The lovely people at Pom Wonderful sent me a case of 8-ounce bottles of their wonderful Pom Wonderful juice and I want to share them with you. The first 3 people to comment and leave a recipe using pomegranate juice will receive 2 of those 8-ounce bottles. Mind you, it will not count if you use a recipe already posted here by me! If you use an already published recipe from a cookbook, website, or magazine – that is fine, just be sure to credit where ever you are using it.  To get you going… here is a little recipe from me to you.

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It’s hard to beat a great homemade soup on a cold winter’s day. I love soup any time of year, but particularly in the winter, and this hearty winter soup is guaranteed to warm you inside and out. If you made turkey stock with the Thanksgiving bird, all the better, but store-bought broth will work here too. Pair it with warm crusty bread and your day will end on a high note. (In the picture, you may notice the soup is missing the grated swiss cheese on top. Don’t tell my family, but I forgot to add it… they will be sad when they find out, but it honestly was delicious anyhow!)

In addition to the kitchen ornament picture at the end of the post, here is a picture of a fresh pomegranate centerpiece I created for the season. To make; stack pomegranates and use a glue gun to hold them in place.  Put the “pomegranate pyramid” on the pretty tray or plate and fill in spaces with fresh bay leaves, pine boughs, eucalyptus cuttings, holly, etc. Poke cinnamon sticks in to finish. This arrangement is beautifully fresh and will dry wonderfully too.
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Before we get to the second poached pear recipe – a momentous occasion – for me, at least.  This is my 100th post, never imagined I’d get here when I began my blog back in August! Oh, Happy Day!  OK, enough self-congratulatory for now and on to the work at hand… savory poached pears…

Pears were poached in a sweet liquid and used for dessert in yesterday’s post. Today, these wine-poached pears are used in a savory salad. The flesh takes on a gorgeous deep red color.

Walnut oil is used for the vinaigrette, but olive oil can be substituted. Nut oils should always be stored in the refrigerator. Just like the nuts they come from, the oils go rancid quickly at room temperature.

The “seeds” of a fresh pomegranate are called arils and they should be showing up in markets since it is pomegranate season, take advantage and purchase them now, the season is short. The good news – arils can be frozen. To freeze, spread arils in a single layer on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer for about two hours. Transfer frozen arils to a labeled and dated zip-lock bag. You can easily remove the amount you need when desired and return the rest quickly to the freezer.  They will keep for about 6 months.

This salad is beautiful for any of the upcoming holidays and the poaching liquid can be saved for an upcoming Thanksgiving recipe for Pearl Onions and Wild Mushrooms in Red Wine Sauce, which will be posted later this week.*
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In a comment on the “Pomegranate – Another Super Food” post, Marissa requested a guacamole recipe that includes pomegranate seeds.  This amazingly delicious recipe comes from Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza, chef/owner of Bario Cafe in Phoenix, Arizona. It is simple and straightforward and oh so addictive!  Over the years, I’ve made one tiny change – and that is changing the serving size.  The original recipe was half the amount that I have here to serve four.  Believe me, it was never enough, so I have doubled the ingredients and now it really will serve four and they will be a very happy four people!  One of the best tips ever – is to slice or dice avocado, cut it in half as usual and remove the pit.  Place one half of the avocado in the palm of your hand and, using a table knife, slice or dice the flesh while still in the shell/peel. Repeat with the remaining half and then, using a spoon, scoop the avocado out and into a bowl or onto a plate.  No need to peel, easy, and no mess!  Another bonus, if you have a large number of avocados to slice for use later in the day, slice or dice as directed, then replace the pit and put the avocado back together like puzzle pieces and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, set aside, then just scoop out when ready.  This keeps the avocado from turning brown and prevents you from having to prep it all at the last minute.
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It’s Saturday and Dave and I are at NAU in Flagstaff with our freshman, Connor, enjoying “Parents’ Weekend”.  Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Why don’t you have a couple of friends over and enjoy this fun and tasty drink?

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Ah, the joy of seedless watermelons!  It may be fun to eat a slice of watermelon outside in the summer sun and spit out the seeds, even having contests to see whose seeds will “go the distance”… but cooking with watermelons with all those mature black seeds, is no fun at all!  Seedless watermelons were developed some 40 to 50 years ago, but it’s only been in the last decade or so that they have become a staple in the grocery stores. Seedless watermelons still have white seed coats, which is where the seed did not mature and are fine to swallow while eating. For a more in-depth description and scientific look at seedless watermelons and to answer the question everyone asks, “how do they grow seedless watermelons without a seed?” go to this link – very interesting and informative.  While you’re reading and learning, enjoy this refreshing melon salad for lunch (or dinner). The “lunch and learn” in the title is a happy memory of when I was a room mom in my kids’ grade school days and parents would come in at lunchtime and read to the kids in small groups while we all ate out sack lunches… good times!

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Pom tree in my backyard

It’s pomegranate season and I love pomegranates! They are beautiful and delicious. Great eaten straight out of the hand, or seed and juice to use in recipes, and pretty to dry and use in floral, household, and holiday decor.

Plus pomegranates are a “Super Food”. A single pomegranate or 1/2 cup of its juice provides 40% of an adult’s recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and is a rich source of folic acid and vitamins A and E. One pomegranate also contains three times the antioxidant properties of red wine or green tea.

Researchers report that the pomegranate’s antioxidants can keep bad LDL cholesterol from oxidizing (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2000). In addition, pomegranate juice, like aspirin, can help keep blood platelets from clumping together to form unwanted clots. Researchers have found that eight ounces of pomegranate juice daily for three months improved the amount of oxygen getting to the heart muscle of patients with coronary heart disease (American Journal of the College of Cardiology, Sept. 2005).

To juice a pomegranate, cut it in half (as you would citrus) and juice using a citrus juicer or reamer. Pour mixture through a cheesecloth-lined strainer. One large pomegranate will produce about 1/2 cup of juice.

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Me at 2 years old

I finally took on a task that I’d been putting off for months… OK, not months, years!  Scanning pictures that are “pre-digital” onto my computer. See, this is what happens when your kids leave you for college – you do things! I found this picture in the stack and just couldn’t resist posting it. I am two years old here, according to my mom’s writing on the back. With an apron on! Wow, who knew?

Today’s tip has to do with fresh ginger root. It is something I don’t always have on hand but not something I’m willing to go to the store for if it’s the only thing I need. So I always buy a bit bigger piece than I’ll need, I peel the extra and slice it into “coins” about 1/2-inch thick. I have a jar in my fridge that I keep the ginger coins in that is filled with Sherry. That way whenever you need fresh ginger and don’t have it in the produce drawer, just pull out a coin or two, mince it up and you’re ready to go!

When working with pork tenderloin, you must always trim away the silver skin. Silver skin is a layer of white connective tissue or membrane that you find on pork tenderloin and a variety of other tender meats.  It is tough as rubber and needs to be removed before cooking.  It is not difficult to do; cut it off in then strips, angling a sharp paring knife against the membrane, not the meat, then slide your knife along the silver skin, pulling back tightly on it, and continue to do so until the loin is clean. See the picture below.
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This is one of my favorite recipes of all time. I have served it as an appetizer (using the leg of lamb cubes for little kebabs) and as a main course, as here with lamb chops, to literally hundreds of people and there has never been even one person who didn’t love it.

People who had given up on lamb saying that they found it too “gamey” ask for the recipe! The pomegranate juice truly transforms the lamb into the most delicious meat imaginable.

Pomegranate molasses can be found bottled in many Middle East markets, but it could not be easier to make yourself. You can see the 3 ingredients in the photo above.

A couple of items in the photo may look strange – allow me to explain. You ask, “What are those black sticks in your sugar jar?”

Answer: They are dried vanilla beans. You see, every time a recipe calls for a fresh vanilla bean, let’s say crème brûlée… once I’ve finished with the bean, I dry it off, and stick it in my sugar jar. The sugar takes on a hint of vanilla flavor, a bonus for just about any recipe calling for sugar.

Next question – “What is that stuff floating in the measuring cup holding the Pom juice?”

Answer: Frozen lemon juice. Living in Scottsdale, we have an abundance of citrus trees and in December – February, that citrus is coming out of our ears. My one and only lemon tree produced a plethora of lemons this year. I was zesting and juicing lemons daily for months plus giving away boxes upon boxes of citrus. It was a huge pain then, but of course, I am grateful and happy now with all the zip-locks bulging from my freezer.

To freeze the juice, I fill standard-size muffin tins to nearly the top (each muffin cup holds 1/4 cup of juice) and freeze the tins uncovered overnight. The next day, label a gallon-size zip-lock freezer bag with the date and “1/4 cup lemon juice each.” Then pop out the frozen “juice muffins” and immediately get them into the labeled zip-locks and back into the freezer. They will keep for about 1 year, just in time to start the process over again.

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