Orange, Radish, and Mint Salad

I have been so good about planning my meals ahead, and making sure I have ingredients on hand to make healthy dishes. I have found that if you do a little cookbook reading, and plan your meals ahead of time, you are less likely to eat poorly and/ or cheat, especially when trying to eat to live, rather than live to eat. Yesterday though, was one of those failure to plan days. A family illness has redefined our priorities and brought relatives from far away places. Thankfully, our family member will recover, and hopefully be able to sit at the table with the rest of us before all make the trip back home.

With circumstances like these, the "old me" would have reached for the nearest Costco Chicken Bake, blissfully ignorant to it's nutritional information.

The "new me" however, reads this stuff, and can't believe I considered that to be one out of three of my daily meals. With calorie and fat counts like those, that is not far now from what I allow myself for an entire day!

Thank goodness I have been keeping healthy ingredients and fresh produce on hand. On my table I had placed a huge bowl of clementines, and in my fridge was an enormous bag of radishes. So I googled the two and found this recipe from Ellie Krieger. While the recipe calls for oranges, I substituted the clementines, and found this to be a delicious, satisfying, and refreshing dish. I was also able to use a gift, from my cousin, Steve, in the recipe- a touch of Pasolivo Olive oil. A perfect touch in this recipe. Thanks, Steve!


I'm at a 9.5 lb loss my friends, and feeling really, really, good.


Orange, Radish, and Mint Salad

4 navel oranges
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
8 radishes, cut in half, then thinly sliced into half-moons
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the top and bottom off each orange. Stand the orange on one end on a cutting board and, following the curve of the fruit, cut away the skin and woolly white pith of the orange. Cut each orange section away from the membrane.

In a medium bowl, toss together the orange sections, onion, radishes, and mint. Drizzle with the oil and season with salt and pepper. This salad will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about a day.

Makes 4 servings
Serving size: 1 cup


Per Serving:
Calories 145; Total fat 7g (Sat fat 1g, Mono fat 5g, Poly fat 0.5g); Protein 2g; Carb 20g; Fiber 3g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium155 mg