I have been told by numerous people that the life of a food blogger seems really glamorous. I think sometimes when we see a picture of a beautiful dish, we imagine the chef/photographer standing in their kitchen, leisurely making a delicious meal about to be served to their family, while casually stopping to snap a photograph or two. As a food blogger, I can tell you that this is rarely how it happens. At least, not in my house.
Instead, here’s the scene: a rainy Saturday morning. At home, alone, with two crazy cats. The best light in my house is in my living room, with giant windows that face a main road. There I am, still in my pajamas, standing on a stool above a table to get the best angle as people walk by and shoot me puzzled looks.
Randomly a rogue cranberry falls from the table, inspiring one of my cats to bat it around the living room with all his might. As I’m trying to balance on a stool, ignore the passerbys, and get a decent shot, I knock over the martini glass and spill cranberry juice across my living room. By now both of my cats are engaged in a cranberry-chasing battle and all of this running has managed to make one of them lose his lunch. Clean-up on aisle five, please?
Nevertheless, I managed to get a decent photograph of an amazing drink that you need to try this holiday season. Whether you leisurely enjoy this at a beautiful dinner with your loved ones, or simply use it as a reward for cat clean-up duty, I promise that it will energize your taste buds while flooding your body with nutrients.
Cranberries are loaded with antioxidants and Vitamin C, making this refresher the perfect winter immune booster. This was my first time juicing cranberries and I was pleasantly surprised by the intensely-tart flavor of fresh cranberry juice. Pairing it with fresh apple juice mellows the flavor and sweetens it up a bit without the use of refined sugars.
If you don’t have access to a juicer, simply substitute 2 cups of unsweetened 100% cranberry juice and 2 cups of 100% apple juice. Fresh cranberry juice has a more intense flavor so even though my cranberries only yielded 1 cup of juice, if you are using bottled juice, you will probably want 2 cups.
- 2 cups water
- 3 fresh sprigs rosemary (more for garnish, if desired)
- 1 pound fresh cranberries (makes about 1 cup of juice)
- 4 apples (makes about 2 cups of juice)
- Ice
- Add water to a covered saucepan or small pot and bring to a boil. Add the rosemary, and lower heat to a simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep, covered, for one hour. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Juice the cranberries and apples. Mix with the chilled rosemary water. Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs and serve over ice.
This refresher does sound lovely, and what a beautiful color it is! Recently I’ve been craving super refreshing drinks. I’ll have to keep some of this in my fridge for whenever the cravings strike!
This will definitely keep for a few days in the fridge. It’s also great with some sparkling water!
This drink certainly looks refreshing. I happen to have a case of fresh cranberries sitting in my fridge too! I’ll let you know how I get on making this recipe
Your picture is beautiful! I understand the lengths we go to get a good shot. I am normally taking pictures with two small children underfoot. We also love to juice cranberries and apples together! The addition of rosemary water sounds wonderful, I am looking forward to trying it.
I can imagine taking pictures with two young ones would be quite a challenge! And your photos are gorgeous by the way!
Isn’t that the truth, my life usually involves me trying to plate and photograph the food, while my two young boys are yelling for food
LOL 
This does look SUPER refreshing!
We have been having such great recipes at our Gluten Free Fridays parties! I really appreciate you being part of the link up and part of the community!
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest!
I hope to see you again this week!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
This is a beautiful picture. Girl, you’ve got some talent! Are you an IIN grad too?
Aww, thank you! Yep, just graduated from IIN!
I like homemade recipes and I’m trying this recipe out this weekend.
Cranberries are low in fat and calories, high in fiber, and packed with antioxidants.