Prickly Pears

My Bountiful Baskets contribution this week included prickly pears. I've seen them in the store, but I have never tried them before. 

The first thing I did was search for recipes using them. Many of those are variations on jelly. I might have tried that, but we use a lot less since we basically stopped eating bread. There were many others to choose from though.

For all of the recipes, you peal the pear.

The first thing I made was prickly pear limeade.

I cut the pear into three chunks. 

I added it to the blender with water. After I blended it for about 60 seconds, I strained out the seeds and pulp. I would have liked the pulp, but the seeds are just too large for a nice drink.

I added the juice of one lime, about 1/4 cup of orange juice and about 2 Tablespoons of honey and ran it again. I was lucky that I added about the right amount of water.

This morning, I made our smoothie with the prickly pear. It started the same as the limeade. After I strained it, I added the rest of today's ingredients: some lettuce, some cucumber, watermelon, ice cubes, pineapple orange juice, and some cream. 

After that ran for a while, I also added 1/2 a banana to make it more like a shake and more some more sweetness.

The Pro approved both the pear limeade and the smoothie, so I guess we've added a new fruit to our diet.