Anyhow, I spent a few hours of my day experimenting with new recipes, because my dad is on a much more restrictive diet post-surgery. A basic summary of his restrictions: reduced consumption of sugar, carbs, salt, and fat.
Sounds fun, huh?
The biggest thing that the nutritionist emphasized, however, was portion control. Yes, you can eat fruit, but maybe not a whole piece in one sitting. Yes, you can have bread or pasta if it's whole grain and you have it with some protein. It's all about healthy fats, healthy carbs, and overall balance.
One of the recipes I made yesterday needs a little tweaking, but one tasted so good I decided to post it. So, here goes...
...Introducing "Pumpkin Peanut Scones" (the crowd goes wild)!
These scones are filling because they have plenty of fiber; they also are high in vitamins, like Vitamin A and Iron. For the half without icing, the sugar content is very low (1.5 teaspoons). The complete list of nutrition info. is below my signature.
One scone is one serving, and they are really great as an all-inclusive breakfast.
N.B. My recipe is based on this recipe by Cookie & Kate. Undoubtedly her scones taste muy fabulosa, but my dad wouldn't be able to eat them. :(
Pumpkin Peanut Scones
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts
1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup of baker's bran wheat
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 cup of pumpkin puree (Mine was homemade so it was a little watery; but if you're using canned, you may want to use a heaping 3/4 c. of pumpkin, filled to the 1 c. mark with water.)
1/4 cup of brown sugar (yep, totally forgot to include this on here! Edited: 5/20/14)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Directions:
Line a round cake pan with parchment paper, and set it aside. Chop the nuts fairly small. In a bowl combine the flour, bran, powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix in the chopped nuts. Pour in the olive oil and mix it all together very well. Measure out your pumpkin and add the vanilla and sugar to it in the measuring cup. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and combine thoroughly. Pour/ spread the batter evenly into the prepared cake pan. With your fingers "score" the batter, fairly deeply, into 8 equal pieces. Put the cake pan (and batter) into the freezer (where it will stay 20 mins.), and preheat your oven to 425. Bake 15-16 minutes. Pull out, and let them cool for several minutes.
Notes:
--If you want any icing, be sure to use the maple icing recipe from Cookie & Kate (my husband said it was really good). Halving the recipe worked just fine.
--You can chop some extra nuts to sprinkle on top of the icing. Kate does this for her scones.
--I think raisins, currants, or golden raisins would taste really awesome in this batter, too. I was trying to limit extra sugar for my dad, but if I were making the scones for just Red Beard and myself, I would use golden raisins. (Just remember that addition will change the nutritional content.)
--UPDATE 5/20/14: These are EVEN better with walnuts subbed for peanuts, plus 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg and 1 cup of fresh blueberries. :)
I hope everybody is having a terrific week! The sun is shining here today, and I'm hopeful we'll get some of our grown-up seedlings planted before church tonight.
Have a good one,
--Mrs. D.
Nutrition Info. (for 1 scone, sans icing)*
Calories: 213
Fat: 12.5g
Sat. Fat: 1.325g
Fiber: 4.75g
Carbs: 24.8g
Protein: 5.5g
Vitamin A: 30.6% RDA
Iron: 10.9% RDA
Potassium: 3.78% RDA
Vitamin C: 2.37% RDA
*Remember, everyone has different dietary needs. I've done the math and made sure the nutritional value met the long, long list of specifications for my dad's diet.
