Warm Grapefruit Tea..

Currently I’m supposed to be on a “weight loss” mission.  Anyway tonight I finally decided to bite the bullet so to speak and actually stick to my decision and get healthy!

Now it’s not that I don’t enjoy healthy food, I absolutely love it!  However, and this is where it gets tricky, I have a sweet tooth second to none!  So in light of this, I’m going to take every ounce of willpower that I have and stick to this!

I was going through healthy drinks recipe’s when I came across some really useful information and thought I might share my new found knowledge.  Now most of us are aware that grapefruit is great if you are on diet, but did you ever wonder why?  Well here it is:

Grapefruit has a compound called naringenin that studies have shown can make our insulin more effective.  I have also come across a recipe by Martha Stewart which I decided to try, and found absolutely refreshing!

This is how its done:

2x Cups ruby grapefruit juice (squeezed from grapefruit)

2 to 4 tbl spoons honey (personal pref)

1/2 tsp whole allspice berries

Then in a medium pot, combine all the ingredients above and half a cup of water.  Bring to the boil.  Then strain all the solids out of the liquid and serve!

Enjoy!!

Apple Crumble with a Difference!

As much as we all love the normal apple crumble, I decided to play around a bit, and see how it turned out…and this was the result..(not too shabby)

Flaky Pie Pastry (see my recipe for the perfect pastry)

filling:
8 Granny smith apples
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, whole
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

topping:
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Pre-heat oven to 300 F. Peel and slice apples and toss with lemon juice. Add all other filling ingredients and mix. In a separate bowl, stir together all ingredients for topping. Put apple mixture in pie shell. Sprinkle topping on liberally. Dot top of pie with butter squares. Bake for 30 minutes to 45 minutes or until topping is golden and pie is bubbly.

NOTE: For a little added “zing” put a tot of brandy in the mix simply d’vine!