Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 09:59 AM
“Punky’s so young, bubbly, full of life. I’m old, tired and full of prunes!”
Henry Warnimont, Punky Brewester
How amazing was Punky Brewster?!?!? Like Chandra, I totally miss that show! Maybe I should try to find some reruns to DVR– has anyone seen the show on TV recently?
Anyway, as a kid, I remember seeing this particular episode of Punky Brewster, and wondering what the heck Henry was talking about. Prunes? What?! Henry made them sound like yucky, old people food. And for that reason, I stayed away from them for decades! I can honestly say that I didn’t try my first prune until after college! But I loved them immediately!
Prunes are awesome!!! Check out their stellar nutritional stats!
From the Whole Foods website:
Health Benefits
- Prunes’ Unique Antioxidant Phytonutrients
- Beta-Carotene for Even More Antioxidant Protection
- Potassium for Cardiovascular Health (lowers blood pressure, promotes bone health)
- Normalizing Blood Sugar Levels and Helping with Weight Loss
- Fiber for Regularity, Lower Cholesterol, & Intestinal Protection
- Fruit and Cereal Fiber Protective against Postmenopausal Breast Cancer
- Iron Absorption
My favorite prune treat: Squash and Prune Bread. So good! 
Ok, enough of that… onto breakfast!
Breakfast this morning was a hot bowl of banana oats with prunes, honey, ground flaxseed meal, and peanut butter. Check out my melty spoonful of PB!
The banana slices and chopped prunes were a fun mix of textures: soft + chewy. The flavor of this morning’s oatmeal was especially sweet with the combination of bananas, prunes, and honey.
Question of the Day
What food were you always afraid to try, but once you did, you liked it?
In addition to prunes, shrimp was another food that I did not care to try, but now I eat it quite a lot.
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: prunes
Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Squash and Prune Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients:
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces (1/2 can) squash puree
25 dried prunes
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease loaf pan.
2. Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; blend well.
3. Once mixed, pour batter into loaf pan.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top is firm and a toothpick comes out clean.
I’m so excited about how this recipe came out! We’ve had a can of squash in our kitchen cupboards for weeks now, and I’ve been wanting to use it in something. We also have a huge canister of dried prunes that don’t seem to be getting eaten that fast, so it was time to bake with them too. The combo ended up coming out awesome!
The flavor of the bread sort of reminds me of pumpkin bread with the cinnamon and nutmeg, but the dried prunes add a whole different dimension to the bread. The prunes are big, soft, chewy bites of sweetness. I love how they look mixed into the yellow-orange bread– very Thanksgiving-esque. Perhaps I will be making this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks!
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized, recipe
Tags: prunes, squash
Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 06:28 PM
Today’s food choices have been carb-er-ific! I’ve been craving… and giving into my cravings for carby goodness all day! Today, for example, I’ve eaten: oatmeal, bread, a muffin, pretzels, and couscous. At least most of them are healthy, but holy carbs! I’m not sure if I am subconsciously craving carbs or it’s just a coincidence that I’ve put together very carb-heavy meals and snacks.
Dinner was based-off a recipe that I found in the November issue of Body + Soul magazine: Lamb and Squash Tagine. My recipe, however, was lamb-free.
I made a few variations to the Body + Soul recipe, including:
- Nixing the lamb
- Halving the recipe (It was just me eating; Mal ate a burrito for dinner)
- Using garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (we were all out)
- Instead of butternut squash, using sweet potatoes
- Using 1 tsp of ground cinnamon instead of cinnamon sticks
- Adding 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts to the recipe
This was SUCH a yummy meal! I love recipes that combine all sorts of
unique and
interesting flavors. In a single bite, I enjoyed the flavors of sweet potatoes, prunes, cinnamon, garlic, onion, tomato (paste), and walnut simultaneously. Eating this meal was an
experience!
Lunch
Today’s lunch was also very delicious and carby. After working out and cleaning our apartment from top to bottom, I was super HUNGRY for lunch! I made a panini out of Arnold’s Sandwich Thins, leftover garlic broccoli, and swiss cheese. My broccoli and cheese “sammy” was incredible! I made it a point to remember this sandwich for the future!
On the side, I also had a small bowl of TJ’s peanut butter-filled pretzels. These babies are SO addicting– once you start, you can’t stop!
Mid-afternoon, I snacked on a toasted pumpkin muffin with melted Smart Butter. There’s something about melted butter on a warm muffin. Divine! I don’t think I was even hungry, but a pumpkin muffin just seemed to fit so well with my mug of tea and PJs. (After my workout and a shower at HW, I put my Sunday sweats back on. )
I think I might use up some of our many, many, many apples and make apple crisp tonight… mostly because I won’t have much free time later this week. Where’d the weekend go!?!?!
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: products
Tags: couscous, prunes, sweet potato
