Monday, September 22, 2008

Pomegranates and Pumpkin- Two Recipes



We went pomegranate picking this evening and called it FHE- that counts right? Now I've got a bunch of pomegranates sitting in my fridge, so I thought I'd share a Weight Watchers friendly recipe for a refreshing apple pomegranate salad:
2 Apples
1 Pomegranate
1/2 container of cool whip
Mix it all up and divide into 5 servings- 2 points per servings. Its quite yummy- kinda sweet and nutty at the same time. 

I need to find more ways to eat these pomegranates. Let me know if you have any tasty recipes that call for pomegranate. There's a Arab mezza dish that involves walnuts and pomegranates... I can't quite remember what its called, maybe mahamara (I'm sure my dad knows or perhaps Petra has eaten it recently). IT IS TO DIE FOR! In fact, I will die of jealously if my mom and dad are able to enjoy this dish over in Cairo. Sigh. I'm totally crazing some delicious Arab food right now. 

Here's another WW friendly recipe that I made tonight- Pumpkin muffins. 
1 box of cake mix (chocolate or spice)
1 small can of pumpkin
1/2 cup of water
Mix ingredients together and bake according to the box. Makes about 24 muffins at 2 points per muffin. Clark even liked these. I'd say pumpkin deserts are my absolute favorite sweets in the whole world, so these muffins kinda fill that void in my life right now. Yum. But not quite as Yum as a good, soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookie (like the ones Jannalee made once).

Wow, its a little ridiculous how often I think about food. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's my pomegranate recipe:

1. Cut the pomegranate and get all the seeds out and rinsed. Put them in a big bowl.

2. Say "Kids! Free pomegranate seeds!"

3. Wait five minutes.

4. Rinse the empty bowl and repeat.

I'm going to try the apple thing. I bet they wouldn't eat them so fast if they were mixed up with something else.

Anonymous said...

Okay, if you wanted your Dad to comment, all you needed to do was refer to an Arabic mezza dish. Only a small percentage of Arabs outside of Aleppo however would be able to identify the ingredients in muhammara--those who know of it would generally just name walnuts and red pepper as the main components. I am impressed that you know it contains pomegranate syrup as one of its vital flavors. It goes particularly well eaten alongside hummous, but is also delicious eaten with meat or fish.

Should you wish to make your own, here are the ingredients:
-- a 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
--2/3 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
--1/3 cup walnuts, toasted lightly and chopped fine
--2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
--1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
--2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
--1 teaspoon ground cumin
--1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
--3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor blend together the peppers, the bread crumbs, the walnuts, the garlic, the lemon juice, the pomegranate molasses, the cumin, the red pepper flakes, and salt to taste until the mixture is smooth. With the motor running add the oil gradually. Transfer the muhammara to a bowl and serve it at room temperature.

Shelli said...

Yum! Thanks for sharing -- I'll definitely have to try these out. Bonus -- the muhammara recipe for reading and posting comments! Doesn't get better than that!

Emily said...

I am a HUGE pumpkin dessert fan! I'll have to share some of my favorite recipes with you. As far as the pomegranates go, I would for sure make some type of smoothie with them. YUM!