My Portugal: A Juicy Oasis : )

Jason Vale is a true inspiration with all that he does to promote a healthy lifestyle but also for creating such a beautiful oasis in my little peninsular country, Portugal.  There in the middle of the country nestle in the hills is a Juicy Oasis; a place that transforms lives, bodies and pallets one juice at a time.

If you ever find yourself near Ponte Vale De Ursa, north of Fatima do take the time to visit this rejuvenating place. I will surely do the same!

To your health!

Cheers,
Ruthenium

 

Blending in Bragança: Part 3

 

Here is another quick simple and nutritious recipe for your enjoyment!

Blending in Bragança 3
3 cups of Swiss chard
2 cups of apples
1 cup of plums
1/4 cup of almonds
6 cups of water

Let me know what you think : )

Cheers,
Ruthenium

Blending in Bragança: Part 2

To give you a visual of how beautiful my home town is I’ve created a collage of photos of Bragança, and surrounding area. Pronounced /Brəah-ghan-ssa/ this is the largest city in the province of Trás-os-Montes, the most North/Eastern province in Portugal. 

While in Bragança, I traveled in and around Trás-os-Montes to see family and friends. First up:

Vimioso, Trás-os-Montes 

 

Variz, Trás-os-Montes 

 

Santulhão, Portugal 

 

Gimonde, Trás-os-Montes 

 

Izeda, Trás-os-Montes 

If you are ever in Portugal, I encourage you to visit Trás-os-Montes and all of the charming towns nestled in the rocky hills and gigantic mountains.

To emerce yourself more deeply into this stunning mountanous province I recommend The High Mountains of Portugal, a beautifully written story by the acclaimed Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi.

In Love & Light,
Ruthenium

Blending in Bragança: Part 1

Welcome to Bragança, my birth town.

This place is so beautiful with it’s picturesque castle and I medieval cobble stone streets. It’s a quite place that is pretty but provides incredible food to eat. Everything is fresh here from the meats to the dairy, from the fruits to the vegetables. It’s not rare for people to have their gardens full of of fresh produce and their gardens lined with fruit trees. the most common are apple, peach, plums, cherry, figs and pomegranate trees, oh yes and let me now forget the chestnut, walnut and almond trees!

As you know, I love my greens so at the local market I picked up some super fresh Swiss chard to blend a smoothie full of goodness. Luckily, the peaches and walnuts were donated by gracious friends who are always willing to share what they harvest, these friends I tell ya’melt my soul.

For this simple recipe you’ll need:

Blending in Bragança 1
3 cups of Swiss chard
2 cups peaches
1/4 cup of almonds
6 cups of water

It’s enough for a party of 6-7 healthy folks. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Ruthenium

Ruthenium Juice is now on Steemit!

 

I’m thrilled to share with you that I discovered a really revolutionary social media platform called Steemit where you can find me @rutheniumjuice.

This discovery came while I was watching a video on Youtube by famous economist Jeff Berwick; in the video Jeff said something extraordinary; he mentioned he made a ton of money from posting content on Steemit, a new platform that is based on blockchain technology.

Immediately after he mentioned this I started doing some research and found that Steemit isn’t your typical social media site, it’s a decentralized way of holding information that allows users to reward other users for the content they post and or curate.  It’s also a currency and can have many other applications.  It’s a cryptologist’s dream because it’s super secure to post your content on, trade currencies and as it appears, it’s a good investment tool too.

In a typical social media platform you have the owners and or investors.  These are the people at the top who harness most of the financial benefits of the company they have created.  With financial control comes operational control which at times translates into censorship or exploitation of content creators for example not displaying posts until content creators pay advertising dollars to promote their material. None of this exists on Steemit, you can make money based on how much the community liked your content.

The great thing about Steemit is that it decentralizes control so all users on the platform become stakeholders and have the power to up-vote (or like) content , users can also collect rewards for posting content that is beneficial to the Steemit community.  These rewards translate into steem, steem power and steem dollars which you can convert into real money or you can use it to pay for things where steem dollars are accepted.

Although I continue to do research, which I will share with you over the next few weeks, I’m pretty excited about posting my new content on my blog page Steemit; you’ll be able to find delicious recipes @rutheniumjuice.  Please follow me and vote for the recipes you like and always leave your comments.

Looking forward to connecting with you on Steemit!

Don’t get beet up by the holidays!

It’s that time of year again! As we all start feeling the stress of completing holiday tasks like getting our shopping done, our gifts wrapped, our parties planned yada, yada, yada. Just remind yourself that there’s only a few more days left before it all starts to feel normal again.

Here are some tips for surviving the next few days:

1. Sleep enough – getting enough sleep will ensure that you have a great reserve of energy when things get suddenly more demanding like that unexpected meeting at work or the surprise visitor at home.
2. Plan ahead – make a list of things that you have to do daily and weekly and then stick to the items on your list. Whether it be shopping or making that run to your local charity to drop off a donation, include all of your
3. Feed well – be sure to eat healthy nutritious food. Lots of fruits and veggies and good source of protein really make all the difference so load up on lots of colorful food items to ensure you are well nourished during these hectic days.
4. Un-materialize your gratitude – We are all steadily trained to show that we care by buying gifts, this year I challenge you to give back to yourself by doing something for someone else that does not include buying a gift. This little act of kindness will invigorate you with positive feeling, giving you a boost to solder on through the next couple of weeks of December.  You may think you don’t have enough time for this but I promise if you fir this into your crazy busy schedule you’ll find that things naturally appear to slow down because you’ll be feeling very light on your feet.
5. Stay hydrated – for this I have the right drink in mind for you, follow the delicious recipe below.
6. Spare some time – sure you are planning holiday parties for your friends but don’t overlook the ones that are the closest to you. Make plans to spend quality time with your immediate family taking a walk in the park or watching your favorite holiday flick or even making a fire together and sharing favorite childhood holiday stories.  Avoid all distractions like your phone or tablet and really be present in the moment.

Beet the Holidays
1 red beet
1 golden beet
1 pomegranate
small chunk of ginger
½ lemon
coconut water

If you are slightly weary about juicing the pomegranate, don’t be here’s a great short video with a neat trick to seeding this amazing fruit:

Wash all ingredients, put them through the juicer, add three ounces of coconut water and enjoy.

To your health!

Cheers,
Ruthenium

Keeping you Green for Halloween!

As all of you know, I love green smoothies, so for Halloween I have a special recipe to keep all the monsters away!

I know you may be thinking that collards will taste monster-gross but I guarantee you that in combination with the right amounts of apple and cantaloupe this recipe will become of your favorites all year ‘round.  Try it out and let me know how it goes!

Green Monster
3 green collards leafs
3 sticks of parsley
1 green apple
1 slice of cantaloupe

Wash all ingredients.  Start with the collard greens and remove the bottom part of the stack, you’ll want to keep some of the stalk since there are beneficial nutrients in the stalk.  Cut them in long strips.  Then cut the parsley in chunky amounts.  Cut the apple in bite size pieces as well as the cantaloupe.  Toss the ingredients in the blender and give it a whirl. Voila a monstrous green smoothie for your devouring!

To your health!

Cheers,
Ruthenium

Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games: Bronze, Silver & Gold

As a volunteer of the pan am games, it’s been pretty exciting seeing star athletes and exhilarating competitions right here in Toronto.

So far, I’ve seen some amazing, Rugby 7, hand ball and volleyball matches and some pretty fun concerts like Dragonette, Tribe Called Red.

For this special occasion I’m conjured up a new recipe that you must try if you like sweet things.  This recipe is a treat and can replace a sugary dessert.  It can be used if you want to reward yourself for doping something amazing; instead of having refined sugars this juice will satisfy the craving for something sweet.

The Bronze
7 strawberries
2 red delicious apples
a small bunch of parsley
½ lime

The Silver
½ lime
20 lychees
1 white radish
coconut water

The Gold
1 mango
1 peach
1 carrot
1 gold beet
¼ lemon
½ orange

I’d love to hear if you liked these recipes, write your comments below : )

To your health!

Cheers,
Ruthenium

Daddy’s Snow Pea

Even though Father’s Day just passed, it’s never too late to do something nice for your pops.

Lately, I‘ve been spending a lot of precious time with Dad doing some fun things like, swimming, watching soccer games, family gatherings and eating which is one of my family’s favorite thing to do together! Naturally I was inspired to create something special for my papa to honor all that he’s done for me all his life.  At the base of this juicing recipe is an ingredient that perhaps many people would not want to drink but I want to show you that you can make this pea taste amazing.

Snow peas a naturally sweet and offer health benefits that may be surprising for such a tiny pea.  Peas in general are credited with reducing blood pressure the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and some cancers. They’re also low in calories, which helps prevent obesity … a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Hop behind the juice bar and juice up this recipe:

Daddy’s Snow Pea
2 lbs of snow peas
1 mango
1 orange
4 cubes of aloe vera

Wash all ingredients and pass them through your juicer and capture the juice in a glass. Hope you like this sweet juice… in the company of your papa!

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Ruthenium

Lucky Little Leprechaun

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

As a teen I went St. Patrick High School in Toronto’s east end; those were the best days – green plaid kilts, shamrock pullovers, bangs teased and hoop earrings! SPECTACULAR! Lol Naturally, St. Patrick’s Day was always a big deal in our school.  We didn’t just celebrate in the modern way with loads of clover paraphernalia but they made us learn about the actual guy:Saint Patrick. Yes… yes shocker, right?

This may come as a surprise to some St. Paddy’s Day fanatics who are in it for the green lager but there’s a real person behind all the beer drinking shenanigans.  The St. Paddy’s Day celebrations we know them didn’t come until much later.

Another fact that may come as a surprise is that shamrocks are edible and actually really tasty! If you are feeling lucky why don’t you try juicing shamrocks, they will make you luckier than ever! Some say that the Irish used to eat them to make them “speedy and of nimble strength”. I recommend Trifolium for their taste and health benefits, they are earthy tasting and when paired up with natural sugars they are delicious!

Although there’s no beer like fizz in this green drink, I’ve created a fresh juice that is fit for a lucky leprechaun no matter how little or small.

Lucky Little Leprechaun
large bunch of shamrocks
1 mango
1 apple
½ lime

Wash all ingredients pass through your favorite juicer and enjoy! This juice will set you up nicely for that pint of stout your craving so badly! lol

Sláinte Gaelach!

Cheers,
Ruthenium