Nut-orange cookies covered with powdered sugar.

Nut-orange cookies covered with powdered sugar.

Ingredients:

  • 250g soft butter
  • 100g powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of orange liquor
  • 110g walnuts
  • 6 teaspoons of grated orange peel
  • 375g flour

Additional powdered sugar to cover the cakes

Preparation:

Heat the oven to reach 180 degrees. Mix butter with powdered sugar until becomes soft and creamy. It should take about 10 minutes. Chop walnuts into small pieces and add together with liquor and orange peel to the mixture. Combine thoroughly and add flour. Mix till it gets uniform throughout the volume. Form small balls out of 2 teaspoons of dough. Flatten the balls a little and put into the pan covered with baking paper. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Cool the cookies down and cover with powdered sugar.

Cranberries with oranges

This version of cranberries tastes great, best when served with meat and cheese.

Ingredients:

250g fresh cranberries

1 big orange

½ glass sugar

Salt

Preparation

Wash the cranberry thoroughly, dry and separate any ugly ones.

Sprinkle the orange with boiling water. Grind its peel and squeeze juice. Add water to the juice to get about ½ glass of liquid. Boil the liquid in a small saucepan. Add sugar and mix until dissolves. Add cranberries, orange peel and heat slowly until the cranberries skin breaks and the excess liquid evaporates. Try it and if needed add a little salt. Can be served both hot and cold. You can easily store it for longer if you put it into small jars directly after boiling, recap the jar and put it upside down until cools down. Then there is no need to keep it in the fridge. You can store the jars at room temperature.

Hot chocolate with orange

Chocolate and orange is a great duet. It tastes great in deserts but also as drinking chocolate. What a flavor! You can try to get it in more dietary version by adding ½ glass of water instead of ½ glass of milk but I think it tastes better with milk only.

Ingredients

25g dark chocolate

3 spoons of dark cocoa

1 glass of milk

2 slices of orange

Preparation

Put chocolate into small saucepan, add cocoa, oranges and hot milk. Mix until chocolate melts and cocoa dissolves. Try to smash the oranges while heating. When ready take off the fire and leave for few hours for the orange to release the juice. Before serving heat the chocolate and take out the residues of the orange when the chocolate is hot. Pour to the mug. Bon appetite!

Salad with oranges, chicken and walnuts.

Ingredients:

200g chicken

30g arugula

¼ salad

1 orange

1/3 pomegranate

60g walnuts

 

Dressing ingredients:

2  spoons of honey

2 spoons of honey mustard

1 spoon of olive oil

2 spoon of orange juice

1 spoon of lemon juice

1/3 teaspoon of cinnamon

 

Preparation

All the dressing ingredients mix in a bowl and add salt and pepper.

Divide chicken into 4 pieces. Cover it with olive oil and salt and put into hot frying pan. Fry for about 4 minutes on both sides.

Sprinkle the meat with a spoonful of dressing and fry for another 1,5 minute. Decrease the temperature. Change sides of the meat, cover another side with a spoonful of dressing and fry another 1 minute. When ready take the chicken of the frying pan and cool down.

Wash the salads, dry and tear into smaller pieces. Put the salads on two plates. Peel the orange thoroughly trying to remove the white soft peel as well, cut into pieces. Take out the seeds of the pomegranate. Walnuts fry on the frying pan and chop into moderate pieces.

Put some salt and pepper on the salads. Add chicken, orange pieces, pomegranate and walnuts. sprinkle with the rest of dressing.

Oranges during winter

Winter is the best time to eat oranges, lemons or mandarins. Eating oranges is beneficial thanks to extremely tasteful dose of vitamin C. Even peeling an orange is beneficial as the essential oils released at that occasion make you feel relaxed and influence your mood.

Oranges are reach in vitamin C but not the reachest! More vitamin C can be found in blackcurrant, wild rose or parsley.  Still one orange daily is enough to cover our daily vitamin C requirement. Vitamin C helps to strengthen immunity, participates in the red blood cells synthesis and improves skin condition. It is also a very strong antioxidant. Vitamin C in oranges is better bioavailable thanks to flavonoids that are present in the white part of oranges peel. That is why it is advisable not too peel the fruit too carefully.

All the oranges and a tissue they are packed in are covered with chemicals. Remember to clean fruit thoroughly with a brush before eating. Then clean also your hands to remove any residues of chemicals.

There is unfortunately one effect of eating oranges or drinking orange juice that is negative during winter – oranges make you feel like it was colder than it truly is.

Orange combinations in the garden.

Like energizing power of orange and want to introduce it in the garden? Very good choice! The next question is what to combine it with for the best effect.

The most important rule, relating to all colors not only orange, is to remember that fewer is better. Don’t make a rainbow out of your flowerbed unless you are really aware of the effect and this is what you want to achieve.

If not, consider the combinations of color before you buy the next plant. Like all other colors, orange looks great combined with white. Another extraordinary combination is orange and plants with grey leaves. Want to add the third color? Why not! Purple with any of the combinations: orange-white or orange-grey will match nicely. And the duo of purple of orange? Very well but be careful, this will not be a good choice for a small garden where you want to feel good both exercising and relaxing.

You can also try a combination of yellow, orange and red – those look especially good when surrounding a pond. Yellow and blue look nice but calm, want to add some fire – yes! Orange should be your choice. Just still remember – fewer is better.

Orange in your garden

Orange is very energizing color. It may be a perfect choice for your garden, but might be the worst one as well. When planning the landscape take into account the function of that place.

Do you plan to lay on the sunbed and relax or maybe rest reading book on the bench? Avoid orange color also when choosing the plants. On the other hand, if the shrubs should surround a basketball field there is no better choice than orange. Should you have enough space you can grow plants that will bloom from early spring till autumn. What is more there are beautiful plants with orange fruit that will stay in your garden also in winter.

Which to choose? Take into account the climate, the soil, the sun or shade, the moist and then feel free to choose whatever your eyes love. Just take a look at japanese gringuard during autumn or japanese maple katsura. They are really breathtaking and it is thanks to leaves. Just wait to see azalea gibraltar or  broom splendens. You can have orange in your garden also in winter just grow there dogwood tridva Anny’s Winter Orange to see the intensive color of its branches. There are plenty of bulb plants that you can find in orange- tulips, lilies, irises, canna or dahlias. Want to have plenty of energy for some sports in your own garden? Orange is the colour for you.

Orange cake

Ingredients:

–          300g flour

–          200g cold butter

–          300g sugar

–          1 egg yolk

–          1 teaspoon of sour cream

–          6 big oranges

–          3 teaspoons of gelatin

–          almonds for decoration

Preparation

Cut the butter with knife together with 100g sugar. Add the egg yolk and cream. Knead the dough fast, form into a ball and cover with cloth. Put to the fridge for an hour. When the dough is cold roll it to the size of pan. Cover the pan with baking paper and place the dough on it. Stab the dough with fork. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. Cool down.

Pour the oranges with boiling water and clean thoroughly. Squeeze to get the juice. Separate the peel from the pulp. Cut the peel into smaller pieces and boil for an hour in 2 liters of water. Dissolve gelatin in the tiny amount of water. Boil the juice with 100g sugar and add the gelatin. Drain off the peel and mix to get a consistency of wet sand. Combine the peel with the juice and gelatin. Add sugar until sweet enough. When it starts to stiffen, put it on the cool cake and smoothen the surface. Put to the fridge. Decorate with almonds before serving.

Cocoa roulade with orange cream

Delicious but can be stored only for 2 days in the fridge. Must be kept in hermetic box as it will catch every smell from the fridge.

Ingredients:

Cake:

–          6 eggs

–          6 spoons of flour

–          1 spoon of cacao

–          6 spoons of sugar

–          1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Cream:

–          1 glass of 36% cream

–          1 teaspoon of gelatin

–          2 oranges

–          1 spoon of vanilla sugar

–          1 teaspoon of orange peel

Preparation:

Mix the egg yolks with lemon juice and sugar. Whip the whites until becomes stiff. Add the whites to the mixture and combine gently. Add flour and cacao and mix only until combined. Cover the pan with baking paper and cover the sides with butter. Pour the dough and smoothen its surface. Bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Take of the oven and cool down. When cold remove the paper. Dissolve gelatin in warm juice from one orange. Whip the cream with vanilla sugar until stiff. Add cool gelatin and orange peel and combine gently. Cover the cake with the cream and put the pieces of pulp from the other orange. Roll the cake and cool in the fridge.

Sweet pancakes with orange syrup

The taste of the pancakes will depend on whether the oranges are sweet or not.

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 glass of flour
  • 1/2 glass of milk
  • 1/2 glass of water
  • salt
  • oil

For syrup:

  • 3 big oranges
  • 5 spoons of honey
  • 2 spoons of sugar
  • 3 spoons of raisins
  • 3 spoons of roasted almond flakes
  • 3 spoons of candied orange peel

Preparation

Mix thoroughly egg, flour, milk, a little salt and oil. Add water gradually water to achieve the right, not too dense and smooth consistency. Prepare thin pancakes by frying both sides. Put honey, sugar and raisins into a bowl. Add juice from two oranges and candied orange peel. Mix everything and heat until sugar dissolves. Cover the pan with butter. Fold pancakes and put in the pan. Pour the syrup over the pancakes. Bake for 15 minutes at 160 degrees. Decorate with oranges and almonds before serving.