Apricot Strawberry Salad

Ingredients needed for the Apricot Strawberry salad
 1 cup Apricots  with stones  removed and cut into pieces
1 cup straw berries cut into pieces
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Few mint leaves chopped

How to prepare the Apricot Strawbery salad
Mix in the fruit pieces and honey together, tossed gently.
Keep it aside for 10 minutes  and then mix in orange and lime juice.
Refrigerate if you are not going to serve it immediately.
Before serving sprinkle the chopped mint and mix well.

Point to note while serving the salad
If you are refrigerating the salad  and using it later, remove the mixed salad from the fridge half an hour before serving
 Then add the chopped mint leaves . Serve in a beautiful serving dish.

Strawberries and their Health Benifits

Strawberries are known for their deliciousness  and for their red coloured sweetness. You can find that there are more than 600 varieties of strawberries that differ in flavor, size and texture, You can usually identify a strawberry by the red coloured flesh with yellow seeds piercing its surface, and the small, crown like green leafy cap.
The most common scientific names for strawberry are Fragaria virginiana and Fragaria chilioensis. Not many know that these strawberries are full of nutrition too.

Nutritional Benefits of Strawberries
Strawberries contain a lot of nutrients with Vitamin C coming first in the list. They also have phyto nutrients and anti oxidants to fight free radicals. Free radicals are nothing but the elements that damage the cells and are belived to cause cancer in our body.
Strawberies provides very good source of Vitamin K , manganese, folic acid, potassium, riboflavin, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, copper, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids.
They are the most versatile of the fruits but can perish easily as well. As soon as you buy fresh strawberries you have to use them. Frozen strawberries do not have that much of nutrients as fresh ones have.

How to choose and handle the strawberries
While choosing strawberries you have to look for plump, firm and free of mould. They should have a deep red colour. When you choose the berries be sure to pick the reddest ones because they do not ripe after they are plucked. Medium sized ones seems to have the best of taste and flavour.
You have to store them properly after washing and cleaning the berries. If any one of them hacve a sign of mould in them please do discard them. Or else it will contaminate the remaining berries and spoil them all. Fresh ones will stay in the refrigerator for a few days.

How to use Strawberries
The peak of strawberries season is from April through July when they are the most delicious and most abundant. You can  eat it just like that , it is that delicious and a very popular one too.
You can also add fresh strawberries to your salads, smoothies also This  is a great way to get the five servings of fruit, that is said to be needed for a healthy immune system.

How to Preserve Strawberries
You can freeze strawberries for upto one year if you are careful. You have to gently wash them and pat them dry. You can either remove the cap and stem or leave them intact, as you wish. Then you have to arrange them in a single layer on a flat plate and place them in the freezer. As and when they are frozen, transfer the berries to a heavy plastic bag / Zip lock bag and return them to the freezer where they will keep for a long tiome. You can add a little lime juice to help to preserve the color of the strawberries. You can store strawberries  whole, cut or crushed, they will retain a higher level of their vitamin C content if they are  left whole in the refrigerator.

Flax Seeds and the Nutrition Benefits

About Flax seeds
Flax seeds are known as Linum usitatissimum  and are known to be nutritive power packed within. Flax seeds come in either reddish brown or golden yellow in colour slightly larger than sesame seeds with a little hard smooth and shiny shell.  Colour doesn't make a big difference to the nutritious composition, you can pick up any one of the colours.

Nutrition in Flax seeds
Flax seeds are known for being the best known source for omega 3 fatty acids and are rich in EFA  that is the Essential fatty acids which we need fort he body to function normally. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), omega 3 fatty acids which are found in  Flax seeds, are said to be very helpful in the treatment of various ailments.

How to Buy Flax Seeds
You can buy flax seeds in the shell form as it has more of shelf life when stored in an airtight container. Flax seed oil is highly prone to rancidity as the sunlight  and air can break down the Essential fatty acids present in them.  So always go for flax seed oil in dark coloured bottles and you can also try dark coated soft gel flax seed capsules.

Pomegranates - golden seeds of health

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Plantain Stem Recipe ( Kerala Style - Upperi )

In Kerala we have so many recipes with which we cook plantain stems. Most of the keralites have banana / plantain trees in their homes and so the stem is available everywhere. This is one such recipe.

Ingredients for the upperi:
1 tender bit of Plantain stem ( 2 cups chopped )
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
Coriander leaves (optional )
Salt
¼ Cup Rice ( roasted and powdered)
1 ½ tsp pepper powder
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp split black gram dal ( broken dal will be better )
handful curry leaves pinched into bits
2 tsp oil

Method:
 
Clean and remove fibre from plantain stem.  Chop them into small pieces and place in a bowl of  salted water otherwise the colour will get brownish.
Fry the rice in a pan until it turns crispy and golden. Dry Grind to a nice powder.
Boil the chopped plantain stem in 2 cups of water with turmeric powder and salt. Once it’s cooked, remove and drain the water.
Heat oil in a pan splutter mustard seeds and add black gram dal, curry leaves, pepper powder and the ground rice powder. Sauté it for 2 minutes, finally add the cooked plantain stem and mix them well.
Garnish with coriander leaves. Plantain is ready to be served as a side dish with rice and rotis.

Plantain Stems and their Health Benefits

About the Plantain Stem
Plantain stems are taken from the inner parts of the plantain tree after removing the outer layers which are greenish in colour. The inner stem which is used for cooking purposes is off white or creamish . Just like the fruits and leaves of the Plantain / Banana tree stem is also very useful.  
The stem is full of edible fiber helps to clear the wastage from our body smoothly and efficiently.

Uses and benefits of the Plantain stem
Plantain stem is  very good to be consumed if you have problems in : Obesity,  Urinary stones,  Ulcers, Burning sensation, Acidity, Diabetes, Bleeding disorders  and Menorrhagia

Properties associated with Plantain stem:
There are many who do not like plantain stems for their slightly bitter and astringent taste but the vegetable is very good for health
Natural diuretics helps in removal of excess fluids from the body and in treating of sciatica, lymphatic swelling, Pre menstrual syndrome, high blood pressure,  diluting and breaking down of kidney stones, gonorrhea and liver disorders.
Plantain stem is one such  natural diuretic.It helps to increase the urination and through that detoxifies our body. This stimulates the kidneys into better removal of uric acid also.  By helping the kidneys do their job cleanly the plantain stems help reduce high cholesterol levels and the astringent quality helps in blood coagulation.

How to get the stem ready for cooking
Choose the slender and tender plantain stem.
You have to clean the stem by first removing the outer portion of the stem. Take out the extra layers and keep the tender middle one.
Keep the stem in a horizontal position on the kitchen counter top or the table. Cut them with a sharp knife into thin round slices, slightly thicker than the way you slice potatoes for chips.   You can just remove the fiber you get from from the plantain stem with your index finger. You can twist the fibers you get with your index finger and later discard the fibres. We will not need them for cooking. 


Recipes with Plantain stem
1. Plantain stem / Vazhappindi Paruppu Curry
2. Plantain Stem - Cooked in Kerala Style
3. Plantain Stem Pachadi
4. Vazhappindi Payaru Thoran