Raspberry Loaf

Have you ever gone to the grocery store and tried to buy produce out of season? It’s February in Canada, of course you have. Silly question. Fresh produce can be expensive, and it’s not worth paying an absurd amount for something that’s not fresh and has been shipped halfway around the world. A couple weeks ago I was doing groceries at our little local grocery store and a regular sized bag of grapes was $15!!! I love fruit and grapes are pretty  much candy, but I don’t quite need them quite that much.

So if fresh produce is getting you down, what are your options? A great plan is to freeze or preserve your own produce in season, but that can be a big time-consuming process. What if there was someone who did it for you? Enter canned and frozen fruits and veggies. While they might not have all the same texture qualities as their fresh counterparts, these guys are still a healthy, relatively inexpensive option. Look for vegetables canned without any added salt and rinse them before using. Find fruits that are canned in their own juices (and you don’t really have to eat the sugary juice). Look for fruits frozen without any added sugar. The ingredients should just say “raspberries” or “mango”. Nothing else. Frozen fruit can be heated up and eaten, eaten frozen, and is perfect for baking.

And if you are looking to squeeze a little more fruit in your diet, but still have a sweet tooth, check out this recipe. This makes 1 loaf cake. Bonus: no butter or oil in this guy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups frozen raspberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine egg, yogurt, and milk.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly. Stir in raspberries/
5. Grease a loaf pan and transfer batter to pan.
6. Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.