Southwest Pomegranate & Avocado Salad

Pomegranates and avocados are two of my favorite ingredients – if I see a recipe that incorporates either, I almost always save it to my Pinterest. This salad had both, plus bacon, so I figured it had to be good. 

I had trouble finding a whole pomegranate this trip to the grocery store, so I bought just the seeds, which are a bit pricier.  If they do have a whole pomegranate, I usually buy that and seed it myself.  It’s a little messy, but once you do it a time or two it's pretty easy. 

Make sure you’re wearing clothes that you don’t mind getting juice on (since it gets everywhere).  Cut the pomegranate in quarters and submerge it in a large bowl of water.  Gently break it apart in the water – the seeds will sink to the bottom, while the flesh floats to the top.  I usually do this right when I come back from the grocery store so I already have fresh pomegranate ready to go when I want it. 

Then a trick I’ve learned when choosing your avocados – if you remove the stem, a perfect avocado will be green inside. If it has already turned brown, it is too ripe.  You want one that has a little bit of give when you squeeze it, but not too squishy. 

The original recipe mashed the avocado into sort of a guacamole – I kept mine in large slices instead.  If you slice yours, cut it in half, then press your knife into the pit and give it a spin to remove it.  You can slice it up while it’s still in the skin, and then use a spoon to scoop it out. 

This salad doesn’t even need a dressing since the goat cheese and lime combine to create a creamy coating over the veggies.  The original recipe called for 4 slices of bacon – we doubled it (why not?).  It also called for 8 ounces of goat cheese, but I cut that in half – I think 4 ounces was the perfect amount to not overpower the other ingredients.  Other than that, everything else that goes into this salad is very healthy, so it’s a relatively guilt-free meal.  We served ours with a side of cheesy garlic toast.  It was fresh, filling, and super simple to put together - I'll definitely make it again.  

Southwest Pomegranate & Avocado Salad (adapted from Cooking and Beer)

Ingredients:

·        2 large avocados, sliced

·        1 red  bell pepper, sliced into bite sized pieces

·        1 jalapeño pepper, sliced (I only had ½ a pepper but use as much as you’d like – remove the seeds if you don’t like it spicy)

·        1 can whole kernel corn, drained

·        1 can seasoned black beans, drained

·        ½ cup pomegranate seeds

·        8 strips bacon, cooked and broken in bite sized pieces

·        4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

·        ½ tsp salt

·        ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

·        1 tsp lime juice

·        ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (cilantro would be better but I didn’t have any on hand)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss.  It’s that easy! 

tbt Pumpkin Pomegranate Cupcakes

For this Throwback Thursday, I’m sharing one of my favorite fall recipes – Pumpkin Pomegranate Cupcakes.  I’ve made these several times before (these photos are from 2010 when I first got my fancy DSLR camera).  The combination of flavors is perfect for fall! 

 

I remember a few years ago, my friend Thu and I had bought all the ingredients to make these cupcakes, but the store was out of pumpkin.  We tried 2 other grocery stores, just to discover that there was a canned pumpkin shortage that year!  Since we already had everything else we needed, we substituted for canned yams.  They still were good, but the original recipe is definitely better.    

 

The pomegranate arils look like little gems garnishing the tops of the cupcakes! These are best served warm so the chocolate chips inside are nice and gooey. 

Pumpkin Pomegranate Cupcakes (adapted from Flamingo Bear)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1- 15 ounce can pure pumpkin
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 t vanilla
• 3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2 t baking soda
• 1-1/2 t salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (plus 1/2 cup extra for drizzle)
• Seeds of 1 pomegranate (You can sometimes buy them already seeded, but I usually buy a whole one and seed it myself.  Check this post to see how to remove the arils from the fruit) 

 Cream Cheese Drizzle:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cool
• 5 T butter, softened but still cool
• 1 T sour cream
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. In a large bowl, beat together the oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.  Next, beat in the eggs, pumpkin, water, and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. 

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir to blend. Then gently stir in 1-1/2 cups of the chocolate chips.

5. Spoon batter into pre-greased muffin tins and bake for 18-21 minutes, or until muffin tops spring back and tester comes out clean. 

6. Remove the muffins from the oven, and cool them on a wire rack. 

7. While the muffins cool, prepare your drizzles.  Mix cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla at medium high speed of standing mixer until well combined, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix until combined. 

8. Put the icing in a piping bag or Ziploc with small hole cut in the corner, and drizzle over the tops of the muffins. 

9. Melt ½ cup chocolate chips, stirring to ensure they don’t burn.  Drizzle on the cupcakes as well. 

10.  Finally, top the drizzle with your pomegranate seeds while the drizzle is still wet.  Enjoy!   

 

Northwest Salad

We just got back from our honeymoon in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver (ate so much great food – more on that soon!)

I also just started a new job this week doing marketing for an architecture firm which is super exciting.  Lots of big changes lately… 

I have to be up pretty early for work, so I’ve been packing my lunch the night ahead.  And after indulging ourselves on vacation, we’re trying to eat healthy and get back to a routine. 

It seems that every place we visited in the northwest had amazing salads – a lot of them including beets, sweet potatoes, avocado, and other ingredients I normally associate with fall.  I stocked up on tons of these ingredients at Trader Joe’s as soon as we got back from our trip, so we have plenty to keep us eating well. 

One of the non-traditional items we asked for on our wedding registry was gift cards to Joe & Son’s Olive Oils.  We already bought several varieties – including chipotle infused olive oil, Tuscan herb olive oil, and fig balsamic.  They are perfect for simple salad dressings (and we’ve used them to drizzle on popcorn as well). 

I’ve made a version of this salad 3 times this week already – it’s my new favorite lunch.  You can add or subtract ingredients as you like, but one of the things I like is that it has such a wide variety of ingredients.  You can include whatever veggies you like, or even add hard-boiled eggs, chicken, or other proteins. 

Northwest Salad

Ingredients:

• Baby spinach
• Sweet potato, peeled, cut into cubes, and roasted (follow this recipe to bake them…)
• Mushrooms, sliced
• Pomegranate seeds (removed from fruit – you can buy them pre-seeded or follow these instructions to do it yourself if you are patient)
• Steamed & peeled baby beets (Trader Joe’s sells these pre-packaged to avoid the mess and hassle…), sliced
• Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains blend, prepared according to package (it’s a mix of Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa)
• Trader Joe’s Sweet & Spicy pecans (if you haven’t tried these already, do yourself a favor and buy multiple bags…), broken into pieces
• Marinated mozzarella, chopped (I got Trader Joe’s aka Trader Giotto’s which is in olive oil with spices already)
• ½ an avocado, diced
• Olive oil & vinegar dressing – we used Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and Fig Balsamic from Joe & Sons
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients & enjoy!  If you are planning to bring this for lunch, wait to add the nuts and the dressing to keep it from getting soggy (although this does hold up pretty well even with dressing…) 

Acorn Squash Salad, Pumpkin Rigatoni and Spiked Cider

Lance went to Pittsburgh for a guys' weekend to see a Steelers game (they won!) So while he was out, I had a girls' pumpkin carving/decorating night.  

Most of us ended up painting our pumpkins rather than carving (in Florida, it's way too humid for a carved pumpkin to last the whole month...) Everyone came up with really creative designs - I think it's the best group of pumpkins I've ever seen.  You can scroll to the bottom to see the individual pumpkins, but here we are with our creations: 

I tried to get a pumpkin from the Hyde Park pumpkin patch, but it was insanely packed!  There was a huge line, so I ended up getting mine from the grocery store instead.  It wasn't the prettiest of pumpkins, but since it was painted anyways, it didn't matter.  Thao got hers from Hyde Park and it was the most stereotypical perfect pumpkin.  

For dinner, I tried out a few new Pinterest recipes and they all turned out amazing!  I love all fall ingredients - squash, pumpkin, figs, pears, pomegranates, apples, etc.  I go crazy buying everything at Trader Joe's this time of year since it's all pumpkin flavored.  

Hillary also brought over this amazing popcorn coated in marshmallows and drizzled with chocolate (it had candy corn for decoration which I'm not a fan of, but I just ate around them...)  It was seriously addicting - like Rice Krispie treats made of popcorn.  If I get the recipe I'll post it on here too.  

I would definitely make any of these recipes again: 

Acorn Squash Salad (adapted from How Sweet Eats)

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 T coconut oil (I was out so I used olive oil)
• 1 acorn squash, sliced in 1/2" rounds and seeds removed
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2 t brown sugar
• 1/2 c Trader Joe's sweet & spicy pecans
• 6 c spinach (or arugula) 
• 1 avocado, sliced 
• 1 pomegranate, arils removed (if you need instructions, check out this post)  
• 1 cucumber, sliced

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 t freshly grated ginger
• 1 garlic clove, freshly grated
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil 

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil.  Cover the squash slices with salt, pepper, and brown sugar and add to the skillet.  Cook until slightly caramelized, about 10 minutes on each side.  

2. Add spinach/arugula to a large bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Add the avocado, pomegranate arils, cucumber, pecans, and squash pieces.  

3. Combine all the dressing ingredients and toss with the salad. 

Pumpkin Rigatoni Pasta with Sage (adapted from Joanne Eats Well With Others)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb rigatoni
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T butter
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 t red pepper flakes
• 1 T minced sage
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1-1/2 cups Silk Unsweetened Cashew Milk (I completely forgot to add this since I was too busy chatting with friends - it turned out fine without it, but may be a bit creamier with it) 
• 1 bunch kale leaves, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups ricotta
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 8 oz mozzarella, grated 
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente. 

3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Add the onion, sage red pepper flakes, and pinch of salt.  Saute for 3-4 minutes, or until onions become translucent.  

4. Stir in the pumpkin and saute for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Add in the cashew milk and bring to a simmer.  Stir in th ekale and simmer for 4-5 more minutes or until slightly thickened.  Stir in the ricotta and season to taste with salt & pepper.  

5. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.  Toss the pasta with the pumpkin mixture and spread half of it in the pan.  Sprinkle half the cheese, top with the other half of the pasta, then sprinkle with more cheese.  Top with bread crumbs. 

6. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese begins to brown and sauce is bubbling.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.   

Spiked Cider (a combination of several cider recipes)

Ingredients:

• 1 jug Trader Joe's spiced cider 
• 2 T lemon juice
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 4-5 whole star anise seeds
• 2 liters ginger ale
• 6-10 oz vodka, depending on how strong you want it

Directions:

1. Combine the cider, lemon juice, cinnamon, and anise and let them sit for a few hours so the spices soak in. 

2. When you are ready to serve, add in the ginger ale and vodka.  Stir to blend it together.  

I'm sure this drink would be great warm if it was cold outside (you could try it with rum as well).  

I had such a great time with this group of girls - check out the closeups of all the amazing pumpkins: