A wise friend once remarked, “You are never sorry when you eat an orange.”

And that is so true.  Oranges pick you up and make you feel brighter, cleaner, sunnier. I’m in need of a pick-me-up this morning as we’ve received news of a favorite elderly relative who has died.  I’m too sad to reminisce now but I will share thoughts in a later post.

Instead I will share some of my favorite things, inspired by orange.  Then maybe I’ll feel better and fortified for the upcoming travel to say goodbye to someone I loved.

 

 

My friend, Josie, works at a local farm stand and once gifted me with a huge box of vegetables at the end of their selling day.  I was challenged to find recipes for cooking them all.  (Note to self:  need to cook and eat more vegetables so it won’t seem so daunting.)

Here are a some of the recipes I made:

• Roasted Cauliflower With Pistachios, Olives and Raisins from David Hagedorn via The Washington Post food section (except I left out the olives)

• Bok Choy with Garlic & Ginger from Food52

My favorite roasted carrot recipe:

Simple Roasted Carrots

Ingredients

• 6 large carrots, peeled

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground pepper, liberal amounts

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I’ll also use chopped fresh mint or thyme if I have them on hand)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°.

• Toss the carrots with the olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.

• Place in casserole dish, cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until tender and lightly browned.  (NOTE: You don’t need to fuss with parchment paper; I just laid the cooked carrots on parchment for the photo.)

• Toss with the fresh herbs.

• Feel good about yourself because you ate your carrots!

I think the key to this recipe is roasting the carrots covered instead of exposed in the oven like other roasts.  It gives them the tender texture like the carrots you braise with a pot roast but they are not mushy.  Try it sometime!

And in closing, some bright flowers I arranged earlier this year.

I buy flowers for myself all the time (from the grocery store.)  Go ahead and disassemble the supermarket arrangement and break up the bouquet into 2-3 different vases.  Grab something green from your yard (a sprig from a bush, a small branch with some leaves on it) and go for it.  It will make you smile when you look at it.

“Be calm. God awaits you at the door.”
― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera