Homemade cranberry sauce with a twist

Even when using recipes - I just have to invent something that's uniquely mine, to adjust ingredients and taste to my preferences.


Here's the story about inventing a different kind of homemade cranberry sauce.


About a year or so ago I found this really great recipe how to cook cranberries into delicious sauce. I used the original recipe a few times and the sauce was great: easy to make and tasty. The only thing I have a problem with is that it calls for a lot of sugar (which I try to eliminate from my diet) and orange juice (which is acidic so it's also on my "stay-away list").


That's why I cooked my newly invented sugar free cranberry sauce by replacing sugar with agave syrup and orange juice with grapefruit juice...




... and my 2008 Thanksgiving cranberry sauce recipe is as follows:


* 12 ounces cranberries
* juice of a medium-sized grapefruit
* approximately 1/2 cup of agave syrup*


Directions:

Cook cranberries in grapefruit juice and agave syrup in a medium size pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes (cranberries need to pop). Remove from heat, place in a bowl and let the sauce cool and thicken.


If you like your cranberry sauce more jellied, mash cooked cranberries with a fork.


* The quantity of agave syrup is approximate because the taste will depend on the size and the sweetness of the grapefruit you use. However, with using agave syrup as a sweetener it's easy to add more, even after the sauce cools down.


And the most important thing about this recipe is that it's good for everyone, does not contain any alcohol or any artificial ingredients.


Enjoy!



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Sweet banana - chocolate treat

Good for hunters

Ingredients:

• 4 small to medium sized bananas


• 1 teaspoon carob
  
• 1 teaspoon cacao nibs
  
• lemon basil
  

Makes two servings.


Optional:

1. Add some ice if this smoothie seems too thick - or if you want it cold.



2. Experiment with lemon basil. Add only a few leaves at first. If you like the way it tastes, you can always add more leaves and blend for a few more seconds.



3. Use lemon basil and a slice of lemon for decoration.

Directions:

• Watch the video


• Blend the ingredients


• Enjoy!

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How vitamin C in fruits varies

It's important to understand that the content of vitamin C in fruits varies in different cultivars of the same kind of fruit as well as with the level of ripeness of the fruit.

Sometimes vitamin C content of certain fruit is higher when that particular fruit is still slightly immature, and declines as the fruit hits peak ripeness.

With other fruits, the process takes opposite direction: it rises with increasing ripeness.

Consequently, we might come across surprisingly wide variation in results for vitamin C content between different investigators - because they were testing fruit at different stage of maturation or they tested a different variety.

Fruits that increase vitamin C with maturation:

• jujube
• cherries
• blackberries

Fruits that are losing vitamin C with maturation:

• camu camu, fruit of shrubby tree of the Amazon with the highest recorded levels of vitamin C of any fruit
• kiwi

Vitamin C content in live foods also decreases with storage; cool-storage is no exception.

Commercially grown fruits are picked green and their overall nutritious value is more or less poor.

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Grapefruit

Fruit to emphasize for: hunter, gatherer, teacher, explorer, warrior, grapefruit

Neutral for: /

Toxin to limit or avoid for: /

Can be reintroduced after 3-6 months in modest amounts for: /

Prime food for weight loss for: hunter, gatherer, warrior

Good for everyone!

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Lemon

Fruit to emphasize for: hunter, gatherer, teacher, explorer, warrior, nomad

Neutral for: /

Toxin to limit or avoid for: /

Can be reintroduced after 3-6 months in modest amounts for: /

Prime food for weight loss for: teacher

Good for everyone!

***

Banana

Fruit to emphasize for: hunter

Neutral for: /

Toxin to limit or avoid for: teacher, warrior

Can be reintroduced after 3-6 months in modest amounts for: gatherer, explorer, nomad

Prime food for weight loss for: /

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