MONDAY: Fruits and Vegetables

There is a fond place in my heart for Orange Julius. I worked there the end of my senior year.  I lost weight, met two of my summer boyfriends there, and learned how to make an orange julius. 

Every morning we were met by a dozen boxes of fresh oranges we had to juice.  Then all I remember about the drink itself was fresh orange juice, ice, and a powdered mix.  I can only image the powder probably had sugar, dry milk, and maybe some powdered eggs (but obviously I can’t be sure).

Seeing some shriveling up Clementines on my kitchen counter gave me the idea to give the drink a try again.  Instead of juicing, I put the whole oranges in the blender (minus the seeds), some milk, vanilla, powdered eggs, and some stevia in place of sugar.   I wrote the recipe here, although it may change as I perfect it… it tasted a bit too milky for my personal taste.

These drinks can be a delicious, healthy dessert for your children.  With loads of vitamin C, I also would also feel good about offering it as a healthy snack for your kids.

A word about fake sugars:  While I want to avoid the controversy about fake sugars, all I will do is state my opinion.  I am uncomfortable purchasing products with Splenda and aspartame for my kids.  First off, I think Splenda leaves a horrible aftertaste!  Especially in yogurt, I can not even stand it.  
Secondly, the chemical makeup of these fake sugars make them too unnatural for us to use in our diet.

Then comes Stevia:  The people from Steviva sent me some sample bags of stevia sugar.  I have always wanted to try this because I understood it to be a healthier alternative.  From their literature: 

• One bottle of Steviva stevia powder is equivalent to nearly 50 pounds of sugar with 0 calories, 0 carbs, and no fillers, additives, or Maltodextrin. 
• Unlike Most brands it is 100% natural in every sense of the word. 
• It increases energy and aids digestion by stimulating the pancreas, and it does no harm to healthy teeth. 
• Overseas…since artificial sweeteners are banned in Japan, Japanese are its greatest consumers.  Its what they use to sweeten their Diet coke (instead of NutraSweet)!!!
• Stevia is an all-natural herbal product with cenuries of safe usage by native Indians in Paraguay. 
• It has been consumed safely in massive quantities (thousands of tons annually) for the past twenty years.

While we are actually trying to have less sweet things around (fake or not), there is occasion for me (when I feel like sneaking treats without my kids noticing) this might possibly be a good, low calorie alternative.   Better on the waistline!

I once had a friend who was trying to sneak some chocolate so her kids wouldn’t notice and ask for some too.  One of her little ones said to her, “Mom, where’s the chocolate? I smell it in your mouth!”