My Boston blogger friend Jen, over at Beantown Baker, is hosting a very special event this month – her annual Power of Pink Challenge! Jen is an avid breast cancer fundraiser, and this month she’s only posting pink recipes on her blog to help raise breast cancer awareness. How cool is that? Luckily, she invited us to join in on the fun, and I was excited to support the cause and whip up these super healthy smoothies!

To create these lovely pink treats, I first made a raspberry puree by simmering some frozen raspberries with a touch of sugar and water. Then I strained the mixture to remove the seeds and froze it in an ice cube tray. This way, I didn’t have to dilute my smoothies by adding any extra ice. The next day, I whirled up my frozen raspberry cubes in the blender along with frozen mango chunks (which you can buy ready to go at Trader Joe’s – thanks for the tip Shannon!), Greek yogurt, and milk. Mmmm, these smoothies were super creamy and really satisfied my sweet tooth after dinner.

And yes, because I’m a huge dork, I attempted to top my smoothies with a little pink breast cancer ribbon. I cut the design out of some parchment paper and then just sprinkled a healthy amount of pink decorating sugar on top. I spontaneously bought two huge sets of colored sugars the last time we visited King Arthur Flour, and I love having any excuse to get them out. The ribbons didn’t turn out perfectly, but I still thought they were pretty cute.

Thanks to Jen for hosting such an inspirational blogging event!

Raspberry Mango Smoothies
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 12-ounce bag frozen raspberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
3 cups frozen mango chunks (I found these at Trader Joe’s)
1 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

Directions:
Place raspberries, sugar, and water in a small nonstick pan and heat over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until or raspberries have broken down, stirring occasionally. Strain to remove the raspberry seeds and cool completely to room temperature. Fill an ice cube tray with the puree and freeze until solid.

To make the smoothies, place frozen raspberry puree cubes, frozen mango, Greek yogurt, and milk in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth, about 1 minute. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 201 calories, 1.3g fat, 6.4g fiber, 7.2g protein per serving
Cost: $1.30 per serving

I spent half of Saturday and all day Sunday last weekend grinding spices because we were hosting an Indian feast! I’ve been all about Indian food lately and love being able to make healthier versions of our favorite dishes at home. It’s also the perfect cuisine to enjoy when you have vegetarian guests because there are so many yummy veggie options! I was particularly excited for this dinner party because our friend Willy is also a huge foodie and likes to experiment in the kitchen as much as I do. In fact, we decided to pick an ingredient and each make a secret dish with it, how fun is that? We settled on cucumbers and Willy made amazingly refreshing cucumber ice cream! I wanted to lick the bowl, it was that good. I decided to make a cucumber simple syrup after being inspired by a cucumber martini I recently had at Orleans, a bar in our neighborhood.

To make the syrup, all I did was let shredded cucumbers soak in the syrup until it cooled and then strained them out. I combined the syrup with gin, sparkling cranberry juice from Trader Joe’s, and a splash of lime juice. They were really fresh and delicious and I’m excited to play with the leftover cucumber simple syrup more too!

Also, congrats to the winners of my Girard’s Salad Dressing giveaway – Beverly, Rachel, Elina, Erica, and Sophia!

Cucumber Cranberry Cocktails
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 cup shredded English cucumber, plus 6 slices for garnishes
1 cup gin
1 cup sparkling cranberry juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Directions:
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat for 2 minutes or until liquid is boiling and sugar has dissolved. Stir in shredded cucumber and remove from heat. Allow simple syrup to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour, and strain cucumber out.

Combine 1 cup cucumber simple syrup with gin, sparkling cranberry juice, and lime juice and stir until well combined. Serve over ice and garnish with extra cucumber slices. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 176 calories, 0g fat, 0.1g fiber, 0.1g protein per serving (calculated using 1 cup of simple syrup, I had a bit leftover!)
Cost: $0.63 per serving

I was super excited when the lovely folks at POM Wonderful asked if I would be interested in sampling their pomegranate juice a few weeks ago. I’d noticed so many great pomegranate juice recipes on the blogosphere, and couldn’t wait to try a few. The juice is really delicious and packs a nutritional punch. It’s so good, in fact, that it all somehow disappeared before I had the chance to develop a recipe with it! I replenished our stock and hid the new bottle in the back of our fridge where my hubby doesn’t poke around.

I decided to keep things simple and do a twist on the classic lime rickey. I had never heard of a lime rickey before moving to the East Coast. It’s a traditional New England beverage that is served at all the little beach places on the coast. It’s usually a mix of club soda, lime juice, and simple syrup. I wasn’t in the mood for a super sweet drink, so I decided to skip the simple syrup step and just mix a little seltzer water, pomegranate juice, and fresh lime juice. It was very refreshing and I enjoyed mine with a splash of gin!  Thanks POM Wonderful!

Pomegranate Lime Rickey
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup seltzer water
Juice of half a lime
1/4 cup gin, if desired

Directions:
Mix all ingredients. Makes 1 serving.

Nutrition: 80 calories, 0.0g fat, 0.2g fiber, 0.7g protein per serving
Cost: $1.28 total