Make Healthy Meals

4 large baking apples
1 ounce pecan nuts
2 ounces blueberries
1 ounce oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat the oven to 325F. Core and deseed the apples. Using a sharp knife score around the middle of each apple. Dont cut through but just cut around so that the apple doesnt collapse when baking.

Place the pecans, oats, blueberries and sugar in a bowl and mix together. Fill the apples with the mixture and then pour orange juice over the tops. Bake approximately 30 to 40 minutes until the apples are soft and golden.

This is more of a tea bread than cake. Its low in sugar and can be served with a little butter or even jam. Im happy to have it plain with a nice cup of coffee!

4 ounces dried apricots, finely chopped
4 ounces dried cherries, finely chopped
4 ounces dried prunes, stoned and finely chopped
1 ounce of grated fresh ginger, (alternatively you can use 1 tablespoon dried ginger)
8 ounces whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 ounces dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups of hot fruity tea (make 2 cups of tea using any of the fruity varieties available on the market a nice orange or berry tea will go nicely)
1 ounce of melted butter

Place the dried fruit in a large bowl, add the hot tea and set aside to soak for at least an hour, ideally 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325F and using a little butter lightly grease a loaf tin. Set aside.

Add the remaining ingredients to the soaked fruit and mix through. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for approximately 45 to 60 minutes or until baked through.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Will keep for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container.

Tip1: For a lower fat cake, replace the ounce of butter with an equal ounce of apple sauce.

8 ounces of zucchini, grated
1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
4 ounces of melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon of ginger stem syrup (if you cant find this add an additional inch piece of grated ginger in place of the syrup)

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Mix together the eggs and sugar until fluffy. Slowly add the oil, vanilla and ginger syrup. Then mix in zucchini and fresh ginger. Mix together well.

In a separate large bowl sift the baking powder, flour and salt. Add the cinnamon and mix. Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture and mix well.

Lightly grease a loaf tin and pour in the cake mixture. Sprinkle some brown sugar over the surface. Bake for approximately 45 to 60 minutes or until baked through. You can test this by inserting a butter knife or skewer into the center. If it comes out clean the cake is done.

Leave to cool for approximately 15 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cheese and pear always goes nicely together but weve given it a twist by placing it in a wrap! Great for picnics of lunch boxes.

4 soft flour tortillas
1 ball light mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
2 ounces of grated parmesan cheese
2 medium pears, cored and diced
4 sun-dried tomatoes, finely sliced
2 ounces chopped walnuts

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and gently mix together. Divide the mixture between four tortillas and fill. Roll up the wraps tightly. If necessary hold closed with a toothpick or wrap in plastic film until ready to eat. Store in a cool place.

2 tablespoons unsalted real butter
1 can of pineapple slices, drained
1 mango, peeled, stoned and cut into small cubes
2 bananas, roughly sliced
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons dark rum

Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the sliced pineapple and cook for approximately 4 minutes over low heat until slightly browned. Turn occasionally while cooking. Add the mango and bananas to the pan and cook a further 1 minute. Turning regularly.

Stir in the maple syrup, cinnamon and rum and cook for approximately 2 more minutes. The sauce should start to thicken. Serve immediately with a little natural vanilla ice cream or low-fat natural yogurt.

* this crumble has a greater amount of fruit and only a small amount of topping.  This is a great way to get that extra sweet fix while keep calories low.

4 plums, stoned and cut into quarters
4 apricots, stoned and cut into quarters
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup whole oats
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ cup unsalted real butter, soft

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place the plums and apricots in a non-stick baking dish (or crumble baking dish).  Pour over 2 tablespoons of water.

In a separate bowl mix the oats, flour, sugar, spices and butter.  Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit.  Now sprinkle a little brown sugar over mixture.  Place in a hot oven and back for approximately 40 minutes or until fruit is tender.

Serve with a side of natural vanilla ice cream, low-fat natural yogurt or on its own!

½ cup unsalted real butter
½ cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon clear honey
1 cup plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 cup oatmeal oats
½ cup chopped apricots

Topping:

2 tablespoons chopped dried apricots
1/r cup toasted, chopped almonds

*note: to toast chopped almonds simply place in non-stick pan over high heat for a minute or two, tossing regularly.

Preheat the oven to 325F.  lightly grease a cookie baking sheet.  Place the butter, honey and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until the butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and apricots in a large bowl.  Pour the butter mixture into the bowl and mix well to form the dough.  Divide the dough into small rounds.  Place each round (1/2 inch) on the cookie baking sheet.  Scatter a few apricots and chopped almonds over each cookie, lightly pressing into the dough.

Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.  Cool for approximately 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

1 tbsp butter
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
vanilla ice cream

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add the strawberries, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook over medium heat until strawberries are completely heated.

Serve over ice cream.

Editor’s Note:

Also very good over other desserts where you might use strawberries.

2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 cup light olive oil
1/4 cup milk

Mix flour, oil and milk together until it can form a ball. Flatten and roll out to the size needed for your pie.

Editor’s Note:

Add more milk if the mixture needs more liquid.

This pie crust has some advantages, since olive oil is better for you than butter or shortening. But it can be harder to roll out. Some people get better results by freezing the oil for an hour or so before getting started. Rolling it out between sheets of wax paper can also be helpful.

Technorati Tags: olive oil pie crust, dessert recipe

Nope, not especially healthy, although not too dreadful if you can keep your consumption of these moderate. Depending on how much you adore them, this can be quite challenging. The raspberry chocolate I make is a particular weakness of mine now.

We’ll start with the Orangettes. I decided to make these after reading about them at Plate Tectonics. I just made a few because I hadn’t tried them before.

Orangettes

Cut off the top and bottom of an orange. Slice through peel to make it easier to peel, and to prepare for the rest of the recipe. Slice into strips no more than 1/2 inch thick.

Blanch in boiling water for several minutes. Repeat at least two more times, changing the water each time. This helps to remove the bitterness.

In a pot make simple syrup, using a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water. Add blanched peels, bring to boil, then simmer for one hour. Drain and allow to cool for an hour or more. Since I was doing the peels from just one orange, I used my strainer rather than a drying rack.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or very carefully in the microwave. If you use the microwave, stop and stir often to keep the chocolate from burning.

Dip peels in chocolate. Sprinkle cocoa powder on it if you like for an added touch of chocolate. This step reminded me that putting some in a shaker would have been much easier. Dry on wax paper.

Raspberry Chocolate

good quality dark chocolate (I use Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chips as they are very available in my area)
Just Raspberries (dried raspberries)
candy molds

Melt chocolate in double boiler or cautiously in microwave. Be very, very careful when trying to melt chocolate in the microwave.

Pour some of the raspberries into a baggie, and use the back of a spoon to break up the larger pieces.

Mix the two together, and spoon into candy molds. Refrigerate or allow to cool on counter.

These are really good, and proportions depend on what you want from it. I love it pretty heavy on the raspberry, but others may want it lighter.

Either of these recipes is good for an easy, homemade gift for the holidays. I get my Just Raspberries at Henry’s, and I would guess that other Whole Foods type stores would be the best guess in other areas. Amazon also carries them in much larger tubs than I get locally. Mine was a 2 oz tub, while the one I see on Amazon is 8 oz. For the quantity, the Amazon price is not bad, as the 2 oz size runs $7-8.

Candy molds are available at many craft stores, such as Michaels.

Technorati Tags: orangettes, raspberry chocolate, chocolate