Apple Cherry Salad

 I love when I can enjoy a salad with very little dressing and then I can just enjoy the natural sweetness of the vegetables and fruit. This is one of those salads. I just had it for lunch today. It tasted so good. It left me with a very satisfied feeling after I ate it. Yum! If you have a food chopper it will help to make the fruit and vegetable very uniform looking.

Ingredients

2  apples chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
1/4 C dried cherries or cranberries
juice from 2 oranges
1 T chia
2 T honey for vegan use another sweetner.
garnish with additional cherries

Directions serves 4

1. Put apples, celery, and cherries in a bowl.
2. Pour the juice evenly over the fruit. Stir to mix.
3. Sprinkle the chia on top. Drizzle the honey on top. Toss until all mixed.
4. Garnish with more dried fruit if desired.

Whole Grain Orange Rolls

It has been a while since I have made sweet rolls for my family. So I decided to make them for Thanksgiving.  The cool thing is when you make them with whole grain flour they are better for you and they fill you up faster so you don't eat as many at one time. These turned out great. The rolls are one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients

1/2 warm water
2 T yeast
1T honey
1 C warm milk
5 T honey
1/3 C coconut oil
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 C whole grain flour ( I used white wheat)
1/3 C sweetener of your choice
1/3 C unsweetened orange juice
1/4 C butter
Glaze
1 C powdered sugar
1/4 C orange juice
1/4 C butter

Directions Makes about 13 rolls

1. In a bowl pour in water then yeast and honey. Let sit for 15 min. If the water doesn't bubble the yeast is not good.
2. Pour the yeast mixture into bread mixer. Then add milk, honey, oil, salt and beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Add enough flour so the dough is still sticky and not dry. Knead the flour with the bread machine for 5 min or by hand for 5 min.
4. Rub oil all over the dough and place in bowl. Cover with a clean towel. Let sit until double. It should take about an hour.
5. Punch the dough and roll into a rectangle. About 1/4 thick.
6. Mix together, sugar, orange juice and butter together. Brush on to the dough.
7. Roll the dough starting on the long side tightly.
8. Cut into 1/2 pieces.
9. Place on greased jelly roll pan.
10. Let rise until double about 30-60 min.
11. Heat oven to 350 and bake for about 20 -25 min until light golden.
12. Spread glaze on rolls and, serve warm.

Raspberry Orange Ginger Swirl

Recipe Redux this month is spotlighting beverages. Have you been noticing a lot of drinks popping up in your Pinterest feed? Well, you want to add this one, too. Just as the name suggests, it's a lovely mix of frozen raspberries, oranges, and just a bit of ginger. It tastes like sunlight in the middle of winter.

Even my baby couldn't get enough of it. See?

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 1/2 C fresh orange juice
2 frozen bananas
1/4 tsp ginger
1 C frozen raspberries
1/2 C water

Directions
1. Blend together orange juice, bananas, and ginger. Pour into a small pitcher or liquid measuring cup.
2. Next, blend the raspberries and water together. (You don't have to clean out the blender prior to mixing.)
3. Pour some of the orange mixture into the two cups you'll be serving it in, until they are a little over half full. Pour the raspberry mixture evenly into both.
4. Pour the remaining orange mixture in the cups. Use a shish kebab stick (or whatever you have on hand) to gently blend the two together so the raspberry mixture shows through the sides of the cup. Serve immediately.
 You can also try this Mango Blueberry Swirl.

An InLinkz Link-up

Healthy Orange Cream Smoothie

Orange Cream Smoothie

 I love oranges. I remember as a child having orange trees, and lemon trees in our yard it was so sweet.   Nothing tops an orange home grown. We even had naval ones. They were so juicy. I know I didn't fully appreciate it then like I would now. My daughter a few years ago got some home grown California oranges, and ate a couple of them at one time. Yum! So this may not taste like a home grown orange but it does taste really good. It has a very refreshing taste. 

Ingredients
1 C fresh orange juice
1 C almond milk or coconut milk
3 tsp honey
1/4 tsp orange zest
1/4 C plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 C Ice cubes

Directions  Serves 1-2
1. Pour into the blender and blend until all ingredients are blended smooth.
2. Serve at once.