Cherry Bomb!

I used to hate cherries! Can you believe that? Well, at least I thought I hated cherries. Turns out I really only hated sickly sweet marischino cherries. I tried my first real, fresh cherry (cherry pie doesn't count) a couple of years ago, and turns out, I adore their tart, sweet taste. When asked if I'd like to review some Cheribundi brand cherry juice, of course I jumped at the opportunity.

A couple weeks ago, a sample box arrived with two eight-ounce bottles of Cheribundi Tru Cherry and two bottles of Skinny Cherry. The Tru Cherry packs 50 cherries into that tiny bottle, and it's naturally sweetened with apple juice. And that's all — just cherry juice and apple juice. No artificial colors or flavors or other crap. My only issue with the Tru Cherry — each eight-ounce bottle is 130 calories! That's a lot for small glass of juice.

But that's okay because Cheribundi also makes Skinny Cherry, a slimmer version of their cherry juice with only 90 calories per bottle. How do they do it? Skinny contains 40 cherries instead of 50, and it's sweetened with calorie-free stevia instead of apple juice. After trying both, I really can't tell a difference in taste. I see no reason to drink Tru Cherry when Skinny is available ... unless you need extra calories (god, I wish I had that problem!).

I drank a couple of bottles on their own, and I gave the boyfriend a Tru Cherry because he could care less about calories. I used my last Skinny Cherry to make the most delicious smoothie I've had in awhile — Cherry Berry Banana Smoothie:

I enjoyed this tart smoothie before hopping on the elliptical machine at my gym this afternoon. Here's the recipe. Buy yourself some Cheribundi (or any cherry juice would work) and make one!

Cherry Berry Banana Smoothie
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1 frozen banana, broken into about five pieces
8 ounces cherry juice (like Cheribundi Skinny Cherry)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 Tbsp. hemp protein powder, optional (I use Nutiva brand)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

By the way, I promise to post about food tomorrow night! I haven't had much time for cooking in the past couple of days ... Also testers, I've posted a new recipe on the cookbook testing site. Check it out!