A family / food blog celebrating whole fresh food, In Sock Monkey Slippers is the amusing day to day life of Meredith Steele cooking in her sock monkey slippers.
With school well under way, it’s a daily task to keep my daughter’s lunches healthy while being exciting and delicious enough for her to want to eat. When I was contacted by City Of Hope to write a healthy back to school recipe for their Superfoods Initiative I immediately thought of a simple, colorful, nutritious blueberry and pomegranate smoothie. Smoothies are very enticing for kids and the best part about packing a smoothie for your children’s school lunch is that you can make it the night before, store it in a freezable container, pack it the next day, and once it’s time to eat lunch the smoothie has thawed into a cold delicious treat.
City of Hope is a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases. Everyday they pursue new and better ways to improve the lives of millions around the world and one way they are accomplishing that is through spreading the word about healthy eating. Researchers at City of Hope have found five foods that fight cancer: pomegranates, mushrooms, blueberries, grapes, and cinnamon. Join City Of Hope’s Superfoods Innititave on Facebook to learn more and find many healthy recipes each week.
Blueberry & Pomegranate Smoothiemakes 1 cup
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup fat-free or 2% Greek yogurt
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1 tsp honey
1.Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on medium until mixed and smooth. If serving immediately, pour into a cup and serve.
2.If packing the smoothie for a school lunch: Pour into a freezable cup with a lid. A BPA free cup is preferred.
3. Place in the freezer and freeze overnight.
4. Place the frozen smoothie in a lunch box and by the time your child is ready for lunch the smoothie will be thawed and perfectly cold and delicious.
cooks notes: If planing to serve right away, use frozen blueberries for a thicker colder smoothie.
* For this recipe I used organic fresh blueberries and 2% Greek Yogurt. Pictured above is a stainless, airtight, BPA free travel cup by Innobaby
Blueberry & Pomegranate Smoothiemakes 1 cup
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup fat-free or 2% Greek yogurt
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1 tsp honey
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on medium until mixed and smooth. Pour into a cup and serve. If serving immediately, pour into a cup and serve.
If packing the smoothie for a school lunch: Pour into a freezable cup with a lid. A BPA free cup is preferred.
Place in the freezer and freeze overnight.
Place the frozen smoothie in a lunch box and by the time your child is ready for lunch the smoothie will be thawed and perfectly cold and delicious.
cooks notes: If planing to serve right away, use frozen blueberries for a thicker colder smoothie.
It’s officially fall and what’s a fall football Sunday without a bloody mary? It’s boring one, that’s what. Now, I’m not sitting over here pounding back the drinks every Sunday, but every now and then when we get together with a few friends it just seems the right thing to do.
I had my first bloody mary on a Saturday morning on a college visit to Ole Miss. It was game day and I had found myself in the Alumni tent with two in each in hand and many people telling me why I should choose this fine school. There was nothing not to like about this place. I had been there three glorious days so far and was invited to many social functions, amazing parties for a senior in high school, gorgeous landscape, and now bloody marys and football?! Can you say awesome? I came home thinking this place is definitely for me and when my mom asked me how I liked the school, I had realized I never stepped foot on campus. In conclusion, I chose a different path and five uh.. seven …uh thir…fifte years later and till this day I still remember how good bloody marys and early afternoon football games pair together.
Here’s my favorite way to make a bloody mary. A three day habanero soak in vodka brings a little crisp bite to the amazingly fresh squeezed tomato juice. Top it off with a salt and black pepper rim and a circle of bacon and you have yourself the ultimate bloody mary that’s worth the work. I recently made these for a brunch party and had our friend the Bloody Mary Connoisseur pleasently surprised.
Fresh Tomato Habanero Infused Bloody Marys makes 8 drinks depending on how large a glass you pour
1 1/2 cups vodka
3 whole habanero peppers
8 slices bacon, thickly sliced
4 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
3 celery ribs
1 small bunch parsley, about 1 packed cup
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 Tbs horseradish, bottled
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Tabasco
1 tsp Worcestershire
2 Tbs Kosher Salt
1 Tbs ground black pepper
lemon wedges to salt rims of glasses
for garnish: 8 celery stalks and 8 olives
1. To get the best taste, plan on starting this three days before you want to serve. In an air-tight container, place 3 whole habaneros in 1 1/2 cups of your favorite vodka. Let sit in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a cooling rack on top. This is not neccessary, you can cook bacon directly on foil but using a cooling rack helps cook the bacon evenly and allows the fat to drip away. Place bacon slices on top of the cooling rack. For a nice presentation, lay the bacon flat with both ends touching each other creating a bacon circle. With scissors make a cut on one side of the circle, creating a wedge for the bacon to sit on the rim of the glass (be careful not to cut all the way through the bacon slice). Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked and crisp. Set aside to cool.
3. If you have a juicer, this next step is easy. Following your juicer instructions, place tomatoes, celery, and parsley in the juicer and “juice.” Discard or compost soilds. Set the juice in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to 1 day. If you don’t have a juicer, purée tomatoes, celery, parsley in several batches in a food processor or high powered blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and chill at least 1 hour. Force through a food mill or strainer into a bowl, discarding solids.
4. Next, remove the habaneros from the vodka. In a large pitcher combine fresh tomato juice, sea salt, horseradish, lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire, and vodka. Stir well to combine. Add more sea salt to taste, if necessary.
5. To assemble: Mix kosher salt and pepper on a plate. Moisten the rim of each glass with lemon wedge, then dip rim in salt and pepper mixture. Fill glass with ice and pour bloody mary over ice. Garnish with a slice of bacon on the rim, an olive and a celery stalk.
enjoy.
Fresh Tomato Habanero Bloody Marys With Bacon
makes 8 drinks depending on how large a glass you pour
1 1/2 cups vodka
3 whole habanero peppers
8 slices bacon, thickly sliced
4 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
3 celery ribs
1 small bunch parsley, about 1 packed cup
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 Tbs horseradish, bottled
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Tabasco
1 tsp Worcestershire
2 Tbs Kosher Salt
1 Tbs ground black pepper
lemon wedges to salt rims of glasses
for garnish: 8 celery stalks and 8 olives
1. To get the best taste, plan on starting this three days before you want to serve. In an air-tight container, place 3 whole habaneros in 1 1/2 cups of your favorite vodka. Let sit in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a cooling rack on top. This is not neccessary, you can cook bacon directly on foil but using a cooling rack helps cook the bacon evenly and allows the fat to drip away. Place bacon slices on top of cooling rack. For a nice presentation, lay the bacon flat with both ends touching each other creating a bacon circle. With scissors make a cut on one side of the circle, creating a wedge for the bacon to sit on the rim of the glass (be careful not to cut all the way through the bacon slice). Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked and crisp. Set aside to cool.
3. If you have a juicer, this next step is easy. Following your juicer instructions, place tomatoes, celery, and parsley in the juicer and juice. Discard or compost soilds. Set in the refrigerator for 1 hour to 1 day. If you don’t have a juicer, purée tomatoes, celery, parsley in several batches in a food processor or high powered blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and chill at least 1 hour. Force through a food mill or strainer into a bowl, discarding solids.
4. Next, remove the habaneros from the vodka. In a large pitcher combine fresh tomato juice, sea salt, horseradish, lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire, and vodka. Stir well to combine. Add more sea salt to taste, if necessary.
5. To assemble: Mix kosher salt and pepper on a plate. Moisten outside of rim of each glass with lemon wedge, then dip rim in salt and pepper mixture. Fill glass with ice and pour bloody mary over ice. Garnish with a slice of bacon on the rim, an olive and a celery stalk.
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