Rhubarb is a great source of calcium, vitamin K, lutein (which helps with your skin and eyes) and antioxidants, and also helps lower your cholesterol. We have so much of it growing in our backyard, and with all those health benefits you'd think we'd eat it all the time, but we really don't. Why? There are so many great rhubarb recipes out there, but unfortunately, because rhubarb is so sour, they all contain a ton of added sugar. Until now. :)

This weekend it was hot and sunny out. Perfect weather for me to make my homemade, sugar-free lemonade (which I should really post a recipe for!) and then it hit me... I could juice rhubarb! So I grabbed a couple stalks and headed to the kitchen! 

I juiced approximately two BIG stalks and ended up with a full cup of rhubarb juice. (For those of you who juice regularly, you know that's a lot of juice!) Since rhubarb is almost all water, it had a very high juice yield, but because of the fiber in the stalks, it really clogged up my juicer, almost like wheatgrass does. I used my Kuvings masticating juicer. I'd be interested to see how it juices in a centrifugal juicer.

Then I juiced some fresh stevia leaves, fresh mint leaves, and a pint of strawberries, leaving the tops on. This juiced much thicker than the rhubarb and almost pulpy. After that I just added it to a bunch of ice and topped it off with club soda, but you could also use water (which is what I do for my lemonade). 

And that's it! It was so nice and refreshing. You could also play around with it and add frozen blueberries, peaches or other fruit, and replace the fresh Stevia with a different sweetener, or omit it all together. 

If you make this, let me know in the comments below how you liked it and if you made any adjustments to the recipe! 

If you're like me you've probably never heard of jicama before, or if you have, you've probably walked past it in the grocery store thinking, "what is that?", "who eats that?" and "what do they do with it?" When it turned up on the Ultimate Reset shopping list for not one, not two, but all three weeks I knew I was about to find out!

Surprisingly, it was easy to find and available at both of my local grocery stores so someone out there must be eating it!

So what is jicama? First off, it's pronounced HEE-kah-mah... but I didn't find this out until after I was calling it Ji-kah-mah, so now the real pronunciation sounds funny to me. It's also called a "yam bean" or "Mexican turnip". Originating from Mexico and South America, jicama is a root vegetable with a papery brown cover and a crisp, white inside like a potato or apple. It is from the legume family and grows on vines that can reach up to 20' in length. Only the root should be eaten as the rest of the plant is very poisonous, and they must be peeled before eating.

Jicama is made up of 85-90% water, is high in carbohydrates and dietary fiber, and has only trace amounts of fat and protein. It's rich in vitamins A, C and B, calcium and phosphorus. One cup of cubed jicama contains only 45 calories. It has a mellow, sweet flavor and is usually eaten raw and paired with lemon or lime juice, chili powder, cilantro, ginger or red onion. It is also common in Asian dishes. It gets it's sweet flavor from a prebiotic called oligofructose inulin. 

Jicama can be stored dry for 1-2 months at 53°- 60°F and will last for a few days in the refrigerator after being peeled. When choosing jicama, select roots that are roughly 3-4 lbs as larger roots can be woody.

During the Ultimate Reset, jicama turned up in almost all of the salad recipes as a diced vegetable, and also in one of my favorite recipes, the Jicama Avocado Salad from Day 20's lunch. However you decide to pronounce it, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Jicama Avocado Salad

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1 Tbsp agave nectar
juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 avocado, ripe but firm, cut into chunks
1/2 medium jicama root, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks (I cubed it instead)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Mix all ingredients and let marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Serve over 3 cups of salad greens.
Serves 1.