Grapefruit and Other Kitchen Basics Can Give You Beautiful Skin

Grapefruit and Other Kitchen Basics Can Give You Beautiful Skin

Grapefruit and other fruits and vegetables can do amazing things for your skin. Did you know that you have everything you need to get beautiful skin right in your kitchen? It’s true. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on fancy face creams and other skin care products to get naturally beautiful and healthy skin. The key to getting great looking skin is to always use fresh ingredients that are chock full of antioxidants and nutrients. Grapefruit juice and orange juice are both packed full of antioxidants that fight free radical damage that can make skin look sallow and old. The light and lovely scent of grapefruit juice is added to many chemical based skin care items but you can get beautiful skin and a great scent by using real fresh grapefruit juice. Here are some of the items you probably already have in your kitchen that can give you great skin:

Eggs – Egg whites are a fantastic thickener for homemade scrubs and cleansers and they also make a great face mask. Combine some fresh grapefruit juice, egg whites and oatmeal to make a soothing and toning facial mask that will make your skin glow. Leave it on until it hardens and then rinse it off with warm water and you’ll see that your face looks lifted and healthy and your skin smell great.

Olive oil – Olive oil is light, not greasy, which makes it great to use in skin care products. Olive oil is very moisturizing and when mixed with a little fresh orange juice or grapefruit juice you can use it on your face under your makeup to keep your face hydrated throughout the day. If you have skin that tends to be a little on the oily side add a bit of Tea Tree oil to the mixture to help control any oiliness.

Fresh fruit – One of the best things you can use for skin care is fresh fruit. Fresh grapefruits and oranges can be juiced and the juice used in cleansers, toners, shampoos and other items. The segmented fruit can be pulped in a blender with juice and olive oil to create a silky body wash. Add everyday table sugar if you want to create an exfoliating scrub that won’t be too harsh. For hard to exfoliate areas like your feet add fresh grapefruit pulp, grapefruit juice, and olive oil to about a cup of table salt. The salt scrub will leave your feet smooth and silky and the fruit and oil will make them soft and ready for summer sandals.

Give Grapefruit Gifts to Friends and Family This Year

Give Grapefruit Gifts to Friends and Family This Year

The holidays are coming fast but this year you can get all of your shopping done early by giving grapefruit gifts to your friends and family. Grapefruit gift baskets and boxes of assorted fruits are wonderful holiday gifts for the people you love. Everyone loves to receive fruit gifts, especially beautiful fruit towers and fruit baskets. Fruit is a safe gift for your loved ones because everyone can eat fruit no matter what type of diet they choose to follow or what medical conditions they might have. Grapefruit gifts are an economical way to get all your holiday shopping done at once so you don’t have to waste time and money hunting for gifts or mailing them before the holidays.

This year grapefruit and other citrus are one of the most popular gift trends because of the state of the economy. Even people who haven’t been hit with a job loss or a reduction in their income are trying to cut back on spending and save money wherever they can which means they buy less fresh fruit. Studies have shown that fresh fruit and meat are the first things that people cut from their diets when they need to save money. And since heat bills and other expenses skyrocket during the holiday season many people cut back by taking money from their grocery budget to meet their other expenses. Giving grapefruit gift baskets and boxes of assorted citrus fruits is a great way to give your family and friends the fresh fruit they won’t buy for themselves in order to save money. If you have loved ones who have small children giving them grapefruit and citrus gifts will ensure that the children get the fresh fruit that can help them stay healthy throughout the winter cold and flu season.

Grapefruit gifts are more affordable than you realize. When you buy large boxes of grapefruit or large gift baskets you can have them shipped directly to your loved ones and you won’t pay the high shipping charges that you’d have to pay if you were shipping your own gifts to your loved ones. You can also order your gifts online, which means you don’t have to waste time and money shopping at crowded malls or driving around from store to store to find the perfect gift. This year you can save money and give your loved ones gifts they will really appreciate. Go online and shop for grapefruit gifts today and your holiday shopping will be all done.

Get Rid of Acne with Fresh Grapefruit

Get Rid of Acne with Fresh Grapefruit
If you struggle to manage your acne you can use fresh grapefruit juice to gently control acne outbreaks and prevent acne flare ups. If you’ve had acne for awhile you’ve probably tried a lot of different products to try and get rid of it but many of those products are so harsh that they just damage your skin further. Many of them also have sulfates in them that can try your skin. Grapefruit juice is a natural antibacterial agent and can gently cleanse and heal your skin naturally. Plus the smell of grapefruit juice is very refreshing and a lot better than the chemical smells of acne fighting chemical based products. Here are some easy and effective skin care products you can make just using fresh grapefruit juice and a few other easy to find ingredients that will help you fight your acne and heal your skin:
Grapefruit daily toner – This toner is a key part of skin care if you have acne. Toning your skin after you wash it will get rid of any soap residue that could dry your skin and make the flaking and cracking associated with acne worse. The toner will also help shrink your pores and minimize the appearance of acne scars. To make this all natural toner you need witch hazel that you can purchase at any pharmacy, tea tree oil, and fresh grapefruit juice. Witch hazel is an astringent, so it will dry up excess oil on your skin. Tea Tree oil is a natural antibacterial and so is the grapefruit juice. Mix one part witch hazel with a few drops of Tea Tree oil and about a cup of fresh grapefruit juice. Use it every morning and evening after you wash your face.
Grapefruit cleanser – This natural cleanser will clean your skin without drying your face. Make sure you use the grapefruit toner after you cleanse with this to get the best possible effects from the grapefruit juice. Take a cup of fresh grapefruit juice and add a few drops of a natural liquid soap. Blend in the blender until the mixture has a frothy consistency. After you wash your face put this mixture in the refrigerator to keep it fresh. It will last for three to four days and then you should mix up a new batch. If you don’t like the grapefruit scent or if you want a change you can add some orange juice or tangerine juice to the mixture to get the scent you want.

Diet Friendly Grapefruit Desserts

Diet Friendly Grapefruit Desserts

Grapefruit is a delicious treat that can be incorporated into any type of diet because it’s low in calories but full of healthy fiber. Grapefruit also has a natural fat burning enzyme that will help your body burn fat for energy. The light taste of grapefruit can be blended with other ingredients to make low calorie desserts or it can be served on its own. If you’re worried about the sugar used to make some of these tasty and diet friendly desserts just substitute a low calorie sweetener for the sugar that is used.

Grapefruit ice – Remember the ice slush that you used to get at the fair when you were young? You can make a low calorie grapefruit ice that is full of flavor, cold and refreshing with less than 100 calories. This is a perfect summer dessert when you don’t want to have high calorie and high fat ice cream but you still want a frozen treat. Make simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together. Add a few drops of star anise flavoring. When they syrup is done blend it with one to two cups of fresh grapefruit juice. Pour into a shallow metal baking pan and freeze. After a few hours take the pan out and stir the half frozen liquid. Return it to the freezer and leave it for at least two hours or overnight if you can. To serve take a sharp knife and drag is across the frozen surface, which will shave off ice pieces. Pour the ice pieces into a dessert tumbler and garnish with some grapefruit slices and you’ll have a refreshing frozen treat.

Grapefruit meringues – These delicious and flavorful cookies are great when you want something sweet but don’t want to cheat on your diet. They are easy to pack in your purse or keep in your desk drawer at work too. Mix six or seven egg whites and the zest of half of grapefruit with cream of tartar and salt. Use an electric mixer and a chilled stainless steel mixing bowl for best results. When the meringue stiffens into points spoon the mixture into a frosting bag and drop dollops of meringue onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Put the meringues into an oven that is preheated to 250 degrees until they are dry, which usually takes an hour and a half to two hours in most ovens. Let them cool and they are ready to serve.

Delicious Grapefruit Summer Salads

Delicious Grapefruit Summer Salads

Summer is salad season and there are some wonderful grapefruit salads you can make for yourself and your family which are tasty, healthy, and delicious. Adding tangy grapefruits to summer salads will give your salads an edge and give you easy and refreshing meals to serve. Grapefruit has a natural fat burning enzyme which will help you maintain your weight or lose weight, so combining grapefruit with healthy salads is a great way to cut calories if you’re trying to lose weight. Eating grapefruit salad is also a fantastic way to avoid becoming bored with salads if you eat salads a lot as most people do during the spring and summer. You can even make these salads for summer parties and picnics when you want to wow your guests. You don’t need to be a gourmet chef or spend hours cooking to make salads like these:

Cucumber Grapefruit Salad – This tangy salad takes just minutes to make and it will taste like something you’d get served in a restaurant. To make the dressing blend vinegar, olive oil, thyme, tarragon and dill. Chill the dressing while you make the rest of the salad. Place sliced cucumbers in the bottle of individual salad bowls. Top with a blend of several types of lettuce. On top place peeled segments of a ruby red grapefruit. Drizzle the dressing over the top of the salad and serve.

Apple Salad with Grapefruit Dressing – This unique dressing can be used on any salad when you want to switch things up and have a little variety but it goes very well with this apple salad. To make the salad mix sliced apples with endive lettuce and fresh mint leaves. To make the dressing you need to combine about a quarter cup of fresh grapefruit juice with a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard and olive oil. Blend thoroughly and pour over the salad. Make sure to coat the apples with the dressing.

Grapefruit Avocado Salad – This simple salad is very low in calories and is a delicious change from traditional salads. Peel and dice an avocado. Peel and section a fresh ruby red grapefruit and then chop it into small sections. Toss the avocado and the grapefruit pieces with some iceberg lettuce and top with a fresh poppy seed dressing. You will love the super refreshing taste. This is a great salad to serve at picnics or to bring to potluck dinners because it’s unique and memorable but delicious.

Easy Ways to Eat More Grapefruits

Grapefruit are extremely nutritious and have a wide range of health benefits, including weight loss. It’s very true that eating grapefruit can help you lose weight. But, other than eating grapefruits with your breakfast in the morning how can you work grapefruits into your busy schedule? It’s easy, if you get creative.

The health benefits that you’ll get from eating grapefruits make it worth the time and effort to find new and fun ways to get more grapefruits into your diet. There are a lot of creative tips from diet and nutrition experts on how to eat more grapefruit without getting bored that you can incorporate into your everyday life.

One of the easiest ways to get more grapefruit into your diet is to keep grapefruits wherever you are going to be. Buy a case of grapefruit and divide it up. Keep some at home, keep some in your desk drawer or in the lunchroom at work. Keep a few in your bag for when you need a quick snack or when you need a quick energy boost on your way to the gym. Pack grapefruits in your kid’s lunches and serve grapefruits as an after school snack. In order to protect your grapefruit from bruising when you’re carrying it in a bag or when your kids take them to school in a backpack you can buy or make a grapefruit jacket. A grapefruit jacket is a small knitted sack that goes around a grapefruit and closes with a hook or a button and protects your grapefruit from getting banged up while traveling. An inexpensive grapefruit jacket makes grapefruits a perfectly portable snack for you and your whole family.

If you don’t want to carry grapefruits around with you then you can fill a re-useable bottle with pure grapefruit juice in the morning and keep it with you all day. Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice is delicious and very nutritious. The vitamins and minerals in the juice will give you a natural boost when you’re starting to fade during the day. Fresh fruit juice is a great alternative to heavily caffeinated drinks or energy drinks which can end up leaving you dehydrated and wiped out. You can also use freshly squeezed grapefruit juice instead of water in smoothies and yogurt drinks. Using juice instead of water will give smoothies an extra nutritional punch and make them naturally sweet so that you don’t need to add sugar or other sweeteners.

Grapefruits aren’t just for snacks of for breakfast. Grapefruit segments added to salad create a salad that is visually appealing as well as tasty and nutritious. Grapefruit juice can be used with breadcrumbs to create a slightly sweet and slightly tart breading for meats and fish. And of course grapefruit juice and grapefruit segments can be used in endless ways in different dessert dishes. You can make intricate and complicated fruit desserts with grapefruits or you can make desserts as simple as gelatin and grapefruit segments and they will all be delicious and nutritious.

Understanding Organic Citrus

When it comes to citrus fruits “organic” refers to how the fruit is grown.  Organic farming uses only natural pest control and fertilizers and never uses chemical weedkillers or pest killers on the citrus trees as they are growing. 

Fertilizers are usually mixed right on the premises and consist of potting soil, compost, hay, and other natural materials.  Growing citrus organically presents some unique challenges to citrus farmers because of the processes that they need to use in order to control pests and fertilize their citrus trees.

When people think of a citrus grove they usually think of a commercially managed grove full of well manicured citrus trees, but an organic citrus grove is a little more chaotic looking than a traditional commercial grove. 

An organic citrus grove will usually have some type of ground cover plant hovering near the trees and there will be weeds everywhere. Weeds and ground cover encourage insects which are the natural predators of insects that destroy citrus trees to make their homes in the grove. Then those insects keep the pests that would ruin the citrus trees under control which eliminates the need for commercial pest control.  The ground cover plants also help insulate the citrus trees in case there is a cold snap or some other inclement weather that could damage the trees.
Another problem that organic citrus farmers face is the issue of how their final products look. 

Commercially grown fruit is treated with preservatives and often covered with a thin layer of wax to prevent damage and to make it look more attractive. Organic fruit doesn’t have those cosmetic touches. Some buyers are put off by citrus fruit that can have dents or minor cosmetic flaws even though the organic fruit is healthier for consumers to eat.  Without preservatives organic fruit also must be rushed from the field to the market, which increases the cost of the fruit.  Even though organic farming is more time intensive and more expensive, which means the final product is more expensive, many farmers are switching to organic farming methods.

The Tangerine is a Healthy Seasonal Delight With a Global History

The ever popular little fruit known as the tangerine is rich in history and tradition as well as being one of the tastiest, most nutritional and convenient-to-eat foods around.  The tangerine is actually a member of the mandarin family of oranges and is known to have been cultivated in China and Japan more than 3,000 years before being introduced to the West two centuries ago.  The tangerine is an important food source which contains essential nutrients and minerals such as vitamin C, beta-carotene, potassium, magnesium and many others.  Tangerine oil, which is extracted from the peel, is used for both cooking and for medicinal purposes. 

Tangerines are smaller than oranges, have a deeper orange skin, and the flesh inside is very juicy, usually with a mild, sweet taste.  Most varieties of tangerines have few or no seeds.  In the United States, the best time to eat tangerines is November through January, although when juiced at the right time, tangerine juice holds up to freezing very well.  Otherwise, they should stay in the refrigerator no longer than seven days to maintain their great taste and nutritional value.  The best tangerine to buy will be soft and puffy with a loose-fitting skin and feel heavy for its size.  It should also be glossy and pebbly-skinned, but don’t worry if there are small green patches near the stem.

To get the most of its nutritional value, the best way to eat a tangerine is to peel it raw and eat its luscious juicy wedges right off the skin.  Fresh tangerine wedges are also important ingredients to many healthful, nutritious recipes for meals and snacks at any time of day or night.  The tangerine peel is also used not only as a decorative garnish or grating, but when dried and cured properly can also be eaten as a glaze or preserve, like marmalade or jelly.  Many great recipes like tangerine peel beef or chicken or radish soup with dried tangerine peel can found with an easy online search.

Tangerine oil is extracted by a process of cold-pressing tangerine peel.  The use of the tangerine oil for medicinal applications came from China and is now used the world over for natural healing of all sorts of conditions, both internal and external.  It is perhaps most popular in the United States for aromatherapy benefits in cream, bath lotion or vapor form as the fragrance of tangerine oil has been shown to help soothe the nervous system and reduce tension and stress at the same time it boosts the digestive system.

The Little Tangerine Is One of Nature’s Most Versatile Foods

The orange is known as one of nature’s most perfect foods, and the tangerine, which is a hybrid in the mandarin family of oranges, is one of nature’s juiciest, most sweet-tasting delicacies. 

Tangerines were first cultivated in China more than 3,000 years ago and didn’t reach Europe or the United States until the 1800s.  Now, in addition to East Asia, tangerines are abundant on the Mediterranean, Australia, India and the East Indies, as well as in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida.

The best months for tangerines are November through January in the United States and North America.  They are smaller than most oranges and tangerines of good quality will be glossy with deep orange, loose-fitting skins, heavy for their size and feel soft and puffy.  Tangerines can be safely stored in the refrigerator for up to seven days but also freezes well after juicing.  Most people like to peel them and eat them right off the skin, although fresh tangerine juice as well as frozen juice concentrate are easily available and very popular in the United States.  There are also many delicious and healthful recipes which use fresh tangerine wedges in main dishes, salads and desserts.

In addition to its uniquely sweet and mild, refreshing taste, the tangerine is an excellent source of nutrition, containing vitamins C, B1, B2 and B3, as well as potassium, magnesium, beta-carotene and folate.  The properties of tangerine oil have been used for centuries in medicinal applications to help relieve stress and tension, as well as digestive problems such as flatulence, diarrhea and constipation.  However, the most popular use for tangerine oil is for increasing circulation to the skin, preventing stretch marks and to reduce fluid retention.

The tangerine has spawned its own numerous tasty varieties of fruit from around the world as well as holiday tradition.  The Dancy tangerine is often referred to as the Christmas Orange since it is a tradition in many places for children to receive them in Christmas stockings.

Other hybrids include the popular Clementine, which comes from Spain and North Africa and is a small, sweet-tasting tangerine with no seeds.  Also known as the temple orange or royal mandarin, the tangor is a cross between a tangerine and an orange.  The cross between a tangerine and a pomelo (a large citrus fruit related to the grapefruit) resulted in the tangelo.  Of the tangelos, the Minneola is easily recognized by a little knob formation at its stem end and is one of the most popular tangerine varieties because of its juiciness and sweet, mild flavor.

The Tangerine Is A Delicious Little Fruit That Has Come A Long Way

The Tangerine is one of the most popular varieties of the citrus fruit commonly known as the orange. What many people may not realize is that the tangerine is actually an offshoot of the mandarin family of oranges.

Tangerines are grown in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, and their best seasons are November through January in the United States and North America. Tangerines are smaller than most oranges, peel more easily and are usually less tart or sour in taste than the average orange. In fact, most people love tangerines for their uniquely sweet taste.

The tangerine has a long history. Its name comes from Tangiers in Morocco, the port where the fruit was first shipped to Europe and Florida in the United States in the 1800s. But prior to that, tangerines had been cultivated in China and Japan for over 3,000 years. Tangerines on the Italian Mediterranean are very popular, but the fruit also grows abundantly in Japan, southern China, India, the East Indies and in Australia.

There are also many different varieties and hybrids of the tangerine. The tangelo is a cross between a tangerine and grapefruit or pomelo (a large citrus fruit related to the grapefruit), and its name is a combination of tangerine and pomelo. The Minneola tangelo is one of the most popular tangerine varieties, known for its juiciness and mild, sweet flavor and easily recognized by the little knob formation at its stem end. The Clementine, which is also known as the Algerian tangerine, is a small, sweet-tasting and seedless tangerine that comes from North Africa and Spain. The tangor is a cross between a tangerine and an orange and is also known as a temple orange or royal mandarin. While it is no longer as widely grown, the Dancy tangerine, whose peak season is December, is commonly known as the Christmas Orange since children would often receive them in their Christmas stockings.

The tangerine is a great source of vitamin C, beta-carotene and folate and also contains vitamins B1, B2 and B3, as well as potassium and magnesium. Tangerines are most popularly consumed by peeling and eating out of hand, but it can also be juiced or used in salads, main dishes or desserts. Tangerines can be stored in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

When going to the market to shop for tangerines, be sure to choose the fruit with glossy, deep orange skins. They should be firm to slightly soft and heavy for their size with pebbly skins and no deep grooves, although small green patches near the stems can be disregarded.

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