Zest up your life with Lemons full of Vitamin C /useful tips and recipes

Why not zest up your life and improve your immune system with lemons full of Vitamin C . It has many good benefits to your health and skin. The power of Vitamin can you boost your immune system, reduce your risk of cancer, helps with chronic disease, and skin plumper/smoother. Vitamin C has become a daily intake for me. Which is why I had planted a Meyers lemon tree in our yard in March.

Every day I looked at that tree and waited for it to harvest. Then finally, I noticed little green balls were growing. By November they were gorgeous yellow lemons ready to be picked.  We had about 50 lemons off our new tree, and they sure were delicious! I made many bottles of limoncello (see drinks recipes), add to my drinking water, used them in salad dressings, use for headaches and add in my cooking recipes. (see below)

Another benefit of Vitamin C is that it helps with aging skin. Wrinkles…ah yes we all eventually get them, but I do not know of anyone that wants them! This year I will be turning 50! YES THE BIG 50!  By minimizing this wrinkle process, I take 1,000 Vitamin daily and squeeze lemons into my drinking water. Did you know that Vitamin C is a natural production of collagen. Collagen is what keeps our skin plumper.

Useful ways to use Lemons

• Add to drinking water
• Squeeze into Salad dressing
• Lemon up your Seafood and Chicken dishes
• Hiccups – Add bitters over lemon slices
• Headaches
  Lemon juice with a few teaspoons of hot tea
• Soften Dry, Scaly Elbows
  Itchy elbows are bad enough, but they look and feel terrible too. Mix baking soda and lemon juice to make an abrasive paste, then rub it into your elbows for a soothing, smoothing, and exfoliating treatment. Rinse your extremities in a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water, then massage with olive oil and dab dry with a soft cloth.
• Vaginal Hygiene
  Diluted lemon juice makes a safe and sane method of vaginal hygiene. It is a powerful antiseptic and it’s free of irritating drugs that are present in douches and suppositories.
• Forget The Moth Balls
  A charming French custom to keep closets free from moths is to take ripe lemons and stick them with cloves all over the skin. The heavily studded lemons slowly dry with their cloves, leaving a marvelous odor throughout the closets and rooms.
• Stomach Health
  Digestive problems are the most common ailments but warm water and lemon juice is the solution to most digestive problems. Lemon juice helps to purify the blood, reduces your chances of indigestion, constipation, eliminates toxins from the body, adds digestion and reduces phlegm.
• Soothe Poison Ivy Rash
  You won’t need an ocean of calamine lotion the next time poison ivy comes a-creeping. Just apply lemon juice directly to the affected area to soothe itching and alleviate the rash.
• Remove Warts
  You’ve tried countless remedies to banish warts and nothing seems to work. Next time, apply a dab of lemon juice directly to the wart using a cotton swab. Repeat for several days until the acids in the lemon juice dissolve the wart completely.
• Replace Your Dry Cleaner
  Ditch the expensive dry-cleaning bills (and harsh chemicals) with this homegrown trick. Simply scrub the stained area on shirts and blouses with equal parts lemon juice and water. Your “pits” will be good as new, and smell nice too.
• Reduce Asthma Symptoms
  In addition to a general detoxifying diet, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice before each meal, and before retiring can reduce asthma symptoms.

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  Favorite Lemon Dressing over Arugula Salad from my friend Sherril Yoder

1/2 cup of Salad Olive Oil

2 tsp. grated lemon zest

4 TBps. fresh lemon juice

2 TBsp. maple syrup

4 TBsp. Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Shake in mason jar with lid tight. Refrigerate leftovers.

      Arugula Salad

4 cups of arugula rinsed and dried

1/2 c. goat cheese

1/2 c. toasted pecans

1/4 dried cranberries/cherries

1/4 c. green onion

1/2 c. red beets julienned cut (high in Vitamin B)

Drizzle the lemon dressing over salad…enjoy!