Sunday, November 20, 2011

Red Kale Pomegranate Smoothie

It's a rainy Sunday at our house. My kitchen is a total disaster and I am procrastinating. I just made this fabulous smoothie, with the tart flavor of pomegranate balanced with the sweetness of a ripe banana.

I do realize my pictures suck. Working on it.

I came back from squeezing in a 3.5 mile run before it started raining again, and wanted to have something healthy. Let me preface this by saying we took the kids to the drive-in to see Puss n' Boots last night and my dinner consisted of massive amounts of homemade popcorn seasoned with salt and olive oil accompanied by many M&M's and a large plastic cup of red wine. Yeah.

So back to my healthy smoothie. I bought this pomegranate at the Farmer's Market and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I always do that. I buy them because they are in season and they look so good, and then I end up just snacking on them plain. Not that there is anything wrong with that...but I was hoping to be more creative since I have time on my hands. I'm procrastinating from cleaning my kitchen (and folding laundry too), remember?

You will need:
1/2 pomegranate, seeded
1/2 cup crushed ice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup almond milk
1 small banana flavored yogurt
1/2 ripe banana
3 red kale leaves, chopped in small pieces and tough bottom stems discarded
a blender - slotted spoon - strainer


Well this turned out to be a little time consuming but I am happy with the finished product. Start by putting on an apron, dark shirt, or other shirt that you don't mind getting stained. Cut the pomegranate in half, and gently peeled off the larger hunks from the seeds. Then, I got a bowl of water and submerged the pomegranate and continued to "detail" the removal of the outer peeling. I learned this from an episode of Martha Stewart years ago. The yummy pom seeds will sink, and the yucky white stuff that you are removing will rise to the top. It's not a perfect system, but it does make it a bit easier because the water keeps the white stuff from sticking to your hands.


Then I took a slotted spoon and removed all the white stuff from the top. Gosh, I am sorry I keep staying "white stuff' but I don't know what the technical term is. I poured out the water and I was left with this:


Beautiful right? So I added the ice, almond milk and water to my blender. Next I added the pom seeds, the kale leaves and banana. Whirrrrr.....

 
I will share with you my trial and error. I am used to adding water to my kale smoothies because it is usually required to blend up the kale leaves easily and prevent the "chunk" factor. I think the pom seeds contained enough water that extra H20 may not have been necessary. When I poured the smoothie it was more like a juice. Which would have been fine, but I like a little more substance. Plus, I knew I needed a protein source anyway. Back to the blender with the yogurt I had in the fridge:


I also realized that the edible seed portion attached to the fruit - which is an excellent source of fiber, by the way - did not grind up in the Bullet. Great if you want fiber, and annoying if you are trying to drink something and keep getting little bits in your mouth. After blending in the yogurt, I poured the smoothie through a strainer and into a glass. Much better!

This was so yummy! Definitely worth it if you have a little extra time on your hands. You can also buy the pom seeds without having to do the work, but they are pricey. I'm sure pomegranate juice would also be a good short cut, with less fiber. 

Pomegranate is an excellent source of vitamin C and B5 as well as antioxidants. Kale is an excellent source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B and betacarotene. (source: Wikipedia).

Enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. That looks so healthily yums. I never quite know what to do with pomegranate either because of the seed factor. That's why I hardly ever buy poms. Okay, so now I know you can "bullet" it and then strain it out, great idea, I've got to try that, thanks!

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  2. This looks so good. I love kale in my smoothies! And, sidenote, I think we have the same glasses. :)

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  3. This looks really good! I love making smoothies, especially to get extra greens into my daughter. Can I add you to my blogroll? Would you be willing to do the same? I'm slowly connecting with the running mamas around. :)

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