I remember trips to our local Farmer’s Market as a little girl. We would always bring home a brown paper bag full of ripe pomegranate fruits. After slicing them in half, I would marvel at the ruby red seeds that looked like jewels. Extracting the seeds took some effort, but that was definitely part of the fun! I can still recall the burst of tartness on my tongue and my red-stained fingers.
In the last several years when the benefits of the pretty pomegranate hit the news, I rediscovered my childhood treat. This “superfood” is packed with antioxidants and promotes heart health. I recenlty met Janny, a blogger for POM Wonderful. She kindly directed me to POM Wonderful’s site and the bevy of recipes that include pomegranate juice and/or seeds. Suddenly my glass of plain ol’ juice seemed in need of a makeover!
Armed with my trusty blender, I set out to create a healthy, tasty, and filling smoothie. What’s fantastic about smoothies is that you can customize your frozen concoction based on your favorite fruits and flavors.
POM-tastic Fruit Smoothie
1 cup POM Wonderful juice
1 cup orange juice
1 banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup mixed frozen fruit (I used a combination of melon, grapes, & peaches)
1 cup fat free plain yogurt
1 tablespoon MLO Brown Rice Protein Powder
Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until liquefied. If smoothie is too thick, add more POM or orange juice to thin out. Makes two 8 ounce smoothies.
Recently, our grocery store had a coupon for a whole seedless watermelon at the low, low price of $3.99! Now realistically, how much watermelon can one family eat? But $3.99 was just too darn good a price to pass up. After purchasing my 14 pound watermelon (I made sure to get the biggest one possible), I knew I had to come up with some creative ways to ingest all of this melon before it became a hairy science project.
Little ol’ me is growing an herb garden. Well, I guess I should clarify; my herb garden is predominantly a mint garden. There are two basil plants thrown in for good measure, but mint is the front runner in the pack. Why? Well, I used to be a vodka kind of girl. In my single, partying days, it was shots of Absolut. Then, as I matured and grew into a responsible adult, it was Grey Goose mixed into various drinks. When I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, my vodka slurping world as I knew it was turned upside down. It was tough enough trying to figure out what food I could ingest, but what was safe to drink?
