Posts tagged: Easy healthy snack recipes

Nutmeg is picky about her bananas. The fruit has to be perfect, not too green and certainly not a second too ripe. However, when it comes to banana bread, she has nothing but love for this sweet treat.
Most people have a banana loaf variation that they have perfected over the years, or one handed down from a relative. When this recipe landed on Nutmeg’s laptop from cyberspace, she could not resist trying it. A combination of lemons, olive oil, and bananas adapted from 101 Cookbooks, what is not to love?

Print Lemon Olive Oil Banana Bread Recipe type: Quick Breads Prep time:  10 mins Cook time:  50 mins Total time:  1 hour Serves: 1 Loaf   Like most sweet loafs this one is very easy to make. The use of olive oil and lemon make it a bit more contemporary than the one…

Recipes & Travel:
Banana bread, Banana bread recipes, Bananas, Easy baking recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Quick Breads

Nutmeg has decided that girl friends are perfect dates.
 
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Recipes & Travel:
Bars, Dates, Easy healthy snack recipes, Recipes with Dates, Snack

In France, there is always a school vacation at the end of October, when children and teachers have a week of reprieve from the classroom, and each other. The holiday extends to most public facing businesses on November 1st. You can certainly expect the post offices, banks, grocery stores and government offices to be closed on that day.

Why?
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Recipes & Travel:
Easy healthy snack recipes, Muffins, Provence Travel

Literally as old as the hills, the fruit of the apricot tree are confirmed to have been domesticated since the Bronze Age. Although, the exact origin of the tree is debated;

there is evidence of consumption of the fruit in both China and India between 3-4,000 B.C.
the apricot in dry format was certainly exchanged along Persian trade routes.
the scientific name, is Prunus armeniaca (Armenian plum), likely as a result of the ubiquitous presence in Armenia since antiquity.
The fruit was eventually introduced to the Greeks and then adopted by the Romans.

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Recipes & Travel:
Apricot Recipes, Easy healthy desserts, Easy healthy snack recipes, French Food

Nutmeg loves her coffee.
It is a sad morning for Nutmeg AND a difficult day for Ginger if there is no morning coffee.

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Recipes & Travel:
Easy Cookie Recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Italy Travel, Travel in Italy

One would think that when biking in France you would never need to worry about food. That is true to some degree, unless you get caught between hours.
Breakfast in France is straightforward; coffee, baguette and sometimes les viennoiserie (croissants and pain au chocolate). Be aware that as the morning wears on, you are more likely to eat stale baguette, than the fancy pastries. This meal is not one that will keep the energy stores high for a long bike ride.
Lunch starts around 12:30 and runs until 2pm. However, typically the traditional (“non-tourist”) restaurants actually do not want to serve much beyond 1:30pm. Then again, do you seriously want to eat a multi-course meal before that next big hill on your bike?  In theory, you could always stop at a boulangerie for a quick bite. Technically, yes but Ginger and Nutmeg have been caught numerous times in small villages where the bakery is closed at 12:30pm, until well into late…

Recipes & Travel:
Easy healthy snack recipes, Food for Biking, Recipes with Sunflower Seeds, Travel in France

Almost indescribable, the scent of a fig tree full of almost ripe fruit is a fragrance that is both sweet and earthy. Nutmeg had never had the opportunity to enjoy the remarkable smell of the fig tree, before she spent the summer in Provence. The scent is distinctive, almost arresting in the open air, however, in a closed space can be overwhelming.
The fig tree is often referred to as the Common Fig. It grows both cultivated and wild in most countries that are close to the Mediterranean and in many parts of Asia. Some tree varieties will bear fruit up to four times a year.

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Recipes & Travel:
Easy healthy snack recipes, food info, Markets in Provence, Provence Travel, Recipes with Figs, Travel in France

Hot Sauce (Nutmeg’s Mum) loves bananas, she grew up in the West Indies on an island that produces bananas for export, so it was best to love them…
Bananas are considered a super-food:

Potassium-rich; studies show foods with high levels of potassium can reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 40%
High levels of the antioxidant phenolic compounds work to detoxify cancer-causing agents
Although not specifically high in calcium can help in the absorption of calcium
They reduce stomach acidity and in some cases may even reduce nausea (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Banana bread recipes, Easy baking recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Food Nutritional Facts

Are you a Neil Diamond fan?  Nutmeg is for certain.  She is also a big granola fan and has been for many years.
Hot Sauce used to make homemade granola on a regular basis. There is nothing like the smell of a fresh batch in your house and eating it hot out of the oven.  The basic ingredients usually include: oats, nuts, wheat germ, dried fruit, sugar (or honey or molasses or maple syrup), oil. You can also add spices like cinnamon or ginger depending on your tastes.  Nutmeg loves granola served with berries and yogurt, Chili likes the same in different proportions (more granola and less fruit).  There are likely as many recipes for granola as there are for combinations of how to eat it.
Granola actually has a history prior to Neil Diamond’s “Crunchy Granola Suite” and prior to the hippie “granola” movement in the 1960’s.  The names Granula (invented in 1894 by Dr James Caleb Jackson) and Granola…

Recipes & Travel:
Breakfast Recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Healthy Granola Recipes

As you might have gathered Nutmeg is in the desert and it is not that warm so she has some time to add to all the really useful food information in this blog.  So the question about dates came to mind… Here are the facts:
The Date Palm (scientific name Phoenix dactylifera), also known as the Medjool palm is a tall, beautiful and majestic tree that is known for its edible sweet fruits, the dates. The tree belongs to the Arecaceae family and the genus Phoenix. The Date palm produces true real dates. It is the second most known and most useful palm tree in the world after the Coconut palm tree.
The Phoenix Dactylifera is one of the world’s oldest trees. It has been grown for thousands of years in hot, dry, desert regions throughout the world. It is an important multi­purpose tree in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. The Date palm tree is a holy symbol. It was historically mentioned…

Recipes & Travel:
Easy healthy snack recipes, Healthy Granola Bars, healthy snack bar recipes, Recipes with Dates