Little Oranges













Try this experiment: don’t think about oranges. Do not think about oranges at all. Now, what are you thinking about ? Oranges.

I think that looking for foods that don’t contain wheat can be like that. You just can’t stop thinking about what you can’t have instead of focusing your thoughts on all of the delicious foods you can have.

Last month while in Santa Barbara, I was offered some of those little California Clementine oranges. Never one to pass up food, I took them but wondered to myself if they were any good. I’ve noticed the small boxes of these little oranges in the grocery store every winter and wanted to try them, but I didn’t want to buy a whole box of them just in case they tasted like the citrus fruit of my childhood. They did kind of look like the seed-filled tangerines my mom bought at the store back in the day that I avoided eating. I hate dealing with seeds in my food.

During my teens we lived in an area of southern California that had once been orange orchards. As the population grew in the San Fernando Valley, the orchards were divided for development, but many of the orange trees were left growing. Our half-acre lot still had seventeen orange trees. We tried cultivating them, but never really got the hang of it. Our oranges were always kind of sour. And they had seeds. To stretch our family’s grocery budget, we didn’t buy much citrus fruit (except those tangerines), so if we wanted to eat oranges or drink orange juice, we headed to the back yard. Needless to say, our sour seedy oranges didn’t endear me to the fruit.

I was so surprised to find that those little oranges in Santa Barbara were very sweet, delicious, and they were seedless! I’ve been obsessed with little oranges ever since. So this first recipe for my blog was based on oranges.

Orange, Turkey, and Hazelnut Salad

1 cup romaine lettuce
2 oz. sliced turkey
1 California Clementine orange, or ½ navel orange
1 tablespoon chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Marmalade Dressing 1 teaspoon orange marmalade
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
pinch of salt and black pepper

Place lettuce, turkey, orange and hazelnuts on plate. Combine dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Serves one.

Printable Recipe

Comments

  1. ShirleyFebruary 26, 2008 at 3:20 PM

    Saw your comment on the GF Girl's blog and thought I'd check out your blog. I am so glad I did. :-) First, many, many kudos to you for figuring out you had gluten issues and going GF for your own health. Bravo on being cancer free! If you don't mind I might share your tale in promoting awareness on how gluten issues can be manifested in various symptoms/illnessess. I lead a small support group in my area and I am speaking at a Women's Forum next month. I always find it helpful to share individual's stories that folks can relate to. Wondering, too, if you take vitamins and minerals as part of your healing regimen. Sometimes they can be the missing link ... the GF diet is great (and how cool that you saw results so quickly!), but as you start absorbing vitamins and minerals again supplementation is good. I had osteopenia when I was diagnosed as gluten sensitive, but it took 4 years of being GF and supplementation before my bones became normal again. What a happy day that was for me! Before my diagnosis, I had one illness after another, had my gall bladder removed, had a hysterectomy, could barely go up and down stairs, etc., and then I found my "miracle" doc who diagnosed me and put me on the GF path.

    Second, here's a great recipe to make a naturally GF clementine cake. Yummy and easy. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36069,00.html Nigella Lawson created it and it's on her site, too, but the measurements are in grams, etc. there so this Americanized version is better. Hope you get a chance to make it some time.

    Don't mean to ramble on. All the very best to you!
    Shirley

    ReplyDelete
  2. CindyFebruary 27, 2008 at 8:03 AM

    Shirley,
    I was so happy to read that you were able to reverse your osteopenia! I have this too, and have just started using suppliments, so now I'm hopeful that mine bones will return to normal too. The Clementine cake looks reeeeeealy good. I'm still on an orange kick and look forward to trying it soon.
    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  3. ShirleyFebruary 27, 2008 at 8:07 PM

    Cindy--Glad to provide some encouragment. It's important to take a combo of vitamins and minerals to repair the bone thinning. For my bone repair and now maintenance, I take Perque Bone Guard. It has calcium, D, boron, magnesium, etc. A combo works better. There are other similar products. Best of luck in your healing!

    If you try the cake, I look forward to hearing what you think. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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