What my favorite snack is worth?

For the last hour I have done nothing but stand at the counter, plucking delicate seeds, avoiding juice stains, and slowly losing feeling in my back. Twice I had to stop and sit down in order to ease the pain in my neck from bending over. My fingers were so cold and wet that they pruned within the first thirty minutes. But it's all worth it. I now have a huge tupperware container filled to the top with pomegranate seeds.

November makes me incredibly happy for a number of reasons. It's my birthday month which always means a nice dinner out with my family. It's the month of my very favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. More food and family. And it's pomegranate season. Can you tell I like food?

In these days of supermarkets where I can get grapes, asparagus, apples, and strawberries year round, pomegranates are a bit of an oddity. They only appear in the store during the end of October and throughout November and December. The rest of the year you simply can't get them or at least not good ones. You can always tell a good pomegranate by how heavy the fruit is. It should be much heavier than you expect it to be. It should also be firm and a deep red.

Now pomegranates have to be one of the most difficult fruits to eat. I've heard of people who peel the skin and then eat both the seeds and the pulp between but I'm not willing to stoop to such lengths. I am picky about my pomegranates and am willing to put in the work to get the flavorful seeds while avoiding the stringy pulp. They are quite simply my favorite snacks and are worth every minute of extra effort.

At the store today, I bought three of the largest ones I've ever seen. I took them home and scored the fruit into quarters. Then comes the delicate work of pulling the seeds out. I'm pretty picky and only take the full and clear seeds, leaving behind the cloudy and smooshed ones. Inevitably I will get juice all over the counter, my hands, and my clothing. But it is all worth it. I can now open the fridge and take a handful of seeds to munch on whenever I want. And this will be my only snack for weeks. All during pomegranate season the fridge is never without a container filled with seeds. I literally eat myself sick of them. I will eat them until the thought of their juice makes me slightly ill. Luckily by that time the season will be over and I can start working on craving them again next year. I love pomegranate season.

The ultimate summer snack

Since I've been writing down my calories lately I've been looking for new healthy snacks to eat. I tend to be a bit of a bored eater so I like to have something that I can snack on without too many calories. And I've rediscovered my absolutely favorite summer treat: frozen grapes. 

When I was young we ate a lot of frozen fruit. My mother always stocked the freezer with frozen blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. We would open a bag and not wait for them to thaw. The blueberries would dye our fingers purple but they were so incredibly delicious. The raspberries were my favorite. After I left my parents house I stopped buying frozen berries. I didn't have a good enough freezer to keep them in any of the crappy apartments I lived in. 

It was finally after college that a friend of mine introduced me to frozen grapes. I would buy two bags of grapes on every shopping trip. One would be washed and left on the counter to eat fresh. The other would be washed, pulled off the stem, and put into a tupperware container for freezing. They become little frozen popsicles and I can eat almost unlimited numbers. I've frozen them for years now and love the cold sweet taste and the fact that they are good for me. I've also started buying other frozen fruits as well. I simply eat them plain but you can cook with them, add them to yogurt, or even cereal. 

A couple years ago I found that the Mayo Clinic offers a Healthy Weight Food Pyramid. I have this tacked up on my fridge as a reminder of how to eat healthy. And the big thing for this pyramid is the fruits and vegetables. As you'll see, they are unlimited. And with treats like frozen grapes, that's an awfully sweet deal.