Category: Recipes

Microgreens: What, Where, and Why!

WHAT ARE MICROGREENS?

Microgreens are a green vegetable harvested when they are just a few inches tall and after the very first leaves (cotyledon leaves) have developed from the seed.  At this point, all the nutrients needed to grow the entire plant are concentrated in the tiny leaves, making them 4-6 times more nutritious than the mature plant.

Microgreens are packed with antioxidants and other health promoting nutrients and are a particularly rich source of vitamins C, E, K, lutein and beta-carotene. They are also bursting with flavour and are loved by chefs and home cooks alike for the way they enhance the look and taste of dishes.

We are excited to be including samples of micro greens in all discovery boxes during the week of Saturday, June 22nd. The mix that will be included is called “Rainbow Mix”. These micro greens will be available as an add-on to our boxes going forward.

WHERE DO THESE GREENS COME FROM?

The microgreens in your box are supplied by New Leaf, a Dubai based indoor farm. They grow in organic soil without using any pesticides or chemicals and ensure optimal growing conditions by controlling light, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide. This means that they use 95% less water than traditional farming and can grow throughout the year.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Up to 85% of our food in the U.A.E is imported. It has travelled many miles before it reaches us and is grown for shelf life rather than for taste and nutrition. Having access to these greens supports the health of individuals, the blossoming agriculture community in the U.A.E and the environment.

HOW CAN YOU USE MICROGREENS?

  • On salads, as an addition or the main event
  • In green juices, smoothies and shakes
  • In sandwiches, burgers and wraps
  • In soups, omelets and stir fry’s
  • To make pesto, sauces and vegetable purees
  • As a garnish to add texture, colour and flavor

 

Microgreen Beetroot, Walnut & Goats Cheese Salad

25 minutes (serves 4 as a side salad)

Ingredients for the salad:

  • 40g mixed microgreens from the Fruitful Day Box
  • 2 small beetroots
  • 4 small radishes
  • 50g walnuts from the Fruitful Day Box
  • 90g goats cheese
  • 3 small spring onions

Ingredients for the dressing:

  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • pinch of black pepper
  • 2 tsp grainy mustard
  • 2 tsp honey

METHOD for the salad:

  1. Peel beetroots and then slice into 5mm slices.
  2. Place a griddle on medium heat and sear each slice of beetroot slowly for 10-15 minutes, turning half way. Alternatively, you can bake the slices in the oven for the same amount of time at 180 degrees celsius. Set aside.
  3. While the beetroots are searing, toast the walnuts by putting them in the oven on a baking tray for 6 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Set aside.
  4. Slice spring onions and radishes. Set aside.
  5. Assemble by putting the microgreens in a bowl first and then tossing in the seared beetroot, sliced radishes and spring onions and then top with the toasted nuts and chunks of goats cheese.

METHOD for the dressing:

  1. Dice the garlic and set aside.
  2. Put the olive oil in a small saucepan on low heat and then add the diced garlic. Cook the garlic slowly and gently and then remove from the heat (optional step).
  3. Mix together the olive oil and garlic mixture, add the lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, black pepper, grainy mustard and honey. Stir rigorously.

     

    Dates stuffed with sunbutter

    First and most importantly, Ramadan Kareem from the Fruitful Day team! It’s always a magical time of year to spend with family and friends, but it’s equally important to keep health in mind during the Holy Month. Fasting or not, it is easy to get dehydrated with the temperatures steadily on the rise. Make sure to hydrate as much as you can at night and think about foods that will keep you full for longer.  

    Amongst the foods that will keep you fuller for longer are foods high in protein.  Peanut butter is of course one of the more well-known high protein foods, but many kids and adults aren’t able to eat it because it contains nuts. For this reason, sunflower seed butter is actually a great substitute!

    Sunflower seed butter is full of healthy fats, vitamin E, and magnesium, which has the added benefit of helping you with your digestion.  

    Today’s recipe is a super simple snack, dates stuffed with sunbutter! In addition to the sunbutter, dates are good source of vitamins and minerals. Perfect for breaking your fast and getting you on your way to a healthy Ramadan!

    Dates stuffed with sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)

    20 minutes (depending how many dates you want to do)  

    Ingredients

    • Dates
    • Sunflower seed butter

    METHOD for the biscuit

    1. Cut each date open with a sharp knife, however, don’t cut it all the way through the date.

    2. With a small teaspoon, spoon out a small amount of sunflower seed butter and put it into the space where the seed was.

    3. Close the date and consume immediately or leave to set in the fridge.

    Apricot & Apple Muffins

    Welcome back! For a lot of us, it’s back to school this morning and that means the usual stress of filling lunchboxes.

    At Fruitful Day, we’re all about finding ways to make healthy delicious AND convenient. Besides delivering you boxes of the most delicious fresh fruit, we also share lots of healthy recipes with you crafted by our resident nutritionist, Michelle. If you haven’t heard of Michelle before, you can read more about her here.

    Today’s recipe is VEGAN apricot and apple muffins. Generally, eggs are used for binding and structural support in a recipe as well as adding moisture and richness, however, there are several ways you can replace eggs to make a recipe vegan:

    To replace one egg:

    1. Flax – Add 1 tbsp of ground flax to 3 tbsp hot water and combine to form a gel.
    2. Chia – Add 1 tbsp of ground chia to 3 tbsp hot water and combine to form a gel.
    3. ¼ cup applesauce – peel, core and quarter apples. Bake them for 15 – 20 minutes at 180 degrees C or until very soft. Place in a blender while still hot and puree into applesauce.
    4. ¼ cup mashed banana.

    However, the replacement you choose will depend on what you’re making!

    • Flax and chia are better when you need strong binding agents
    • Applesauce, on the other hand, adds a lot of moisture and flavor to a recipe – perfect for something like muffins!

    With that, we wish you a wonderful start to the week and happy baking!

    Apricot & Apple Muffins (makes 10 – 12 muffins)

    1 hour

    Ingredients

    • 1 ½ cups of oat flour
    • ¼ cup flax meal
    • 2 tbsp coconut flour
    • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp clove, allspice and nutmeg
    • 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
    • 2 tbsp chopped dried apricots from the Fruitful Day Box
    • ¾ cup of applesauce made with apples from the Fruitful Day Box
    • ½ cup maple syrup/honey
    • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
    • 1 tsp vanilla powder

    METHOD

    1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius
    2. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients; oat flour, flax meal, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon, spices, vanilla powder and chopped dried apricots.
    3. Blend applesauce with maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and fresh ginger.
    4. Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and pour into a silicon muffin tray or into a lined muffin tray.
    5. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
    6. Allow to cool and then serve with coconut yoghurt, cream cheese or butter.

    *Note on ingredients – you don’t need to buy oat flour or flax meal. You can buy oats and flax seeds, then put them in a blender to grind into a flour consistency.

    Pomelo & Prawn Salad

    One of our favorite things about winter in the region is always pomelo, but all good things must come to an end. Like us, are you a pomelo lover too or do you have a different favorite winter fruit? 

    Therefore, before we say our final goodbyes for the season, we are paying tribute to pomelo by sharing a pomelo and prawn salad recipe.

    With the end of the winter season, we can begin to look forward to regional stone fruits including cherries, nectarines, peaches, and apricots. However, this year we’ll have to be a little more patient than usual as the cold weathers and rains have been put us a little behind schedule. As always, you can be sure we’ll be at the fruit market tasting and trying until we find the perfect stone fruit to serve you.

    For now, enjoy the last of the delicious pomelo with this pomelo & prawn salad! And just in case pomelo is not your favorite fruit… check out this recipe for a pomegranate and quinoa salad instead.

    Pomelo & Prawn Salad

    (makes a salad for two people)

    30 minutes

    Ingredients

    For the salad
    • 1 medium carrot
    • 1 medium cucumber
    • Pomelo from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 8 prawns
    • 1 handful of hazelnuts
    • ¼ tsp smoked paprika powder
    • ¼ tsp salt
    • 1 large thumb of ginger
    • 1 handful of coriander leaves
    • 1 handful of basil leaves
    • 1 small chili
    • 3 cloves of garlic
    • Edible flowers (for garnish)
    • 8 prawns (cleaned and de-veined)
    • 1 tbsp coconut oil
    For the dressing
    • 1 tbsp honey
    • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
    • 2 tbsp tamari
    • 1 tbsp sesame oil
    • 3 tbsp olive oil

     

    METHOD

    1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
    2. Roast hazelnuts with salt and paprika for 5 – 7 minutes or until browned. Set aside.
    3. Put a skillet on medium heat, add coconut oil, then sauté the prawns on both sides for 5-8 minutes. Set aside.
    4. Combine all dressing ingredients.
    5. Pick the leaves off the bunch of coriander and set aside. Finely dice the stems.
    6. Finely dice the ginger (it should come to 2 tbsp), garlic and chili.
    7. Saute the coriander stems, ginger, garlic and chili on medium heat until slightly browned.
    8. Add the sautéed vegetables to the dressing mixture. Set aside.
    9. Peel carrot and then continue to peel the entire carrot to form carrot ribbons. Set aside.
    10. Make cucumber ribbons in the same way as the carrot ribbons. Set aside.
    11. Combine carrot ribbons, cucumber ribbons, coriander leaves, basil leaves, pomelo, prawns and hazelnuts in a bowl.
    12. Pour dressing over the salad and then garnish with edible flowers.

    Banana Baked Oats

    It’s a new week and for many of us the last before our kids are on holiday for a couple weeks. This quote by John F. Kennedy is our motto for the week, “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” With a to do list a mile long, it’s important to take time out to plan and figure out what is actually moving you towards your goals. Once you’ve got down on paper, it will be a lot easier to spend your time on productive tasks. 

    On the list of things we don’t want you to worry about is your breakfast! This simple and delicious recipe for banana baked oats is a great way to get you powered up for the day.  By baking the oats, you create a different texture than the one you may be used to, almost like a soft chewy cereal bar! By adding flax, chia and nuts, the nutritional value of this breakfast is also greatly increased. Lastly, add any fruits from the Fruitful Day box to make it both aesthetically pleasing and more flavorsome.  Add different fruits the next day for a whole new combo and you won’t get bored.  

    Now go out there and smash this week healthy breakfast and all! 

    Banana Baked Oats (makes one 23cm x 23cm baked tray)

    1 hour

    Ingredients for the baked oats

    • 2 cups of rolled oats
    • 2 tbsp ground flax
    • 3 tbsp chia
    • 2 tsp cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp nutmeg
    • ¼ tsp cloves
    • ½ tsp ginger powder
    • ¼ tsp salt
    • 1 tsp vanilla essence
    • 2 cups mashed banana from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 2 tbsp coconut oil
    • 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey (this is optional as bananas are already sweet)
    • 2 cups coconut milk, almond milk or any milk of choice

    Ingredients for toppings

    • 1 banana from the Fruitful Day Box
    • any other fruit of choice from the Fruitful Day Box
    • pecan nuts from the Fruitful Day Box

    METHOD

    1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

    2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax, chia, spices and salt. You can grind the flax yourself from whole flax seeds in a coffee grinder.

    3. Add the wet ingredients; mashed banana, coconut oil, vanilla essence, maple syrup and coconut/nut milk.

    4. Mix all ingredients until well combined.

    5. Pour mixture into the baking tray (lined if necessary) and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until browned on top.

    6. While oats are baking, take another baking tray out for the pecans.

    7. Coat the pecans in honey and roast for 5 – 8 minutes or until browned. You can put them in alongside the oats.

    8. While both the pecans and oats are baking, thinly slice bananas.

    9. Place a pan on medium heat, add some butter to the pan and sauté the banana slices by cooking lightly on each side and sprinkling with cinnamon.

    10. Once oats are browned, remove from the oven and serve with cream or yoghurt. Top with caramelised banana, caramelised pecans and sliced fruit.

    Sumac Roasted Grapes & Brussels Sprouts

    In honor of St Patricks Day, we’re loving all things green today and that includes veggies! Fruit and vegetables always go hand-in-hand and today’s recipe is a perfect example. Sumac roasted grapes and Brussels sprouts might sound a little unusual, but we promise you’ll love this Middle Eastern twist on a traditional European festive dish. 

    Need some more convincing?  Here are some of the many health benefits of incorporating Brussels sprouts in your diet:

    • Brussels sprouts are one of the foods richest in vitamin K, which helps with blood clotting and bone health.
    • They’re also high in vitamin C, a boost for your immune system
    • Their high fiber content helps your digestive system to run smoothly
    • In addition, Brussels sprouts contain small amounts of many other nutrients such as vitamin B6, potassium, iron, thiamine, magnesium and phosphorus.

    Sumac Roasted Grapes & Brussels Sprouts (makes one roasting tray)

    1 hour 

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups of brussels sprouts
    • 2 cups red grapes from the Fruitful Day Box
    • ½ tsp sea salt
    • 1 tbsp sumac
    • 1 tbsp melted grass fed butter

    METHOD

    1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

    2. Wash brussels sprouts and remove any external bruised leaves.

    3. Chop any excess stems off the brussels sprouts and cut both these and the grapes in half.

    4. Put brussels sprouts and grapes in a roasting tray or two – they brown more easily if they aren’t piled up on top of each other.

    5. Melt butter and pour over.

    6. Sprinkle sumac over the tray and combine with your hands until evenly coated.

    7. Roast for 30 minutes or until browned.

    Pineapple Burger

    If you follow us on Instagram (@fruitfuldayuae in case you don’t),, you’ll know this is the week of the pineapple! Pineapple is great in a fruit salad, but there’s lots of other unique ways to incorporate pineapples in your meals. Here’s a fun idea to do something a little different, a pineapple burger!  

    Usually cutting out bread or gluten can often make people feel deprived as they can no longer enjoy foods like a burger. This substitute with a pineapple is tasty and colorful. However, remember to choose pasture raised beef, not only is the fatty acid profile much more favorable, you’ll also be doing a service to the environment by avoiding industrialized meats.

    Have we told you lately if you were a fruit, you’d be a fine-apple?

    Pineapple Burger (makes 5 small patties)

    1 hour

    Ingredients for the patties
    • 500g pasture raised beef
    • 1 tsp salt
    • ¾ tsp dried oregano
    • ¾ tsp dried thyme
    • ¼ tsp black pepper
    Other ingredients
    • 1 large tomato
    • 1 large onion
    • 5 cross section slices of pineapple
    • 5 slices of pasture raised aged cheddar cheese
    • 5 lettuce leaves
    METHOD for patties

    1. Put two skillets on medium heat and turn on the grill/broiler on the oven.

    2. Mix all spices and salt and add to the ground beef mixture mixing thoroughly.

    3. Bring about 100g (a palm sized) amount of ground beef mixture together in your hands and shape it into a burger patty.

    4. Slice tomato, onion and pineapple into 1cm thick slices.

    4. Put a small amount of ghee on the skillet and then add the burgers.

    5. As they cook add the tomato, onion and pineapple to the other skillet.

    6. Flip the patties after 5 minutes or so and cook the other side for an equal amount of time (or longer depending on the doneness you prefer)

    7. Remove vegetables and pineapple from the skillet as and when they are done. done. The tomato will cook quickly, the pineapple next and the onion last.

    8. Once the burger is ready, place a slice of cheese over the top and place in the oven to melt the cheese.  

    9. Remove from the oven and assemble all layers on top of the lettuce leave.

    Avocado Chocolate Mousse

    Last week we introduced you to the newest addition of the Fruitful Day family, a fruit bouquet! It’s made with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, physalis, and a touch of mint.

    We wouldn’t want you to go without a new recipe for your Valentine too though!  This week we are sharing a recipe for an avocado chocolate mousse, which is a little different than your typical mousse as it uses melted chocolate achieving an extra creamy texture.

    Whether you’re single, taken, or just plain hungry, we’re sure you’re going to love this dessert!  Wishing you a happy, healthy Valentines Day from the whole Fruitful Day family. 

    Avocado Chocolate Mousse (serves 2/3 for dessert)  

    30 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 100g dark chocolate (you can use 70% cacao)
    • 1 tsp vanilla essence
    • 100g coconut cream (to make this – put the tin of coconut cream in the fridge overnight. In the morning, scoop only the cream off the top leaving the water behind. Set aside).
    • 1 avocado from the Fruitful Day Box
    • ½ tbsp honey (optional)
    • 50g full fat yoghurt or coconut yoghurt

    METHOD

    1. Place a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place into the bowl to melt.

    2.  In a separate bowl, smash the avocado with a fork.

    3. Place the coconut cream in a bowl and beat with a hand beater until it forms soft peaks.

    4. Add the chocolate, vanilla, yoghurt, honey to the avocado and blend with a hand blender.

    5. Add the whipped coconut cream and blend (leave a few tablespoons aside for garnish)

    6. Garnish with coconut cream and grated dark chocolate.

    Vegan Mango, Citrus and Coconut Cheesecake

    We hit a big milestone this week, 15,000 followers on Instagram!  That was so exciting for us as we put a lot of love into our account and we are ever so grateful for the love back.

    Last week we introduced you to Michelle who is behind all of our recipes.  You’ll be hearing more from her soon.

    In the meantime, to celebrate our milestone, we wanted to share a new cake recipe with you. If you like citrus flavors combined with chocolate, you’ll love this Vegan Mango, Citrus and Coconut Cheesecake recipe!  This is a great way to make the most of the citrus season and as always, we have the most delicious mangos in our boxes, which will give it a delicious sweet touch. 

    In case you prefer to leave out the chocolate, it’s also possible to omit the cacao nibs and cacao powder for a nutty, mango, citrus and coconut cake.  Yum yum yum.  Either way, we know you’ll enjoy this one!!!

    Thank you once again to all of our amazing followers and in case you aren’t already part of the gang, come join us at https://www.instagram.com/fruitfuldayuae/

    Vegan Mango, Citrus and Coconut Cheesecake (makes one 20cm cake)

    9 hours (including time to soak nuts and set)

    Ingredients for the base

    • 1 cup mixed nuts and seeds from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 1/3 cup cacao powder  
    • 2 tbsp shredded coconut (fresh is the best)
    • 1 cup dates
    • A pinch of salt
    • 3 tbsp cacao nibs
    • 5 drops food grade citrus essential oil

    Ingredients for the filling

    • 2 cups cashews from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 1 cup of mango from the Fruitful Day Box
    • Zest of 3 oranges from the Fruitful Day Box
    • ¼ cup citrus juice (grapefruit/lemon/orange) from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 1/3 cup melted cacao butter
    • 3 tbsp coconut cream
    • 10 drops food grade citrus essential oil

    Ingredients for the garnish

    • Zest of 1 of orange from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 1 400ml can of coconut cream
    • 2 tbsp cacao nibs

    METHOD for the base

    1. Blend all dry filling ingredients; mixed nuts and seeds, cacao powder, coconut and salt in a food processor.

    2. Add wet ingredients; dates and essential oil and blend until it comes together as a dough.

    3. Add cacao nibs and mix with hands into the dough – if you blend the nibs in the food processor they will become too small and you’ll lose the great crunch texture they give.

    4. Line the base of your cake tin and then press the dough down evenly into the bottom.

    METHOD for the filling

    1. Soak cashews for at least 4 hours or, if possible, overnight.

    2. Drain and rinse cashews

    3. Put all filling ingredients; cashews, chopped mango, zest, juice, melted cacao butter, coconut cream and essential oil into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

    4. Pour filling mixture over the base mixture and set in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight.

    5. Garnish with coconut cream – to do this leave the coconut cream in the fridge for 2-4 hours, open the can and then scoop only the cream from the top leaving behind the water.

    6. Garnish with zest and cacao nibs. 

    Banana Bread

    We can’t believe it’s 2019 already!  We’ll be continuing to share recipes this year, but what we’re even more excited about is that Michelle Harvey, a Nutritional Therapist, is going to guest blog throughout the year and help us to understand how some simple changes to our diet can have a huge impact on our well-being. Look out for her first blog article in the coming 10 days. We think you’re going to love her just as much as we do!

    In the meantime, we wanted to share an easy banana bread recipe with you.  This banana bread is a little bit different as it has banana flour in it. You may never heard of banana flour, but it’s actually a great addition to your diet because it’s a prebiotic!  What is a prebiotic you ask?  A prebiotic sets the environment for probiotics to work so it’s important to consume them together. Prebiotics, which are a type of non-digestible fiber compound, can be found in foods like bananas, artichoke, onions, garlic, apple skin, chicory root, beans, and many others.  Although they haven’t gotten the press in recent years that probiotics have, they are actually just as important as they are the fuel that allows probiotics to work. It’s all part of keeping your gut healthy something Michelle will be talking a lot more about throughout the year.

    We hope you’ll come back soon to learn more about simple ways to improve your health in 2019.

    Banana Bread (makes two loaves 11cm x 22cm)

    1 hour

    Ingredients

    • 100g coconut sugar
    • 2 ripe bananas from the Fruitful Day Box
    • 50g peanut butter
    • 170g banana flour (you can order on Amazon)
    • 50g oats
    • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
    • 100g milk or dairy free milk of choice
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • ½ tsp nutmeg
    • 3 free range eggs
    • 100g coconut oil
    • 80g dates

    METHOD

    1. Blend dates, bananas and peanut butter
    2. Combine mixture with all remaining ingredients and stir until a consistent texture is achieved
    3. Prepare loaf tin by lining it with greaseproof paper and preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
    4. Pour banana bread mixture into tins and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
    5. Allow to cool on a rack before removing from the tin to consume.