This is so exciting! After reading all about how keen strawberries are on your face, there’s a linky party! If you have a fav strawberry recipe, please for the love of everything summer, link to it below. I need ideas. I need recipes. I need food IN my mouth!
So let’s make this quick, so we can get to the good stuff!
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Strawberries – The Nutritional Low-Down
Look. I know how hard it is to choke down a strawberry. They’re just terrible tasting, yeah?
Ha.
Strawberries are nature’s little genius fruit, really. It’s like Mother Nature said, “Look. Maybe I messed up with brussels sprouts – making them so nutritious but so nauseating. Let me try this again.” And she picked up all the vitamins she could and stuffed them into the tastiest morsel summer has to offer.
Just one freaking cup has, get this, 140% of the vitamin C recommended for children. Strawberries were shown recently to pack the biggest vitamin C punch of all fruits – even more than oranges. They contain flavenoids that bust bad cholesterol, antioxidants that help clear out precancerous cells, and tons of potassium that keeps your electrolytes in balance. Um, guess what else? They also have omega-3 fatty acids in them.
Strawberries are true super foods. They’re also part of the “dirty dozen” (the 12 most dangerous fruits and veggies to by nonorganic), so make sure your strawberries are either grown safely locally or have the organic seal of approval.
Strawberry fun fact! Strawberries are the only fruit to carry their seeds on the outside.
Strawberries On Your Face
Because of the high vitamin C and antioxidant content, strawberries make great a great antiaging facial ingredient, as they help kick the free radicals right off your face. Vitamin C also aids in collagen building (bye-bye wrinkles)!
But they’re also great for teenage skin, too, because they contain salicylic acid, the stuff that helps clear up acne and clean up dead skin cells.
Strawberries are softening, cleansing, pore-reducing, brightening, and whitening. And even if you don’t want to make yesterday’s Brightening Strawberry-Kiwi face polish, you can do this quickie: Take a bite out of a strawberry. Chew and swallow. Use the other half on your face. Just rub it all around, let the juice sit for 10 minutes, and rinse. Easy peasy.
But here’s my very favorite simple beauty tip about strawberries: They whiten your teeth. Eat them, and it works. Or, for extra whitening power, rub a strawberry along your teeth for 30 seconds. Make a snarly opened-mouthed face (it looks weird, but that way you won’t wash it off too soon) and wait one minute. The end.
NOW LET’S MAKE YUMMY STRAWBERRY FOODSTUFFS!
Okay, boys and (probably 100%) girls, it’s time for you to show us all what you got in the strawberry department. Don’t be shy. I want to see every single strawberry recipe available on the internet – right here, right now.
My current fav strawberry recipe (for eating) is a smoothie from Sally Fallon and Mary Enig’s book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat.” (Even if you’re not trying to lose weight it has good info about healthy saturated fats and some nice recipes.)
Strawberry coconut yogurt smoothie:
1/2 cup sliced strawberries & 2 Tbsps maple syrup. Blend these together.
Add 1 cup full-fat yogurt (raw if you have access to it). Blend again.
Add an egg yolk or 2 and blend (if you can stomach raw eggs — I can’t. If you can, more power (and protein) to you.)
Gently heat 2 Tbsp coconut oil so it’s liquid. When it cools a bit (but not to a solid state), pour it into the smoothie while blending.
Drink in all those nutrients, protein and healthy fats.
I’m excited to try strawberries for skin care too. In addition to the skin benefits, I’m sure it smells lovely while on the skin! I’m going to add it to my rotation along with the weekly nutmeg & cream treatment and of course the daily oil cleanse and honey wash. My skin is so much healthier since I’ve been reading your blog — thank you!
I love strawberries. they are so useful and yummy
All of these strawberry recipes are great. Can’t wait to try them.
They are great anytime of the year. Our big strawberry season
in Long Island is June. So I have lots frozen, but nothing
like fresh strawberrie. mmmmm.
Wow this is a great set up here thanks for the opportunity and
@hungryjenny for sending me here…. great site!
As much as my son eats strawberries … maybe that’s why his smile is whiter in the summer 🙂 I’ll have to let him know about the scrub. We both have terrible stress acne.
And luckily I had a recipe to add too 🙂 Have you checked out Mouthwatering Mondays (http://asouthernfairytale.com/category/food/mouthwatering-monday/)?
Yummy! Thanks for the add. I hear tell a mask of crushed-up aspirin and honey does wonders for acne, too. Still trying to get my son to try it out for me. I’ll let you know how it goes!
How fun! I have several family members who are strawberry farmers (Strawberries are big here in Plant City, FLorida!) so I’m always looking for new strawberry recipes! Thanks for hosting!
Woo hoo! Thanks for the add. Cook ’em, but don’t forget to put ’em on your face!
I had no idea they whitened teeth! That’s a great benefit 🙂 I already love strawberries as it is…so good!
I love, love strawberries, all by themselves, but I’ll have to try your recipes because the rest of the family won’t touch them unless they’re hand in hand with sugar or dark chocolate. Found you by way of Jillsy – I’ll be back!
I think the strawberry gazpacho there is my favorite to keep the boys at bay. Just saying strawberry soup to them, they go, “Ew! Strawberries … in soup!” And I go, “Yep. All for me!” And all is right with the world.
Glad you swung by. Jillsy is so dreamy. Come back soon (be sure to RSS feed, so you don’t miss any more “all for mom” recipes)!
Yep. Believe it or not. I just take the whole strawberry, dunk it in sour cream and then roll it in the brown sugar. I have the hubby hooked on it now. If you try it, let me know what you think. 🙂
Have you ever tried strawberries dipped in sour cream and then in brown sugar? It’s one of my favorite ways to eat them.
Love your blog btw!
I have not ever tried that. Sour cream, yeah? Fiance insists on always having sour cream in the fridge, so I must try it soon. I’d try it now, but I used up all my strawberries on the recipes! Thanks for the tip!
Wow, I would have never thought to use strawberries for teeth whitening. I love me some strawberries!
It can whiten teeth? i ddint know that. I wonder if u have natural recipe to reddish our lips? some ppl have their lips dark coz of caffein or coffee, i’m lookin for it… thx
Hmmm. I don’t know of anything that would KEEP your lips reddish. But eating strawberries would definitely give it a red tint, too! You might try using a little lemon juice on them to “stain remove” a little … just be sure to moisturize them afterward. A little shea or cocoa butter would do the trick. Let me know if you find something that works!
Hi Betty,
Thanks for the invite and for hosting 🙂 I’ve always loved strawberries and now with all the info you wrote I love them even more. Going to check out the yummy recipes too. I also wrote a post on my blog inviting my readers over.
Yay! I just bought lotsa almond milk (lactose intolerant … boo) in preparation, and then forgot you had a yummy tangerine in there, too. Tomorrow!
Thanks for the shout-out, too. I may do another one of these next week (it was SO much fun), but I haven’t decided on the ingredient yet. I’ll keep you in the loop.
With loads of love and crunch!
Yum – can’t wait to give a few of these recipes a try.
They whiten your teeth?
I swear you teach me something new every time I come here. Cool! 🙂
Yeah, right? After learning that a couple of years ago, I can’t keep strawberries in my fridge for long. Every time my teeth feel dingy (which happens an odd awful lot), I eat one. And then another one. And then another one. And then … they’re gone.
Mmmmmm….strawberries! I don’t have a recipe handy to contribute, but will enjoy checking out your links!
The major part of me wants more people to add more recipes – the full part of me is afraid of it, because I want to make them ALL now. Right now.
Oh, I love strawberries. We just ran out too, I’ll have to go to the store later.
You gotta let me know if you put them on your face (and how fun it was)!
Love me some Strawberries! Thanks so much for hosting!
~Liz
Thanks for joining in! So many recipes … so little room in my stomach.