No Sugar-Added Tropical Lemonade

So I know we live in this super high-tech, fast-moving world where everything is designed to be faster, easier, more convenient.

But every once in a while I like something that takes time, requires a little skill, and is a bit more involved. Good, homemade handmade lemonade is one of those things.

When I was an itty-bitty thing and my grandma was still alive (she passed away when I was five) she used to make lemonade. Helping her is one of my earliest memories. Now lemonade wasn't a quick-rush thing to her. No, no! You took your time with it. Because if you did, you got something really wonderful.

In my estimation, homemade lemonade is a great way to practice the old will-power muscle. It's not instant gratification. You get the very best results if you wait it out. But the moment you put that sweet nectar to your lips...ahhhhh. You realize it was worth it. Even if the waiting nearly drove you insane. :)

Nik's No-Sugar Added Tropical Lemonade
(The below recipe is what I used for this batch. Each batch can be different, the method of making it remains the same! This makes about 3 quarts of lemonade.)

Ingredients:

• About 10 pineapple cores (see below)
• 2 mango seeds after I cut the flesh off
• 6 c. water
• 2 limes, juiced
• About 8 lemons, juiced
• No-calorie sweetener equivalent to 3 c. sugar (use whatever kind you like but check the conversion chart on the packaging to make sure it matches up against sugar!)
• Another 8 c. (64 oz.) of cold water

Directions:

Pre-Step: Fruit Cores

So I had these two pineapples, right? And I needed to cut them up because they were sitting in my fridge doing absolutely nothing. I know from experience nobody in my family will cut them. They will go bad first. (Yes, that is sad!) So I decided to cut them up along with a mango I had. I wanted to show you a super simple hack for removing the cores of pineapples. I'm sure there are other ways. Please share in the comments!

Step One: Making a flavored simple syrup

This is usually how I get the non-lemon flavor into lemonade. You don't have to do it this way. You can also:

• Infuse lemonade with flavor by adding fruits or herbs (like mint) to your final product and letting them sit for a long while
• Pureeing fruit and straining out the flesh and adding it during step 4. (This method works especially well with strawberries).

But since I was using the cores of fruit, I incorporated it into my simple syrup by adding 6 cups of water to a sauce pan, dropping the fruit cores in there, turning the heat to high and letting it come to a boil. Then I dropped the heat to medium-low and let it simmer about 10-ish minutes before turning off the burner and letting it sit.

Step Two: Juice the lemons

I personally do it the way my grandma did it, which is by hand. But there are lemon juicers out there that do the job very quickly with no mess. I will say, though, that nothing beats how your hands smell after hand-juicing lemons. Since I had lemons and limes on hand, I used both. In general, you need about 8-10 lemons to make a decent sized, share-able pitcher of lemonade. As you can see I squeezed mine into a separate bowl.

Step Three: Complete your simple syrup

Remove the fruit cores from the sauce pan and turn it back on low heat so it stays warm. One at a time, add a cup of sweetener and whisk it in until it completely dissolves. NOTE: If you like less sweet lemonade feel free to use less sweetener than this recipe calls for!

Step Four: Putting it all together

Combine the lemon (and in this case lime) juice with the simple syrup then stir well. Then add that to a large pitcher. Then add the 8 cups of cold water and stir again. Give it a taste. Is it too sweet? Add more water. Is it not sweet enough? Add more sweetener. The tartness should be fine but if it isn't, you can always squeeze another lemon or two and throw the juice in there. I keep it a bit on the sweet side because I know I'll add ice when I serve it and lemonade is a social drink. You sip, you talk, you sip, you talk...I still want my lemonade to be sweet after the ice melts! But that's just me.

Refrigerate about two hours or until cold. Serve over ice. I serve it with bits of the fruit that's in the lemonade (shown are pineapple and mango bits).

Some other ideas:

• If you want/need protein in this, once it's cold add some unflavored protein to your glass. I would say 1/2 serving for every 8 ounces.
• My kids like to add soda water to this (actually the put it through their Soda Stream machine)
• This makes a really great Arnold Palmer with the addition of some home-brewed iced tea (don't mess up the handmade momentum with the instant stuff - it's WORTH the effort!)

Outtake Photos

Here's the thing that irks me. I spent good money on a good camera...and sometimes my iPhone simply takes the better photo! 

Obligatory direct overhead shot. Note to self: not appealing with drinks!

Doesn't that look downright SLURPABLE??? Yum.

Strawberry Cheesecake Pudding Parfait (featuring Premier Protein)

Long-time readers...I know what you're going to say, ok? I KNOW. Yes this is the gamillionty-seventh cheesecake-inspired recipe on this blog.

But Google Analytics says 90+% of you reading this have never been to this blog before so...hi. I'm Nikki. And I like cheesecake!

But as we all know cheesecake can be fatty and sugary and all sorts of things that can cause certain gut-death. I won't lie. At 7 years post-op I do enjoy a bite or two of the real thing every now and again. 

And on regular days I have this.

Nik's Strawberry Cheesecake Pudding Parfait

(Makes 5-ish servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 box sugar-free instant cheesecake flavored pudding mix
• 1 container (11 oz.) Premier Protein shake (Strawberry or Vanilla works best, in my opinion)
• 6 oz. container plain Greek yogurt (Note: Do use plain, it cuts the sweetness of the pudding mix and the protein shake combined!)
• 1 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened (it amps up the cheesecake factor…)
• ¼ tsp. lemon juice
• About 10 strawberries (or 2 per parfait), hulled and sliced
• Whipped cream
• Optional (pictured): sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Place the instant pudding mix and protein shake in a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed about 2 minutes. (You want to work out any powder lumps.)
2. Add the Greek yogurt, cream cheese and lemon juice and mix again, until combined. Refrigerate at least two hours.
3. To assemble: place a few sliced strawberries at the bottom of a cup or bowl. Top with ¼ c. pudding mixture, then a dab of whipped cream. Repeat.

If you like a little crunch, you can use high-protein granola in there too. These days I like to crush a bit of Fiber One and add it as a layer.

I originally published this recipe on ObesityHelp.com and I did something unprecedented. I posted nutrition facts! (Dear folks new to Bariatric Foodie. I do not generally post nutrition facts for my recipes. Here's why.) But I'm going to make you head over there to get that information. It's a great site if you've not been there before...plus I can't be starting habits over here at Bariatric Foodie.

One habit I will keep, though, is posting outtake pics! Here you go:

There isn't a particular reason I didn't use this one at the top. I just didn't.

I usually use a slatted bench on my front porch to take photos (my porch is the only place in the ENTIRE house that gets good light!). But every once in a while I mix it up. This is actually my porch floor. I didn't like the pic because the right glass seemed skewed. #PerfectionistProblems

As I've said many times...direct overhead shots are my "comfort zone." I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone. Plus...it's a parfait. You gotta see the layers!

Premier Protein: Simple Protein for a Complicated Life. (Product Review)

This review was sponsored by Premier Protein, and I was provided with free product for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.

I sorta feel like I'm preaching to the choir about Premier Protein. So many of you already use it! In fact, the sheer number of you who use it prompted me to want to give it another try. I tried the shakes at the very beginning of my post-op life and I liked them well enough, but then I started playing with protein powder and making recipes and...we all know where that went. 

So here I am again trying Premier Protein. If you all follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know they sent me a lot of product. Like...a lot. I think it's because they want me to share it with you. I intend to! After the grad school semester from hell ends. Until then all you'll get is procrastination and empty promises and, really, who needs that? 

Anyway, let's get on with the review!

This review will cover the shakes. They sent me lots of bars as well and I think that may need to be its own blog review! Look for it coming soon. 

So the shakes come in three flavors: Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. The stats on them are pretty much all the same:

Here's some other important information:

• Premier uses a blend of whey isolate and whey concentrate
• It also contains sucralose (an artificial sweetener used to in Splenda)

Packaging

Yes, I start from the beginning, Foodies! But I think Premier's packaging is worth talking about. It's very convenient for a few reasons. Firstly, the shakes are shelf-stable so you don't have to keep them in the fridge. For those of you who work in places where you don't have a fridge, that might be very convenient. It also has a sturdy, "twist on/twist off" cap. As I was reviewing these shakes I can't tell you how many times this saved my shirts! 

Taste/Texture/Yadda

Like I said in the title, it's simple protein for a complicated life. One thing I like about Premier Protein is that they keep their flavors clean. Each flavor tasted like what it was supposed to taste like. I was a bit put off by the fact that the strawberry was an off-white but then as I thought about it, that means there's no red dye in it, which is a good thing! But just to give you my initial impression (I actually wrote these phrases down as I tasted these):

• Chocolate: "Tastes like a Yoohoo." (Do they still make those, by the way?)
• Strawberry: "Takes me back to elementary school and those little cartons of strawberry milk." (Do they still make those, by the way?)
• Vanilla: "Must Triple X this...would make an awesome thick vanilla shake!"

Which brings me to my next point. The shakes aren't super thick. (Newbies may disagree.) They pour easily. There are a few bubbles when you pour but nothing too serious. For the pics above I fanned the cups with a piece of paper and the bubbles dispersed. In all reality, most of you will drink this from the carton anyway. I will admit I didn't shake them first. They seemed fine even still.

So...was there an aftertaste? For this one I had to go outside myself. I've been on artificial sweeeteners and protein supplements for so long I don't think I could tell you even if the aftertaste tapped me on the shoulder and introducted itself. I had my oldest daughter (the "Picky One") taste it (I had to pay her to do it - the little extortionist!). She said there is no aftertaste. Then she asked if she could have the rest of it. Ba-da-bing.

Final Verdict

Well you all know me. I like to play with my food.

Here's one way I played with my Premier Protein Shake. Click here to get the recipe. There will be other ways!

Of all the flavors, I'd likely do the chocolate and vanilla most often. I'm not a big fan of strawberry anything, although I didn't mind testing out this flavor at all. I see that they are available all over. Check out this page to locate them near you. So they are convenient, affordable and not a special purchase.

So I think my final verdict would be to give them a try. It's good protein, for a good price, and easily accessible (check out the "Where to Buy" page on their website to find it near you). Especially if you are a person who doesn't need a fancy shake, you just need a good shake, with good flavor, and a good protein count, Premier has got you covered.

#PWYF