Homemade Grenadine and Arctic Chill Ice Ball Review

After 9 months of pregnancy, I needed to mix up my beverages a little.  Not that I’m that person who can’t have a good time without a drink, but sometimes plain old water gets a little boring!  Being that I’m pregnant though, I didn’t want to gulp down loads of red dye…so I decided to check out some DIY recipes for grenadine.  There is a DIY recipe for everything out there these days.  Especially when more and more people want to know exactly what goes into their food and into their bodies.

You can use this grenadine in any way that you would use the store bought variety.  I made some Shirley Temples for myself with both Sprite and gingerale.  Also made some Burley Temples for the Husband.  He loved them!

I received these ice ball makers from Arctic Chill to try out.  They’re perfect for cocktails because they won’t water down the beverage as quickly, and dilute the taste of your ingredients.  They’re also fun for parties!  It’s a silicon mold, so the ice is pretty easy to remove.  Just run a little hot water over them before opening.  My husband, who is a whiskey drinker, especially likes them.  Since the ice balls are so large, they take a very long time to melt, and don’t dilute the flavor of the whiskey!

DIY Grenadine, adapted from Serious Eats

  • 2 cups pomegranate juice
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 4 tablespoons (2 fluid ounces) pomegranate molasses
  • 2 teaspoons rosewater

Heat pomegranate juice on medium for 5 minutes, then add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Continue to cook until the two integrate into a syrup, about 5 more minutes. Then add the pomegranate molasses and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring to dissolve. Remove from heat.

Let mixture cool to room temperature, then pour into glass container. Add rosewater, seal, and shake. Refrigerate and use as soon as its cool, or store in refrigerator for up to one month.

*I received complimentary ice molds from Arctic Chill to test.  I did not receive any compensation for this post.  Opinions expressed here are my own.

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Let Somebody Else do the Shopping: Relished Review

Even though I have a food blog, I cannot stand to go grocery shopping.  Weird, right? So I was excited to try a service who took care of that for you.  Relished is a service that provides you with all the ingredients to make a meal and instructions on how to prepare it. Relished is a subscription service where you can order up to 5 meals per week for $9.95 per serving.  It would be a great fit for busy parents, working professionals who don’t have time to shop, new mothers, someone who just moved, etc.  Basically anyone who likes to cook, but doesn’t have time to shop.  Everything is portioned out for you, making preparing the meals a bit quicker as well!  This especially came in handy, as I prepared the meals on weeknights.

I received three meals to make.  Turkey burgers with sweet potato fries, a wedge salad and salmon with wasabi mashed potatoes and bok choy.  All of the ingredients were packed in a cooler box, and everything was cold and fresh looking when it arrived.  Most food items were packed in those green bags you can buy to keep your produce fresh, ziploc bags or plastic containers.  It was all beautifully packaged and labeled.  Even though that looked nice and kept the food well, I would almost say it was too much.  So if I have one critical piece of feedback to share with Relished, it might be to explore some “greener” options for packaging, or combine certain items so they can use less.

Overall I was really happy with the quality of the meals, and how easy the recipes were to follow.  For me, someone who likes to create my own recipes, it might not be a good fit.  However, I can see it being a good fit in about 6 weeks when I have a newborn to take care of!  Given that spring is not showing any signs of coming soon, I’d love to have someone else do the shopping for me!

Relished is based in Chicago, which was an added incentive for me to try it out!  However, they offer delivery to most areas east of the Colorado River.  You can use their zip code check on the homepage to confirm availability.  If you are interested in trying their service or would like to give it as a gift, they are offering a 50% discount off of your first order!  Just use the code “relished50“, which is good through the end of the month.

*I received three complimentary meals from Relished to prepare and taste.  I did not receive any compensation for this post.  Opinions expressed here are my own.

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Mango Bread

mango bread

Given that Spring is showing no signs of showing itself anytime soon, I felt I needed something “tropical” to brighten the weekend.  Fresh mango and coconut were the perfect ingredients!  Even though these ingredients might remind you of the tropics, you won’t feel bad about cranking up that oven because we’re expecting subzero temperatures again a few nights this week.

This recipe was a nice change of pace from the banana bread you’re probably always making.  Love that it has fresh fruit and nuts.  The original recipe called for vegetable oil, but I felt like the coconut flavor wouldn’t come through enough, so I substituted with coconut oil.

Overall, this was tasty.  Not too sweet, and the mango/coconut combo is perfect to make you forget about winter – even if just for a bite or two!

Mango Bread, adapted from Saveur

⅓ cup coconut oil, plus more for greasing
1½ cups flour, plus more for dusting
¾ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, plus 1 yolk
½ cup mango puree or jam
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 large very ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¼” dice (about 2 cups)
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with oil, and dust with flour; set aside. Whisk flour, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl; make a well in center. Whisk oil, sugar, eggs and yolk, mango jam, and vanilla in a bowl; add to well; stir. Fold in mango, nuts, and coconut; pour into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into bread comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes.

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