Pomegranate Seeds

Do you like pomegranate seeds? They are available only once a year, usually around the holiday season, in November and December.

Tasting delicious and looking gorgeous, they can add beautiful decor to any dish (think about a salad, dessert, main dish, or a breakfast smoothie bowl). But this is not all – pomegranate seeds have many health benefits!

They are rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidants, anthocyanins, tannins, alkaloids, simple organic acids, vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium. Pomegranate seeds are small but mighty inhibitors of inflammation and have anti-atherogenic and anti-hypertensive qualities (Zarfeshany, Asgary, & Javanmard, 2014; Shahindokht, 2018).

Do you know how to get the pomegranate seeds out in a fast and non-messy way? I can show you one idea; it takes slightly more than a minute to get all the seeds out from a pomegranate.

You will need the following equipment:

  • a bowl
  • a cutting board
  • a knife
  • a ladle or an oversized spoon

 

 

 

The steps:

  1. Wash the pomegranate and cut it in half (or quarters, if it is a big fruit).
  2. Put a bowl into a sink, take a piece of a pomegranate in your hand, and turn it upside down so that the seeds are facing the bowl.
  3. Start tapping on a pomegranate using a ladle, until all seeds come out into a bowl. One fruit can yield about 1/2 cup or more of the seeds.
  4. Use immediately or store the seeds in a glass jar in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.
  5. Add to your salads, smoothie bowls, desserts, or main dishes.

Here is a quick video that explains all the steps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEBJAc5ZuRk

If you know a better way to remove the pomegranate seeds, let us hear from you! 🙂

Enjoy!

Nataliya

 

Tomato Celery Cucumber Juice

It is the end of summer and I like to celebrate it with vegetable juice prepared from some local and seasonal produce.

My favorite is a homemade version of V-8 juice. The original V-8 recipe calls for eight vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, spinach, and watercress.

However, I found that if I only have three ingredients, it still tastes pretty yummy.

For this Tomato Celery Cucumber Juice recipe, I like to juice tomato, celery, and cucumber, in any proportion, depending on what I have. The taste of this juice is sweet and salty and can satisfy the salty cravings in a very nutritious way.

To make an easy homemade version of V-8 juice, you will need these ingredients:

  • Tomatoes, 8-10, average size
  • Cucumber, 1 large, or 2 small
  • Celery, 2 stalks

Preparation

Wash and scrub the vegetables. Depending on your juicer, you may need to cut them in halves or quarters. Put the vegetables in the juicer. Enjoy immediately or store in a refrigerator for up to 12 hours to preserve the maximum nutrition.

Here is a quick video on how to make this juice.

To your health,

Nataliya

Reference:

Campbell’s. (2018). V-8 vegetable juice. Retrieved from https://www.campbells.com/v8/vegetable-juice/v8-vegetable-juice/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwiJncBRC1ARIsAOvG-a5wF6jqgUboThqErspcWGGcFK8tUE-FmjSz-EGGVAd2690ad0Le10QaAoiFEALw_wcB