Prickly Pear Smoothie

Have you ever tried a prickly pear? If you answer is no, don't worry until today I had never tried one. I have to admit that I had to look up how to cut and eat one. I found the super easy instructions for it here. I used a red prickly pear and I was so surprised at how brightly pink it was inside. I mean it was florescent, honestly I thought to myself, "this looks like paint". I loved trying something so new and exotic to me, and PINK!

Prickly pears come in various colors, from greens, oranges, and reds. They are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and magnesium.

You can usually find prickly pears in your local grocery store in the fresh produce section.

How to cut into your prickly pear

• wash it
• cut off the ends with a knife
• now slice down the body from one cut end to the other (not all the way through)
• grab the skin and pull the skin off the fruit 

there will be a ton of hard seeds in the flesh that you can choose to eat or you can run it through food processor or blender and then run it through a fine mesh sieve. I chose to run the fruit the food processor and then mash it through a fin mesh sieve.

Prickly Pear Smoothie

• a few ice-cubes
• juice of a prickly pear 
• half a banana
• pineapple ring
• splash of pomegranate juice

I put all these ingredients in my food processor and poured it all into a cup. 

Now, you can always adjust or replace ingredients for different fruits and veggies to suit your tastes.