Cantaloupe and Lime Juice

Do you open the refrigerator and stare inside and wait for the food to tell you what it wants to become? Well, I do that all the time. Sometimes things jump into my mind immediately and other times it is a struggle to come up with ideas. Today the cantaloupe wanted to be used somehow. I couldn’t decide if the cantaloupe was going to become sorbet or juice and in the end the juice won mostly due to the fact that it was much quicker.

This juice is light, refreshing and sweet. It tastes mostly of the cantaloupe with a little lime in the background. I like that the juice contains a lot of potassium and vitamin A. This juice would make a nice substitute for your morning citrus juice if you were looking for a change of pace.

If you wanted to add a little complexity to the juice you could make an agave ginger syrup and use that in place of the plain agave. Alternately you could add a few pieces of finely minced crystallized ginger to the blender instead of the agave.

Cantaloupe and Lime Juice
Makes 2 servings – approximately 12 ounces each

Ingredients:

1 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon of amber agave

Directions:

Place everything in the blender and puree until completely smooth. Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 111.03
Calories From Fat (5%) - 5.12

Total Fat - 0.61g
Saturated Fat - 0.15g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 46.3mg
Potassium - 784.43mg
Total Carbohydrates - 27.76g
Fiber - 4.12g
Sugar - 22.53g
Protein - 2.61g

Comments:

This is a nice simple and quick fruit juice. The flavor of this recipe is predominantly cantaloupe with lime being a subtle background note. If you are a fan of melon this is a different way to serve the fruit. I really like having a juice option that contains 4 grams of fiber in a serving.

Fruit Salad with Whole Grain Bagel, Peanut Butter and Banana

Since “what makes a good vegan breakfast” is a recurring question, I will be posting our breakfast items when they are different from what I have previously posted.

I normally keep a few whole grain bagels in the freezer for mornings like this when I don’t want a smoothie, or to spend a lot of time making breakfast.

A quick defrost in the microwave and a little time in the toaster and we had breakfast. I added the peanut butter for protein and fat (so we can absorb all the fat soluble vitamins in our breakfast). The banana was included to hopefully protect us from a recurrence of kidney cancer. The banana also includes a nice amount of potassium, which is necessary for healthy blood pressure.

Any meal that goes from the refrigerator and freezer to my plate in under 10 minutes is my idea of the perfect meal. I also used the fruit salad I made last night and added a few strawberries for color and we were ready to eat.

Fruit is a great thing to incorporate in your diet on a daily basis. If you take a look at the USDA website for the ORAC values fruit scores very high in antioxidants. By having a big container of fruit salad in the refrigerator at all times you can easily eat four servings of fruit everyday.

Fruit Salad and Whole Grain Bagel with Peanut Butter and Banana
Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 cups of fruit salad (1/2 of what I made yesterday)
6 strawberries, sliced
3.5 ounce whole grain bagel
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
4 ounce banana, sliced

Directions:

Slice bagel in half, and toast. Spread each bagel half with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and top with banana slices.

Remove fruit salad from the refrigerator. Add strawberries to the fruit salad.

Eat immediately while the bagel is still warm and the fruit salad is cold.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 391.44
Calories From Fat (20%) - 78.64

Total Fat - 9.4g
Saturated Fat - 1.96g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 349.49mg
Potassium - 956.47mg
Total Carbohydrates - 72.56g
Fiber - 8.11g
Sugar - 35.01g
Protein - 12.06g

Comments:

This breakfast is light but filling. I like that the salad is cold but the bagel is warm. I always like a mixture of warm and cold items. I also like the crunchiness of the bagel with the gooey texture of the peanut butter. Overall this is a nice quick breakfast with good nutritional content.

Fruit Salad – Cantaloupe, Orange, Apple and Grape

The idea for making large containers of fruit salad ahead of time goes to my friend Sue. She shared this idea with me about a month ago and I have been enjoying it ever since. If you haven’t tried making fruit salad on the weekend to last a few days give it a try. It works like a charm. Thanks Sue!

Fruit Salad – Cantaloupe, Orange, Apple and Grape
Makes 3.2 quarts

Ingredients:

1 cantaloupe, cut into bite size pieces
1 orange, peeled and cut into bite size pieces **
1 gala apple, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup of green grapes, halved

Directions:

Mix everything together and refrigerate. This will last a few days in the refrigerator if covered tightly.

** Please note, Sue would supreme her oranges. I, being the rebel that I am, leave the membrane between the citrus sections for extra fiber and cholesterol protection. I read that the membrane of the grapefruit helps to remove the existing plague from your arteries and began leaving all citrus membrane on my fruit. Before you ask, I don't know if the membrane theory has any validity but on the outside chance it does I figured why not give it a go.

Nutritional Information (entire recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 456.32
Calories From Fat (3%)- 14.81

Total Fat - 1.76g
Saturated Fat - 0.43g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 92.9mg
Potassium - 2260.14mg
Total Carbohydrates - 114.68g
Fiber - 14.14g
Sugar - 99.7g
Protein - 7.88g

Comments:

When something like this fruit salad is on the top shelf of the refrigerator, it becomes my default mid afternoon snack of choice. Since the entire container (which no human could possibly eat) is only 456 calories, this makes a great dish for when you need a little something but don’t want a lot of calories. You could jazz this up with a few toasted walnuts or almonds when you get ready to serve. A little drizzle of lemon cello over the fruit would also be divine. If you have mint in your garden you could add some julienned mint leaves or a nice minty syrup you made with agave. The options are endless for dressing this up.