Posted on March 23, 2016March 23, 2016 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Cookery Books in the Post

Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows and Purples

Any book that can encourage our kids to eat more healthily has to be a good thing. That goes for adults too, if I’m honest. I think a very large proportion of the population doesn’t eat enough fruit and veg.

In this book, there are more than enough recipes to get started with, and includes lots of lovely and bright images of foods and their descriptions. We get to meet the fruit and veg within each colour, and there are lots of little tips, more than suitably tailored towards our younger cooks, with handy safety rules and a guide to the equipment needed for the recipes.

You can soon be cooking tasty, healthy meals with this recipe book. Alongside nutrition facts, there are 25 simple vegetarian recipes for children to cook at home, including soups, salads and stir fries, as well as sweet delights, such as muffins, cheesecake and cupcakes. The focus of the book is on earning to cook with our greens, reds, yellows and purples.

You can find out how carrots help your vision, and why peppers boost your immune system, while learning how to use different fruits and vegetables, and using different cooking methods.

For reds, recipes include tomato, pepper and cherries, with the purples, like aubergine, blueberry and raisins being quite neat.

Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows and Purples is published by DK on 1 April 2016, £9.99. DK.com

My personal favourite is always going to be the oranges, with carrot, butternut squash and pumpkin featuring, much to my approval.

There are some lovely recipes, including:

Green Bean Stirfry
Green Smoothie
Tomato and Onion Tarts
Layered Berry Cheesecakes
Sunshine Rice
Carrot and Orange Treats

The carrot and orange treats will go down nicely with my boys, and the green smoothie for me. Thanks for the permission to post the smoothie recipe.

Green Smoothie

Ingredients

1 small or 1/2 large banana
75g (2oz) green grapes
60g (2oz) baby spinach
150ml (5fl oz) milk (use almond milk if preferred)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp almond or peanut butter
handful of ice cubes

Method

Peel the banana and break it into chunks. Put into a blender along with the grapes.
Add the spinach, milk, honey, nut butter, and a handful of ice cubes to the blender.
Blend the mixture until smooth. If it’s too thick or not chilled enough, just add a few cubes of ice and blend again.

We’re told that spinach is rich in vitamins, which helps keep our blood healthy, and we can adapt the recipe to get a different flavour, by adding a large pinch of ground cinnamon or even a few fresh mint leaves.

In summary:

I love the light and bright pictures, with the great tips throughout the book. This would make a lovely present for kids who already have everything.

Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows and Purples is published by DK on 1 April 2016, £9.99. DK.com

Posted on March 5, 2016August 18, 2024 by Scottish Mum — 2 Comments

How To Make Toasted Spelt with Dates & Sun Dried Tomatoes

Most of you wouldn’t like the toasted spelt in the way that I do. The lovely nutty flavoured wheat is perfect for snacking. I toast mine until it becomes almost a dry nutty consistency as that’s what I enjoy. If you prefer yours softer, simply don’t roast/toast for long and check the cooking times on your spelt. Some of you might just prefer the spelt straight from the packet if you buy the ready to eat kind, such as I did, or a quick heat up for a minute in the microwave.

I made this in the Actifry, but you could easily use your oven to toast the spelt, or not toast it at all if you prefer the slightly chewy consistency it can give us.

I cheated and used a pack of Merchant Gourmet Spelt, that is ready to eat. Nobody said everything should be done from raw… I don’t always have time for that sort of thing.

Toasted Spelt with Dates and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Lesley Smith

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Course Main

Ingredients

250 g Spelt ready to eat.
100 g Pitted Dates chopped.
100 g Sun Dried Tomatoes in oil drained.
Salt and Pepper.
1 Tablespoon Rapeseed Oil.

Instructions

I used my snacking basket to Actifry my sun dried tomatoes for 5 minutes.
After doing my tomatoes, I then put my spelt and chopped dates into my machine, along with a pinch of salt and pepper, and the oil.
I Actifried my spelt for 8 minutes, which will be far too long for most of you. Some might just like 1 or 2 minutes. Keep an eye on it and check every minute or so, to find out if it’s the right consistency and taste for you.
Serve with the sun dried tomatoes on top, and I added some edible rose petals to enhance the look of the dish.

Posted on February 25, 2016March 12, 2019 by Scottish Mum — 1 Comment

Beef Rostis using Leftovers

In collaboration with Love Food Hate Waste.

These are made from leftovers. Who wouldn’t want to know how to make something so delicious, and economical, while keeping lots of food waste out of our bins? You could even win a Slow Cooker with your own tips. Read on to find out more.

Ok, so what’s the issue? Did you know that around £260 million pounds worth of beef products are wasted each year in our UK homes? I know I didn’t. We might be nation of beef lovers, but that’s a lot of wasted meat.

And that’s not all. There’s also the half eaten sandwich, unfinished steak in a restaurant, or like some of my extended family members, anything that isn’t eaten on the day, is thrown out and never eaten.

I don’t subscribe to that way of cooking, and many of us are on a budget these days, so it makes sense to use our leftovers and put them to good use. It’s something I do regularly for my own family.

MEATY ISSUES – WHAT’S THE BEEF?

Love Food Hate Waste is launching the Meaty Issues campaign, where they will share our favourite tips, tricks and left over recipes to help us reduce the amount of beef we throw away at home saving us money and helping the environment along the way. Farmer and television presenter Adam Henson will also be talking about how we can do our bit to help get the best from our beef.

RECIPE USING LEFTOVERS WITH SOME ADDED INGREDIENTS

My Tips

Freeze what you can’t use immediately for another day. I have frozen banana, cucumber, meat, chicken, soups and much much more waiting to be used. I especially dislike throwing away beef, as it’s so expensive, and if an animal is providing food for me, I like to use as much of it as I can.
Make stock from bones to use another day in gravy, soups, stews and casseroles.
Measure your ingredients and check portion sizes before grabbing things in the shopping aisle. I find it easier to shop online for many things, as I tend to buy what I need, rather that just grabbing a big bag while the boys are moaning about being in the shop too long.
Meal planning. It really does help. This is one thing I really need to get smarter at, as I tend to over shop and have to freeze lots.
Recycle. Having a separate scraps bin really made me take stock of the raw/fresh food that went by way of the bin. In the days it went into the big bin, I didn’t have a good handle on how much we threw away. Now I do…..
If you don’t have enough of one thing, add something else from your cupboard to pad it out. This is exactly what I did for my Beef Rostis. I had a pan full of mashed potatoes, when family cancelled supper at the weekend. I wanted to use them up, along with a packet of beef slices that my mum had asked for, but hadn’t eaten more than one teensy slice from.

BEEF ROSTIS WITH ONION AND MINI SWEET PEPPERS

I had nowhere near enough of any one thing for this recipe, so I just threw a lot of different things together, and out came these lovely beef rostis. Even my husband was well impressed, and he’s quite a picky eater.

I had a load of mashed potato, so I added enough for a large batch of rostis. My boys ate two each with some mushy peas for supper, so they were very quickly demolished around here. I’d make these again, in different varieties.

Ingredients (Makes 10 Rostis)

800g Mashed Potato.
200g Beef, sliced thinly.
200g Onion, finely sliced.
3 Mini Sweet Peppers, sliced and with seeds removed. I used red, yellow and orange.
50g Carrots, sliced and cubed.
Ruskoline Crumb Dressing.
5 Eggs.
Plain Flour.
5ml Rapeseed Oil.

Method

I used my Actifry with the Snacking basket to cook these, but you can easily use a frying pan or even oven cook them too, although I’ve never actually made rostis in the oven.

Step One

Cook your onions with the peppers and carrots in the rapeseed oil, until fully cooked.

Depending on how you cook, you might need a little more oil. If yours are already cooked leftover vegetables, you can miss out this step. I sauteed mine in the Actifry. Try not to let them turn brown as it spoils the look of the Rosti when they’re cut open. I took around 10 minutes to cook mine.

Step Two

Put your potatoes and beef into a bowl, and add your vegetables and mix thoroughly.

Step Three

Get three dishes, and crack three eggs into one, and whisk them up briskly until mixed. Put Ruskoline into your second bowl, and plain flour into the third. You can add more of these as you go, if you need it. I used 5 eggs in total.

Step Four

Form your mix into slightly smaller than palm sized balls and flatten them, pressing together to firm them up. They may be a little moist at this point, which is what the flour is for. Dip each patty into the flour and make sure it is fully coated. I flour all my rostis first. When they are all covered in flour, I finish the next two steps for each rosti in turn, covering it with egg, then rolling each one around in the ruskoline until fully coated. Be warned. It’s a messy business. Kids love making these.

Step Five

In my Actifry Snacking Basket, these took around 5 minutes for mine to be thoroughly hot. You could shallow fry yours or oven bake on a moderate heat for around 20 minutes, or until fully hot inside.

Now pop on over to Love Food Hate Waste and add your own tips…

Posted on February 17, 2016March 13, 2021 by Scottish Mum — 4 Comments

Actifry Recipe: Garlic Infused Mixed Potatoes

This was so simple, that I wish I’d done it long ago. I do love sweet potatoes, and adding them to my Actifry was a no brainer.

Actifry Recipe: Garlic Infused Mixed Potatoes

Lesley Smith

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Course Main

Cuisine Main

Servings 6 Small Portions

Ingredients

500 g Baby Potatoes
300 g Sweet Potatoes
2 Actifry Spoons of Garlic Infused Rapeseed Oil.
Chopped Parsley
Salt
3 g Bullion Powder

Instructions

Leave the skin on baby potatoes, and simply wash and chop them into small pieces. I didn't do this scientifically, or to any definite shape.
Peel the sweet potatoes, and chop them up in the same way as the baby potatoes.
Put them all into the Actifry, and drizzle on two spoons of the oil, and mix in the bullion powder. For this, I used what I had, which was a tub of red wine casserole powder. Just use what you have, and if you're out of something, crumble in a stock cube or two.
Select around 20 minutes on your machine, or until your baby potatoes are fully cooked.
Serve with a little parsley to garnish on top.

Posted on February 9, 2016September 5, 2024 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Happy Pancake Day 2016: Strawberry Pancakes

It’s that time again, the Shrove Tuesday, that every year, brings out the pancake maker in all of us.

This time round, I’ve opted for a fruity version, with some lovely strawberry pancakes, that get a little bit of goodness in our kids, while they enjoy some deliciousness at the same time. Pancakes are easy to make, but somehow, I always manage to burn the first couple, until I get into my stride. I rarely have that perfect circular shaped pancake. I just throw mine in and hope for the best. I’ll keep my pancake shape envy under wraps….as they taste awesome anyway.

This recipe can make up to 12 fairly largish traditional and quite fluffy pancakes, but you could get more if you make them smaller. I think I make ours too big.

Strawberry Pancakes Recipe

Lesley Smith

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Course Baking

Cuisine Sweet Treats

Servings 8 -12

Ingredients

35 g Baking Powder
2 Large Eggs
40 g Soft Butter
35 g Caster Sugar
300 ml Semi Skimmed Milk
250 g Plain Flour
150 g Sliced and Chopped Strawberries

Instructions

Start by simply putting all your ingredients into your mixer, or bowl. Mix for around three minutes. The mix is thick in this version of pancake batter, so don't let it scare you.
Heat a thick bottomed frying pan (or any pan) on the hob. I prefer not to use oil to cook my pancakes, but it means I do have to keep a close eye on them. I leave the heat almost at the lowest that it can go and cook them very slowly.
When you see the top of the dollop of pancake mix beginning to bubble up, then it is time to turn over your pancake to cook the other side, which won't take long at all. Don't leave pancakes alone on the hob as they will burn very quickly.
Spread with a little butter or strawberry jam to complement the added fruit, or a drizzle of maple syrup.

If you’re feeling more adventurous, why not try:

Maltesers Pancakes

American Fluffy Pancakes

Low Carb and Gluten Free Cream Cheese Pancakes

Posted on February 5, 2016March 13, 2021 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Home Made Burgers with Red & Orange Peppers

Making our own burgers is incredibly easy, and we then know what’s actually in them. I don’t expect to have to mince slabs of meat, but I do like getting bags of mince, that I can use to make my own burgers, meatballs and more, as it’s just so easy to do, and saves me having to decide on different things when I’m shopping.

It takes very little time to actually throw some ingredients together, and it’s a bit of a no brainer to me. Yes, the kids sometimes go to buy a sweetie and come back with a pack of sausages (yes, I know they’re strange) but I like to have choices when I’m using ingredients in my kitchen. I used mince from The Lean Butcher, which is always fabulous, as it can come delivered straight to my door.

This is so simple and just thrown together with some mince and chopped veg. It’s all fresh, it’s all ours, and I don’t have to worry what’s been added to it in the forming process.

I only had some peppers and onion left over from soup, so they were a perfect go together for these burgers.

We used our samples of the new Ora Stack to eat our burgers with, as they’re a perfect size. They’re a super absorbent and ultra strong kitchen roll, that comes in a circular shape on a stack, which means it’s a one handed lift off, simply by using a thumb.

As they’re a one hand grab, I’ve found myself reaching for these before using my regular kitchen rolls, so mine disappeared pretty quickly. I’ve not seen them in shops here yet, but I’ll be picking some up when I do.

There’s nothing worse than having to rip off a piece of kitchen roll with two hands, when one is covered in food while I’m cooking. I found them very absorbent and one piece went a long way.

Burgers with Red and Orange Peppers Recipe

Home Made Burgers with Red and Orange Peppers

Lesley Smith

4 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Course Mains / Burgers

Cuisine British

Servings 5 -10

Ingredients

800 g Lean Minced Beef.
60 g Red Pepper chopped.
60 g Orange Pepper chopped.
50 g Onion finely chopped.
Half Teaspoon Salt.
Half Teaspoon Pepper.

Instructions

Put your mince into a bowl, and then pour in the chopped vegetables.
Add in the salt and pepper.
I use my hands for best effect with this, as I find that a wooden spoon takes too long, and just doesn't allow the peppers and onion to be fully mixed with the mince. It takes a couple of minutes to thoroughly mix the food together until it is in a loosely bound state.
I use a cheap burger press I bought from Lakeland that makes burgers around 180g each, but before that, I used to make mine by hand, simply taking a dollop of the mixture and shaping it into a patty with my hands.
For smaller burgers, you could easily get around 10 from this mix, but I made 5 larger burgers.
Everyone had different requirements for how they like their burgers cooked, ie red in the middle, fully cooked, or almost burned black. I like mine well done, so gauge your own timings for cooking in a moderate oven for as long as you need to.

Posted on January 25, 2016January 29, 2016 by Scottish Mum — 4 Comments

Happy Burns Day

Do you call it Burns Day or Burns Night? I’m not sure it makes a difference.

A huge thank you to Macsween Haggis for our little gift and Burns Night Supper Guide.

Haggis doesn’t always have to be the full haggis, neeps and tatties. There are other things we can do with it, and there’s even a vegetarian option, as well as a gourmet Venison Haggis, which is new to me.

For today, I was running out of time, so I grabbed a couple of bags of baby potatoes and some butternut squash and sweet potato prepared vegetables and plonked them into the steamer. With our haggis in the microwave, our Burns Night supper has been quick, easy and no hassle whatsoever.

I think I’m going to try the Macsween Haggis Venison Haggis Croquettes later this week, as they look fabulous in their recipe section. For someone like me, who is from Scotland, it’s hard to think of anyone who hasn’t ever actually tried eating it, but I’m sure there are a fair few of my readers who are all new to it.

Haggis isn’t just for Burns night. The 25th Jan is traditionally when we celebrate the life and work of the bard, Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, but haggis is nutritious and easy to use as an ingredient to fabulous dishes.

If you’ve never tried haggis, then perhaps it’s about time you gave it a wee try. Other dishes I’ve made with haggis are below, and the soup was absolutely heavenly.

We recite the Selkirk Grace as a part of the celebration.

Selkirk Grace
Some hae meat and canna eat
And some wad eat that want it:
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.
Robert Burns 1759-1796

Vegetarian Haggis Soup

Haggis in a Baked Potato

Also on my blog, find out more.

What is Burns Night?

10 Tips for burns night, any night, on a budget.

Burns Night Doric Poem

Posted on January 23, 2016September 5, 2024 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Courgette Jam (with some cucumber)

I didn’t have quite enough courgette to use up the 1kg of sugar in my cupboard, so there was an added 150g cucumber to make up the numbers. We were quite surprised by the result of this, as it’s a very marmalade style texture and taste, but without the tartness.

I will definitely make this again.

I didn’t do any of this picking out of the pips. They all went into the jam.

Courgette Jam (with some cucumber)

Lesley Smith

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 30

Total Time 35

Course Preserves

Cuisine Scotland

Servings 3 x 1lb Jars

Ingredients

1 kg Peeled and Chopped Courgette and Cucumber. Chop into small squares or slices.
1 kg Granulated Sugar
1 Sachet Tate and Lyle Pectin

Instructions

Remember to prepare your jars for use. Sterilising them while your jam cooks.
Either steam the vegetables, or add a little water and bubble the courgette and cucumber on the stove, until the vegetables break down, and boil off any excess water. I think I overdid this, but it hasn't made any difference to the jam. Mine is lovely, but a little thick.
Add the sugar and pectin to your jam, folding it into the courgette and cucumber.
I use a hand stick blender at this point to mulch down most of the seeds. In the end, I only had a few left, which wasn't a problem.
Then let the sugar dissolve over a low heat, then rapid boil for up to twenty minutes, or until your jam reaches setting point.
To find out if my jam is ready, I keep a couple of teaplates in the fridge for a few minutes, then let a few drops land. When the surface creases if you push it with the back of a spoon, your jam is ready.
Serve as usual, like any other sweet jam.

Posted on January 14, 2016March 13, 2021 by Scottish Mum — 4 Comments

Airfryer – Actifry Recipe – Scrambled Eggs with Cheese & Tomato

Actifry Recipe - Scrambled Eggs with Cheese & Tomato

Lesley Smith

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Prep Time 2

Total Time 2

Course Breakfast

Cuisine British

Ingredients

4 Large Eggs.
200 m Milk.
50 g Grated Cheese.
8 Cherry Tomatoes cut in half.
Salt and Pepper to Taste.
Oil Spray – I used the one cal buttery version.

Instructions

Ensure the air fryer, and especially the paddle, has a light covering of oil spray. Add a very small amount of Rapeseed oil to the bottom of the pan if you wish, for cooking the eggs.
Ensure the paddle is correctly placed in the machine.
Ensure the lid is firmly closed during all cooking times.
Mix 4 eggs with 200ml milk in a jug, and lightly season with salt and pepper.
Pop your mixture into the air fryer and set the timer for 6 minutes.
When the timer is finished, open the lid and use a wooden scraper to take any egg mix from the sides of the bowl and put it back to the bottom. Add the tomatoes.
Set the timer for a further 3 minutes, then check your eggs. Your machine might need a little longer. When the eggs are fully cooked, your meal is ready.
Serve in a pre-warmed bowl, and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Wait 30 seconds, then eat.

Posted on January 13, 2016September 7, 2024 by Scottish Mum — 7 Comments

Soup Maker Recipes Kindle E-Book – 60 Soupmaker Recipes by Moi, on Amazon now…

Apologies for those of you who also follow me over on the Soupmaker Club blog, as you’ll have received this twice.

I started putting an e-book together after being asked for a soup maker recipe book for ones I’ve published online. It’s live now on Amazon, and some of you might have seen it already, while you were checking out soups elsewhere, but it also includes recipes that have not been published to date.

It’s quite simple, Book 1, is just named Soup Maker Recipes, by Lesley Smith.

In it, there are 60 recipes in total, with some from here, and some from the Soupmaker Club, and lots that haven’t gone online. I’ve had it uploaded to Amazon for a few days, and although up until yesterday, I hadn’t told anyone – at all, people have bought it, for which I am highly delighted. If you are one of those who’ve bought, I thank you very much.

This evening it became an Amazon Best-Selling Kindle e-book, in the Food, Special Appliances section, which was a lovely surprise. That also makes me an Amazon Kindle Best-Selling Author 🙂 I know it won’t stay there for too long, but it’s nice to see it moving along. A review or two would be nice, but hey ho, that’s showbiz.

The best bit for those of you who are Kindle Unlimited members, is that you can download it and read for FREE…….

Click on the image or the Amazon box to go to the UK page. If you’re looking for the US one, it will prompt you to go to the US store.

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Ok, so what’s in the book?

Soup Maker Recipes

60 No Fuss Tasty Soups For Your Soup Maker Gadget

by Lesley Smith

Just click the image to take you there. Be sensible with soup maker recipes, as mine won’t fit all kettle soup makers, nor blender ones, without a little tweaking, based on the instructions for your machines.

On Sale now: £1.99 for 60 soup maker recipes. OR: You can read it free if you are a Kindle Unlimited customer.

The soups are:

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Beef Hotpot Soup

Beetroot Soup

Bonfire Night Soup (5^th November)

Broccoli Soup

Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrot Soup

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Cabbage Soup

Cabbage and Tomato Soup

Cream of Carrot Soup

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Carrot and Coriander Soup

Carrot and Orange Soup

(Eggy) Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

Cauliflower and Cheese Soup

Chicken Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

Chicken Stew Soup

Christmas Soup (Turkey)

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

Coconut and Lime Soup

Courgette and Coriander Soup

Courgette and Tomato Soup

(Spicy) Courgette and Orange Soup

Cucumber and Ginger Soup

Cucumber and Apple Soup

Cullen Skink (Scottish Fish Soup)

Curried Potato Soup

French Onion Soup

Italian Autumn Veg Soup

(Cream of) Leek and Potato Soup

Mediterranean Vegetable Soup

Minestrone Soup

Mulled Wine Soup

Mulligatawny Soup

Partan Bree Soup (Crab)

Pea and Mint Soup

Pea and Ham Soup

Peppered Mushroom Soup

Potato Soup

Potato and Mango Soup

Potato and Onion Soup

Pumpkin Soup

(Cream of) Pumpkin Soup

Red Lentil Soup

Red Pepper Soup

Root Vegetable Soup

Scotch Broth with Vegetable Stock (Chunky)

Spicy Parsnip Soup

Split Pea Soup

Sweet Pepper and Leek Soup

Tomato Soup (Easy Soup)

Tomato and Apple Soup

Tomato and Aubergine Soup

Tomato, Fig and Fennel Soup

Creamy Tomato Soup (Passata Recipe)

Cold/Chilled Soups

Avocado and Cucumber Soup

Gazpacho Soup

Green Soup

Posted on January 5, 2016March 13, 2021 by Scottish Mum — 1 Comment

Luxurious Date Butter / Date Caramel

As well as eating a ton of dates these days, I’m using them in cooking now, as a way to get the sweet portion of my sweet tooth satisfied. I make a sort of ice-cream with whipped quark and crème fraîche, but needed something sweet to go with it, instead of simply adding sweeteners. My grandmother used to make this, and although I’ve made mine in the way she did (but much simpler with a Nutribullet) I suspect there are other ways to get it done. At first, it wasn’t as straight forward as I thought, but I’ve got it sorted now. I’m even putting it on my mothers toast instead of butter and jam for her evening snack. Much better than the added sugar and fat late in the evening for her.

This is fabulous spread on toast, ice-cream, waffles, or anything you want to put in place of butter and margarine spreads. It’s sweet and sticky and delish, and good for us, as it’s simply a one ingredient butter / spread / caramel, that just has a little water added to it.

You’d need sticky Medjool dates to get this to work properly, as I suspect drier dates wouldn’t pulverise so easily, or might need much more in the way of soaking.

Luxurious Date Butter / Date Caramel Sauce

Lesley Smith

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Prep Time 2

Total Time 2

Course Spreads

Cuisine Dessert

Ingredients

12 Medjool Dates
Water

Instructions

Destone the Medjool dates and chop them up into reasonably small segments.
Add them to your blending jug, with a little water, and leave them to soak for up to half an hour.
Pour the water into a separate cup and add back two or three teaspoons of water to the dates.
Blend. When the blender stops turning, add a spoon more of water, and mix with your dates, until it is slightly thinner again. Reblend.
Repeat the last step until you have the consistency you want. Runnier or thicker, it's all up to you.

Posted on December 30, 2015March 18, 2021 by Scottish Mum — 4 Comments

Raw Food Canapé – Sweet and Exotic for New Year

Have you ever wanted something sinfully sweet, but don’t want to eat sugar, chocolate, cake or ice cream? Then dates might just be for you….

This gorgeous and very simple recipe for a New Year canapé is so simple, and guests will never believe it’s all made from good for you food. If you don’t tell them what it is, some of them will think it’s some juicy delicacy they’ve never heard of. For me, it’s a raw food canapé and these look awesome on a tray, far better than my image.

Raw Food Canapé

Raw Food Canapé - Sweet Exotic Fruit

Lesley Smith

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Prep Time 2

Total Time 2

Course Canapé

Cuisine Starter

Ingredients

Medjool Dates - 1 Per Canapé
Soft Cheese or Whipped Cream, or Whipped Quark, or even Creme Fraiché.
Dried Mango - Unsweetened
Dessicated Coconut or Fresh Grated Coconut

Instructions

Simple slice along the top of the dates, and remove the stone pit. If there's a slight hard crust at the end, slice that off, and open the date out.
Simply pop in a tiny spoon of soft cheese, and sprinkle a few strands of dessicated coconut on top.
Slice your dried mango in little strips and place on top for decoration.

About Medjool Dates – The Caramelly Tasting Fruit

Dates, like Figs, are a relatively new fruit to me. I once saw a neighbour eating them, and I physically felt a little queasy. For my whole life, I’ve imagined dates as tasting like prunes, and I really cannot stand prunes…. Not in the slightest…. Uh uh, never…. Am I clear about that??????

I know we tend to think of them as just a Christmassy thing, but going forward, they’re going to be a big part of my diet, to fulfill days when I have a sweet tooth.

I’ve only really tried the Medjool variety so far, and although I would try other versions, I’ve learned through experience, to stick to what I actually like.

Medjool dates are nice and plump, with an outer skin and rich softer flesh inside. I think they are said to be more juicy than other drier versions of dates. I suspect that’s one reason that I’ve been put off trying other varieties.

When they ripen, they turn from a reddish yellow, to a deep brown, with a gorgeous caramel taste. A bit like nature’s natural sweets. If you’re never tried them, you might just find yourself a new healthy sweet.

Here’s the lowdown:

Goodness For Our Bodies

Packed with fibre and potassium as a healthy treat, there’s also some calcium, magnesium and copper in there. So as well as being tasty, they’re also good for our bones. We sure can’t say that for sugary sweets.

Blood Sugar

As a diabetic, finding sweet treats that aren’t high in sugar or carbs is quite difficult if I’m to keep away from polyols as much as possible, and dates fills one of those voids. Yes, it’s sweet, so contains natural sugar, but they are also filled with fibre, so help keep us from feeling those carb cravings too quickly afterwards.

It’s One Of Our 5 A Day

Yes, it is. It’s fruit. I don’t think I can say any more about that, as we all know we need to get our fruit and veg in somehow. Around 3 dates will count as one of our five a day. And at around 90-95 calories for three dates, they’re also quite filling.

How To Eat Dates

The easiest way is to just eat them like a sweet, but remember to remove the stone inside as you bite into it. The pit is easy to remove and is hard to miss, as they’re usually quite big. Some people cut off the top, remove the pit and put other things inside, like nuts, chocolate, soft cheese and more etc.

Cooking With Dates

I think I’ll be making some desserts with dates as a base. I have made cheesecake base with dates, but strangely, I never actually attributed the sweet taste to the dates that I mixed with crushed nuts. I wish I’d discovered this little treat years ago. A caramel sauce will be one of my first attempts, hopefully to go with some treat ice cream for the kids, and not let on that it isn’t sugary caramel. I can dream….

Growing Dates

I think I’ve mentioned plenty of times on the blog, that we have a plot where the man grows quite a lot of our own during the fairer months. I very much doubt dates will grow in the UK, but hey, anything is worth a try, and if I can get him to make me a space in the polytunnel, I’ll give it a go next year. From what I’ve read, cutting the tapered bit from a few cola bottles and planting a pit just under the compost at the top is the best option, but if it does indeed take about 20 years to grow a tree, I might be better off to just try it at home, or buy a plant from a local nursery, but I don’t hold out much hope of it surviving for long in winter. It might be a bit of a pointless experiment….

Medjool Dates Nutritional Content

Each date – pitted (high in potassium)

Calories: 66kcal
Carbohydrates: 18g
Fiber: 1.6g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Protein: 0.4g
Sodium: 0.2mg

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