Easy Homemade Lemonade recipe

There’s nothing as nostalgically perfect as a cool glass of homemade lemonade on a hot summer’s day.

You don’t even need many lemons if you add a little citric acid.

Citric acid is great for home cooking and home brews. Jams and elderflower cordials get an added tart flavour. In winemaking and home brewing it is a prized elemental for quality and balance. (It’s also good for getting stains out of clothes and making play-dough!)

Here’s a simple recipe my friend, Clare, shared with me for an easy homemade lemonade…

Cool fresh lemonade

3 lemons chopped
1k sugar
1 tsp citric acid
4.5 ltr boiling water

Pour the bag of sugar into a large mixing bowl.
Add the boling water, the citric acid and chopped lemons.
Leave overnight.
Strain out the lemon pieces.
Bottle and dilute to taste.

If you make experiment by making lemonade in smaller batches, you can play around until you come up with your own brilliant family recipe. Try oranges instead of lemons for a sweeter taste or add some lime juice for an extra zing. Or maybe raspberries or ginger or cherries, or vanilla or honey or ginseng – the list is endless!

Oat bran drop scone recipe – Savoury or sweet

Not many people know how to use oat bran, but it is a great thickener for sauces, smoothies or hot chocolate. You can also make breads and cakes with it, or just sprinkle it on your yoghurt.

The advantage of oat bran is that it lowers cholesterol and blood sugar levels, it also helps dieters feel fuller for longer and raises the metabolism. Not to mention that it’s high in calcium, vitamin B and iron.

Here’s the recipe…

100g (4 oz) oatbran
A pinch of salt
1 egg
300 ml (½ pint) milk
25g (1 oz) butter, melted
For sweet scones add 2 level tbspsns caster sugar or sweet freedom
Mix the oatbran and salt (plus sugar or sweetener for sweet scones) in a bowl and make a well in the centre.

Break the egg into the well and add the milk gradually, as for making a batter. Stir in melted butter and allow to stand for 1 hour.

Cook spoonfuls of the batter in a preheated lightly greased non-stick pan for about 3 minutes each side or until golden.

Serve hot alongside a traditional English Breakfast or with warm syrup or jam.

Chai-tea – I’ve found a new religion

Tea-thoughts

Perhaps for some people tea is the perfect religion.

If you want a moment’s quiet, what better than finding calm in the depths of a cup of warm copper coloured infusions.

Or if you need some healing, then there are a variety of time-tested tastes to ease your ailments.

Are you desperate for a listening ear and sympathy? Invite your friend over for no better reason than the ritual brew of tea-for-two.

And if you really need to know the future, well, you can always get your aunt to read the tea-leaves…

Of course the humble tea bush and all its adherents won’t quite match the majesty of a higher power, but many a prayer has risen on the incense of a steaming cuppa, and many a moment has been satisfied by the perfect choice of tea at that perfect time.

It’s not as if the gurus of tea making don’t know they’re on to something. You’ve surely noticed how shops’ shelves have become increasingly laden with a greater supply of different teas?

Greenpeace still concerned about household cleaners

Do you ever wonder how harmful the chemicals in your house might be?

You may not want to know the truth.

Greenpeace are still worried about the ‘cocktail effect’ of mixed chemicals from household goods (see report).

There’s a widespread view that these could be detrimental to our health. Toxins like phthalates (used in detergents) can cause respiratory problems such as asthma, increase skin irritation, stimulate allergies and may even lead to cancer. Not to mention the potential damage to our world.

So you’ll have noticed that green businesses have introduced their own brands of earth friendly cleaners.

Ecoleaf has a new range of cleaning products derived from plant extracts, which are non-toxic and based on biodegradable and non-hazardous ingredients, rather than the chemicals found in many brands.

The parent company, Suma, have made sure that Ecoleaf products are low cost and safer to use.

They include a toilet cleaner, multi-surface cleaner, laundry liquid, fabric conditioner, hand soap, washing-up liquid, washing powder, and a stain remover.

All these products are registered with the Vegan Society which means they are cruelty free. Many of the items come in bulk sizes for recycling purposes too.

If you want to research the chemical ingredients used in everyday household cleaners then a good place to start is the Environmental Working Group.

Trendy party drinks for this summer

It’s BBQ season again.

Party drinks for the summer

What drinks will you be serving in your garden this summer?

Here’s a few suggestions…

How about a Raspberry Lemonade with Vanilla or an Elderflower Bubbly or even a nice organic St Clements (orange and lemon mixer). Luscombe make a very posh selection of organic soft drinks for discerning grown ups.

Or there’s Healthy Thirst vineyards and orchards to supply fruit drinks with no added sugar, just gently sparkling infusions of fruit, herbs and flowers. Try their new Cherry Healthy Thirst – ruby red and massively delicious.

Now if you prefer something a little stronger without getting boozy you can’t do better than sample some Fentimans botanically brewed beverages. Their fine Victorian techniques and recipes have produced some pokey ginger beer. But it doesn’t stop there – we’re talking about classic English recipes like Dendelion & Burdock, Full Bodied Shandy or their fiesty Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger.

These nostalgic drinks will certainly raise a delighted eyebrow or too, as well as tickle the upper lip.

But you’ll know you’re having a party when you start mixing with the best.

Advanced nutrition cookery workshops – extra Gluten and Dairy Free Day

If you haven’t heard about Christine Bailey before you need to!

She is a nutritionist with a gift for explaining things, and you may have come across her excellent book ‘Top 100 Brainy Recipes for Kids’. Christine is not only a nutritional therapist but a chef and a food and health trainer too, so she knows what she’s talking about.

Let me update you on her very popular cookery workshop days – they’re so popular she’s had to add extra dates. Each event involves nutritional advice, cookery demos, question and answer sessions and, of course, food tastings. Tickets always go fast so if you want to go, book early.

The latest addition is a Gluten & Dairy Free Cooking Day where you can learn how to make alternative staples like breads, pancakes, cakes and biscuits, enjoy dairy free desserts, find out about alternative grains and how to use them, and learn about labelling and what to look out for.

• Fuel for Sport—Competitive Athlete Day – Sunday 23rd May
• Nutritional Support for Breast and other Hormonal Cancers – Sunday 20th June
• Gluten and Dairy Free Cooking – Sunday 4th July
• Healthy Seasonal Summer Cooking – Saturday 17th July
• Healthy Packed Lunches – Saturday 4th September

Courses run from 11am-4pm at the Centre for Nutrition Education in Wokingham, Berkshire. Tickets cost: £50. Phone 0118 979 8686 or email chris@cnelm.co.uk.

UK’s oatbran secret to French woman’s figure?

When the top-selling French diet book, the Dukan Diet, prescribed a daily spoon of oatbran 10 years ago Mornflake saw its sales in the cereal double in under a decade.

French nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan’s weight loss guide is seen as one reason why French women appear so effortlessly slim.

Oatbran for dieting

But any link between this and why Mornflake keep winning the International Grand Medaille D’Or is purely speculative!

And now the good news is the diet is coming to the UK.

Meanwhile the traditional Mornflake company (family millers since 1675) continue to produce porridge oats and oatbran.

Just lately they’ve begun selling their oats in more diverse ways.

Now they make…

Mueslis (4-Nut Favourite – with no raisins, 5-Fruit Nut & Seeds, Date Fig & Apple Muesli and Swiss Style – with Apple)

Crunchy oat granolas (Classic, Hawaiian, Orchard)

and Children’s Chocolatey Squares

Oat bran is great for your health. Its high fibre content absorbs water from your stomach, swelling up to 20 times its size.

This helps you feel full and satisfied.

Then, once digested, oatbran attracts fat molecules, sugars and toxins, which it carries out of the body before they are stocked in your blood.

Oats are also good for your heart and help to produce serotonin, a hormone that enhances your mood.

Want a tan? Eat fruit!

Eating lots of fruit and veg will also leave your skin with a healthy glow after just one month – that’s the latest news from those learned scientists.

Next day delivery

So rather than booking the trip to Benidorm or dabbling in other tanning methods, just eat more healthily!

Remember, you can order organic fruit boxes from GoodnessDirect for next day delivery to your door, as small or big as you like, or choose an all round fruit and veg box – but don’t wait for the sun, get that summer glow today!

Why buy beetroot juice?

You’ve probably noticed that there are more joggers around now the summer’s here. It may explain the renewed interest in beetroot juice. I’ll explain…

Beetroot juice was recently proved to increase the stamina of sporty people. A test on cyclists who drank beetroot juice found they were much faster than others who hadn’t.

Stamina builders

We know why too. The nitrates found in beetroot turn into nitric oxide in the body, which means less oxygen is used during exercise, and beetroot widens the blood vessels which means blood can get round your body easier. And for those of us who don’t dash about it still means there’s a benefit of decreased blood pressure.

Personally, I find it leaves me feeling fuller too so it may be useful for dieters (believe me, I can guzzle down a glass in no time!). So try some beetroot juice and see if it makes a difference.

Competition – win a box of Gourmet Raw brownies

Following the recent Top 10 of Healthy(-er) Snacks blog, we’re offering a prize draw to win a box of brownies.

Gourmet Raw food

With this delicious ‘raw’ blend of nuts, grains and fruit and butter Gourmet Raw promise to leave you speechless (and not just because your Mum told you not to speak with your mouth full!)

All you have to do is send me an email and on 19th June 2010 I will a pick a name out of a hat.

Good luck.