This made me laugh: I was having a peer review in my writing class for our paper on a specific topic in the evolution debates. Basically, my paper was about the importance of faith in a human’s life, and how humans are different from other organisms in that we are more than a material body. My paper emphasized that evolution can only touch and infer upon the physical aspect of a human body, but neglects faith and spirit,both integral components of a human life.
Anyway. My paper was read by two of my classmates, and I got two completely different set of reviews.
One found my paper “offensive” and “wrong” to the noble atheists and reaffirmed his support for Eugenics. The other totally agreed with what I was saying, but egged me on to include that evolution sperms disastrous and racist dictators like Hitler.
I couldn’t help laughing out loud. Talk about extreme opposing sides of opinions! And boy, do I love it!
So here’s another reason to add to my list of Reasons Why I Adore College: There are just so many differing opinions crunched together in one tiny group, and listening to them is eye-opening and absolutely fascinating.
Plus, that just proves the point I made in my paper. We humans are amazing. How can a miraculous and complex life like ours be derived from a freak of “nature”, or broken down into minuscule steps of natural selection? Whether you agree with my philosophical stance or not, you’ve got to agree with me that no single individual is alike, and that we all have our different and personal set of opinions and beliefs.
And when it comes to cooking, I’m also grateful that we aren’t all alike either, because how boring and trite would food be if everyone came up with the same idea for a single ingredient?
You see, I recently received a package of POM Wonderful from Molly: 
Since then I’ve been browsing around online on my spare time, trying to come up with a recipe using POM Wonderful. I found a small library of recipes on this page, and several helpful twitter friends gave me ideas, but eventually I decided to just come up with my own recipes. They were all great ideas, but I didn’t want to just re-make another person’s idea.
So here are my original recipes using POM Wonderful:
POM-Raspberry Chicken
- 1/2 cup POM Wonderful
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1/2 raspberry preserves
- 2 to 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 big boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into pieces
Mix all the ingredients except chicken together in a bowl. Place the chicken in the marinade and let it marinade for about 8 hours or overnight. 
POM-Cocoa Rice-Cooker Beans
- 1 cup black beans, soaked overnight, then drained
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1/2 cup POM Wonderful
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- cumin
- salt and pepper
- chicken broth
- 1/2 zucchini, sliced
- 5-8 dried figs, sliced
Heat up a skillet and stir-fry the garlic, onions, bell pepper, and tomato.
Then dump the mixture with the beans into the rice cooker. Splash in the POM, vinegar, cocoa powder, cumin, salt and pepper, then pour in enough chicken broth to cover the bean-mixture by about 1/2-inch. Stir in sliced zucchini and figs. 
Set the rice cooker on “cook” setting. Twiddle your thumbs while you wait.
Finishing touches:
- bunch of fresh baby spinach
- handful of grated Parmesan cheese
When the beans are almost done, start cooking the chicken.
To cook, just heat up a skillet with some oil, place the chicken on top, lightly sear it. Pour the sauce over and cook. When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from pan, but leave the sauce to cook until it is thick and viscous.
Then ladle the cooked beans out into a serving dish. Mix it up with a bunch of spinach and let the vegetable wilt a bit. Place the cooked chicken on top, and slather with the thick POM-Raspberry sauce.
Sprinkle with more black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Serve. 
Yay! Success! I have to admit, I was incredibly nervous about how this will turn out. I felt like a confused scientist, mixing up different chemicals together and hoping to God the mixture would not blow up. 
I chose to use the 
The POM Wonderful juice stained the chicken into a brilliant pink, and I totally LOVED the sweet and sour glaze. It was so thick and sticky, almost like a puckish, fruity caramel. SO good! 
I didn’t add any additional sweeteners to the beans besides the juice and the figs, but the natural sweetness in these ingredients were intensified. 
And that cocoa in there! Flash of genius, I have to say! What a complex and rich concentration of flavors! 
I had some chicken left over so, I froze it and packed it for Mimi since she loves her chicken.
As for the rest of the beans, I reheated them the next day and plopped a runny poached egg on top with a sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese: 
Wow. As much as I loved the POM-Raspberry chicken, when it comes to runny eggs…well, my legs go all runny. It is a tough decision, and I don’t think I can choose between the two. 
LOVE the golden liquid, especially as the beans soaks up that elixir of umami-goodness! 
Thank you Molly for the opportunity to experiment with this wonderful stuff! I’ve also tried drinking it straight up, but it was really too strong for me. My roommate loved it though, especially when I extolled the nutritional virtues of pomegranate juice. She’s already downed 3 bottles. So I guess it’s just a preference of taste! As I said before, we’re all different! 
By the way, thank you all for you overwhelmingly supportive and encouraging support on my last post…Strange, but I’m reflecting on my past quite often these days…so don’t be surprised if more of my reflections show up in more future posts!
Question of the day: Ever been in a situation where everyone has complete different beliefs and views and opinions and interests? Do share! 
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I spent a good deal of time at the Healthy Living Summit talking to Andrea from POM. She was really nice and interesting!
College is such a great place for dialogue and differing opinions! A lot more open than the workplace in general.
I love open discussions in class, except when someone disagrees with me.. then I get fierce
buaha, I kid I kid (kinda of..).
never thought to use my POM in recipes, reason #3898309 why you’re a genius!
Wow what an awesome POM combination. So fun and creative:)
Wow, you are so creative in the kitchen! I made pom chicken once but wasn’t too big of a fan of it. I don’t really like the pom taste. Your food all looks delicious though!
That chicken was so badass. I sprinkled in a teeny bit of basil–it went really well with it.
At my high school, we had to take an ethics course. I was put into Bioethics. Somehow, I started a huge debate on cloning. It went on for a solid 45 minutes and had a few people flipping out. By that time, I was more content to munch popcorn and watch the future science majors battle it out with the equally ferocious religious conservatives. Regardless of bioethics, I was just pissed the teacher was SERIOUSLY using Jurassic Park for a moral argument on cloning. Michael “Batshit Crazy Pulp Writer” Crichton ?
aahh… differing of opinions and thoughts..its funny how when one gets older the harder it gets for them to accept criticism and feedback? Constructive or otherwise?
its like they got their minds set on something or they have this “I would know BETTER”. mentality.
But its still fun in college..where people are generally more open stil to differing opinions i think
Ohhh.. i do miss college times
Thanks for the recipes! POM contacted me last week asking if I wanted to try their products!! Now I have some inspiration for what to do with them. The Raspberry chicken sounds awesome!
Yum! Love the creative use of POM. I once made a POM glazed tofu, but I think this dish blows that one out of the water!
my first college peer review went very similarly to yours! they were always INTERESTING at the least haha. you’ll learn to take certain critics’ comments more seriously than others…but I guess that’s with everything in life, right?
your chicken looks delish–you really put that POM to use!
I got a shipment too!!! I was trying to come up with something cool to do with it…mine will be sweet though, duh
great pom recipes – i have a shipment coming in and am planning on cooking with it too….
I am SO impressed with your recipes! Such creativity! They look soooo gorgeous, posh, and gourmet! You are a genius!
Such an incredible story of polar opposites! Your comment about the uniqueness of humans is so powerful – and so true!
Thank you so much for your incredibly sweet comment about the sweet potatoes…
You completely made my day! 
I’ve had so many convos about my faith, evolution, etc. that I’m used to people arguing with me. I really like a good debate.
Your paper sounds really interesting!
Hi Sophia! Thanks for stopping by – Abba was a great pick.
A lot of bloggers writing about POM lately. I’ve never tried it, but I’m definitely intrigued. That Raspberry Chicken has my name all over it.
lol. i’m so intense it’s hard to stop- at least i don’t run twice a day ( i did it last week LOL) hey, you have a full course load, i’m just taking one community college class and studying for MCAT at the same time…..i should say you’re MY hero!
hehe I became addicted to Pom after they sent me some a while back! It’s really versatile -the only thing is that while the bottle is really cute, it’s a bugger to store in the fridge! lol
I love the POM recipes! That chicken looks especially delectable.
Law school was the place where I really encountered different opinions, and I loved it! Having a good natured debate with people who LOVE to debate is one of my favorite things to do. I’m happy to hear that you are enjoying that aspect of your experience so far!
Thanks for visiting my blog! That raspberry chicken looks out of this world! As a very liberal girl from Kansas, I have often found myself in situations where I am dealing with people who have very different opinions on things than I do. I try my best to keep an open mind and really LISTEN to what they are saying (even if I don’t believe it…) because becoming closed minded is one of my biggest fears!
they way you’re able to bring ingredients together is amazing to me! this looks so good!
Creative cooking. I like to add a little bit of POM is my water. Yum.
*oops…. is = in
Wow…good for you for drinking it straight up. I REALLY am weak sauce and can’t do it because of the slightly bitter/dry aftertaste, although I like how it tastes initially. ALSO major kudos to designing your own recipe out of the juice! Who would have thought to use it as marinade?!?!
Sophia of course!
What a great idea to use the pom with chicken–I use pomegranate juice and pom seeds with flanken; why didn’t I ever think of chicken. Thanks!
POM-tastic, indeed
great job with those recipes! and congrats on a healthy and happy first month!
Thanks for the great tip about cooking beans in the rice cooker. I have not tried that. I’ve only cooked rice, polenta, and steamed fish (only once) in my trusty rice cooker. You remind me just how much more versatile it is.
surprisingly i’ve never tried the glorious wonder that is pom. it’s on my do to list fo sheeze though.
i LOVE how your always so creative in the kitch, woman. i find myself just being to damn lazy to ponder up new ideas.
my family, college and friends are all pretty liberal and we share similar opinions… def not the same though. but i actually love hearing other peoples side even if i completely disagree… especially when they are passionate about it. as long as their willing to listen to my side of course
Sophia, this is what I love about you! You are so freakin’ creative and willing to take chances – in life and in food! I haven’t had the chance to cook with POMWonderful just yet but now after seeing your post, I am dying to! And you are right, ‘flash of genius’! But actually, it should have been ‘pure genius’!
Look how creative you are. I love the runny egg! I think some of my favorite friends are those that are completely different from me…it’s nice to hear other perspectives. Although, there are times when I want to strangle them too
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1. Rice cooker for more than rice… Great idea!
2. That’s so fun about the paper. I love that part of college life!
3. I disagree with ppl all the time. I think my relationship with my dad and my boy includes lots of arguing over issues because debate is one of my favorite things… which is prob why they’re two of my fave ppl because they can keep up with me
I like how creative you are with your POM!
Your new camera is taking some really sweet pics …Figtreeapps
So smart to use POM with a savory meal!!! Loves it my friend! How are you lovin USC? My good friend just started and loves it!
Runny eggs are one thing that keeps me from going back to a completely vegetarian lifestyle! So good, especially with the peace of mind that comes with cage free, grain fed chickens. I love college for the same reason. I have learned a lot just from analyzing the thought patterns behind peoples’ differing opinions.
I love POM, but I always forget to try it out in actual recipes because I usually drink it too fast
I do agree with you in that supplements should come second to whole foods, however I still take a half of a vitamin everyday just to make sure I am getting everything. I don’t think a daily multivitamin will hurt anyone, but it’s the mega doses that people take that are really not good. PEople assume that if a vitmain is healthy, then taking MEGA doses of them should be healthier. in reality, it’s not true, it’s actually dangerous.
I also take a viactiv because in the winter I don’t get sun, and vitamin D is SO SO important so I will never stop taking viactiv.
I take the fish oil only because I don’t eat much fish. I stick with reputable brands, rather than buying them cheap online like a lot of people do. THOSE can be dangerous, and you never know what you are going to get!
Oh, and another thing: what is kimchi exactly?
xxx Julia
Woot for diversity. Just for the record, all atheists are not eugenicists! Glad that you are able to appreciate a range of opinions. I am curious, what class was this for? Evolution has a lot of scientific intricacies that are hard to delve in without a lot of background in biology, I’m surprised they chose that for an assignment in a liberal arts class.
love the use of POM… all food sound great!! love this post!
cheers and have a great weekend!
Why are you so creative? huhu.
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