Recipe of the week

Oh, you're darn right it's a recipe!

When I started on my quest for Clean Eating, I had a couple of things I had to give up. One being my remarkable coke habit. Okay, I live in the Midwest now, so perhaps I should clarify when I say coke, I mean soda. I don't have a cocaine habit. But if I did, that would be Clean, right? Pure, unrefined? So anyway, back to my Diet Coke habit. I have a great love and admiration for carbonated beverages.

About the same time I replaced my sugar with Sucanat, my Splenda with Agave, and my white flour with whole wheat flour, I came to the bitter and sad realization that I was doing all of this work and still eating a hole in my stomach with the acid, carbonation and not one single clean item in my cokes. Damn. I've attempted to replace the cokes in the past with orange flavored drink that's similar to Tang. But that's not clean either. What to do? What to do?

The thing is, I don't like water. Water, in my opinion, is way overrated. I need flavor.
I remembered that my coach served us up water at her place with cucumbers in it. Some fancy restaurants do that. So, I tried it. The first sip was refreshing. The rest of the sips, uh, not so much.

Someone told me that if you do a slice of lemon and a slice of lime, it's good. Something balances out and the lime takes the edge off the acidity of the lemon. So, I tried that. Nope, doesn't work for me.

And then I thought about oranges. Fortified with vitamin C, not too acidic. I love oranges. I'll try it. BINGO! WINNER! WOOHOO! I've been drinking water with orange slices in it for well over a month now. I'm sold on it. It's delicious, not overwhelming. Just the right amount of yummy flavor. And it's clean. I'm drinking more water than ever before. I've kicked my coke habit - well, the diet one anyways. I still snag a diet coke every now and then, but I'm down to one a week. If that. I heart my water with oranges in it. I workout with it, I take it grocery shopping, everywhere.

It's a lovely conversation piece too. Everywhere I go, people say, "Oranges in water, I should try that!" Yes. You should. So, here's my tip on oranges in your water. First of all, wash your orange before you sliced it up and put it in your water. Then, I slice an orange in half. Put one half in the fridge for later. Slice the ends off the other half, and then slice that half into about 4 slices. Add water, y'all. Voila. I tote mine around in a water bottle all day. You can just keep refilling water over the same orange slices all day.

I prefer this lovely "recipe" in a water bottle. That way, the oranges don't obstruct your water when chugging. But I also don't like a traditional water bottle. I found this really cool water bottle with a pop off top. That way it doesn't suck your lip off everytime you go to take a drink. However, I ran over that water bottle the other day. So, I'll be purchasing a new one soon.

I recently discovered that you don't want your water to get hot. Ick. That gives it that sour orange taste. Also, when selecting your oranges, find the thick-skinned oranges that are a bear to peel. They hold up in your water better. I've tested all kinds of oranges. These work the best. And yes, if you can find them, organic oranges are even yummier, sweeter, and hold up longer.

I realize this recipe is orange slices and water. But you'll be surprised at how much you talk about it - just like a recipe. I hope you try it for a summer refresher! Let me know how you like it.

That's how I roll.
Song of the Day: Coming Back to Life by Pink Floyd