Buzzing the O.J.

     Have I mentioned that I grew up in Florida?  It's true.  Born and raised.  And we all know what Florida is great for, right?  Yes, I mean besides the beaches... and the sunshine... and Disney.  Cmon!  It's the Orange Juice!  I think there may be some kind of state law or something that prohibits people from drinking bad orange juice once they cross the state line.  You would have to look that one up, though.

     I spent a few years living in Orlando where Disney World was just a way of life.  They have these magical fairies (or maybe they are called Sous Chefs) that actually squeeze fresh orange juice right there in the restaurants.  When I tell you that I know good orange juice, I am not exaggerating.  I can talk your ear off about it.  But, alas, I live in North Carolina now.  And as much as I love my new home, I admit that I miss the fresh Florida orange juice yumminess.

     You're probably wondering what brought on this sudden O.J. nostalgia.  Well, last week an icy cold bottle of Tropicana Vitamin C & Zinc showed up on my doorstep courtesy of BzzAgent and Tropicana.  They actually wanted to know what I thought about the new orange juice with triple the Vitamin C & Zinc. What they weren't aware of was how this campaign would make me homesick and drive me to orange juice nuttiness.

     If you have followed my blog this far, you know I'm a big proponent of taking your kitchen back to basics.  You can probably guess that while I am advocating scratch cooking, I also believe that it's best to get your vitamins from your food, not little pills.  Now, that's not medical advice or anything.  Definitely listen to your doctor about these things.  But, like I've said before, does logic tell you it's better to get your Vitamin C out of a dry little tablet, or a glass of real orange juice with no water or sugar added?  Everyone who knows me knows that I am jumping up and down right now pointing at the orange juice.  Triple the Vitamin C & Zinc in Tropicana orange juice (one of my favorite brands anyway) is just a super food bonus to me.

     So, they sent me this bottle of yummy juice for free so I could tell you all about it.  Unfortunately, the magical fairies that squeeze their juice also like to strain it - so no pulp.  Awwww man.  Bummer.  Love my pulp in my O.J.  But I know tons of people who disagree with me on that subject, so I figure Tropicana took a vote or something and the pulp people lost.  That's alright.  As long as it's good juice, I can go with it.


     Now, one great thing about living in Florida where there is such an abundant supply of great orange juice is that we find really interesting things to do with it.  I could go on about all the wonderful drinks that we used to mix with orange juice, but since they are all icy cold and it's 37 degrees out right now, I would rather tell you about Cinnamon Orange Juice Cake.  I found this recipe at All Recipes.  It's really more of a coffee cake.  But the real trick is that the cake batter uses orange juice for the liquid component.  I recommend checking out the recipe.  Just be prepared for it to take longer in the oven than the recipe says.  Mine took 40 minutes.

     Anyway, I saved the last 16oz of my orange juice to make this recipe.  I am glad I did.  It is a nice recipe.  Something different for a coffee cake.  You get a nice orange flavor from it that I doubt you would get from a lesser quality, watered down juice.  It's definitely worth a try.

     That's it for today's post.  Go grab yourself some Tropicana Vitamin C & Zinc, and whip up a nice coffee cake for yourself.  While you are waiting for it in the oven, pour yourself a glass of juice and plop down at the computer to check out BzzAgent.  Who knows what cool stuff they might send to your doorstep for free?  You can follow my link here to sign up.  BzzAgent