Apple-Free, All Natural Fruit Punch

My six-year-old son has been watching me with great interest these past few weeks as I experiment with allergy-free foods, and today he asked if he could invent a new drink!  He has a major allergy to apples, grapes and pears, so just about all the boxed juices on the market are off-limits to him -- even seemingly innocuous flavors like cherry are generally built on an apple base.

He had a blast pouring things into the blender, and lo and behold the result was quite tasty!  Dad thinks it tastes like apple cider, and the brothers think it's more of a fruit punch flavor, so that's what we've dubbed it.  Our Little Chef actually likes his with some seltzer in it, so it becomes another soda alternative. Either way, it's a lot of fun in a little glass.

Here are his notes on his project:

That's maple syrup (his favorite food of all time), pomegranate juice, crackers (an earlier version had pecan crackers for protein, since he's always hearing mom harp on protein content), orange juice and a special brand of pink lemonade called Berry Berry Good Lemonade, that contains cranberry juice for color.  The final version looks like this:

Apple-Free, All Natural Fruit Punch

1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup pink lemonade
1 Tbsp maple syrup
seltzer to taste (optional)

Blend the three juices and the maple syrup in your blender (it makes nice bubbles, like soda), then drink as-is, or pour in the seltzer for more carbonation (do not blend the seltzer in the blender).

We hope you love Little Chef's creation as much as we do! :)

This recipe has been shared with the Healthy Home Economist's Monday Mania and the Prairie Homestead's Barn Hop and Come Together Kids' School Days Link Party and Mom's Sunday Cafe's Hearth and Soul Hop and Confessions of a Stay At Home Mommy's Tuesday Confessional and the Gallery of Favorites at Premeditated Leftovers and Make Your Own Monday at Nourishing Treasures.