strawberry

In case you aren't already in love with strawberries, I have some reasons to get the love fest with this berry started! They are a low-calorie food loaded like a billionaire with antioxidants known as phenols. Phenols not only give strawberries their irresistible red color, but they also fill this berry with heart-protective, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. A veritable trifecta of benefits.

Strawberry season is here; so the cost of a pint should be falling and they should be abundant at your local farmers market. You want to load up on strawberries because they are loaded with vitamin C. One cup of strawberries provides well over 125 percent of the daily RDI of vitamin C, and having high amounts of vitamin C in your blood results in burning more fat. You might recall that organic fruits contain more vitamin C than conventional, so I think it is well worth it to splurge a bit on organic berries. Another reason to go organic with these strawberries is they have one of the highest amounts of pesticide residue when compared with other produce.

You can make some lovely strawberry muffins or mix the berry with balsamic vinegar for a new taste sensation. My favorite way to eat them, however, is straight up — not sliced, no extra sugar, no cream, I just pop them straight into my mouth — after giving them a good rinse of course.

Source: Flickr User Manchester Monkey

Brand-new from Fresh is a summertime eau de parfum called Strawberry Flowers ($38). It launched this past week in the UK and will be exclusive at Sephora come September.

This fruity, floral and sparkling scent is sure to please your sense of smell. It was created by Lev Glazman (co-founder of Fresh), and was inspired by the memories of a perfect Spring morning. It has a true citrus spirit and is made from mandarin, strawberries, freesia, osmanthus, orris, yuzu, white peach, musk, woods and orange blossom.

I tried it for the first time last night and fell instantly in love with the fresh, lush aroma. It is significantly sweeter than Cannabis Rose, but not quite as sugary as Sugar Lemon. Ahh finally, the perfect, happy medium that you can add to your mix of favorite strawberry beauty products.

Here at Sugar HQ, everyone is crazy for the new, dangerously close frozen yogurt joint, SoGreen. After consuming a couple of SoGreen's delicious, fruity treats, I decided to experiment with my own variation. Currently I'm obsessed with Popsicles, so naturally, I was inspired to make a frozen yogurt Popsicle.

The recipe is simple with only a couple ingredients: strained yogurt, fresh fruit, and sugar. I had strawberries and golden raspberries on hand, but any fruit combination would work.

Once frozen, the bite-sized strawberry chunks were more crunchy than I would have preferred. To avoid the crunchy and hard-to-eat fruit, be sure to thinly slice all berries. Much like any other homemade Popsicle, the hardest part is waiting for them to freeze.

To learn more about making this perfect Summer treat, read more

Sweet and juicy bath and body products are a real weakness for me, and in particular, I'm a sucker for all things strawberry. My bathroom is filled with scrubs, lotions, lip balms — you name it and I'm addicted. Check out this roundup of strawberry beauty treats; four of the posts are product driven and the last is a D.I.Y exfoliator which is inexpensive, effective and easy to make.

• Succulent Strawberry Scrubs
• Sweet Smelling Strawberry Cleansers
• Soothing Strawberry Body Lotions
• Silky Strawberry Lip Balms
• D.I.Y. Spa Treatment: Strawberry Exfoliator

Welcome to my final installment of strawberry beauty products. Those of you who missed the reading about strawberry body creams, scrubs and cleansers, have no fear — you can find everything here. These three goodies are smooth lip smackers to help soothe, condition and impart shine to your lips. And not only do they smell like strawberries, they taste like them too!

Smith's Strawberry Rosebud Lip Balm ($4.49) is the latest launch in the Smith's salve family. This all-purpose balm isn't restricted to lip love only; I use it on my cuticles, hands, knees and even my eyes sometimes. This strawberry version smells of roses and strawberries mixed together — it's amazing!

For two more strawberry lip balms, read more

Welcome to my third installment on strawberry beauty products. These body lotions are refreshing and sweet fruit treats for your skin. I've found that even with the wide assortment of orange, lemon and pomegranate body creams, there's nothing quite as wonderful as strawberry. Judging from your comments about strawberry facial scrubs and cleansers I think you'll like these juicy treats too.

Kama Sutra Strawberry Creme Body Soufflé ($17.09) is more of a massage cream than a body lotion. I haven't tried it, but a friend has, and she claims it's even edible (tastes sweet, but good). The timing sure is perfect considering that Valentine's Day is next week. I think it's funny that there's a warning saying that you must be 18 and over to even buy the cream. So, let me get this straight: Anyone can buy condoms, but you can't buy massage cream unless you're 18. Hmm, tawk amongst yourselves.

For two more smoothing and soothing strawberry body lotions, read more

Since you all seemed to enjoy the last post about strawberry body and face scrubs so much, I felt inspired to round up even more fresh-smelling and adorably packaged strawberry face and body cleansers to awaken your winter senses.

TESS Scrub-It-Off Strawberry-Jojoba Facial Cleanser For Problem Skin ($9) is intended for the hormonally hyperactive skin of teenagers, which makes it great for adults with sensitive, yet oily skin. It gently washes away the dirt, oil, and makeup from the day and also slightly exfoliates the skin. The jojoba oil and beads and aloe vera also ensure that your face is left feeling moisturized and refreshed.

For two more sweet strawberry beauty treats, read more