Mad For Cara Cara Oranges

{love the ruby color of these Cara Cara oranges}

After the holiday sugarfest we seem to have had at our home last month, I'm working on my kids eating healthier, and realize my best chance is when they come home from school.

All three of my children come home from school HUNGRY, and there is nothing like a little hunger to get them to munch on anything - hence my best chance of the day to get something nutritious in them.

{Mad for Cara Cara, so sweet!}

The pharmacy at our local Hannaford supermarket had these beautiful Cara Cara oranges on sale. (And they were not in the produce section - they were right there in the pharmacy area! As a nod to good health. Thank you, Hannaford for recognizing food can be the best medicine!)

{Son H and his Cara Cara "smile!}

One of my goals in the new year is to have a healthy snack waiting for the kids when they get home. And these Cara Cara oranges were a hit!

The Cara Cara oranges, a unique mutation cross between the Washington navel and what people believe was a Brazilian Bahia navel, were first discovered in 1976 at Hacienda Cara Cara in Venezuela. The fruit has typical orange skin, but inside the flesh is a gorgeous ruby color.

What makes them great - sweet and juicy with one Cara Cara orange giving you 150% of your daily Vitamin C, 30% of your Vitamin A, 250 mg of potassium AND a healthy dose of Lycopene - the same disease-fighting antioxidant found in tomatoes. (Another type of "red" orange - the blood orange - does not have Lycopene...)

Cara Cara oranges from California are available December through April. I will be on the lookout for more this winter!

Loretta