Homemade Vitamin Water

Drinking water is a serious issue for me. I don't much care for water, unless it's really cold and I'm really thirsty I don't enjoy drinking it. Drinking flavored waters is expensive, and they almost always add corn syrup and shit that I don't really want either. So for the next month I'm going to be doing my own flavored water.

One thing I would like to mention is I don't think these need to be left overnight, but you do need to let them sit at least a couple of hours. I also think that you can re-use stuff at least one time. For instance this week I'm doing Lemon, Cucumber and Mint, and I've refilled the pitcher, without changing the ingredients twiee. The flavor tends to change (the lemon looses a little oomph and the mint get's stronger), if you're on a budget I would recommend this. Also, I tend to just crush herbs like mint, basil and sage. It brings out the flavor and you don't end up with a bunch of green things stuck to the sides of your pitcher.

1) The classical : lemon/cucumber:
Mix in a pitcher: 

8 cups of water  

0.5 cucumber and a lemon, thinly sliced  

1/4 cup fresh crushed basil leaf or 1/3 of crushed fresh mint leaves. 

Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

2) The granite : Strawberry/Lime or Raspberry/Lime
Mix in a pitcher : 8-10 cups of water  

6 strawberries  or Raspberries 

one thinly sliced lime  

12 crushed fresh mint leaves. 

Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

3) The digestive : Fennel/citrus
Infuse 1 to 3 grams of dried and crushed fennel in 150 ml of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Mix in a pitcher 8-10 cups of water 

lemon juice (put the leftover lemon in the mix) 

1 small thinly sliced orange 

12 fresh crushed mint leaves 

The infusion of fennel seeds. 

Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.

4) The antiOX : Blackberry/Sage
Note that a part from the berries, sage leafs is the herb that has the highest antioxidant content.
Mix in a pitcher : 8-10 cups of water  

1 cup of blackberries that have been very slightly crushed  

3-4 sage crushed leaves. 

Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.

5) WATERmelon : watermelon/Rosemary
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of watermelon cut into cubes + 2 rosemary stems. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.

6) The exotic : Pineapple/Mint
Mix in a pitcher : 8-10 cups of water  

1 cup of pineapple cut into cubes 

12 crushed fresh mint leaves

 Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

7) The traditional : Apple/cinnamon
Mix in a pitcher : 8-10 cups of water 

1 cup of apple cut into cubes 

2 cinnamon sticks 

2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. 

Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

8) The zingibir : Ginger/tea
In advance: heat 1 teaspoon of ginger in two cups of tea, let it cool down.
Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water with two cups of the ginger tea 

4-5 pieces of fresh ginger cut into cubes. 

Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

Revival!

Chris and I have decided to start a 30 day Juice fast. Since I've finally settled into my new job's schedule, and work from home now which definitely makes blogging easier, it seemed like a good time to revive my food blog. My makeup blog will follow shortly.

So! Today is day one, and I'm feeling pretty alright. Although I did an hour of kickboxing this morning and I think that's going to have to stop for a while. I'm feeling a little light headed and a little headache-y which I'm hoping will go away when I have a protein shake (water, whey protein, strawberries and banana) on my lunch break. I'm also cold. Which is not surprising considering it's chilly and my metabolism is probably freaking out a little.

Juice today was the original Mean Green Juice
6 Kale Leaves

1 handful of spinach (added not from original recipe)
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lemon
1 piece of ginger

It definitely tastes leafy, but good, I'm going to increase the ginger next time since we used a piece about as big as my thumb for a doubled version of this recipe. I think doubling that amount of ginger would be perfect. Chris and I decided that we wanted some plant matter in rather than just juice. So we actually blended the spinach and the leaves from the kale (we juiced the stalks). 

Ginger and Lemon Carrot Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. It's flavorful and filling, and it's cheap to make, especially if you make your own stock. Instead of the sour cream I like to add 1.5 tsps Sriracha to it for a little bit of added heat.

Bottomline: 4.2 Stars

Broccoli in Oyster sauce

Last night seemed like the first night this week that Chris and I had a normal schedule. So nice. He's been stressed out with work, which stresses me out, on top of that my uncle is in the hospital so I'm all freaked out about that.

Last night we had pan fried steak and broccoli stir fried in oyster sauce. I really like broccoli, but I usually just steam it so I've been on the look out for something new to do to it. I found this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. I really enjoyed the flavor, I just wish that the sauce was a bit thicker. Still it was pretty good and all that sauce soaked into the rice nicely. Any suggestions on how to thicken Asian sauces? I don't like the aftertaste that cornstarch leaves... 

The only other thing I'd want to do is maybe sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the top. Bring out the flavor of the oil a bit. No pictures this time. Sorry!