Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I'm the winner ... I feel so random / winter fruit salad with pomegranate



"We are happy to let you know that your blog was randomly selected as the winner for this week's Foodie Blogroll "POM Wonderful Comment to Win Giveaway" giveaway!
You will receive a receive a package containing: 1 bottle of each flavor of POM Juice (100%, Blueberry, Mango, Cherry, Kiwi, Nectarine) 1 POMx Tea, 1 POMx Iced Coffee, a POM branded journal, a POM pen and a POM branded tote bag made from recycled goods!"

The Foodie Blog Roll Contests: Winner!

This is the email I recently received with the good news that I won a gift package from Pom Wonderful. I've been feeling kind of unlucky lately with my back and all, and this certainly cheered me up. The package came, and I'm excited to be sampling all the Pom flavors. (The iced coffee and the bars contain dairy so I won't be sampling them. And there wasn't a tote bag.)

First I tried the blueberry-pomegranate juice and it was delicious, though I thought the blueberry flavor was overpowered by the pomegranate. My son thought the opposite so I guess you'll have to taste that one for yourself. The cherry flavor, on the other hand, came through loud and strong. Mostly I just drink the juice rather than use it for cooking, but I did use some of the cherry-pomegranate juice for a fruit salad I was concocting for dessert.



Winter fruit salad with pomegranate
For the salad I used one large org. honey crisp apple, one large org. red bartlett pear, one large org. navel orange, two small org. bananas and one pomegranate. The apple and pear were cut into small cubes, the orange was peeled and each segment cut into thirds, the bananas were sliced. The pomegranate seeds were mixed into the salad except for about 1/3 cup which was held back and placed on top.

Before peeling the orange I zested about a teaspoon of the peel to use in the dressing. First, as the fruit was added to the bowl, it was mixed with the juice of half a small lemon to keep it from browning. When all the fruit was cut and mixed together, I made a simple sauce of about 1/4 cup of cherry POM juice with a small splash of vanilla, and the orange zest. This was mixed with the salad before it was topped with the extra seeds. The juice gave the fruit a mellow, rosy glow and a gentle, undertone of mysterious flavor. Along with small baked goods, it was a very pleasant way to end a casual company dinner.

Now I'm off to sample another POM flavor!