Healthy Recipe: Simple Citrus Salad with Coconut

How were your holidays? Amazing, relaxing, exciting...bad? They can be bad. You're allowed to have a real bummer of a holiday too. I'm going to go with 'tropical' on our end. In two ways. Or maybe three.

1. It was 70 degrees here in Virginia on Christmas. 
2. I didn't work. I DIDN'T WORK! I actually took a break for the first time in forever.
3. And third...I drank a lot. Also that. Very beach-like behavior. 

On kind of a non-vacation like note, the husband and I also took the time to do another 'house purge'. It has become one of our favorite things to do (so maybe it was vacation-like) periodically because as it turns out, we are both minimalists at heart and it brings us great joy to know there is nothing in our house that we don't love/isn't useful. Over the past three years, it's honestly taken us to this point to get rid of the 'stuff' we had acquired from family. In the most loving way possible. After his Mom went to the tropics and sold their huge Northern Virginia house, we kind of absorbed a lot of the stuff that was in that house. BTW, our house is NOT as big as that house, both in scale (historic home=narrow halls) and square footage. That being said, we also have a super different aesthetic than basically everyone. We've become very honest with ourselves and knowing it's okay to get rid of 'stuff' that we don't love. And with finally getting to that perfect point of only having things we love in the house, we are also now working on re-doing our master bedroom. Like adults. Meaning purchasing drapery. We are officially that age when we buy drapes and like water crackers and raisins. Please buy me a condo in Florida and a velour tracksuit for my next birthday. 

This year I've definitely been appreciating winter produce. Yes, I repeat, WINTER produce. All the citrus. Please provide many pomegranates as well. When you look at this healthy, simple citrus salad just enjoy how colorful and bright it is! Usually people think of winter produce as brown, brown and slight beige but please remember it is citrus and pomegranate season. And that's a reason to celebrate for sure. To take this to the next level, this nice breakfast addition or healthy dessert is topped with shredded coconut and yes, even a sprinkle of sugar. It really helps even out the bitterness that sometimes comes through in grapefruit. Despite what you might think, you are not fat, splurging or 'ruining your diet' by adding this less than a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to this fruit salad. So calm down. Food is about balancing flavors and today a little extra sugar is going to help us accomplish that. It's all good.

In terms of what to pair this with, I'm seeing Icelandic yogurt, whole wheat pancakes or waffles (here's our recipe) or maybe some muesli or oats. Please artfully add a few half consumed cups of coffee on the table, stand on a chair and take a top down Instagram picture. And I guess you can eat it then. 

Simple Winter Citrus Salad

serves 2

/// Ingredients /// 

• 1 large Florida grapefruit
• 2 medium navel oranges
• 1/4th of a pomegranate
• 2 T shredded coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

/// Directions /// Slice citrus in half from stem to bottom. Make slices, working away from the center 'core'. Think 'soccer snack' oranges. Use your knife to cut the fruit from the peel and pith. Remove pomegranate gems from the pomegranate and pick away any of the white part of the peel that can sometimes fall in. Add coconut and a sprinkle of sugar. Toss to combine.