Raspberry Lemonade

I really do not like summer...too warm in my opinion.  Thank goodness for air conditioners...

The good thing about summer though is that it brings a lot of fresh summer produce especially berries, such as blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.  The prices are also lower than off season prices.  I was over at the Korean supermarket the other day when I spied some really nice raspberries at a dollar per container. Ha! that is a bargain especially since they cost five times at WholeFoods. Of course, WholeFood's raspberries are organic but still huge difference in price.  I do buy organic produce at times but for the most part I do not really care.  

Berries are pretty flexible since you can eat it raw or add it raw on dishes and salads as well as cook it as fillings for pies, jams, and jellies..  They also work well in juices, shakes, and lemonades. Speaking of lemonades, I cannot remember how many I've featured in this blog so far...who's counting anyway...hehehe 

Lemonades are handy to have especially during summer months as they are great as thirst-quenchers and for fluid replenishment to prevent dehydration due to excessive sweating as a result of sun exposure.  You can serve it in a tall glass with plenty of ice to keep it chilled or you can use frozen berries and fruits as substitute for ices to prevent it from becoming watered down when the ice melts. 

To make frozen fruit garnishes, you can cut large fruits, such as apple, mango, etc into small slices or wedges.  For berries, you do not have to slice then but instead freeze them whole.  Arrange the fruits/ sliced fruits in a parchment paper-lined freezer safe container and freeze for about 1 hour or until they harden.  After an hour, you can transfer them to a freezer ziplock bags and leave in freezer until ready for use.  Freezing them in a single layer will prevent the fruits and slices from sticking together thus making it easier to use.  Use these garnishes as a substitute for ice or in conjuction with ice.

Ingredients:

1 cup raspberries, washed and dried then lightly crushed

1 cup sugar or according to desired sweetness

4 + 2 cups of water

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Place raspberries, 2 cups water, and sugar in pan and let it boil.

2. Once the mixture boils, remove from heat and let it cool

3. Strain mixture and transfer to a container with tight-fitting lid.

4. Add the rest of the water and lemon juice.  Mix well then chill.

5. To serve: Pour lemonade on a glass of ice or frozen garnishes and serve immediately.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Juice

Rhubarb... up until recently,I didn't know that rhubarb is categorically a fruit and not a vegetable. I only learned about it when I picked up a Donna Hay cookbook with information on the different fruits. Its funny because itshure does look more like a vegetable than a fruit...hehehe... apparently a New York court rulled that it is a fruit in 1940s. The leaves are toxic but the stalk is a good ingredient for pies and desserts and of course, juice.
 
Here's another interesting fact about rhubarb: it is considered a laxative by the Chinese...hmmm, no wonder...hahaha...okay,let's not go there...

Fresh, raw rhubarb has a tart taste but the addition of sugar when cooking eliminates the tarty taste. Besides pies, it can also be made into a jam, preserves, or dried fruit. It contains stilbenoid compound that helps in lowering the blood sugar si it is good for diabetics...I guess as long as you do not add too much sugar or use sugar substitute.
 
I sliced the rhubarb into a half and inch to an inch in size and boil it in water. I was going to boil sugar with it but changed my mind at the last minute since I was still going to add strawberries which are juicy and sweet so I wasn't sure if they were going to be too sweet so I opted to add sugar later after the strawberries has steeped in the boiled rhubard and water. Once the water and rhubarb mixture has boiled for about a couple of minutes, remove it from heat and add crushed strawberries. Let it steep until it cools down then strain the fruits from the juice and refrigerate. Serve it over a glass of ice for a refreshing beverage.

 
Ingredients:

2 - 3 stalks of rhubarb, sliced into about 1/2 to 1 inch diameter

sugar, to taste

1 lb strawberries - de-stemmed, hulled and crushed

6 glasses of water

1. Place water and rhubarb in a sauce and bring to a boil over medium heat.  After it boils, remove from heat and stir in crushed straberries

3. Let it steep for about 30 minutes or until it cools down.

4. Strain the fruits from the juice using a strainer.  Add sugar according to taste.

5. Refrigerate for a few hours.  Serve over a glass of ice.

Pineapple--Kalamansi Juice

Arghhh...too much stuff to do...have to finish my school assignment tonight, work on my paper for the week and go to work on top of all that...how I wish that I have around 48 hours in a day which would probably still not enough to accomplish everything that I have to accomplish. Now I am starting to rethink my decision of going back to school. I like the idea of learning new concepts which are being taught in MSN but I hate that we have a paper that needs to be turned in every single week. I cannot wait though when I start taking the core courses for nursing informatics which is the specialization that I chose. The good news is, I only have 6 more months to go before I finish MSN-informarics then another 6 months to complete the core courses for nursing education which would give me another specialization and option to teach. Hopefully by the end of 2012 I should be done. Aigoo, just thinking about another year of being in school makes me shudder. Doctoral studies? maybe, maybe not. lol... on good days, I want to proceed with further education post masters but on bad days, my brain tells me NO! hehehe


This juice is part of the power breakfast that I cooked this morning to give me the energy to tackle all that I need to accomplish today. Aside from this juice, I cooked homemade pork tocino, sliced a couple of homemade salted eggs with onion/tomato, and garlic fried rice. The recipes for salted eggs and tocino will be posted in a separate post.

Kalamansi is a citrus fruit that is found in the Philippines. It is a close relative of lemon and lime only it taste a little better (at least to me it does). Because of the moderate climate here in California, kalamansi plants thrive when planted outdoors. There aren't that many kalamansi fruits that are sold in Asian or Filipino markets though. Lucky for me, my brother in law has a huge kalamansi tree which bears a lot of fruits. He brought some when he returned the Korean drama dvds last week.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups canned pineapple juice
1/2 cup freshly squeezed Kalamansi juice
sugar to taste
4 cups water
ice cubes
sliced kalamansi for garnish

1. Combine pineapple juice, kalamansi juice, sugar, an water. Mix until sugar is dissolved.
2. Chill until ready to serve.
3. In a tall glass, add two or three ice cubes, pour some juice mixture and garnish with sliced kalamansi.

Ripe Mango Smoothie

Woke up today feeling tired after staying up too late watching Korean variety shows online. Ha! I just love them shows as well as Korean dramas and movies. There is something about them that just draws me in. I always tell my friends that I may have been Korean in my previous lifetime because I can just feel the connestion. It is weird because the first time that I watched a Korean drama (Lovers in Paris), I just instinctively know what was going to happen next. It was like I was having deja vu... all the scenes, drama characters, and actors were so familiar...so weird. I was wracking my brains to see if I watched it somewhere or maybe caught an episode or two on cable but there was nothing that I could remember of. The only foreign shows that I used to watch on tv was Takeshi's Castle which is a Japanese show back in the 80s I think and that surely was no Korean drama...hehehe

It was late 2004 (i think) when I saw the drama Lovers in Paris. Little did I know that encounter with Korean drama would turn into an obssession with everything that has to do with South Korea (food, Korean culture, language, variety shows, k-pop, korean movies, and Korean drama). It has been quite a journey from that first encouter to the present. I met a lot of wonderful people along the way, learned about other cultures, and developed an appreciation for everything that makes each and every one of us unique. How's that for a cultural diversity? Oh, and don't get me started on the many new things that I was able to learn along the way - photoshop, video editing, gif making are just some of the new things that I have learned...things that I would never have learned or reason to learn had it not for my Korean drama obssession...



Ahhh...back to my energy booster drink that I made this morning. Mango is a fruit that I would probably never going to get tired of. There is just so many dishes that you can create with it- drinks, salsa, salad, etc.

Ingredients:

2 Large ripe mango, peeled and pitted
sugar, according to desired sweetness
ice cubes
30 cc water


1. Chop mango coarsely and place in a blender.
2. Add 30 cc water and blend until smooth.
3. Add sugar according to taste and blend until sugar is dissolved.
4. Add ice and blend until smooth and well incorporated.
5. Transfer to tall glasses and serve immediately.

Green Mango Juice

Ahhh...I think I bought too many green mangoes the other day ...the seemingly never ending supply of green mango which I have to either eat or turn into something else before they become ripe. In my opinion, mangoes that are sold in the regular store does not taste good when they ripen compared to the mangoes that grows in the Philippines. The ones here taste sweet and really delicious when they are green or semi-ripe but once they ripen they don't taste as good.

I did not want another green mangoe shake since I've had those several times last week already so I thought that maybe I will try and see what they taste like if I turn then into juise instead of a shake. I've had ripe mango juice in the past but but not green mango. I was surprised at how good the juice turned out. The result is a slightly thick juice consistency. It is a refreshing drink that will cool you down this summer.

Ingredients:

1 large green mangoe, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp sugar ( add more if you like it sweeter)
water

1. In a blender, add diced mango and sugar.
2. Add about 1/2 a cup of water and blend until smooth.
3. Add another 2 cups of water and continue blending until they are mixed well and smooth.
4. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
5. To serve, fill a tall glass with ice. Pour mango juice. Garnish with mango slices and serve.

frozen Lemonade

Summer + warm California weather + cooking = too darn hot temperature inside the house.

This is exactly what happened while I was cooking my sardine pasta yesterday. Since I had zest-less lemons (I used the zest for the pasta recipe), I thought of making frozen lemonade. It definitely hit the spot...cool and refreshing... and a fraction of the price of frozen lemonade sold at the resto that I get it from.



Ingredients:

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
2 + 1 cup water
2 cups ice cubes



1. In a small sauce pan, add 1 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar.Heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let it cool. Set aside.

2. Pour the above mixture in a blender and add lemon juice. Blend to mix well.

3. Add 1 cup water and 1 cup of ice cubes to the blender and blend well until smooth.



4. Add the remaining ice cubes and water and blend again until smooth. NOTE: If you prefer your lemonade to be less strong, add more water and ice, blend until smooth.

5. Transfer to a tall glass and serve immediately.

Minty Lemonade

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 whole lemon
3/4 cup sugar
4 + 1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
ice cubes



1. In a small sauce pan, add 1 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar.Heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let it cool. Set aside.

2. Using a small grater, grate zest from lemon. (NOTE: do not include the white part). Place lemon zest and mint leaves in a small bowl and crush using a muddler but don't bruise the mint leaves too much because it will make it taste bitter. Set aside.



3. Using a juicer, extract juice from 4 lemons.




4. Add 1 cup lemon juice, 4 cups of water, sugar syrup (#1), and lemon zest-mint miture(#2). Stir to mix well. Place in refrigerator to chill for a few hours.




5. When ready to serve, strain the zest and mint leaves from the lemonade. Serve in a tall glass with ice. Garnish with lemon slices and mint sprigs.

Green Mango Shake

Green mango shake has become one of my favorite drinks. My first encounter with this drink was in January of this year while I was vacationing in Bacolod, Philippines. Ripple's @ L'Fisher Hotel serves this drink and out of curiousity, I tried it. Of course, it was after I asked the waiter repeatedly to make sure that the ice they use for the shake is from bottled water and not tap water. So far, this is the only place in the Philippines that I would dare drink juice with ice or fruit shakes since everywhere else seem to be using ice from the local ice plant. There's really nothing wrong with that but based on experience, tap water and my stomach don't go well with each other...hahaha...

Green mango has a slightly sour taste which gives the shake its distict taste. Unfortunately, unripe philippine mango are hard to come by as most of the ones that are being sold in the Filipino stores are already ripe. Since I cannot find green philippine mango, I opted to use the ones that are sold in regular supermarkets. Although they are technically unripe, the fresh is slightly yellow in color. Nonetheless, the flavor is almost the same despite the difference color.

Ingredients:

1 green, unripe mango
sugar
water
ice cubes



1. Peel and dice mango.




2. In a blender, add 1/2 cup diced mango, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/4 cup water
NOTE: You can add more sugar if you want it sweeter. I wanted the shake to retain
a slightly sour taste so I only added 1 tsp of sugar.



3. Blend until the mixture reaches a pureed consistency.
4. Add ice and blend some more until smooth. Transfer to a glass and serve immediately.



Update: Bought some green mangoes and so happy the flesh was actually less yellow so I am posting pictures of the ones I made today.

Summer thirst quencher

Hot weather and I don't match well together that's why I don't really like going outdoors. In the summer when the weather is so hot, I try to stay indoors whenever possible. Yesterday I was doing some indoor grilling so I had no choice but to turn off the AC and open the windows. Ughhh, it was too hot. Good thing I had this drink cooling in my fridge.



Ingredients:

1 part canned mango nectar
1 part canned pineapple juice
2 parts coconut juice with pulp
1 kalamansi (philippine lemon)
*** may be substituted with either lime or lemon
sugar, if desired

1. Mix all ingredients and stir well. Chill in the refrigerator and serve cold.


*** you may add sugar, if desired, but the combination of juices was sweet enough for me that I did not add any sugar anymore.