Winter

About 6 weeks ago my friend Mary, emailed me to say that her blood oranges from her tree(yeah-she has a tree) were almost ripe and wanted to drop some off for me to enjoy. I was elated and anxiously awaited the bag.

One morning, upon arriving home from a yoga class, there on my doorstep, was HUGE bag of blood oranges and their leaves. I washed and dried the oranges and put them in a vessel and placed them on my dining room table. It took me days to figure out what I was going to make with them, but I wasn’t in a rush. I was merely enjoying their abundance.

Seriously folks what is with all the bad weather in the U.S.? When I'm tooling around on Facebook I feel like I've been living everyone's bad weather, including my own. So much snow everywhere. Let's hope Spring comes a little early this year. All these gloomy days means the slow cooker has been earning its keep. This Pulled Pork Chile Verde has been something I've been working on. But today it was perfect and that's why I'm sharing it with you.

My goals for this recipe were straightforward. I wanted a dish that makes enough food for several meals, reheats well, lower in calories and a version even picky eater kids would eat and love. All were accomplished!

In regards to meal times, my older son is easier to please than my younger one. Let's just say I have a real critic when it comes to what he wants to or will eat. But he loved this. I purposefully made it mild enough so the kids would enjoy it. You can do the same and add hot sauce to get the heat you prefer or use a spicier sauce to begin with.

Blood oranges are all over the markets right now. It's actually very surprising, because a few years ago I could not find a blood orange anywhere but in the city. In my local supermarket they've even started selling them in bulk bags. Last week I saw packages upon packages of blood oranges in the reduced-price produce bin and of course I bought them, because there was nothing wrong with them. That tells me that people don't buy them because they don't know what to do with them. I've made this Valentine's dessert with them. I eat blood oranges throughout the season just as I do regular oranges. I enjoy the unique taste: very citrusy but more mellow with the flavor of dark fruits like raspberries or blackberries. Plus blood oranges share the same beneficial antioxidants as dark fruits.

This year blood oranges haven't been as sweet as in the past, but they are great for use in savory dishes, such as this salad. I start with a base of peppery arugula and thinly shaved fennel. The final touches are slices of blood orange, crumbled feta, and toasted walnuts. The anise flavors of the fennel, the peppery arugula, and the salty feta are a very nice match for the blood oranges.

Red 28! Red 28! I like candy! Hut! Hut!

This Sunday is the 44th Super Bowl in American history. Despite its youth, it will be the largest food consumption event of the year, trailing only Thanksgiving. It isn’t a national holiday (though many would like it to be), but that doesn’t stop over 130 million Americans from treating it like one.

It's estimated that Americans will spend over $55 million dollars on food for the Super Bowl. What will all that money buy? Mostly snack foods -- more than 30 million pounds. Pretzels and popcorn get the most play, though chips and guacamole have gained yardage in the last few years. According the California Avocado Commission, over 50 million pounds of avocados will be sold in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, most of which will turned into guacamole and scooped up with 15,000 tons of chips.