Cooking Gadget #2: Orange Peeler

Yesterday we spoke about my egg slicer that I never use for eggs but instead for mushrooms. Olives work as well, but I digress.

Today it's all about the wonderful fabulous orange peeler!

Once upon a time I was a distributor for Pampered Chef. I do love the products but that was ages ago, I no longer do the selling but I sure do still use some of their products. This is where I discovered the orange peeler.

Simple, right? I thought so too. I thought, who needs help peeling an orange? They aren't THAT hard, right? Well, without this, make my life easier, gadget I tend to get orange peel up under my nails and make quite a mess of the orange itself. So, I suppose you don't need this gadget but at somewhere under $3 it's a time saver for sure!

What did I do with this peeler this morning? Well, I made my little one's breakfast. Her breakfast varies from day to day but today she seemed in the mood for fruit. She loves it and I love to give her delicious nutritious fruits. They are so yum!

This morning was a plate of various berries I like to keep on hand as well as a banana. I added some fresh chickpeas (made yesterday, actually) and edamame. She loves both and it's a great way to add protein and fiber.

Strawberries, rasberries, blackberries, blueberries, banana, chickpeas, and edamame

She did not eat her whole plate, moma had to help out.

Along with her plate of breakfast goodness I made up some juice. This is where the peeler came in.

I recently taught a workshop on juicing and smoothies. Something I shared in class is how easy it is to juice for yourself and your family. I don't buy the pre-made sugary juices from the stores, rather I make my own. I can save it for up to 3 days in glass or BPA free jars and she's got lot's of nutrition packed into one of her sippy cups!  If you're interested the next workshop is based on soups! I can't wait. Check out my Facebook for details.

My juice ingredients of choice were two oranges (see, I did use the peeler!), 5 strawberries, 1 kale stalk, a small handful of dandelion greens, 1 pear, and a handful of celery (enough to make about 32 oz of juice). Run each through your juicer, I like to start with the greens, and drink up. Enjoy!

To the little one's juice I added just a touch of maple syrup to cut a bit of the bitter that is sometimes too much for her. For me, it was so good just the way it was! Packed with nutrients!

For those of you not too familiar with dandelion greens they are incredibly nutritious. This is why I like to use them in my juices. I'm not fond of eating them raw, unless they are mixed in a salad, so juicing ensures I get all their nutrients.

This wondrous greens are loaded with calcium (1 cup yields 103 mg), Iron (1 cup yields 1.7 mg), as well as other minerals, copper, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, manganese. They are also a great source of protein. All essential amino acids protein! Wow! Great for us veg heads, right!? 1 cup of chopped up dandelion greens will give you 1.5 grams of protein. This green, as with other greens, is low in calories. So, no worries there. 25 calories per 1 cup of greens.

Now, go get yourself an orange peeler and dandelion greens and make yourself some juice!

What is your favorite juice?

Cheers and happy eating!