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.

Recipe Remake: Cinco de Mayo Protein Shake (featuring Premier Protein)

It's May! We made it! I'm reasonably sure that for most of us, there is no snow in the immediate forecast. I think that's cause to celebrate.

Tomorrow, as you know, is Cinco de Mayo. (Tell the truth: do you know what's celebrated on this day? I'll 'fess up and say I was not terribly aware, so I looked it up. Fascinating!) And the good folks at Premier Protein sent me a festive recipe to share with you! It's been a while since I've done a "recipe remake"post, but essentially that's where I take an existing recipe and show you how I would change it to make it work better for weight loss surgery post-ops. So, let's get to it.

Let's start with the recipe as Premier sent it to me:

Now I want to start by saying this recipe, in and of itself, isn't bad. It's got several servings of fruit along with protein. For someone who has not had weight-loss surgery, this recipe would be a great alternative to the oversized alcoholic beverages typically served on Cinco de Mayo.

For us? This shake might be challenging because of the levels of sugar. Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with eating fresh fruit! But depending on your surgery type, combining multiple sources of sugar (even natural sugar) may be problematic. Only you know how your body works. 

(Want to learn more about the different kinds of sugar and how they affect your body post-op? Check out my series, "BF Basics: Sugar Shock")

But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a delicious Cinco de Mayo shake. That just means we have to to play with our food!

Interestingly, as soon as I saw this recipe, I thought of my Tropical Sunrise Smoothie. It's essentially the same concept (with a few different ingredients). Here's the original recipe but I thought there was even room to play with my version. So below is the updated recipe!

Tropical Sunrise Smoothie (featuring Premier Protein)

(This will either make one big shake or two small ones - remember...sharing is caring!)

Ingredients:

• 1 Premier Protein 11 oz. Vanilla Shake
• 1/2 c. fresh cut mango, cubed (note: if you use frozen, you can omit the ice listed below)
• 2-3 frozen peach segments (or if you happen to have a no-sugar added peach fruit cup hanging around, that works too. Just make sure to drain it first!)
• 1 c. unflavored Greek yogurt
• 1 packet True Orange flavoring (look in the sugar aisle of the grocery store)
• A squirt of lemon juice
• Optional: 1 tbsp. either sugar-free banana instant pudding mix OR sugar-free banana flavored syrup
• Ice (especially if your fruit is not frozen)

Directions:

If using ice: Combine everything but ice in a blender 1-2 minutes. Add ice, blend an additional minute.

If not using ice: Combine everything in the blender for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. 

Pour and enjoy!

And remember...

For even more reative protein shake recipes, tips and tricks, check out The Bariatric Foodie Guide to Perfect Protein Shakes. Available in hard-copy and Kindle on Amazon and for iPad and Nook on Smashwords!