Make Canadian author Mairlyn Smith’s snack bars, Mayan hot cocoa and chicken with prunes and clementines
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Our cookbook of the week is Peace, Love and Fibre: Over 100 Fibre-Rich Recipesfor the Whole Family by Canadian cookbook author Mairlyn Smith. This week’s Cook This is presented by California Prunes.
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Mairlyn Smith is a well-known authority on living a healthy lifestyle. Author of a variety of award-winning cookbooks, she has taken her healthy eating message across Canada — in person, in TV appearances and on her various social media outlets — using humour and her bubbly personality to get critical messages out about how healthy eating leads to healthy living.
All her cookbooks deal with the subject, and Peace, Love and Fibre: Over 100 Fibre-Rich Recipes for the Whole Family doesn’t disappoint: It brims with delicious goodness as well as full explanations on how fibre is crucial to health and well-being.
Smith calls her cookbook “a love story to your colon,” adding “one of the best predictors of healthy aging is based on how much fibre you have in your life. In 2019 the World Health Organization stated we all need more fibre to reduce heart disease, stroke and even dementia.”
Prunes, says Smith, play an integral role in this mix as they are considered the quintessential portable snack — plus they’re delicious in all sorts of sweet and savoury dishes as well as shakes.
Prunes brim with all sorts of healthy essentials, including fibre, potassium, magnesium and vitamin K, to name just a few nutritional elements.
Prunes are the perfect source of soluble and insoluble dietary fibre, as well as polyphenols, which act as antioxidants. Vitamin K, in particular stands out as it helps form something called osteocalcin, which is a protein that helps calcium bind to bones.
November is Osteoporosis Month, and prunes are a perfect addition when it comes to bone health, especially as one gets older, when issues such as bone deterioration are front and centre.
Add a few prunes to your morning breakfast, or incorporate prune juice into your daily smoothie, or simmered into a chicken or beef dish, and you’ve added goodness and health to a delicious meal, says Smith, who uses prunes into some of her fibre-filled recipes.
Prune puree (which has a similar quality to soft butter) can replace some of the fat in a favourite baked dessert without changing the mouth feel or the recipe’s composition.
“Prunes are a natural sugar and are cholesterol, sodium and fat free — and they are fantastic in improving gut health,” Smith says.
Prunes certainly pack a power punch of goodness, but you’d be surprised to learn that prunes also help curb hunger — and that snacking on prunes may help with weight issues, Smith says.
“Not only do they satisfy but they also help reduce cravings for something sweet,” says Smith. “Four to six prunes deliver 3 grams of fibre” (or about 11 per cent of the daily value that helps regulate the body’s use of sugars) which really helps keep hunger at bay and blood sugar in check.
Its history is legendary, notes the California Prunes site as it was “brought to California from France during the Gold Rush,” and thanks to California’s lush valley and rich soil, not to mention the California growers who have honed producing this fruit into a “precise art of balancing temperature, humidity and time,” you have this amazing prune.
“If you haven’t had a prune yet, you’re missing out,” says Smith. “Just add prunes to your daily life, along with regular exercises and you’re well on your way to good health!”
SNACK BARS
Makes: 24 bars
2 cups (500 mL) large flake oats
1 ½ cups (375 mL) oat bran, sometimes called oat bran cereal
1 cup (250 mL) whole grain barley flour or oat flour – available at most bulk stores
1 ½ cups (375mL) ground flaxseed
1 cup (250 mL) dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups (375mL) whole pitted prunes
½ cup (125 mL) neutral oil – use a glass measuring cup
¼ cup (60 mL) water
2 eggs
1 cup (250 mL) packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. (15 mL) natural cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) cinnamon
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) pure vanilla extract
Step 1
Make sure rack is in the middle of oven. Preheat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with wet parchment paper, make sure there is some overhang, you need to be able to pick up the cooked snack bars and you’ll need that overhang for grabbing. Wring it out well, and shake off excess water.
Step 2
In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients: oat flakes, oat bran, flour, flaxseed and chocolate chips.
Step 3
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with steel blade attachment, pulse dates, oil, water, eggs, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla. Puree until there are only small specks of prunes visible. Add to dry ingredients, use a rubber spatula to get as much of mixture out of food processor and into dry ingredients where they now belong. Stir using a large wooden spoon until it’s well combined and there are now visible signs of dry flour.
Step 4
Batter will be sticky so just plop it into prepared pan, spread it out and then either lightly press down with back of spoon or dampen your hands. Bake for 25-27 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes to set.
Step 5
Using excess parchment paper on sides, lift bar out of pan and place on wire rack, parchment paper and all. Let completely cool and then cut into 24 bars, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months.
MAYAN HOT COCOA
Serves: 2
2 cups (500 mL) 1% milk
1/4 cup (60 mL) natural cocoa powder
1/4 cup (60 mL) liquid honey, granulated sugar, or sweetener of your choice
1 /4 tsp. (1 mL) each ground ginger and ground cinnamon
1 /8 tsp. (.5) red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
Step 1
Heat the milk in a small pot over medium heat, or in microwave on high, until steamy. On stove, this should take five-to six minutes; in microwave, it will take two-to three minutes.
Step 2
Whisk in cocoa powder, honey or other sweetener, ginger, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and vanilla until cocoa has dissolved and mixture is hot. Divide between two mugs and serve. You can add a marshmallow and use a cinnamon stick as a stir stick.
CHICKEN WITH PRUNES AND CLEMENTINES
Serves: 4
2 onions, sliced into half moons
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) ginger
1 1/2 tsp. (7 mL) cinnamon
1 tsp. (5 mL) ground coriander
1/2 tsp. (2 mL) turmeric
1/2 tsp (2 mL) cracked black pepper
2 large skinless chicken breasts, boneless
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) vegetable oil
1/2 cup (125 mL) pitted prunes
1 cup (250 mL) chicken broth
2 clementines, thinly sliced
Step 1
In a small bowl whisk together: cinnamon, coriander, turmeric and cracked pepper; set aside.
Step 2
On a separate clean cutting board, slice chicken into 8 equal pieces. Wash hands with soap and water. (Wash cutting board with soap and water. Let cutting board air dry.)
Step 3
Heat a large non-stick pan with lid on medium heat. Add oil and onion and sauté until the onions start to turn golden, about 3-4 minutes. Push onions to one side and add garlic, ginger and chicken. Brown chicken on both sides. Sprinkle spice mixture over the top and stir thoroughly.
Step 4
Add prunes and then pour chicken broth over top. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low and gently cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken onto a clean plate, cover and set aside. Add clementines, return to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 3-6 minutes to reduce liquids. Add chicken back into the sauce, stir to coat and serve.
Recipes and images reprinted with permission.
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