July's Feel Good Food Round Up: Maple Syrup

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting July's Feel Good Food to be quite so controversial as it was, but there did seem to be some resistance in terms of cost and availability. That being said, there are some really fantastic recipes here that just go to show the range and versatility of maple syrup in all types of cooking, from baking, to sauces, glazes and marinades. There are five recipes here, and we have a cookie, a cake, a veggie dish, a meat dish, and a versatile sauce - varied indeed!

Banana, Maple Syrup, Bacon and Whiskey Cookies

The lovely Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes was first in, with a Heston inspired Banana, Maple Syrup, Bacon and Whisky Cookie recipe. Nothing controversial there then! Personally the sound of these cookies gets my tastebuds tingling, plus, the mashed banana in the cookie dough cuts out a lot of the butter content, and similarly, the sweetness comes from the maple syrup, so a great healthy alternative cookie recipe - thanks Jen! 

Quick and Easy Chinese Style BBQ Sauce

Next up I experimented with using maple syrup in a Chinese Style BBQ Sauce. This was a quick and easy blend of maple syrup, teriyaki sauce and some spices to create a quick marinade, which could also be reduced down to make a sticky sauce. Perfect quick and easy mid-week food. 

Baked Butternut

Our next entry came from Angela over at My Golden Pear, in the form of this glorious Baked Butternut, glazed with maple syrup, cinnamon and paprika. This was a South African inspired dish, and looks just divine, definitely one I will be trying myself at home. 

You could use maple syrup as a glaze to replace sugar or honey in other vegetable dishes similar to this to get the same result, with all those added antioxidants and health benefits. 

Banana, Almond and Maple Syrup Cake

A beautiful looking cake now from Ness at Jibber Jabber. Ness found some bananas that needed using up, and put then to incredibly good use in this Banana, Almond and Maple Syrup Cake. Perfect for accompanying an afternoon cup of tea methinks!

Maple and Lemon Chicken with Sunshine Rice

The last entry was another of my recipes, this time Maple and Lemon Chicken with Sunshine Rice. This time, I used lemon juice and maple syrup to marinade chicken, which was then grilled, with the remaining marinade used to flavour a tomato cooked rice side dish. It was absolutely delicious I promise! 

Thank you to everyone who took the time out of their sunshine soaked July to create a maple syrup dish this month, the ingredient for August will be posted shortly! 

Lemon and Maple Chicken with Sunshine Rice

Did you know it was sunny outside!? As Brits we have somewhat of a reputation for talking about the weather. And with the developments in social media, it seems that not only do we talk about the weather, but we also tweet about the weather, rant on facebook about the weather, instagram pictures of the sun/seaside/storm clouds, and just to make sure all bases are covered, take screen shots of the weather forecast on our phones, or photos of the temperature gauge on our dashboards to share with all our friends just in case they happened to have not opened their curtains and checked outside for themselves! I would confidently say that 50% of my timelines are filled with "it's too hot", "I'm stuck inside", "check out my sunburn" type complaints, and it is taking all of my will power not to go on an angry keyboard rampage across the web shouting down everyone that utters any of the above. If you like the heat, go outside and make the most of it, if you don't, stay inside with the curtains drawn and the fan on. Either way, it'll be over soon, so just, please, step away from the computer/smart phone/tablet and have some fun! Phew! Ok, that's that taken care of...

Lemon and Maple Grilled Chicken, with Sunshine Rice

I chose Maple Syrup as this month's Feel Good Food ingredient, and it's proved to be a lot more controversial than I expected. I wanted to develop a great recipe to showcase how versatile maple syrup can really be as a healthy alternative to sugar/honey/syrup and use to add a real depth of flavour. As Feel Good Food is all about finding healthier food that still tastes good, I really concentrated on that in this recipe, using whole grain rice, and chicken breasts with the skin off. There also isn't any fat or oil used in the cooking process for this recipe either! 

Ingredients

For the Lemon and Maple Chicken;

4 chicken breasts

Juice of 1 large lemon

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

For the Sunshine Rice;

400 grams whole grain rice

400 gram tinned chopped tomatoes

300 ml chicken stock

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon basil

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 yellow pepper, diced

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Start by marinading the chicken. Mix the lemon juice, maple syrup and paprika together in a dish. Score the chicken all over and place into the marinade, coating both sides. Cover with clingfilm, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

For the sunshine rice, add all of the ingredients listed to a large pan, stir well, and place over a medium heat. 

Remove the chicken from the fridge, and place the breasts on a baking tray. Place the chicken under a grill. Pour the leftover chicken and maple marinade into the rice, and stir through. 

Grill the chicken for around 8 - 10 minutes on either side. Check that the chicken is cooked through and then set aside to rest. Check the rice, it will have had around 25-30 minutes cooking time now. Because it is cooking in the tomatoes rather then just water, it will take a little longer than the packet instructions, so just keep testing it until it is soft. 

Once the rice is soft enough, serve alongside the grilled chicken.

This dish is light, and flavoursome, with the sweetness of the maple and the sharpness of the lemon flavouring the chicken well, and cutting through the fruity tomato flavour of the rice. Perfect for a summer's evening out on the patio, or for bringing the sun back on those less sunny days!

July's Feel Good Food Challenge

I had a few different ingredients in mind for the second Feel Good Food challenge, however after the success of the first challenge (round up here) I had a little rethink, as I wanted something that was really flexible and would allow for a really good range of exciting healthy recipes. A little while ago, I was sent some products from Clarks to test, which included their range of maple syrups, and a little research opened my eyes to the amazing health benefits of this delicious treat.

Predominantly maple syrup contains phenol compounds that house enzymes that convert carbohydrates into sugars, and the recent studies suggest that this could be the basis of an anti-diabetic compound. In addition, maple syrup also contains a high density of antioxidants, which are key in slowing down the oxidization, or ageing of the bodies cells, something that is not found in other natural sweeteners, even including honey. You can find more information on the health benefits of maple syrup on the Clarks website here. In conclusion, maple syrup is a great way of sweetening a recipe whilst making the most of some key nutrients. 

So the key ingredient this month is MAPLE SYRUP

The rules are as follows;

• Recipes should be submitted by midnight on the 28th. 
• Recipes do not need to be calorie controlled, but wherever possible, try to use wholemeal carbohydrates (flour, pasta, rice etc) to make them as nutritious as possible.
• You can enter as many recipes into the challenge as you like, the more the merrier. Existing posts are welcome, as long as they contain the chosen ingredient and have been updated to include a link back to this challenge.
• Recipes can be your own or someone else's, but if you do use an existing recipe please credit the source.
• Posts must contain the Feel Good Food logo above, be tagged with Feel Good Food, and contain a link back to this site. 
• Once your post is live, you can add the URL to the linky tool at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, email me a copy of the URL link to kickatthepantrydoor@gmail.com so that I know it is there, and I can include it in the round up at the end of the month. 
• If you are on Twitter, tweet me the link at @ThePantryDoor1, using the hashtag #FeelGoodFood and I will retweet as well. 

Superfood Pancakes, and a Review of Clarks Maple Syrup

Superfood Pancakes

I was recently sent some samples of Maple Syrup and Honey from Clarks to try, and within the same week, in fact literally a few days later, there was an article published by the Daily Mail detailing how maple syrup had been elevated to the lofty status of 'superfood'. I was curious to explore the science behind the idea of 'superfoods' a little, as it is a term that is used seemingly quite feely, and I wasn't entirely sure of the substance behind it. As it turns out, there are two opposing camps out there on the subject of superfoods, on the one side those who believe that superfoods contain high levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals that have substantial health benefits, and the other side, those who believe the terms is one invented and exploited by marketing companies. (It is worth noting that there is no legal definition to the term 'superfood'.)

A selection of Maple Syrup and Honey from Clarks

If we choose to look on side of those that do believe in the power of superfoods, then in simple science superfoods are those that are especially high in key nutrients, such as Omega 3, antioxidants and potassium, which are considered to have affects such as reducing the risks of cancers and cardiovascular diseases, increasing your immune system, and reducing depression. 'Famous' superfoods include blueberries, broccoli, oily fish and green tea to name but a few, and now, maple syrup can be added to that list. 

Predominantly maple syrup contains phenol compounds that house enzymes that convert carbohydrates into sugars, and the recent studies suggest that this could be the basis of an anti-diabetic compound. In addition, maple syrup also contains a high density of antioxidants, which are key in slowing down the oxidization, or ageing of the bodies cells, something that is not found in other natural sweeteners, even including honey. You can find more information on the health benefits of maple syrup on the Clarks website here.

All this talk of superfoods got me thinking, and as someone who constantly strives and yet falls short of eating a healthy diet, I wanted to have a go at creating something with my maple syrup that would make the most of it's new 'superfood' status. I had a look at some of the other ingredients that are also considered superfoods, and came up with this recipe for 'Superfood Pancakes', which is loosely based on scotch pancakes, or drop scones as they are also known in some parts of the UK. Containing blueberries, oats, and wholemeal flour, there are four, yes four, superfoods in this recipe! Which makes them really very good for you in my book (if you overlook the milk, sugar and butter content). 

Superfood Pancakes

Ingredients

150 grams wholemeal self raising flour

50 grams rolled oats

100 grams golden caster sugar

200 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 large egg

150 grams frozen blueberries

a little butter to cook

maple syrup to serve

Method

These are the easiest breakfast/ brunch/ snack to make, just beat the batter together and cook it! The quantities given should make 12 - 15 pancakes.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the oats and golden caster sugar, and mix well...

Whisk together the milk and egg, make a well in the centre of the dry mix, add the liquids, and whisk together to form a batter...

Add the frozen blueberries and mix well into the batter...

Melt a little butter in a frying pan or on a griddle, and drop three dessert-spoonfuls of the batter into the pan. It will spread a little but not greatly...

When the pancakes start to have little bubbles in the surface, and are colouring around the edges, flip them over carefully to cook on the other side...

And then serve hot, with a good healthy drizzle of maple syrup!

Gary and I had three pancakes each, which we topped with each of the three maple syrups in order to 'judge' each one. The vanilla maple syrup was noticeably sweeter than the others, although honestly I didn't get much of a vanilla flavour coming through. The Grade 1 and Grade 2 syrups were great, the Grade 2 definitely being my favourite, with a real earthy flavour coming through which worked perfectly with the pancakes.

I'm entering this recipe into Credit Crunch Munch, run by Camilla and Helen, and hosted this month by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen, as it is made from store cupboard ingredients, and cheap to make.

I'm also entering into Made with Love Mondays run by Mark over at Javelin Warrior, as it was made totally from scratch, on a Monday, with a lot of love... simple! ;-)

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of maple syrups and honey to try by Clarks, however all opinions expressed in the post are 100% honest and my own.

1st June 2013 - I am updating this post to be entered into the Feel Good Food challenge, hosted by myself, as the theme is blueberries, and these pancakes are super-nutritious!