons and watermelons are also good for cleansing your system.

Ingredients:

Watermelon, less than 1/8 average sized melon
Lemon, 1/2 is enough

Cut the watermelon as close to the outer rine as possible. The rine is packed with nutrients and juices well. Cut the lemon in half and peal it. The lemon zest isn’t the best flavor for juicing. Juice all of it and drink.

Breakfast Series: Basic French Toast and Eggs

Alex — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:04:30 +0000

I’ve been making French Toast the same way since before I was 10 years old. I think today was the first time I measure how much I put in. I’m starting with that sentence to explain how easy it is to make good simple French Toast. I use a big griddle, but a simple non-stick frying pan will work too if you don’t want to cook too much at one time.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of milk, maybe a little more
5-6 eggs
7-8 pieces of loaf bread, I like whole wheat
butter

I’m being vague intentionally as the age of the bread can change how much of the mix is soaked up. I prefer bread that is more than 2-3 days old, but will use whatever I have.

Start by warming the griddle, not all the way to the goal temp of 375 degrees, but enough to melt the butter. While the griddle is warming, crack the eggs in a bowl and add milk. Whisk the mix together. It should be a fairly solid yellow. To keep the French Toast from sticking to the pan and to help brown it, glide a stick of butter across the griddle to lightly cover it. Turn the heat up to 375. Take one piece at a time and dip it in the mixing bowl of milk and eggs. Flip the bread and soak again to make sure each piece is covered completely. One by one place the soaked bread on the pan and wait until it looks like it’s drying up some. Flip each piece and brown the other side.

It should only take a couple of minutes on each side. If it’s undercooked keep flipping in 30 second intervals so you don’t burn it. Remove the cooked French Toast and place on a clean plate to the side. Wipe the griddle and pour the remaining mix on the griddle. It’ll cook quickly. Roll it to cook it through and now you have scrambled eggs to go with your French Toast.

Kid Friendly Vegetable Juice

Alex — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:57:01 +0000

I finally figured out a vegetable juice my four year old son will drink and I think most children will. I juice the following ingredients in my Jack LaLane Power Juicer. Once everything is clean it takes about three minutes to make.

4 medium sized carrots
1 small beet (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it)
Broccoli - medium sized stalk and floret
1 Granny Smith apple
1 Pear
3/4 inch of ginger

Beets are turning into one of my son’s favorite drink ingredients. Not because it’s tasty - it doesn’t add much flavor, but because the rich red color is “cool” to him. The carrots are sweet and the broccoli doesn’t add much flavor. The apple and pear sweeten it even more, but the secret is in the ginger. Ginger gives so much flavor that you could probably slip anything in there and it’d taste good.

This mix made about 24 ounces, giving me a double serving and my son a full eight ounces of his own.

Breakfast Series: Monday Fruit Juice 2

Alex — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:42:32 +0000

I’m continuing my breakfast series with juice today. I like a good easy pick-me-up on Monday mornings. I like this mix because it’s quick to make, light tasting and is good for you.

Slice of Watermelon - enough to have to cut into three pieces at least to get into the juicer. Keep as much of the white rine as possible. A lot of nutrients are in it.
2 handfuls of grapes
1/2 lemon, all yellow peel removed

That’s it, nice and simple and healthy. The cleanup is easy for this one too since most parts of these juices liquify easily.

As with every juice, always take in some protein and fat to keep your blood sugar level a little more in check.

Simple Indian Curry Chicken with Rice and Snap Peas

Alex — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:00:15 +0000

I found a can of Indian curry sauce at Whole Foods that looked decent. It ended up being very good. The directions were simple - dice and cook the chicken and add the sauce. I made more complete meal with it. Our whole meal consisted of one can of Patak’s Tikka Masala Curry Cooking Sauce, white rice and fresh snap peas.

I started by dicing 1 1/2 pounds of chicken while my water for the rice was starting to boil. I heated a little vegetable oil in the frying pan and cooked the chicken. When it looked well on its way, I poured the rice in the boiling water and let it cook for 20 minutes. A few minutes later the chicken was done and I added the canned sauce to the chicken and let it simmer for 15 minutes while stirring occasionally. I added a couple of cups of water to another saucepan and once it reached a light simmer I added three handfuls of washed fresh snap peas. I let them cook for two minutes.

The snap peas finished first and I put them in a bowl on the table immediately followed by the rice and curry chicken/sauce. I poured the chicken/sauce mix over the white rice and had a nice colorful plate. I thought it was spicy enough to taste good, but was bland enough that my four year old son enjoyed it and asked for seconds. The can had enough sauce to coat the small chicken pieces and have enough left over to smother the rice. The snap peas were still crisp enough to give a crunch to the meal.

This is certainly one I’ll make again, but won’t have to for a while since I have more left over than the three of us ate in our first sitting.

Breakfast Series: Sunday Juice 1

Alex — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:35:00 +0000

My weekend breakfast juices always include pineapples and strawberries. Juicing a pineapple takes a little longer to clean up than most of the fruits and vegetables I use. Strawberries go bad so quickly that after I go to the store on Friday afternoon on the way home from work I try to use the strawberries within 48 hours.

Before I start this juice, I eat a cup of yogurt and a couple of scrambled eggs with cheese sprinkled on top to give me a base of protein and fat before the high sugar content juice hits my system.

Ingredients:

1/2 Pineapple
1/2 Lemon
10-12 Strawberries
1 Nectarine
Handful of Grapes (green and/or red)
1 Plum

I made this juice this morning and ended up with nearly 24 ounces of juice.

Summer Fruit/Vegetable Juice

Alex — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:10:00 +0000

I happened upon this mix one day when I was getting low on other ingredients in my refrigerator and decided to just juice what I had. The mix is simple and refreshing. Quantity of each can vary depending on how thirsty/hungry you are and if you are willing to share with someone.

Ingredients:

Grapes (2-3 handfuls)
Cherries - remove the pitts first (2 handfuls)
Carrots (2-3 medium sized)
Honeydew (no more than 1/4 a melon)

The cherries and honeydew are better when in season, during the summer.

Fried Egg Sandwich

Alex — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:59:41 +0000

One of the easiest meals I make for my family is a simple fried egg sandwich.

Ingredients: one egg, two pieces of bread, mayonnaise, fresh baby spinach and a tomato slice are optional.

Start by toasting bread - whole wheat is obviously healthier.
While frying the egg mayonnaise both pieces of bread.
Slide the fried egg onto the toasted bread and it’s ready to eat.

To add a little more healthy twist to it, add a few pieces of baby spinach and maybe a tomato too. I prefer to leave the egg runny and my wife prefers the egg to be scrambled. I put a couple of dashes of salt and pepper on mine sometimes, but generally like it as easy as possible.

Since I was a kid I’ve liked this as a good rainy day food for some reason. I guess it’s the warm egg with the simplicity of a sandwich that just hits the spot.