Talking About How To Section Citrus Fruit AND Recipes

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We bought a case of grapefruit yesterday. We've already been through two cases of oranges this month but we thought we'd get crazy and mix things up a bit with the grapefruit. My mission is to eat at least six a day. That's how much love I feel for them.

I do not, however, love digging grapefruit sections out with a spoon. It's messy and it makes it difficult to shovel them into my mouth at the speed I desire. If I spend a couple minutes sectioning the fruit into a bowl then the pleasure is much greater.

This is also great for sectioning grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, or tangerines for salads and desserts. Why eat disgusting canned oranges when you can cut up your own fresh fruit? (Ok, I'll admit I use the canned ones sometimes too.) Let me show you how easy it is. Wow, are you excited about this? I know I am!

First you want to start with your favorite sharp knife. I like my serrated bread knife for this job but you could use something smaller and less scary.

Slice off both ends of the grapefruit.

Then you place a flat end on your cutting board and cut the peel off in stripes, curving your knife with the shape of the fruit as you go.

There is a fine line between cutting all the peel off and cutting off too much of the fruit. You don't want to waste any of those precious juices.

When you're done it will look like this. At this point you might be tempted to just take a big bite out of it but try to control yourself.

Now start sectioning it by running your knife right down along one of the membranes to the center of the fruit.

Then slice against the membrane of the other side of the section and lift it out.

Once you get the first section out it gets even easier. Slice along the next membrane and keep the edge of your knife in the center of the fruit.

Flip your knife over (remember, don't move the cutting edge, just flip the outside edge over) and slide it between the membrane on the other side. You won't even really have to cut. The section will just pull away.

Repeat this step until all the grapefruit sections are nestled snugly in your bowl. Then cut up two more grapefruit because they still look a little lonely in there. Remember, you have a whole case to eat and you want to get as many as you can before your kids do.

This is not my first fruit tutorial by the way. You can also learn from Lazy herself, How To Cut Up Melons.

As a bonus I will give you a couple recipes. I cringe every time I see someone buy a bottle of salad dressing at the store. Why would you do something like that when it's so cheap and easy to make your own? Why people? There are a lot of great recipes out there for you to start trying.

Tonight for dinner I had lettuce greens with chicken, almonds, red onion, oranges and poppyseed dressing. Yum! I've been eating this salad (without the chicken) for a week with every meal and I am still not sick of it.

Sweet Vinaigrette or Poppy Seed Dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise or olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)

Mix in a blender. Refrigerate at least an hour. Using mayonnaise makes the dressing opaque and keeps it from separating.

This is the recipe my Mother gave me. It's a little fancier but they taste pretty much the same.

Grandma's Poppy Seed Dressing

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup apple cider or red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons red onion (the red onion turns it pink!)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Mix in a blender. Refrigerate at least an hour.

What are you talking about this week?

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