Morning Healthy Treats: Pomegranate Juice with Honey

I love healthy mornings, and drinking something fresh is part of my daily ritual. Either tea or some smoothie is definitely worth to wake up 10 minutes early to have enough time to prepare and clean the utensils.

As the Jewish New Year traditionally involves using a lot of pomegranates - and honey too - after everything is over, there are a couple of bowls full of seeds left over that I don't have the heart to throw to the trash. The easiest way to use them, besides adding them to some salads or maybe to a batch of cake is by making a juice out of them. As simple as that!

For one glass of juice, I used the seeds from one medium-sized pomegranate, plus one tablespoon of honey and one glass of cold water. Added all those ingredients in the smoothie maker and blended at moderate speed for 2 minutes.

The most complicated - but not impossible - part is to come: the pomegranate do have strong seeds that during the blending process are took out, but should be filtered through a strainer. It takes another minute to do so and after that your juice is ready. 

As I had the curiosity to taste various ready-made pomegranate juices, I enjoyed mine much better, as it has the right sweet balance and the original taste, which I do not fancy, is diluted. Therefore, at least for the winter, I might consider including pomegranate part of my regular diet, given also its natural qualities, which go beyond the skin-care protection generously offered. For instance, pomegranate seeds contain antioxidants which fight cholesterol, increase oxygen levels to the heart, fight cell damage and can also balance your weight. Compared to other fruits, the pomegranate juice has the same healthy concentration as the fruits and the seeds. 

Energy morning treats by Ovomaltine

I am not a big fan of chocolate spreads and I still remember my shock when my first breakfast in Switzerland I was invited to put some Nutella chocolate on my bread. Sounded so barbarian for me that I needed years till I finally accepted to try. When I spread the crunchy Ovomaltine spread on my black bread, and started to taste it, my bad impressions were history but the results were more than surprising. It does taste as chocolate, but has some special strong taste that can be enough for the rest of the day. And, in fact, it was as I was full enough to do not dream about anything else. 

As I am a coffee fanatic, replacing the coffee with any other substitutes, makes me feel like a traitor. For my culinary explorations, I try once in a while some cocoa, but no way to make a long term commitment of replacing it for good. Especially not in the morning. Thus, I prepared my Ovomaltine treat in between two afternoon coffees. I used 180 cold milk for 18 g. Ovomaltine. I did not add sugar, but mixed extra as it takes longer to dissolve. 

It contains a healthy mixture of malz and cocoa, with many vitamins added such as Calcium, Magnesium and B12. So good and self sufficient that at least for one hour I forgot that I only need coffee. Drinking it in the morning made it for a full meal, with that energy dosis that everyone needs to go through the daily challenges.