DATES

DATES.

Dates are a great fruit and food that has been around for years. There are different types, but they are all a great sugar substitute, have potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamins B1 and B2.
They originate from the Persian Gulf from the date palm and are shipped all over the world. They can be used fresh, cooked, baked and in food.

Ways to use them
Dates can be washed and dried and used as a sweetener in cookies, cakes and rice dishes.
I use them in curries and cut them into a stew or slow cooking dish.
I stuff them with cottage cheese and crushed walnuts for cocktails snacks.
I drop two cut up with garlic cloves into a salad dressing.
I fill cored apples with them, and I bake them.
I chop them up and mix them with pomegranate pips in a fresh spinach salad.
I use them in date loaves and muffins.
I add them to lentils with a variety of vegetables.
I use them in fritters with a batter and drop them in hot oil. Dust with sugar and cinnamon.
Dates are great chopped with a few pine kernels in a fruit salad.
I chop them with onions, carrots, red peppers and make a marinade with soya sauce, chopped parsley and a cup of miso broth. Let cubed tofu stand in this for a few hours and bake. Serve with rice .
You can stuff them with almond paste or marzipan. Just drizzle apple juice over them and bake for five minutes in a medium oven. Serve with drinks or on a bed of cous cous as a starter to a meal.

DATE FINGERS.
1 PACKET Marie Biscuits. 1 lb finely chopped dates.
1/2 lb butter 1/4 cup crushed nuts. Coconut.

Blend all the ingredients together, except the coconut.
Sprinkle some of the coconut on the bottom of a flat Pyrex dish and press the mixture evenly over this. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut over the mixture and place in the fridge.
Chill and then cut into fingers. This lasts well.

DATE LOAF. You can see this recipe in my article in TEA TIME on the 18th October.2008.

DATE BALLS. This is features in the article SCHOOL BOX of 18th August 2008..

DATE STEW WITH LENTILS. see the article of 1st September 2008. This is a great meal for a winter's night. You can make and freeze it. Just warm up in the oven and make a quick cous cous or rice. Serve with some side dishes of raisins, chutney, cut up bananas, a bowl of desiccated coconut and a great green salad with a dressing of lemon , olive oil and chopped dates, salt and pepper.


NUTRICIOUS DATE SCONES.
2 Cups whole wheat flour.
4 teaspoons baking powder.
1 cup chopped dates.
2 tablespoons butter.
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon wheat germ
1 egg and add water and milk to equal one cup.

Blend the dry ingredients. Rub in the butter, Add the egg and milk mixture. Mix lightly.
Pat and cut out with a glass, into rounds. Grease a baking dish and bake them in a medium oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve with butter or cream. This is also good to serve with a salad lunch or in the kids school box.

DATES are the ideal gift for a visit to an elderly friend, a hospital visit, for any occasion. Keep one or two wrapped and ready. If you suddenly have guests, just arrange them on a plate with cut up fruit and they make a great natural accompaniment to tea or coffee.

ENJOY DATES, "DATES" AND REMEMBER THEY ARE THE BEST THING IN A PICNIC BOX OR ON A TREK UP THE MOUNTAINS. There is always some one who is thirsty, has a low sugar level, needs a nosh or some sugar……………..give a date.

Have a great Chanukah and place dates into the Doughnuts.
Have Happy Holidays and put dates with cut up fruit on the candy tray.

Love and light, warmth and sweetness to all of you. Rona