Sherry wine is having a moment. There’s something alluring about its rich gold color that makes it perfect for pretty cocktails all year round.

This sweet fortified wine from Spain fell out of fashion briefly in favor of brighter younger wines like Rose and Beaujolais, but it’s back! Sherry is often served after a meal or to compliment dessert. For this sophisticated cocktail it’s mixed with fresh persimmon puree and elderflower liquor. Persimmons arrive in early fall but can be found year round in Asian markets. You want to use the smaller firmer Fuyu variety because they are less sweet than the softer Hachiya variety which are better for baking.

With its deep orange color, this drink makes a perfect fall drink to serve just before a hearty meal of roasted vegetables and meat.

Sherry has a higher alcohol content than wine and the flavor of light sherry is often woody and tangy. The most common types of sherry in North America are Fino, Manzanilla and Amontillado. Manzanilla sherry is very light and often not very expensive. If you’re looking for something to drink casually and something that’s great in cocktails try a label called “Solear” or ask your local wine merchant for a recommendation. Think of this cocktail as a gateway to a new love affair with this golden Spanish wine.

Sherry Wine Cocktail Recipe with Elderflower and Persimmon Puree

Makes 6 cocktails

Ingredients
12 ounces Manzanilla sherry
6 ounces St. Germain elderflower liquor
2 lemons
Angostura bitters
1 whole Fuyu persimmon

Directions
Peel and chop the persimmon into small piece. Puree in a food processor or blender with a splash of water.

Carefully peel 6 thin slices of lemon skin for the garnish then squeeze the juice from the lemons and set aside.

Measure out 2 ounces sherry, 1 teaspoon persimmon puree and 1 ounce of St. Germain into a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice and a dash of bitters, shake vigorously.

Pour into a cocktail glass without ice and serve immediately with a lemon garnish.

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Images by Ally Jane Grossan

The post Sherry Wine Cocktail Recipe with Elderflower and Persimmon Puree appeared first on EcoSalon.

 

Discover for yourself the incredible health benefits of lemon and you’ll be puckering with pleasure.

Fresh lemon juice bears some surprising benefits, and starting your day with it not only tastes good but also jump starts digestion, detoxifies, and keeps you free of sickness. Don’t miss out on the incredible health benefits of lemon–the best way to start is in the morning!

Lemons are associated with a sour cringe, but delicious recipes. The little citrus fruits offer some serious health benefits, the most important being alkalizing properties. Lemons may be acidic, but ones ingested, they are one of the most alkalizing foods for the body. A high alkaline diet helps to strike a better acid-base ratio in the body that, thanks to the standard American diet, is often teetering towards acidic.

Traditionally, the benefits of lemon juice has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to stimulate digestion and clear toxins that were accumulated in the digestive tract overnight. Citrus flavonols are what are responsible for this effect, as they act as a digestive tonic. Moreover, lemon juice is believed to improve the stomach’s hydrochloric acid strength, which contributes to a more effective breaking down of food. Lemons have also shown the ability to decrease the risk for peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer.

Lemons are also a great way to avoid the common cold and boost overall immunity. They are high in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which plays an important role in immune defense. Their vitamin C content effectively helps to increase antibody activity and resist infection. In one study, lemon citrus extract was linked to the inhibition of human breast cancer cell proliferation.

Vitamin C is a panacea of sorts, helping with the development of bones, cartilage, teeth, and gums as well as contributing to wound healing, fat and protein metabolization, and tissue formation. Vitamin C is an effective healer and is found in abundance in lemons.

And while you can reap a lot of benefits in terms of illness prevention an overall health, there are some beauty takeaways from lemons as well. Lemons are packed with antioxidants, which combats free radical damage and thus signs of aging of the skin. Paired with its detoxifying capabilities and high alkalinity, lemons can do wonder for your skin, keeping it clear, young, and taut. Apply fresh lemon juice directly to the skin for a pore tightening and deep cleansing.

While you can sneak lemon juice into your salads, soups, and as a spritz over meat-based dishes, the most potent way to benefit is to squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a warm cup of water every morning. Sip it slowly as you prepare for the day. On an empty stomach, this ritual is most effective and will do your body only the best of deeds!

Image: Desegura89

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20 Unusual Uses for Lemon Juice

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The post Pucker with Pleasure Over the Incredible Health Benefits of Lemon appeared first on EcoSalon.

This cheesecake not only takes a vegan twist but lands itself in a cup.

It would be too good to be true if one of our most beloved desserts loved us back, but cheesecake fails to follow through. It’s a dessert that tastes phenomenal but is enjoyed rarely because of its heaviness and calorie concentration. Luckily, there are ways to make cheesecake lighter and healthier. This raw strawberry cheesecake recipe keeps the traditional cheesecake textures in check, but raises the bar on nutritional benefit.

The Cheesecake Factory’s Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake has 733 calories, 29 grams of saturated fat, 425 milligrams of sodium and 66 grams of carbohydrates in each slice. If these stats weren’t cringe-worthy enough, add a few other flavors, and the calorie count goes through the roof. A slice of the chain’s Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake bears a whopping 1,326 calories, 20 grams of saturated fat, 700 milligrams of sodium, and 136 grams of carbohydrates – this dessert alone practically satisfies an entire day’s worth of caloric intake!

When you make your own homemade cheesecake using the traditional ingredients of cream cheese, eggs, and sugar, the nutritional information ranges, but can be relatively more redeeming if the portion size is kept in check. Still, the use of heavy, hard-to-digest cream cheese, fatty eggs, and empty-calorie sugar are in the ingredient list and aren’t doing your body or your health many favors.

This recipe is a raw version of cheesecake, no cooking needed! There is no sugar, no dairy, and no eggs. The recipe retains its richness with the use of nuts as the base, but because the cheesecake is served in “mini” cups, you can keep your portion control in check while still getting the definitive, dense dessert that cheesecake is all about.

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

• 1.5 cups walnuts
• 1 ½ cups raisins
• Dash of sea salt

For the Filling:

• 2 cups cashews, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup or agave nectar)
• Dash of sea salt

Directions:

For the filling, soak cashew overnight in room temperature water. This is an important step. Soaking helps to remove the enzyme inhibitors that the cashews carry to prevent them from sprouting in nature. Birds are too small to deal with the effects of live enzymes in their tiny bellies, so the inhibitors are ideal for them, but not so much for humans. Getting rid of the enzyme inhibitors through soaking helps us to more easily digest nuts. All nuts have to be soaked to get rid of these enzyme inhibitors, save for pistachios and walnuts.

For the crust, food process the raisins and walnuts until the mixture resembles chunky crumbs.

Press the crust mixture against the bottom and sides of small glass ramekins or muffin tins.

Drain and rinse the soaked cashews before use. Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth. This may take a few minutes. Be patient – it’ll come together.

Fill each walnut crusted ramekin with a generous tablespoon of the cashew cheesecake mixture.

Set in the refrigerator to help firm or to store for later. You can also eat them right away. Garnish with fresh strawberries before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Images: Zingy Yellow, Aylin Erman

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Nutritional Breakdown: Vegan Cheesecake (In a Cup) appeared first on EcoSalon.

180 handy uses for 9 items you already have in your pantry.

Looking to simplify your life, save money or cut the number of chemicals you use around the house? Chances are, you’ve already got nine natural, versatile products in your pantry that can do far more than you think. There are literally hundreds of surprising and unusual alternative uses for olive oil, wine, salt, garlic, coffee, lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar and honey. Here’s a roundup of EcoSalon’s 20 Unusual Uses series.

Coffee

Even after those rich, earthy grounds have given you your must-have pot of coffee in the morning, they can do so much more. Unusual uses for coffee include nourishing your plants, massaging away your cellulite, dyeing fabric, growing mushrooms and keeping cats out of your garden.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Coffee

Lemon juice

Using lemon wedges solely as a pretty garnish on the edge of a glass is actually kind of insulting considering all that this little citrus fruit has to offer. Its acidity enables it to preserve foods, whiten fingernails, clean glass, highlight your hair and brighten your white laundry without bleach.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Lemon Juice

Olive oil

Mmm, olive oil. Besides being the most perfect bread dip ever, it’s ultra-moisturizing, making it an ideal solution for all kinds of things you never realized. Olive oil has all kinds of beauty and household uses like conditioning your hair, removing stickers, getting a smooth shave, buffing stainless steel to a shine and removing heavy eye makeup.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Olive Oil

Garlic

This broad-spectrum antibiotic is a must-have for colds, cuts, cold sores and ear infections. And, though it may sound weird at first, garlic has plenty more uses outside the kitchen. It makes a highly aromatic yet effective cleanser for your skin, mosquito repellent and hair growth tonic. If you’re lucky, it might even turn you on.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Garlic

Salt

We simply can’t live without salt. Our bodies require it, and our food tastes bland without it. But chances are, you’ve been underestimating just how much it can do for you. Salt will sanitize your sponges, heal canker sores, keep milk fresh, preserve sliced fruit and keep your clothes from freezing on the line.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Salt

Wine

So you’re not crazy about that bottle of cheap Merlot that you got as a gift. What are alternative uses for unwanted or sour wine? Well, you could add it to your bath, use it to clean your countertops, trap fruit flies, heal bruises and maybe even slow down the aging process. Filling up that wine rack has never been more of an imperative.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Wine

Baking soda

Stop buying toxic oven cleaner, expensive fruit and vegetable sprays and special face scrubs. Baking soda can do all of these things and more. This cheap household essential is usually kept in the fridge to cut odor and added to recipes to make baked goods rise, but once you learn all of these surprising uses for it, you’ll start buying it in bulk.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Baking Soda

Vinegar

Discovered thousands of years ago when wine, beer and cider was accidentally allowed to spoil, vinegar brings out the flavor in so many foods. But this acidic condiment also has some benefits that might surprise you, like dissolving rust, cleaning crusty paint brushes, soothing sore muscles and removing those ugly pit stains from your clothing.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Vinegar

Honey

Tasting sweet is just the beginning. Honey is antibacterial, anti-fungal, nourishing and moisturizing, and its many uses are pretty amazing. Make your own luscious homemade lotion, heal your sore throat, boost your athletic performance and eliminate that hangover. It even helps heal cuts and scrapes.

Read 20 Unusual Uses for Honey

Photos: selma90, fdecomite, dailyinvention, brickvicky, visualpanic, neilconway, bgottsab, carbonnyc, rahim packir saibo, photoskate,  don hankins

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