Watermelon Spritzer. And the winner of Ice cream challenge.

Who doesn't crave watermelon during the summer? A slice of fresh juicy crisp watermelon can quench the thirst better than any other fruit.Mid-summer has the best melons that are ripe,red and sweet.

Watermelon is loaded with a nutrient called citrulline that helps produce nitric oxide, a powerful blood vessel dilator that's critical to healthy blood flow - Dr. Oz

Much more satisfying than sugary sodas,the fizzy watermelon ice cubes spritzer is an amazing drink to chill off.The melon ice cubes keeps the drink cooler longer,alternately you could also make the drink by blending the melon with few ice cubes.But the ice cubes method yield a more intense melon punch,since the ice cubes are purely melons.

Recipe : Water melon Ice Cubes Spritzer(Non-alcoholic)
Ingredients
5 cups of Water melon chunks(about a quarter of large size melon)
2 tablespoon agave nectar(optional)
6 ounce bottle of lime flavored soda water

Method
Puree the water melon in a blender until smooth.Pour in ice trays and freeze for 4-5 hours.Unmold the ice cubes,put about 5-6 of the frozen water melon cubes in each of the tall glasses and pour a cup of soda water in each.Serve immediately.




Now for the exciting announcement of the winner of the Health Nut Ice cream challenge.It was a very close contest with such brilliant healthy Ice cream recipes.The top recipes which got most votes are :

Recipe , Votes
Kiran's Avocado Coconut Vegan Ice Cream 13
Denny's Almond Carrot Ice Cream 11
Nithu's Mixed Veggie Fruit Nut Oats Ice Cream 9
Rebecca's Almond Berry coconut Ice Dream 8
Curry Leaf's Mango coconut pops 5
Priya's Orange Yogurt Cheese Pops 4
Umm Mymoonah's Cherry Porridge Ice Cream 4


Congrats! Kiran,a copy of Rachel Albert-Matesz's Ice Cream Cook Book will be on your way soon.Thanks again to all the participants,the challenge indeed brought out some unusual yet tasty ideas of home made ice cream.

Juicy and Nutty:Watermelon-Strawberry-Almond Salad

I'm a disaster at selecting water melons.The ones I pick always turn out to be either unripe or not so juicy.How do you select a perfect water melon,one that's ripe red and juicy?Here is a simple tip from Mr.HealthNut- a melon that's heavy,with nice and green sheen and a yellowish-white spot at the bottom.We never miss buying them every week in summer,He is more of an expert than me when it comes to picking the right melon.He finds them the most rejuvenating food after the workouts,I totally agree.

The sweet water melon and strawberries with mint and nutty almonds make a refreshing salad for the sweltering hot days.Not mention the salad is loaded with much needed anti-oxidants.

Recipe
Ingredients
Quarter of a large water melon ,rind removed and cubed
1/2 pint strawberries,hulled and quartered
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1 cup Romain lettuce,chopped

For dressing
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice,freshly squeezed
1/2 teaspoon pepper,freshly ground
1 tablespoon fresh mint,chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method
Prepare the dressing,whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl.Pour over melon,berries and almonds in large salad bowl.Gently toss to mix.Keep cool in fridge until its time to serve.



The thirst-quenching Melon salad is off to Meeta's Monthly Mingle :Marvelous Melons ,hosted this week by Chew On That .

Interesting Read!
**Water Melon : A Natural Viagra?
**Water Melon Health Benefits

Health Benefits of Watermelon

Watermelon is a popular fruit here in the Philippines, especially when summer, there’s no other summer fruit like the thirst quenching watermelon. Watermelon is said to be the summer fruit because it is on its best quality when harvested during the summer season.
Watermelons can be round, oblong, or even square, as seen in Japan, they have the square watermelons. These square watermelons are not genetically modified. The Japanese figured out how to grow a square watermelon. The technique is very simple; they insert the watermelons into square glass cases or square wood cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine, so when the watermelon is ready to harvest it’s on a square shape. There are also watermelons that have yellow flesh. I think the yellow flesh is much crunchier than the red-flesh watermelon.




Health Benefits of Watermelon

Watermelon is said to help quench the inflammation that contributes to conditions like colon cancer, asthma, diabetes, and arthritis. The health benefits of watermelon are really great. No matter how it is sliced, it is packed with some of the most important antioxidants found in nature.

It is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A. A cup of watermelon provides 24.3% of the daily value for vitamin C, and, through its beta-carotene, 11.1% of the DV for vitamin A. Watermelons are packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature.

Watermelon is also a very concentrated source of the carotenoid, lycopene. Well known for being abundant in tomatoes and particularly well absorbed from cooked tomato products containing a little fat such as olive oil, lycopene is also present in high amounts in watermelon and mangoes. The antioxidant function of lycopene-its ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen damage-has been linked in human research to prevention of heart disease. Protection of DNA (our genetic material) inside of white blood cells has also been shown to be an antioxidant role of lycopene.

Watermelon is rich in the B vitamins necessary for energy production. Our food ranking system also qualified watermelon as a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of vitamin B1, magnesium, and potassium. Part of this high ranking was due to the higher nutrient richness of watermelon. Because this food has higher water content and lower calorie content than many other fruits (a whole cup of watermelon contains only 48 calories), it delivers more nutrients per calorie-an outstanding health benefit!

One more reason to enjoy watermelon before summer ends: this sweet, crunchy, cooling fruit is exceptionally high in citrulline, an amino acid our bodies use to make another amino acid, arginine, which is used in the urea cycle to remove ammonia from the body, and by the cells lining our blood vessels to make nitric oxide. Nitric oxide not only relaxes blood vessels, lowering high blood pressure, it is the compound whose production is enhanced by Viagra to prevent erectile dysfunction. Arginine has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in obese type 2 diabetic patients with insulin resistance.

Health Benefits of Watermelon

Watermelon is a popular fruit here in the Philippines, especially when summer, there’s no other summer fruit like the thirst quenching watermelon. Watermelon is said to be the summer fruit because it is on its best quality when harvested during the summer season.
Watermelons can be round, oblong, or even square, as seen in Japan, they have the square watermelons. These square watermelons are not genetically modified. The Japanese figured out how to grow a square watermelon. The technique is very simple; they insert the watermelons into square glass cases or square wood cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine, so when the watermelon is ready to harvest it’s on a square shape. There are also watermelons that have yellow flesh. I think the yellow flesh is much crunchier than the red-flesh watermelon.




Health Benefits of Watermelon

Watermelon is said to help quench the inflammation that contributes to conditions like colon cancer, asthma, diabetes, and arthritis. The health benefits of watermelon are really great. No matter how it is sliced, it is packed with some of the most important antioxidants found in nature.

It is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A. A cup of watermelon provides 24.3% of the daily value for vitamin C, and, through its beta-carotene, 11.1% of the DV for vitamin A. Watermelons are packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature.

Watermelon is also a very concentrated source of the carotenoid, lycopene. Well known for being abundant in tomatoes and particularly well absorbed from cooked tomato products containing a little fat such as olive oil, lycopene is also present in high amounts in watermelon and mangoes. The antioxidant function of lycopene-its ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen damage-has been linked in human research to prevention of heart disease. Protection of DNA (our genetic material) inside of white blood cells has also been shown to be an antioxidant role of lycopene.

Watermelon is rich in the B vitamins necessary for energy production. Our food ranking system also qualified watermelon as a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of vitamin B1, magnesium, and potassium. Part of this high ranking was due to the higher nutrient richness of watermelon. Because this food has higher water content and lower calorie content than many other fruits (a whole cup of watermelon contains only 48 calories), it delivers more nutrients per calorie-an outstanding health benefit!

One more reason to enjoy watermelon before summer ends: this sweet, crunchy, cooling fruit is exceptionally high in citrulline, an amino acid our bodies use to make another amino acid, arginine, which is used in the urea cycle to remove ammonia from the body, and by the cells lining our blood vessels to make nitric oxide. Nitric oxide not only relaxes blood vessels, lowering high blood pressure, it is the compound whose production is enhanced by Viagra to prevent erectile dysfunction. Arginine has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in obese type 2 diabetic patients with insulin resistance.

Fruit Chaat

Preparation
Just chop up your favorite fruits and depending on the quantity of fruits ,mix in the Chaat Masala(blend of spices - coriander seeds, cumin seeds ,ajwain (thymol),dried red chilies ,black salt ,mango powder (amchoor), salt , garam masala, white pepper ). Chaat masala can easily be spotted in an Asian or even Middle-eastern stores.

Water Melon ginger Ale

An excellent drink for digestion and hydrating your body after fasting. Reciped was originally prepared by Nupur then tried by Nidhi. I loved the idea of having ginger in a fruit and couldn't wait to try it for Ramadan. The proportion of ginger can be adjusted more or less as per your spice tolerance.

Ingredients Needed
1/4 of a water melon(use grapes when melons are not in season)
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 cup water

Method
Boil water and add ginger. Let simmer for 10 minutes then strain in a bowl. let cool.

Chop and Process the melon until smooth. Strain in a pitcher and mix in the ginger infused water. Chill and serve.

Learn ginger facts.