In the cookbook Million Menus, there is a recipe for Carrot and Orange soup. It calls for grated carrots, potatoes, onion and orange juice to be fed to a food processor or blender. I tried this and didn’t really care for the consistency of the soup (think baby food). In my version, I’ve added a few more ingredients and made it a broth-based soup.

6 to 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 to 3 small sweet onions, grated
16 oz (2 pkg) sliced or quartered mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced (1 tsp)
1 large baking potato, peeled and grated
7 to 8 (1 1/2 lbs) carrots, grated
4 to 5 ribs celery, chopped or diced
1 large orange, zested and halved
several springs fresh thyme, leaves removed
salt and pepper

Pour broth into a medium saucepan over low heat. Melt butter in a large, heavy duty saucepan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and saute until mushrooms are tender, about 7-10 minutes. Salt to taste, about 1/4 tsp.

Add potato, carrot and celery. Stir well to incorporate mushroom mixture. Stirring constantly, cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are heated through.

Add enough broth to cover vegetables. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return pan with broth to low heat.

Add the zest of 1 large orange and leaves from thyme, about 1 tbsp each. Squeeze in juice from orange. Add more broth until soup reaches desired thickness. Let soup simmer for about 3 minutes. Add pepper to taste, 1/8 to 1/4 tsp.

Remove from heat and let soup sit covered for 5 minutes. Skim off any film that floats to the top. Serve warm with crusty bread and sliced cheese.

Preparation Suggestions:

Dice, chop, grate or slice your veggies anyway you want, the above are just my suggestions. You can also add any other veggies you might like in your soup.

Go vegetarian by using vegetable broth and olive oil instead of butter. Cut calories by using a butter substitute such as I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter Light.

Use fresh ingredients, not pre-cut varieties.

This zesty recipe combines fresh citrus with sweet, sour, and spicy Asian flavors. Basil adds an earthy note to the dish.

1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp salt
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp grated orange rind
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dark or toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp grated lime rind
1 pound fresh mushrooms, halved
3-4 large fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Combine first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add orange rind, oils, and lime rind. Stir well. Arrange mushrooms in a large bowl or shallow baking dish. Pour marinade over mushrooms, coating well. Toss in basil leaves, mixing mushrooms. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Marinading Tips:
Prepare mushrooms in the morning before work for a great side dish at dinner. If mushrooms are large, quarter them. You can also keep mushrooms whole and marinade for 24 hours. Serve cold or bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F after marinading, or use sliced mushrooms and simmer all ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat then serve over steamed rice.

Here’s a fun & festive variation of my favorite party drink. I’ve had sangria served in a variety of glasses, but I find plain drinking glasses work best. This works with dry wine or semi-sweet wine, my recommendation is St. Julian’s Simply Red.

1 bottle (750 ml) red wine
1 cup orange juice
2 oz (2 shots) white rum
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 lime, thinly sliced
1 cup halved strawberries
ice cubes
additional fruit for garnish, if desired

Place sliced fruit in a large punch bowl or pitcher. Add orange juice then red wine and rum. Stir well (it’s okay if the fruit gets crushed). Chill for at least 2 hours.

Remove fruit from sangria and place in serving glasses with ice cubes. Pour sangria over fruit and ice. Garnish with additional fruit as desired.

To make White Sangria, use white or blush table wine and substitute Peach Schnapps for rum.

Try mixing in other seasonal fruit, such as raspberries, watermelon, or peaches. Top with maraschino cherries and rim glasses with sugar!

4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup grated lemon rind (about 4 large lemons)
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
7 navel oranges (about 4 pounds), peeled and cut crosswise into 4 slices

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large, heavy-duty saucepan. Add orange slices, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 5 minutes. Remove orange slices with a slotted spoon; place in a bowl.

Cook juice mixture over medium-high heat 15 minutes (until slightly syrupy). Pour over oranges. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Makes about 14 servings (serving size: 2 orange slices and about 1/4 cup syrup).

This is a great make-ahead dessert to serve with Citrus Chicken w/ Lemon Couscous. You can also use the leftover orange rinds for the marinade. If you have left over orange slices, add them to the spinach salad, iced tea, sangria or serve on the side as garnish to squeeze over the chicken.

These were delicious! I skipped the Cinnamon Maple Syrup, the Orange Honey Butter serves as a syrup. I served these with fresh blueberries, banana slices and orange wedges. Yum!

Blue Corn Pancakes with Orange Honey Butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish
2 to 3 bananas, peeled and sliced
1 orange, cut into wedges
Orange-Honey Butter, recipe follows

Preheat a nonstick griddle. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a medium bowl until combined, then stir in the melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. If the batter seems too thick, add some of the remaining milk.

Ladle approximately 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until the bottom is light golden brown, flip, and continue cooking for about 30 seconds. Remove to an ovenproof plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. Serve 3 pancakes per person with a dollop of orange-honey butter, cinnamon maple syrup, and bananas. Garnish with blueberries dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Orange-Honey Butter:

3 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
2 sticks butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Place orange juice in a small non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 3 tablespoons. Place butter in a bowl and add the orange syrup, honey, and salt; mix until combined. Scoop into a large ramekin, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Reheat slightly before serving.