62 Day Challenge Days 17-20: Ugli Fruit, Avocado, Carrot, Blackberry

So I finally got my Ugli* fruit back on Sunday and it was still edible. With 12 hours at work the timing could not have been better. I took a little break and scarfed it down. The fruit is a Jamaican hybrid between a grapefruit, an orange, and a tangerine. It's like one side of the fruit takes on the size of the grapefruit and the other side takes on the size of the orange, and it comes out distorted and ugly. The inside is like eating a seedless orange, but the fruit is very sweet. To me this one reminded me of the flavor of a peach or an apricot.

*Ugli fruit is a trademark of Cabel Hall Citrus Limited

I'm claiming avocado in its traditional southwestern form: guacamole. This was one of the ingredients in our haystacks on Monday night at our work summer party.

Yesterday I had carrots in an excellent vegan carrot raisin salad. I loved it because instead of adding sugar and whatever dairy is traditionally used, this salad had three simple ingredients, carrots, raisins, and pineapples. The pineapple added enough sweetness to it without adding a lot of junk. The only downside was that it was a little watery from the pineapple.

Today I had blackberries for the third or fourth time since the summer began. My love for blackberries goes back to when I spent a summer in Oregon as an adolescent and they were growing everywhere at the farm we stayed at. From what I remember, they were a lot cheaper then!

Day 15 of 62: My Fruit/Vegetable of the Day is Cherries

I've actually been chowing down on some cherries for about a week. It seems like you can munch on them for a couple of hours and still barely consume calories. I haven't managed to get a tummy ache yet and we're on our second large bag in the house. Each cherry is a little bit of a surprise because one might be sweet, another one tart, then the next one both sweet and tart. Cherries are one of the super antioxidant fruits and the cherry industry also promotes them as helpful for relieving pain from muscle soreness and arthritis by relieving inflammation. The next time my wife complains about stiffness in her neck I'll know that's my queue to go get her some cherries from the fridge.

Day 14 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Tuscan Cantaloupe

So, with 450 calories to spare toward the end of the day, I had already consumed plenty of fruits and veggies that I could have counted yesterday. I had been doing well on my diet and a McDonald's Sundae sure sounded like a refreshing idea that wouldn't break the calorie count for the day. Instead I went to the fridge, and by the time I would have been at the drive through window after getting ready, I had already consumed half of my sweet and juicy summer melon. Preparation was easier than deciding whether I wanted chocolate or caramel on my sundae, I about froze my teeth eating it, and the total calorie count came out to 100 calories. It also meant not adding a little more cholesterol into my body the night before a blood test that will show how I've been progressing in my cholesterol reduction goals. It probably cost a little more than the sundae (at least short-term) and was pretty satisfied with the substitution.

Day 8 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Key Lime

I haven't had a lot of key lime yet today but I'm still hoping for the dessert we began working on before I had to leave for an appointment. The key limes are about the size of a ping pong ball and are one of two fruits I'll be having from the Carribean region this weekend.

For the sake of my challenge, I ate a whole key lime raw and I have to say it made my lips pucker and my face clench up. These things are sour! My friend and I picked up two bags with the idea of making a nice sorbet tonight and let me tell you, juicing two bags of key lime takes some time. They smelled wonderful and I'm hoping my wife will bring me a serving either to work or for when I get home.

Update: This is by far the most intense sorbet I've ever had. We also added some mint which brings out the intensity even more. My serving size was only 1/2 a cup and that seemed like a lot. Each bite was a blast of sour bitterness followed by the soothing relief of the sweetness of the condensed milk. Maybe we could have used half the lime juice since we were originally planning for two batches. I'm also thinking the greek yogurt we tried using wasn't the best choice as it adds sourness where sourness wasn't really needed. A smoother vanilla yogurt might have been better. We did discuss cream cheese as an option.

While this dessert might have a lot of high-calorie/questionable ingredients for a health challenge, I'm allowing for a little fun in the form of a dessert here and there and by it's nature this dish came with portion control!