Secret Ingredient: Love

Whew! What a day. I’m not even entirely sure how I still have an ounce of energy left, but with that ounce I must blog.

I arrived home around 7pm to the wonderful smell of our charcoal grill and dinner was underway. My dad prepared some POM cosmopolitans, and we chatted away outside while he cooked the pork tenderloin. My mom was hard at work in the kitchen assembling steamed asparagus and a mixed green salad: mixed greens, mandarin oranges, strawberries, sliced almonds, blue cheese and cherry-raspberry vinaigrette. I love the family aspect of making dinner. It is so much fun when everyone shares in its preparation, relaxing and enjoyable. My dad also paired our dinner with a Diseno Malbec.

Grilling  is one of my favorite things to do in the summer time. I think EVERYHING tastes better on the grill, especially on charcoal because it enhances the meat’s flavor. The pork was perfectly cooked with a slightly pink center.  Good work dad! The wine choice went really well with the meat. Diseno is dryer than most Malbecs I’ve had but has a nice smokey flavor with cherry undertones. My mom’s side dishes were so fresh and clean. I love the combination of fruit and blue cheese on salads.

Dessert was my contribution to the meal. I brought home a slice of Mixed-Berry Open Faced Tart from the bakery. It was so nice to share something from work with my parents! It was crisp and delicious!

After dessert I had the urge to plan for breakfast tomorrow morning. My mom is making cupcakes to take to lunch with our extended family, so I decided to get a jump on my cooking  around 9pm so that I wouldn’t be in her way in the morning. I couldn’t decide between biscotti and carrot cake muffins, so I made both. The biscotti were the Holiday Biscotti that I made around Christmas time and contain pistachios, dried cranberries and dried apricots. My family likes biscotti and cappuccino on Sunday after breakfast, and loved these the last time I made them so I thought it would be a nice addition. Easter reminds me of carrot cake and it is essential that I make some form of it. I decided on carrot cake muffins. I somewhat made the recipe up, so hopefully they will taste okay!My second wind just ended, and I am beat! Time for bed!

Happy Easter,

Nora

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Bact to Basics: Stove Top Oats

Dear Oats, I miss you. Love Always, Nora.

I haven’t had my beloved stove top oats in a few days, and oh how I have missed them! There is nothing better than a bowl of creamy, luscious and hearty oats to start the day off right. I can honestly say that no other breakfast satisfies me the way oatmeal with fruit and nut butter does. Be still my heart.

I wanted to thank Kristen at POM Wonderful for contacting me and sending me some bottles of POM juice to test out. I will use the juice in much more creative ways, but I HAD to incorporate POM into my oats as my first cooking endeavor. Breakfast today was: Banana Oats with Almond Butter and Mango-Blueberry Pomegranate Sauce.

The Base: 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/3 cup water, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, 1/2 sliced banana, 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/2 TBS chia seeds. Bring everything up to banana up to a simmer, add oats and seeds, cook for ~8 minutes “whipping” banana at the end.

Mango-Blueberry POM sauce: In a small sauce pan combine blueberries, mango and cinnamon. Add POM to coat, simmer and stir until slightly reduced.

I also added 1 TBS of Almond Butter directly to the center and poured the warm sauce over it. YUM! I’m also thinking OIAJ (oats in a jar) might be necessary tomorrow, based on the condition of my almond butter jar. Happy Friday to me :)!

To the Most Important Meal of the Day,

Nora

What are your favorite flavor combinations using pomegranate?

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