Nothing Like a Sweet Date

Oh have I got a fancy snack for you when you are looking forward to a romantic nibble.  Or just a snack that will impress your friends. It can be a bit pricey but oh so worth it.  Have you ever tried a fresh date?  They are delicious pieces of fruit, especially if you have a sweet tooth.  And once you take a bite you'll have a hard time believing these little treasures actually have a lot of health benefits. 

First what is a date?  They are fruits from certain palm trees that look like an oversized raisin with some plumpness.  At least the Medjool kind do.  The dates tend to run a bit expensive.  I usually have found them close to eight dollars for a pound or a little over a pound (Roughly thirty - forty dates).  However, on one of shopping trips in search of our new produce we found I believe the package is 18 oz for 4.99.  Well for that price we had to try these sweet jewels.  Yum! 

Now  a lot of sites on the web recommended eating them raw.  As long as you remove the pit.  You can keep the dates in a cupboard but if you store them in your fridge they last quite a bit longer.  Don't be scared of depitting these fruits.  Just start to  slit the tip as if you were slicing lengthwise.  But just starting to slice.  And you can open the slit far enough to slip out the pit.  The pit looks like a piece of a pecan.  Don't be tempted to taste it though.  They are inedible.  Most recipes recommending slipping in a nut or a cheese.  As dates are awfully sweet it is good to have a salty component.  Also dates by themselves contain NO sodium.  So if you  like your snacks to have some salt you'll have to add that component. 

However, being it was New Year's Day yesterday and our favorite team was playing we opted for a fancier snack.  Since you already have to remove the pit, you might as well stuff the date.   We bought some Brie cheese. Just a little dab into each date.  Then we chose to wrap the dates with a little prosciutto. Oh so good!  Prosciutto is an Italian ham. But not just deli ham.  There is a special process of curing/drying meat depending on the region and the slices are usually pretty delicate we have found.  Just a little bit of that rich fattiness to cover this sweet date filled with a smooth delicate cheese.  Italy meets the tropics meets France; what a beautiful world.  We put them in the oven on 375 degree F for roughly fifteen minutes.  This allowed the date to gooey its sweetness and allowed the meat to release its saltiness and the cheese to soften.  So delicious for a romantic game snack.  I liked the warmth to allow the flavors to blend and to soften the date.  Just handling the date to pit them you can feel the stickiness.  By wrapping the date, the sweet wasn't overpowering and yet had a luxurious texture. 

Some great benefits of the date include extremely small amounts of fat, obviously no cholesterol, some protein and yes it is mainly carbohydrates but a lot of that is fiber.  Because of other vitamins and minerals it includes dates are actually low on the glycemic index as they help regulate blood sugar.  So for those out there who have a sweet tooth but are worried about blood sugars this might be a snack to try,  especially if you stuff the date fruit with a nut.  Also a date is a good source of potassium, calcium, iron, and copper. (See http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/dates.html and http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/natural-foods/natural-weight-loss-food-dates-ga.htm for more nutritional information.)

This was definitely a thumbs up pick for my hubby and me.  I have a sweet tooth and I was a little worried for how sweet the fruit may be.  But with the way we prepared it, even my hubby who prefers spicy or salty over sweet enjoyed this find. 

May your HealthFULL Journey include fun discoveries and moments worth repeating. 'Til we meet again. . .

Golden Opportunity

Have you ever tried honeydew melon?  Really tried it.  I know many of us may associate the honeydew melon with that dreadful frozen fruit cup that many restaurants offer as their standard fruit cup: one or two red grapes, cantaloupe, and honeydew.  All three fruits lose their delicious sweetness as the ice overwhelms their subtle flavors.  Now honeydew is actually an attractive and usually a mellow companion to most fruits.  Most of us know that pale green color but there are two other colors Honeydew can wear.  There is the orange flesh which I believe would resemble cantaloupe and might be hard to decipher the two.  And then there is the Golden Honeydew which is the fruit of the week for my own honey and myself :)  We made it into dessert after we had a delicious dinner.  My hubby is not a fan of the honeydew melon.  So I did warn him before he tried it to see if he was game and agreed.

I cut up the melon and either I hit the perfect ripeness or the golden honeydew is way juicier than its relatives. The seeds scooped out very easily and I poured the pool of juice into the bowl where I was preparing the fruit salad.  Very simple prep but delicious results.  I added just under half of the melon into the bowl and the other half cubed for snacking as it is sweet and light on its own.  For the dessert I added a dozen strawberries quartered and a dozen cherries ( I love summer fruits!!!) halved.  I then added a small amount of coconut rum and a sprinkle of sugar to pull out all three fruits' sweetness.  I also toasted a 1/4 cup of hazelnuts and then drizzled honey just enough to get the nuts sticky into little mini-clumps with a dash of cayenne for that little kick of heat at the end. And just to boost that toasted nut flavor I added a drips of sesame oil.  YUM!  I left the nuts to cool on the cupboard and let the fruit soak in the fridge for thirty minutes.  Combined and ate.  Great summer dessert with lots of flavor and aroma.  I thought a dollop of whip cream would be nice but we didn't have any in the house.  After tasting the finished product I didn't see the need for the cream at all.  My hubby said that the fruit didn't even need the rum.  But I actually liked the coconut aroma, I bet coconut milk/juice might add the same appeal.

Not bad.  It was a fun little find that screams summer.  And melons need very little prep which I love.  Also again this might have been the ripeness or the actual fruit but the rind isn't that thick.  It was extremely easy to half the melon which on some produce is a nightmare.  One simple chop and the knife slid through the fruit.  Love that, then easy scoop, quick cut to remove the rind, and cube chop.  Maybe a ten minute prep (and I am the slowest in the kitchen) to prepare a yummy snack with tons of servings (roughly ten is what nutritional data suggests).

It was fun to chop, toast, and macerate in the kitchen.  I felt very chef-like as I grabbed ingredients through suggestions I found on the web and chose myself.  My hubby and I chatted while I "cooked" as the only item truly cooked was toasted hazelnuts and he stayed out of the kitchen which is complete role reversal.  But that is why I like this new produce for the week challenge.  It is not only allowing me a new taste of the product but encourages me to learn and have more confidence in the kitchen.  Fear holds us back a lot.  What if I don't like the flavor? What if I mess up the recipe? What if I. . . and the list continues.  Fear is usually about the unknown.  But the more we equip ourselves with knowledge, experience, and permission to error; we gain back in tenfold.

May your HealthFULL Journey discourage fear and encourage opportunities.  We only fail when we don't try.  'Til we meet again. . .