I remember as a teenager being very fond of Orange Julius. For those of you unfamiliar with this company, they have an iconic milky orange drink called, wait for it, the Orange Julius. Back in the olden days I think it was just orange but, looking on their website, they have all kinds of new-fangled fruity flavours. Not interested; love the original flavour. But like all favourite things in youth there’s a sting in the tail; or rather, an artificial chemical in the cup. Not sure what they have in it, but what it doesn’t seem to have is real milk, all fruit and a hint of real vanilla. Maybe back in the day it did, but I bet my Kitchen Aid blender it doesn’t now. But no worries because in this recipe you get all the yummy nostalgic taste of the 70s version, but without the (alleged) stabililsers, preservatives, flavour enhancers and what not. I mean really, does fruit need flavour enhancers? Not my fruit salad, thank you very much.
Orange Julius wasn’t even on my mind when I come up with this breakfast treat. It was really a happy accident of combining Greek yogurt, a smidge of Steenberg’s amazing vanilla powder, a squirt of agave, and a squeeze of the skin from a badly peeled orange. When I first took a spoonful I was instantly transported back to my 70s uniform of crocheted tank top and polyester short shorts (and those razor sharp flip flops…). I mixed up a little more and stirred it into a seasonal fruit salad and was instantly happy. I have since made it for proteining-up all kinds of breakfast and dessert fruit salads, and stirred into Bircher-type muesli. And it of course can be made up as a smoothie, although I am more fond of chewing my fruit.
Anytime you want to feel instantly happy in the morning put together this quick, nutritious and exceedingly tasty breakfast ‘Orange Julius’ Fruit Salad. Toe-shredding flip flops optional.
This was a quickie post with not-so-fab photos, but it’s a busy week so I hope you’ll forgive the near slap-dash approach. I am still wanting your breakfast ideas and your best food-related top tip for the morning. The last breakfast post in this mini-series will be next week, where I will share your ideas as well as some great stuff I have found in my on-line searching. So put on your thinking cap and come back to me with your ideas: family-friendly, solo, a deaux, whatever. All welcome.
Orange Julius Fruit Salad
Last year: Fragrant Tofu Thai Green Curry
Miss R’s Track of the Week: One Republic’s “Good Life”
This is more of an idea than a proper recipe. Use whatever fruit you like and make it any concentration or quantity. Here’s what I like for just me.
1 small orange or a satsuma/clementine
2 heaped tablespoons non-fat Greek yogurt; or you could use full-fat, non-dairy, Quark or fromage frais (latter two advised for if you are on chemo)
pinch of vanilla powder or paste (less than 1/8 tsp – it’s strong stuff). I love Steenberg’s organic vanilla powder (I use it in loads of things)
a squirt of agave nectar, honey or a few drops stevia (optional)
Any prepared/cut-up fruit that you like, and some toasted nuts for added protein, satisfaction, flavour and crunch.
For the Orange Julius ‘sauce’ plop the yogurt into a small bowl. 
Halve the orange and cut one half into segments and squeeze the juice of the other half into the yogurt; add in the vanilla powder and any extra sweetness you like – I like agave, but only a little bit, the orange is plenty sweet. Give it a good stir and dollop onto your prepared fruit, or mix in like I did today (see the messy pic with the grated apple, blueberries and strawberries). Makes one greedy, big bowl. Enjoy!
Halve the orange and cut one half into segments and squeeze the juice of the other half into the yogurt; add in the vanilla powder and any extra sweetness you like – I like agave, but only a little bit, the orange is plenty sweet. Give it a good stir and dollop onto your prepared fruit, or mix in like I did today (see the messy pic with the grated apple, blueberries and strawberries). Makes one greedy, big bowl. Enjoy!
Sounds delicious to me, and I need to find some vanilla bean powder-yum! I too have fond memories drinking orange Julius as a kid. My dad would take me to the food court at the mall {where there was also ice skating} and we would dine on orange Julius’ and corn dogs. Oh, my! Have you ever tried blending orange juice, egg white powder and ice? I swear it tastes just like an orange Julius. Try it!
I remember the mall trawl days when the highlight was an orange julius and, for us, a hot pretzel with loads of mustard. But we didn’t have an ice skating rink; that sounds posh! And no, I haven’t tried the homemade orange julius with egg white powder cos I haven’t actually thought about tht flavour in years. Time to revisit! Thanks for the mini recipe 😀
Sounds so good! I loved Orange Julius too. We haven’t had one around here for years so we ‘copycat’ at home, but it’s never the same.
Maybe try The Spicy RD’s suggestion; she always has good ideas 😀 I hope you try the yogurty version. thanks for stopping by
Looks delish! Love the photos too 🙂
Thank you! And thanks re the photos too. I was rushed but wanted to get this out before the week slipped away in a haze of teaching and cooking (and teenage chauffeuring).
Mmmm… I am making this NOW! Sounds tasty!! Your pics are good btw. I miss Orange Julius stops; we don’t have ’em here anymore.
From what I read Orange Julius was bought some time ago by Dairy Queen, so if you have a DQ (and where in the US doesn’t have DQ) you can probably get an OJ. But, meantime – or instead of – I hope you make this little easy version with the healthy add ons
My favorite breakfast is scramble eggs or a fried egg with spinach sauteed in the pan all on a corn tortilla with salsa on top. Sometimes I melt a little cheese on the egg. My favorite sweet breakfast is oatmeal made with almond flour, flax seeds, chia seeds, and cranberries. I usually add just a tad of maple syrup, when I make it for my kids I cook it in milk instead of water to add calories since they are very under weight that makes it very rich.
Mmm that sounds really good Emilia. Lucky children to have such healthy brekkies. And lucky you that they eat them! I am intrigued by the oatmeal with almond flour, etc. Is that instead of oats, or as well as? Love spinach at breakfast too(as well as kale 😀 ). I probably have spinach or kale for breakfast at least three times a week. I hope that’s within the range of normal human behaviour…
The almond flour is in addition to the oatmeal. I usually do about 1/4 cup of oats and ground flax seed and 1 tsp of chia seeds. Then I cook it like I would the oatmeal, then I add in the almond flour to create a thick texture because my kids like to make the oatmeal into little balls and eat them like that, this all started when I was trying to find ways of adding in protein to everything they were eating to get them onto the growth chart for weight :). It worked and they love to eat it that way now and I like it best like that now too, I actually never liked oatmeal until having it this way.
That sounds a really good protein boost. Chia seeds only being more widely available so I will be playing with those in some recipes. Do your kids like nuts? For weight gain with children I like almond butter in suitable foods. Maybe a British-style/Indian rice pudding made with coconut milk and a dollop of almond butter added. Really delicious!
That sounds good. My kids do ok with nuts, they have to have them kind of small or they are too hard to chew which is why I do the ground almond but almond butter is a good idea too. We do a snack that they both love I call apple pizza. It is super simple, slice apples, spread on almond butter/peanut butter (sauce), use unsweetened shredded coconut for the “cheese”. I have a post about the weight issue and the apple pizza at my blog about kids if you want to see it. http://bloggingemilia.blogspot.com/2012/01/calories-count.html. Do you have a recipe for a British style rice pudding? I have never made rice pudding!
I like apples with almond butter for a quick breakfast, but the addition of shredded coconut ‘cheese’ sounds great, especially for little ones. I will have a look at your weight and children piece, although my only child is now 16! And a better eater than me, really (ashamed to say). Here’s a link to a well-considered article about elements of rice pudding and a fabulously indulgent recipe that I am sure could be adapted by you. I am firmly in the baked rice pudding camp, btw. You’ll see what I mean if you read the Guardian article here http://bit.ly/bCQSqM PS Sorry that I didn’t see your comment earlier. For some reason it was hiding in the spam file, of which you are most definitely NOT!
YUM! Looks and sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, I will def have to try this sometime! :]
-Melanie Gordon
Independent Scentsy Consultant
It’s super easy and quite yummy if you like the Orange Julius vibe. Thanks for commenting
Kellie, this sounds like a wonderful breakfast for the warmer months! Thanks so much for sharing it. I can happily eat a mango or a bowlful of blueberries for breakfast during summer. I do enjoy my gluten free hotcakes/pikelets. Recipe on my blog. Have a great day!
Per my response to Emilia, as well as eating more greens at breakfast than is probably normal,I get through a lot of blueberries. Pikelets and hotcakes are so nice and comforting, and great weekend food if from scratch. As a matter of fact I am making some ricotta hotcakes for Miss R tomorrow as it is her birthday. Next time I will have a gander at your gf recipe. Looking forward to it already. Thanks for sharing your breakfast with us.
Love your blog. I just nominated you for ”ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD”. Congratulations and have fun!
(and you won)
That’s brilliant Dan! And it’s Miss R’s birthday so nice to get a ‘pressie’ too!