Checking BACK In!

It's been brought to my attention four times this week that it has been more than a quick minute since I last blogged. I've had someone ask if I had a blog, 2 friends check in on me to see if I am okay because I have not blogged, and my loud mouth couldn't stop any thought coming from my brain and I splurged on how much I love my laundry detergent to a fellow mom that I am pretty sure thinks I am nuts because I don't have a pause or stop button on my rants, including shameless plugs about this said blog you're stuck reading. So to catch things up we've had company, finals for my husband getting his Masters, a week of play, good news from friends, and 'eh' news from my Dr. I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and spent most of our week of play desperately trying not to blame myself but now that I've seen x amount of Drs in x amount of days I feel more than confident that this too shall pass! Now to really get into the good stuff.. I've got to get my camera and start uploading pictures but coming up are some yummy recipes I know you will L O V E!

Watermelon Juice

For the longest time I have wanted a juicer so instead of just sitting around pouting I have been putting my mesh strainer to good use! I saw on weelicious there was a watermelon juice post and of course it sounded delish, so I had to attempt it! Ben, my encouraging yet shakes his head at my new adventures honey bunny, went to Trader Joe's to pick up some seedless watermelons for me!

Bowl, Spatula, Mesh Strainer, Container for Juice, Knife, Cutting Board

All you will officially need is a watermelon, a blender, spatula, mesh strainer, container for juice, knife, and cutting board. Ben cut the watermelon and as he did, I noticed it was yellow. We have never had a yellow watermelon so before I decided to go all in on this juice, I had to taste it and sure enough it was just as divine as it's brighter, rosier cousin. So cutting away I went, well Ben first; after Ben halved it, he cut it into quarters for me *because I am pregnant and to call me clumsy would just be polite* then I just cut vertically until I reached the rind then held the piece over the blender and sliced down to knock off all the chunks I had just cut. 

Now it was tricky at 1st to get the batch going. This was just 2 of the 8 quarters and yes I could have cut them smaller but I was just ready for some juice. I added the most minuscule amount of water to get it going and from there it was a breeze. After this 1st batch I used the juice to "water" down my other batches. After the watermelon is pureed and all chunks are blended down you pour your mix through the mesh strainer into the bowl. 

With your spatula work the juice through the strainer and stir just to keep the flesh from sticking to the bottom of the strainer! After a few minutes you'll see your strainer contains just some fleshy paste-like pulp as this picture shows you-->

Now you can place your juice from the bowl into the container of your choice. From here just continue to blend the rest of your watermelon and use the juice to get the blending started! From start to finish it took me about 30 minutes and that included the clean up! Now because I am not one to want to waste a good thing, especially food, I saved the pulp and pureed it some more with the fruits that I was using to make fruit leather with that day as well. It turned out wonderfully and you would have never know I used watermelon pulp in the roll ups! 

It's still juicy meaning I could have worked it more, but I was ready for some juice! 

Here is the official picture of the juice from a medium sized watermelon! It was delicious and nutritious and I can't wait to make more!  

Here are some health benefits of the big H2OMeloN:

• Rich in electrolytes and water content, melons are nature’s gift to beat tropical summer thirst.
• Watermelons are very low in calories (just 30 cal per 100 g) and fats yet very rich source of numerous health promoting phyto-nutrients and anti-oxidants that are essential for optimum health.
• Watermelon is an excellent source of Vitamin-A, which is a powerful natural anti-oxidant. It is essential for vision and immunity. Vitamin-A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamin-A is known to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
• It is also rich in anti-oxidant flavonoids like lycopene, beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and cryptoxanthin. These antioxidants are found to be protective against colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers. Phyto-chemicals present in watermelon like Lycopene (4532 mcg/100 g) and carotenoids have the ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen free radicals. Studies have also shown that lycopene protects skin damage from UV rays and from prostate cancer.
• Watermelon fruit is a good source of potassium; Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; thus offers protection against stroke and coronary heart diseases.
• It also contains good amount of vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), thiamin (vitamin B-1), vitamin-C and manganese. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen free radicals. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase.