Out and About

Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream

February 12, 2010 · Filed Under Out and About, Slightly Indulgent, Suite of Sweets, Valentine's Day, dairy free, dessert, easy, gluten free, ice cream, pomegranate, raw, recipe, sugar free ·6 Comments

Full disclosure: Last September, I attended BlogHer Food. I paid all my expenses, but I did receive some amazing swag. Included was some Scharffen Berger cocoa. I was not paid to write about Scharffen Berger, but I think their products are excellent. October, I attended the POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Festival in California—all expenses paid. I was not paid to write this post, but the POM Wonderful product used was given to me. However, I write about POM products because I consider them to be excellent products and, of course, they are gfe compliant.

This post is linked to the Valentine’s Day roundup at Ellen’s I Am Gluten Free, Amy’s weekly roundup, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, and Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix–Coconut Milk.

Some of you may remember the POMerdoodle Ice Cream that I made last September for the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! blog carnival. Katrina (Gluten-Free Gidget), who greatly enjoys drama and theatrical arts had chosen a Disney theme. I couldn’t settle on a particular Disney movie for my recipe inspiration, so I decided to pay homage to all Disney dogs with a designer dog ice cream. You’re welcome to read the original POMerdoodle post, but basically I added POM Wonderful pomegranate juice to a version of Snickerdoodle ice cream and created the doggie-named POMerdoodle ice cream. Both a fun and delicious creation.

I loved the POMerdoodle flavor as did many others, but I simply had to try a chocolate version. Carrying on with my light-hearted dog theme, I decided to call it Chocolate POMerdoodle (you know … like Chocolate Lab, Chocolate Poodle). Adding just a small amount of cocoa adds richness and depth to this ice cream, particularly if you use a high-quality cocoa. I used Scharffen Berger cocoa, which I’d received in my BlogHer Food swag. I love both that cocoa and POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and I love this ice cream. It’s both gluten free and dairy free. It’s not refined sugar free, but I believe you could skip the brown sugar and simply use 2/3 cup honey or the same amount of agave nectar and end up with an equally delicious, dairy-free ice cream. (I wouldn’t use a one-to-one swap because of the liquid content of honey or agave.)

Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

½ cup honey
½ cup light brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 ½ cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled
½ cup POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
2 ½ to 3 tbsp Scharffen-Berger cocoa (or other good quality cocoa, amount to taste—once mixed in, of course)

Mix all together in a mixing bowl or blender. Add to ice cream maker. Churn about 20 minutes until firm. You may remove ice cream from ice cream maker and store in freezer for additional firmness, if needed.

Recipe by Shirley Braden

If you enjoy the wonderful flavor that POM Wonderful pomegranate juice adds to recipes, you’ll want to check these recipes, too:

–POMerdoodle Ice Cream (pretty pale pink—lovely for Valentine’s Day)

–POM’d Pork

–Reindeer Antlers Punch (it’s the perfect color, but perhaps rename it Cupid’s Punch for Valentine’s Day … just skip the alcohol if serving to children or teetotalers)

Don’t forget to check out all the other SSS entries this week:

–Surprise Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

–Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Almond Popovers

–Perfect Pound Cake

–Pleasing Pecan Pie

And, if you’re looking for a momentary chocolate overload … pair a Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookie with a dish of this ice cream. Happy Valentine’s Day all!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Catch up with me on Twitter.
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Local to Fredericksburg, VA area? Check out Support Group & Events page.

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Tags: brown sugar, chocolate, coconut, easy, gluten free, go ahead honey, pomegranate, recipe, Valentine's Day

March 2010 Support Group Meeting

Note: February meeting has been cancelled/rescheduled to March meeting. Details are shown below.

When: Tuesday, March 2, 6:00 pm

Where: Shirley’s Home in King George, VA
(Note: Please email Shirley for directions if you are local and plan to attend.)

What: We’ll begin our meeting with our usual group meal, which is always completely gluten free. Many dishes and food items are also dairy free, refined sugar free, etc. The focus is on real food and dishes made from them. Our presentation will be two parts. First, I’ll do a presentation on my participation in the 2009 POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Festival, that was hosted by POM Wonderful and held in Fresno and Visalia, CA, in October. I’ll share photos and what I learned from meeting with the POM folks, touring their orchards (on ground and with a flyover!) and their processing operations. The second part will be a presentation by Janel Ovrut, MS, RD, LDN. Janel was also part of the group of 15 bloggers selected to participate in the POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Tour. She is a registered dietitian with a Master’s degree from the Nutrition Communication program at Tufts University in Boston, and a Bachelor’s degree in Dietetics from Syracuse University. Janel gave a very informative talk on antioxidants, free radicals, and healthy eating at the POM festival. She’ll be presenting similar information to us via Skype. Please note that while Janel does not eat gluten free, she is passionate about eating well and has much of value to share with us. You can check out her main website, Eat Well with Janel, here and her blog, here.

While Valentine’s Day will be long behind us at meeting time, February focused on another “red” theme—healthy hearts for American Heart Month. Since this is our rescheduled February meeting, we’ll still commemorate that event. Of course, POM Wonderful products are delightfully, ruby red and have even been shown to offer cardiovascular benefits. So, let’s go for red, pink, and heart-healthy foods for our meal! I’ll have some POM-spiced cider (courtesy of the POM Wonderful folks), two flavors of POM-based ice cream (POMerdoodle and Chocolate POMerdoodle; the latter is dairy free), and several other dishes that fit our theme. We might even have some other products from the POM folks for us to try.

This meeting should be informative, delicious, and fun. Hey, that sounds like all our meetings! Hope you’ll join us on the 2nd!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Catch up with me on Twitter.
“Like” gfe—glutenfreeeasily on Facebook to see updates/more content.
Get gfe posts (including recipes) by email.
Looking for a gfe recipe?
Local to Fredericksburg, VA area? Check out Support Group & Events page.

Holiday Food Fest: POM’d Pork and Tropical Traditions

December 10, 2009 · Filed Under Crockpot Wednesday, Friday Foodie Fix, Holiday Food Fest, Out and About, crockpot, dairy free, easy, entree, giveaway, gluten free, pomegranate, recipe, slow cooker ·72 Comments

This post is linked to the Friday Foodie Fix–Pomegranates and Crockpot Wednesday.

Full disclosure: In October, I attended the POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Festival in California—all expenses paid. I was not paid to write this post, but the POM Wonderful product used was given to me.

It’s Holiday Food Fest time once again! Because I’m hosting this week and Holiday Food Fest always features a fabulous giveaway, we’re gathering here at my Out and About page (where I post reviews, giveaways, and the like). Our theme is Holiday Dishes: Mains, Sides, Soups … really any holiday dish.

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Jessica Meyer, the winner of the Tropical Traditions coconut oil! Jessica blogs at ATX Gluten Free. Thanks to everyone else who entered the giveaway!

Oh, what’s the giveaway? It’s a 32-ounce jar of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil, just like the one that’s shown in the photo below. POM'd Pork 010 The giveaway is open to those in the continental U.S. and will be open until next Wednesday, December 16, at 9:00 pm Eastern. There are several ways to enter the giveaway:

Link your holiday dish AND link back to this post. (Link as many relevant posts as you choose.)
Leave a comment.
Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment telling me that you did.
Post about this giveaway on your blog, link back to this post, and leave a comment telling me you did.

Congratulations to last week’s winners of the Honeyville products! They are:

Susie (Susie’s Homemade)—5-lb bag of blanched almond flour.

Katie (Kitchen Stewardship)—Gift assortment of flax meal, gourmet cocoa, and freeze dried apples.

This week’s entrants, remember when you link, please tell us who you are and what you’re making. For example, I’d enter:

Shirley @ gfe–gluten free easily (POM’d Pork)

And, please make sure to link back to this post so that your readers can find the other recipes here.

Now for my recipe … while many of us have another round of turkey and ham for our upcoming holiday dinners, some of us like to change things up a bit. We always spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family. We get together in the afternoon and rather than a sit-down meal, we have an informal buffet of appetizers and desserts.

For this gathering, I’m planning to make a variation of a dish I made about not that long ago—POM’d Pork. I tested it today. My starting point was the Pomegranate Beef recipe that Stephanie shared over at A Year of Slow Cooking, which actually originated as Grass Fed Beef in Pomegranate Sauce by Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess. As soon as I received Stephanie’s fabulous new slow cooker cookbook, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Slow Cooking, I zeroed in on this recipe. I made it using pork and made a few other adjustments based on my own personal tastes and what was in my pantry.

The first time around, I used pork tenderloin. It turned out very well. Frankly, the incredible aroma emanating from the crockpot at the end of the day just about had me convinced how good this dish was before I even took my first bite! The POM Wonderful juice along with the other ingredients gives the pork amazing flavor and tenderness. It’s somewhat sweet, but not too sweet. Mr. GFE raved over this POM’d Pork. He said I needed to go on the road selling the stuff. (Seriously, he did. I don’t make this stuff up folks. He really says these things and he’s sincere, so I can’t get too annoyed when he goes on and on.) The first night I served the pork in slices with basic, but appealing sides (baked potatoes and steamed broccoli). But, after that, I decided I wanted the pulled pork effect and I semi-shredded the meat, added a tad of Tasty Sauce (which we always enjoy on pork), and served it as barbecue. “Cole slaw” (in my case, that would be a little poppy seed dressing on cole slaw mix—cabbage and carrots) and a few chips completed the super easy meal. This evening I went for some Great Salad with my POM’d Pork. The two make a wonderful combination of flavors.

POM'd Pork 088-1

Pork tenderloin is wonderful, but it usually doesn’t feed a big crowd. Even if you buy a large tenderloin, you’re still unlikely to have lots of leftovers. I wanted leftovers this time. Specifically, I wanted some to stick in the freezer for a ready meal after we return from our trip to Key West as the holidays come to a close. Plus, in all honesty, I didn’t want to go out and buy pork tenderloin at full price. Pork butts can be a great bargain—if on sale—and are so flavorful and versatile for cooking.

POM’d Pork
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced thin
3 pounds (or larger) pork tenderloin or pork butt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 garlic cloves (whole or minced)
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 cup POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup

POM'd Pork 004

Use a large slow cooker. (I used my large oval Crockpot.) Pour olive oil in slow cooker; tilt so olive oil is evenly coating the bottom of the stoneware. Place onion slices over olive oil.

Place meat in slow cooker. Rub the spices over the surface of the meat. Top meat with garlic and whole can of tomatoes with green chilies. Mix pomegranate juice, balsamic vinegar, and maple syrup, and gently pour over the meat so that the diced tomatoes and green chilies remain on top.

Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for approximately 5. The meat is done when it has reached desired tenderness. For pork tenderloin, I like it sliceable. For pork butt, I like it to pull apart easily with a fork.

POM'd Pork 044-1

Serve on buns or with a complementary side. (I’ll share a side dish recipe next week that’s easy to make, but that also impresses with its looks and taste.)

POM'd Pork 092

Shirley’s Notes: The photo of all the ingredients shows two cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies; however, I decided one would be sufficient after I poured it over the pork butt. Feel free to vary ingredients to your liking. Look to the original recipe for more ideas.

Adapted from Karina Allrich, Gluten-Free Goddess and Stephanie O’Dea, A Year of Slow Cooking and Make It Fast, Cook It Slow!

If you haven’t been following Holiday Food Fest or need to catch up, you can find the hostesses and themes for the previous weeks here. Visit each blog to get wonderful recipe ideas from some of the best bloggers—Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten Free, Alta of Tasty Eats at Home, Liz of Hoosier Homemade, Phoebe of Cents to Go Debt Free, Jessica of Life as Mom—and all our amazing blogging friends! Next week is the last week of the Holiday Food Fest and the event will be held at the Life as Mom blog with Jessica, a.k.a. Fishmama. The theme is Holiday Desserts!

If you need a dessert idea before then or just love drooling over desserts 24/7 these days (hey, I’m with you on that!), please be sure to check out the Gluten-Free Desserts Progressive Dinner Party that’s going on this week. You can find all the links here.

Remember that the Holiday Food Fest is an all-inclusive event. Some recipes will be frugal, some gluten free, some sugar free, some raw, and so on. Use the gfe approach … go for recipes that are naturally gluten free, look at easy ways to convert others to be gluten free, or just look to recipes for inspiration. Add your holiday dish below!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Catch up with me on Twitter.
“Like” gfe—glutenfreeeasily on Facebook to see updates/more content.
Get gfe posts (including recipes) by email.
Looking for a gfe recipe?
Local to Fredericksburg, VA area? Check out Support Group & Events page.

Post a comment · 72 Comments
Tags: coconut oil, dairy free, easy, GFE, gluten free, maple, pork, recipe, slow cooker

About Me

Shirley Braden Gluten free since June 2003, I lead a celiac/gluten intolerance group in Virginia. My passion is educating folks on gluten issues and showing how eating gluten free can be easy if you focus on “real” foods versus processed and specialty foods.

Email me

GFE's Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, but rather a volunteer sharing my experiences. Consult your physician for medical guidance. To the best of my knowledge, all ingredients/products that I use are gluten-free (even if I do not indicate that each and every time I mention them; e.g., if I refer to "soy sauce," it's a gluten-free soy sauce). However, I take no responsibility for the accuracy of that information. Always read labels and verify the gluten-free status of any ingredients/products to your own comfort level.

Not just gf, but gfe!