Frozen bananas become creamy ice pops in this healthy treat.
4 bananas
1 vanilla bean
1 cup (250 mL) thick, plain unsweetened yogurt
2 Tbsp (30 mL) honey
1/4 cup (60 mL) desiccated coconut
12 blueberries, 12 chocolate chips, or a mix of both
Peel bananas and cut into thirds. Insert ice pop stick or toothpick into each piece. Arrange on baking sheet and place in freezer. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.
Slit open vanilla bean and scrape out seeds with spoon. Combine seeds with yogurt and honey in coffee mug. Place coconut on small plate.
Remove bananas from freezer and dip in yogurt mixture to coat. Use spoon to cover completely. Roll bananas in coconut. Decorate with blueberries or chocolate chips for eyes. Return bananas to baking sheet and place in freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Serves 12.
Each serving contains: 79 calories; 2 g protein; 2 g total fat (1 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 16 g total carbohydrates (10 g sugars, 2 g fibre); 17 mg sodium
Variation: Strawberry-chocolate pops
To make Strawberry-Chocolate Pops instead of Freckled Vanilla Ghost Pops, roll whole strawberries in yogurt mixed with melted dark chocolate. Then sprinkle with white chia seeds and decorate with yogurt-covered raisins or white chocolate chips for eyes.
source: "Cooking with Kids", alive #371, September 2013
Yogurt completely transforms the texture of these chicken thighs, making them tender and flavourful with bright notes of lemon and cilantro. Ideal for a day trip, these can be marinated in the morning and cooked in the evening, but they also work well when cooked in advance and packed for a picnic to be eaten cold. Marinade mentions Marinate chicken thighs for anywhere between 4 and 24 hours. Discard excess marinade that has been in contact with raw chicken. It should not be consumed uncooked.
Citrusy and slightly sour sumac and a touch of maple syrup enliven pickled onions in a perfect complement to this salad. Kale and Napa cabbage stand up for hours to the sweet and puckery dressing, and hearty farro will keep you going while on the road. This salad is sure to be a favourite for picnics, backyard potlucks, or road trip lunch stops. Dressing for dinner This salad stands up well, even while dressed, for up to 4 hours. (Truth be told, I’ve often happily eaten it the next day.) In fact, time helps kale to soften up and become even more delicious. If you’re travelling for a longer period, make the pickled onion dressing as described above: let it stand for about 20 minutes, and then add all the oil and pack it into a separate container so you can finish the salad when you arrive at your destination. The pickled onions are also great with steaks or chicken.
These wraps are perfect for an overnight journey when you want to have something quick and satisfying the next day. Sweet smoked paprika adds just a hint of smoky flavour to sweet potatoes, which join with spinach and red pepper to dress up eggs in a pleasing way. Make these wraps anytime and stick them in the freezer for your next excursion. Pack them frozen and they’ll have time to thaw on the journey, or put them in the fridge the night before you travel so you have something convenient and tasty to eat before you set off. Leave the ketchup bottle behind, and serve them with your own smoky red pepper sauce. Freeze with ease While foil is convenient for freezing and reheating these wraps, to cut down on waste, freeze wraps in a single freezer-proof container. Insert a small piece of parchment between each wrap so they don’t stick together. This will allow you to remove individual wraps easily when you need them.
While sablefish’s texture and fat content stand up admirably to the heat of the grill, this firm fish is also delicious poached. For this recipe, sablefish’s luxurious taste is combined with a light fragrant broth of lemongrass and ginger punctuated with the heat of Thai chili. Sustainability status Sablefish, also known as butterfish or black cod, is a rich and satisfying fish, plentiful in omega-3s and sourced sustainably from the Pacific Northwest. Skin and bones Sablefish has large pin bones. Ideally, your fishmonger will remove them, but if not, before you begin, locate them along the fish’s centreline and, using a pair of needle nose pliers, grasp them firmly to remove. You can leave the skin on for this recipe, which may help the fish hold together a little better while cooking, but it can be tricky to peel the skin away from the cooked fish and discard before plating. I opted to remove the skin first and simply keep a close eye on the cooking time, being careful to remove the fish from the poaching liquid before it flakes apart.