Dates on Kitchen3N

Ramadan Round Up

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

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Ramadan is halfway over, but there’s still time to make some of my favorite recipes for this time of year! Going clockwise from the top left:

Citrus Quinoa Salad with Dates, Almonds and Mint - we consume a lot of dates during Ramadan. This recipe uses up any extra dates you may have in a salad you can feel good about eating at the end of a long fast!

Citrus Quinoa Salad With Dates, Almonds, and Mint

Sat, 23 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Ramadan is coming up! I figured I should add a few more Ramadan friendly recipes to the blog, for those of us who are looking to depart a bit from the usual fried foods iftars. During these long summer days when we're denying ourselves food and liquid for 15 hours straight, we need to treat our bodies well! This is a dish you can feel good about eating, that's not going to make you crash before the long night of ibadah (prayers) you have lined up.

This recipe is based on one from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. I know a quinoa salad is not the first thing you think of when you consider French cuisine, but she’s filled her cookbook with things she makes for her family, without strictly adhering to a particular cuisine. In our hyperconnected world, it’s kind of impossible to resist influences from other regions. She’s got a Moroccan Tagine and carrot salad, small plates from her American upbringing, French pastries and traditional stews from her current residence. And she’s kind of an authority when it comes to food so I trust her with my quinoa!

Banana Date Nut Bread

Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I bought quinoa a week ago. I still don’t have the guts to prepare it, out of fear of what happens to unfortunately too many of my experiments in healthy-food-ness. Make it. Eat some the first day. Then a day goes by: everyone opts for the other options in the fridge. Another day goes by: my mom brings over a vat of chicken curry. Another day goes by: take out time! By day 4, no one will be eating what they hadn’t eaten the past 4 days (my chia seed pudding is currently suffering that fate)! So while I procrastinate on the quinoa, I tried to make some healthier substitutions in my usual banana bread. After going through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I was all like “yeah! butter! if french people can douse their food in it, why can’t we?”. Then I read an article that scared the pants off of me about saturated fats. So what to do?! There’s got to be a balance between the Paula Deen fried mac’n’cheese-wrapped-in-bacon death on a plate and quinoa/kale/green smoothie diet.So, here is my answer. Banana bread. I know bananas have a bad rap for the amount of sugar in them, but hey, they have potassium. That’s important, right? Personally, I’d rather eat natural foods with natural sugars (like coconut water) and vitamins/minerals than an artificially flavored protein shake to curb my appetite! So, on to this bread. Does it have sugar? Yes. But there’s fiber from the date and whole wheat flour. Does it have fat? Yes. But it’s coconut oil and supposedly the saturated fat in that is better for you. And nuts! Good fats that keep you full longer! I cut the amount of sugar from the original recipe by a 1/2 cup. If you’re rolling your eyes at me at this point, I’m ok with that. This isn’t a cake baked in a loaf pan that you can call a breakfast. It’s hearty. It tastes good. And you don’t have to feel guilty for having a slice. Have it with a glass of milk for a snack, or with coffee for breakfast.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is one of the rare cakes I love as much as a chocolate one. It’s not overly sweet like many caramel cakes I’ve had. It’s a super moist bundt cake that gets most of its flavor (and moisture) from chopped, pitted dates boiled in water. I know - that in itself does not sound appetizing. But it works. It’s not heavy on the butter (there’s only half a stick in the whole cake) so the whipped cream on top adds the right amount of richness. FInally, the nuttiness in the toffee sauce just takes it over the edge. Though I’m not sure why it’s called a pudding. It’s a cake, I swear. I was first asked to make this many Thanksgivings ago for dinner at a family friend’s. I’d never had it. Never known about it. I was handed a recipe, so I made it. And it. Was. Just. Divine. I remade it recently for a ladies’ luncheon (yeah, I live in the 1950’s). Needless to say, it was a hit. So you can imagine my surprise when I served my husband a piece of the leftovers…only to hear that he didn’t care for it! Just not a fan or caramel/toffee. Oh well. Tomato, tomahto. It’s perfect for post Ramadan if you have a ton of dates leftover and have run out of uses for them! I use Medjool dates. They’re nice and plump and sweet. I poke a few holes through the top with a toothpick to let the syrup soak through. And let me just say how much I love bundt cakes for entertaining. They always look so beautiful and with half the effort of a layer cake. No layer breaking or leveling or aligning. Just pop it out onto a nice serving plate and drizzle with icing. The cascade over the curves and in between the ridges always makes for a show stopper.