Visions of Pomegranates

Hello there, dear friends. I have a head cold, and I keep sneezing and blowing my nose. I hope it goes away soon. I went into work tonight and I think it was a mistake - I feel worse now, plus I was really cranky to the senior citizen bus groups.* I took some cold medication and now I'm way out of it. I think that stuff makes me feel even worse.

One of my remedies at the moment is sticking a kleenex up my nose and leaving it there to stop the running and itchiness. This is one of my great, embarrassing secrets that many people don't know about. I've been doing this since I was a kid. I only do it in the privacy of my bedroom nowadays. It really works! And it looks like you have a mustache made out of kleenex.

My other remedy is drinking POM pomegranate juice. I went out and bought a bottle today, because I know how good it is for me. I think I'm starting to feel better already! I know I keep talking about POM, but I really, really like and believe in their products.




November is National Pomegranate Month, because November is the height of the fresh pomegranate season; you can now find POM Wonderfuls in your grocery stores. To celebrate, POM has offered to give away three Sugar Plum readers each a case of pomegranate juice! Isn't that so nice?! Thank you, POM.

To win the juice, you have to play a little mad lib game with me today. In the comment section, leave suggestions for the following, in this order:

1. adjective
2. celebrity name
3. adjective and noun
4. emotion
5. the first thing you see when you look around you
6. your favorite thing
7. food item
8. favorite food dish
9. guilty pleasure
10. the last place you visited

Anyone can enter; you don't have to have a blog - just be sure to leave your name and a way to contact you. Also, you can only comment once. The giveaway starts today and ends on Thursday, November 12th at 11:59 PM (CST).

I will post the story I wrote on Friday's blog, and you can fill in the blanks with your answers, and I'll also post the three winners and their answers. I'll pick the winners using a random number generator. Good luck!



Does that make sense? I hope so. Anyway, let's get to today's recipe: Chocolate Pomegranate Bliss Bars, in honor of National Pomegranate Month.
These are kind of like dessert energy bars. Ground pomegranate seeds, oats, cranberries, figs, almonds, pistachios and honey are combined together and pressed into a pan to form bars, then slathered in almond butter and covered in dark chocolate.

Chocolate Pomegranate Bliss Bars

1 cup pomegranate seeds
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries
2/3 cup coarsely chopped dried figs
1/2 cup ground toasted almonds
1/2 cup ground toasted pistachios
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup skim or soy milk
6 ounces chopped dark chocolate
2 tablespoons almond butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9-inch pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray.

Pulse pomegranate seeds, oats, cranberries and figs, in a food processor until very finely chopped; add to medium mixing bowl. Stir in almonds, pistachios, honey, vanilla and salt until well combined. Press mixture into pan. Bake bars for 20 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

Bring milk to a simmer, in a small saucepan, over medium-low heat. Reduce heat to low and stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. Spread almond butter over bars; cover with chocolate and evenly spread. Freeze until set, before lifting out foil and slicing into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes 16 bars

*This woman seriously took ten minutes to order.
"Ma'am?... For you, ma'am?... Are you ready to order?... Can I get your order?... What will it be?... WHAT DO YOU WANT?! My eyes are starting to bulge, my face is bright red) Chicken livers? Okay then."
Five minutes later I drop off the food. Woman: "Are these livers? I didn't order chicken livers." Me: "Yes, YES YOU DID." Woman: "No I didn't." Other bus group members sitting at her table: "Yes you did." Me: "Can I get you something else?" Woman: "No, I'll just eat my side dishes. Take these livers away from me."