Lemon

lemons. 

this little powerhouses of sunshine seriously make my day.  I love the fact the scent reminds me of summer and the amazing properties they hold.  plus, they are so versatile.  we drink fresh lemon juice... shave lemon rind into baked goods... add drops of lemon essential oils into cleaning products... and even use lemons for beauty products (like our sugar lemon scrub).  AMAZE-BALLS!  

my love affair with lemons began about 3 years ago, when I actually WON a lemon tree at an Arbor Day festival... YES.  I WON A TREE!!!  I literally have won TWO things in my life... 1) a lemon tree  2) an old-smokey BBQ pit 

*I won the Old Smokey in a raffle at a High School Conference*  

anywho. let's dive a wee bit deeper into the lands of lemons. 

How to select the right one? 

• Always opt for the vibrant, yellow one with a little shine. It should be a wee bit heavy and semi-soft.

• We avoid the hard, dull and wrinkled ones.

How to store lemons? 

• We keep our lemons in the veggie crisper which they hold for about a month.

• You can store on the counter (just keep out the sunlight) for about a week.

What are the benefits of lemons?

• it can act as an antioxidant

• fights cancer of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon (from the book by Kris Carr, CrazySexyJuice)

• able to kill germ

• aids in toning the skin

• eases digestion

• loaded with vitamin C + limonoids

How do you use it in your beauty regimen? 

There are tons of ways to use lemons in your beauty routine!  You can use lemons to help tone your skin... or as a massage blend... or even as a hair mask!  WHAT?!? 

Here's one beauty recipe I love that uses lemon... it's an amazing hair mask that has a lot of benefits: 

• EGGS: you will be using two egg whites (whisk). now. eggs are loaded with proteins, vitamins and fatty acids. eggs will make your hair soft and help split ends. it is also said for eggs to help remove dryness and aid in dandruff!

• BENTONITE CLAY: you will use about 1/2 cup of bentonite clay. the clay will remove toxins from the hair and leave it feeling smooth!

• LEMON: you will be using 1 lemon (juiced). as we stated up above, lemons hold vitamin c and limonoids which may give that hair a wee bit more shine!

Now what do you do... simply mix all the ingredients together and apply on washed/wet hair.  allow the mask to sit for 10-20 minutes then rinse thoroughly.  I try not to allow the clay to dry, because it can be pretty hard to rinse out the hair once it's dried.  

What's your favorite recipe with lemons? 

One of the recipes we just stumbled upon were LEMON BARS (yep.  dairy-free + gluten-free!).  Now.  This was my first attempt at lemon bars and if I do say so myself, the lemon bars turned out quite good!  *** I scored this recipe from paleocupboard website... although, changed up the flours based on what I had in our pantry! ***

You can check out more recipes at the bottom of this blog ;)  

• LEMON BARS: gluten free. dairy free.

  • GROCERIES:

    • CRUST

      • 1/2 cup of gluten free all-purpose flour *** original recipe called for almond flour***

      • 1/2 cup of tapioca flour

      • 3 tbsp of raw local honey

      • 2 tbsp of coconut oil, melted

      • zest of 1/2 lemon

    • FILLING

      • 5 large eggs

      • 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice

      • 1 tbsp of tapioca flour

      • 1/2 cup of raw local honey, warmed

  • NOW WHAT?

    • preheat oven to 350F

    • start making the crust... mix all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. press the mixture into the bottom of a greased up 8x8 baking dish

    • bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown... and remove from heat to allow to cool thoroughly!

    • start making the filling... whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl.

    • mix the lemon juice and the tapioca flour in a small bowl then whisk in with the eggs.

    • finally whisk in the raw honey and pour the mixture over the baked crust.

    • place in oven and bake for ~25 minutes. remove from heat and allow to cool thoroughly!

    • I also placed in the fridge for ~2-3 hours until the filling was fully set.

Other tid bits with lemons!

so.  as a mama-bear who is homeschooling 4yr old twins (yes. take a moment to shoot up some prayers for me), pinterest has become my best friend... we have a love/hate relationship though.  I would LOVE to make all the cute pins and experiments found on there... but hate the fact that a lot of them are fails ;) ha!  

however, I stumbled upon a pin... for LEMON VOLCANOES!!!  I seriously would love to give credit to the BabbleDabbleDo who posted the idea on pinterest!  this was AMAZING + I love how their website explains the steps more thoroughly as well as share the science behind it.  SCORE!  check them out ;) 

Now.  What you do is cut the tips off the lemon (so that it stays upright and you can pour ingredients in).  Take the popsicle stick and make an opening in the lemon and smoosh the inside of the lemon so juice bubbles up.  Add a drop or two in the lemon (this will allow the bubbles to erupt in COLOR!  Add a drop or two of dish soap into the lemon (this will cause the bubbles to be a wee bit bigger... again just for dramatic effect).  Take the other lemon and squeeze juice out in a separate bowl.  Then you simply alternate from lemon juice and baking soda into the lemon to cause BUBBLES to form!  

Lemons can also be used in homemade cleaning products!  I use it to help clean the cutting board... and to even spritz down our kitchen countertops.  Here's a link that shows some pretty awesome ways to use lemon for cleaning, check it out here!

RECIPES INCLUDING LEMONS: 

Make sure to check back as we add recipes here that include lemons!

If YOU have any recipes using lemons that you love... no matter if it's beauty + homeschooling/science experiments + food, then shoot them this way!  I would love to test it out and see if it's something we would love as well. 

until then.

love + gumption.

a.