Fat Free Almond and Banana Bundt Cake flavoured with Cardamom

I've been baking with bananas so regularly these days that if I say it's banana bread my daughter say can't U make a regular cake like chocolate cake. So this time I baked it in regular size bundt pan & didn't forget "not to mention bananas anywhere", so..... it's cake with chocolate chips......served with some freshly whipped cream and did I mentioned it's cardamom flavor, again something NOT to be mentioned(to her) and yes, no mention of whole wheat flour either & wait there is more almond meal & flax seed.....let me give you the whole recipe but before that another look while cake is cooling down.

No!No!No! it didn't stick to the pan, but....

A Mouse in the House now the recipe.....

What I used :

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour(I use atta available at Indian grocery stores)
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal(grind almonds using a spice/coffee grinder)
• 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds/flax meal
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 egg
• 3 over ripe bananas
• 4 green cardamoms/choti illachi (seeds taken out & crushed into powder,)
• 2 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
• handful of chocolate chips

See it didn't stick to the bottom

What I did :

1. Grease 6 cup capacity bundt pan. & heat oven to 350 degree F.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients,including sugar & cardamon powder, making sure there are no lumps.
3. Mash the bananas to smooth paste, add egg, mix it together.
4. Mix dry ingredients to wet. Mix everything together & finally fold in handful of chocolate chips.
5. Bake till toothpick comes out clear, mine was done in exact 30 minutes.

Note :

1.  Don't throw the outer shell of green cardamons, use them for flavouring tea or rice.
2. I used 6 cup capacity bundt pan as I wanted to test my new pan(yes I'm addicted to bundt pans now, first I got the baby ones then med. size & this is the new addition to the collection) but I believe this recipe would fit in the 8" or 9" square or round pan also.
3. If  U don't like cardamom flavour replace it with vanilla.
4. I tried same recipe egg less also by replacing egg with 1/4 cup buttermilk & increasing baking soda with around 1/4 of tsp. came out good.
5. I'm not using any butter or oil in this recipe & believe me we didn't miss that, bananas work good as butter substitute also.
6. Also it's not very sweet but sweetness from bananas & little brown sugar was perfect for our taste buds, but for those who love their cakes more sweet, quantity of sugar can be increased.

 And finally the Mouse is caught in action

did I mentioned she was born in the year of Rat as per Chinese zodiac....so basically she is just doing what she is suppose to do and not giving up any of her mousy tricks....and btw my little mouse had big serving of this cake as her lunch that day....off it goes to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

For other recipes for baking with bananas like cake/biscotti/muffins/bread U can click here.

Eggless Baking : Chocolate Banana Bread & Mini Bundt Cakes

Again some bananas waiting for their turn to be used up and thinking, if nobody is eating may be we'll get a good shake with milk......but wait it's snowing outside chances are very less to mingle with the milk......slowly turned black from outside, perfect for baking, may be now somebody will see us.......and finally lady of the house decided their faith.....Chocolate banana bread & mini bundt cakes with blueberries.

Base recipe used here is of my other banana bread but this one was baked to mainly clear few things from the cooler-box and pantry. And it's very forgiving kind of recipe one can easily substitute with what they have in hand or how healthy they want to make it, butter can be totally left out from this recipe as banana works well as fat substitute. Addition of chocolate make it more acceptable by kids even when it has lots of good stuff in it. Please do check the notes at the end, as list of ingredients might make u think it's a very long recipe, which is not, only the list of ingredients is lengthy otherwise it's just mix & bake kind of recipe.

What U need :
Dry ingredients :

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour(I used whole wheat pastry flour, atta works fine)
• 1/2 cup oat flour(grind regular/old fashioned oats in coffee grinder)
• 1 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 tablespoon (used maida from Indian store)
• 3 tablespoon flaxmeal (dry roast flaxseeds when cool grind then using coffee grinder)
• 1 cup almond meal (grind almonds fine or coarse, as per your taste)
• 4 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1&1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients :

• 2 tablespoon butter at room temp.
• 3 medium over ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoon ricotta cheese
• 5-6 tablespoon sweet condensed milk
• 1 cup buttermilk(or homemade dahi/yogurt can be used, dilute it with little water in case if it's thick)
• 1/2 cup water(might need little less or more depending upon what proportion of diff. flours u r using)

Other Ingredients(totally optional) :

• handful of blueberries(needed to finish these too)
• handful of mini chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoon of sweet coconut flakes(rest of the packet is waiting to be turned into coconut cake....ahhh!!)

What U do :

1. In a large bowl using a whisk, mix all the dry ingredients making sure that there are no lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Make sure all the wet ingredients are at room temperature. In another bowl using a whisk mix butter, banana, ricotta and condensed milk till they are smooth. Slowly add buttermilk & 1/2 cup of water & again whisk them.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture little at a time & keep mixing them till all the dry ingredients are mixed together with wet. It's kind of a thick batter but not too tight. So if needed use little extra water.
4. Roll blueberries in 1/2 tablespoon flour. Fold berries & choco. chips to the batter. I added coconut flakes to only one loaf. So after filling the bundt pan & one loaf pan I folded coconut flakes to the batter.
5. Pour it into greased pans & bake it in the 350 degree F oven, for timing check below and for filling bundt pan check notes.

Baking Pans and Time :
I made two small loaves & 12 mini bundt cakes out of this batter. Mini bundt cakes or if U plan for cupcakes usually take around 16-18 minutes. For mini loaves, it took 30 minutes.

Notes :

1. I have used 3 different flours basic idea was to have around 2 cups of flour, recipe works well with only whole wheat flour also. So U can change the quantity of diff. flours, as long they measure 2 cups in total should work fine.
2. In wet ingredients also I'm using quite a few things as I had to finish those & bread came out very good with addition of all those. U can check other version of banana bread here which is not using condensed milk & ricotta cheese and play with the recipe as per your taste.
3. If using mini bundt pan filling the batter into small cavities can be little tricky & messy at the same time. So, here's the easy solution just fill a large Ziploc with the batter, cut 1 cm. from one corner & squeeze the batter out into cavities(fill only around 3/4) or if U happen to have large pastry bag use that. And don't throw the bag wash it, let it dry & use it next time when U again bake mini bundt cakes.  

This chocolate banana bread & mini bundt cakes are off to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

Healthy Banana Bread loaded with all the good stuff....not only Whole Wheat but Eggless too

It's been little busy over here, summer vacation is over. Trying to set some routine after 2 & 1/2 months of  break. Mind is working hard again to find interesting options for school lunch & after school snack, on top of that this year in 3rd grade they have to take snack too. So here's this simple recipe which I feel is a very good option for any time of the day snack, we have been eating this as morning breakfast with a glass of milk or coffee. It's quite filling & healthy too. It's Banana Bread but not regular kind, I'm using not only whole wheat flour but oats also in this. I had no plans of making this bread but thanks to my little one she has found one new hobby, whenever she can grab a banana she likes to peel it, until now she usually would eat it too, but now-a-days she only peels them & she's done. Now what do I do with 3 peeled bananas in a day. So I twisted my regular banana bread recipe added few more things to it and here goes the recipe(please do check the variations at the end of the recipe, got whole wheat version too) :

What U need :
dry ingredients :

• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. all purpose flour (I used maida)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour(I used atta-flour used for making Indian style flat bread)
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 /1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. dry ginger powder(optional)

wet ingredients :

• 3 med. size ripe bananas
• 3 Tbsp. veg. oil
• juice of 1 orange
• 4 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar

good stuff :

• 2 Tbsp. dry roasted flax seeds
• 1/2 cup roasted, chopped almonds
• 10 dates chopped

What U do :

1. Take all the good stuff(nuts & dry fruit etc.) & sprinkle 1 Tbsp. of flour on them & mix them with the hand so they get good coating of flour. It  helps preventing them from sinking to the bottom of the pan.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients using a fork making sure no lumps are formed.
3. In a big bowl mash bananas using the back side of fork & add rest of the wet ingredients from the list.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ones. Gently mix them.
5. Add mixture of good stuff to the batter, fold it in.
6. Bake it in the greased loaf pan for 35-40 min.(till the tooth pick comes clean) at 350 degree F.

Note :

This bread was little crumbly but very flavorful, it reminded me of fruit cake & was quite soft even for next couple of days. I did made this for 3-4 times in this month but every time with little variations. Actually this recipe is very forgiving one can easily adjust the ingredients according to the availability or taste. All the variations had almost same amount of oats.

Variations :
First was with half all purpose flour & half whole wheat flour.

 Second was with totally whole wheat flour, came out really good without any compromise on taste.

Third was again totally whole wheat flour but I added 2 Tbsp. of Ragi(finger millet) flour & 1 Tbsp. of flax seed(alsi) meal(powder) also. Instead of almond & dates I only used around 1/2 cup of black raisins & I didn't had any oranges so I added 1-8 0z. carton of apple juice, reduced oil to 2 Tbsp. only(works fine) also reduced the sugar a little bit. Bananas used were also one & a half only. I baked them in mini bundt pan so baking time was reduced to 16 min. only at 350 degree F(recipe yielded 12 mini bundt cakes-I had filled each cavity to 3/4 level). I highly recommend this recipe if you are trying to bake with whole wheat flour as it was light & not at all heavy texture. And these were not at all crumbly. Here's the click...

And this wonderful healthy bread/mini bundt cakes  goes to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

Roti Stir-fry......quick snack, using left over roti

As I mentioned in my previous post now a days lunch is home made ice cream, so on one such day after gorging on home made vanilla & mango ice cream around late afternoon when stomach started to rumble that was the sign that I need to go to kitchen & cook something. So this quick dish is result of all the above. I had some left over rotis(Indian flat bread), instantly the idea of roti poha on the lines of bread poha came to my mind. This dish was done in within less than 10 minutes start to finish, it's just a guideline one can add any veggies of their choice.

What U need :

• 4 left over rotis/chapatis, cut into around 1 x 1/2 inch pieces
• around 1 & a half cup of thinly shredded cabbage
• 1/3 cup of frozen peas
• 1/3 cup of frozen corn
• 3-4 green chillies, chopped
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds (rai)
• few curry leaves
• 2 Tbsp. of cooking oil
• pinch of asafoetida(hing)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder(haldi)
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder(lal mirch powder)
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp. dry roasted sesame seeds
• cilantro or green onions, chopped for decoration
• juice of 1/2 a lime

What U do :

• Take a wide pan/wok/karahi, heat oil in that.
• Add mustard seeds once they splutter add curry leaves, also add hing.
• Turn the gas to high & add cabbage & cook it for 1-2 minutes on high heat only and then add peas & corn. Keep stirring veggies as it's on high heat.
• After another minute or so add salt, turmeric, chilli powder & chopped green chillies.
• After another minute or so add roti pieces, mix everything together. Once rotis get coating of all the flavors, around 2 minute, turn the gas off.
• Sprinkle peanuts, sesame seeds and lime juice. Garnish with green onions or cilantro.

Note : this dish is done on high heat & no liquids are used, only little oil, so make sure U keep stirring the veggies otherwise they might stick to the bottom of pan. If needed use only a spoon or two of water. Cooking them quickly on high heat helps in retaining the crunchiness of cabbage. If  U prefer little water can be used & cabbage can be cooked till it's fully soft. Once dish is done Covering the pan with lid will also helps in getting some moisture to the dish & making it little more soft.

So next time U have any left over rotis, try this recipe it's perfect as anytime snack or as morning breakfast, healthy and filling, enjoy.

Mango Ice-cream & Coffee Ice cream

Now a days we are enjoying pure home made ice cream treats as lunch, specially when outside temperature is in 90's. Kids don't want to eat lunch specially when they are slepping till 10 in the morning & by the time they finish their breakfast or I should call it brunch it's almost noon. So, as soon as one batch is made, plan for next batch is already in discussion.....so Mom do U think we can make choc. flavour next time. I'm only the incharge of making sure that we have enough supplies on hand as the credit for this delicious ice cream goes to my 8 yr. old & her Dad. Now for the recipe :

What U need :

• 3/4 cup whole milk, chilled
• 3/4 cup regular sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream, chilled
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract(optional)
• pulp from 2 medium size mangoes, chilled

What U do :

• Using a blender puree the mango pulp, use pulse if u like little pieces in it, keep aside.
• Using a hand mixer or a whisk combine the milk & granulated sugar, until it dissolved.
• Stir in heavy cream & vanilla to taste.
• If using ice cream maker follow the instructions of the ice cream maker. Towards the last 10 minutes of churning add chilled mango pulp & once done(usually whole process takes about 35 min.) transfer it to air-tight containers & let it freeze for at least 2 hours or so.
• If U don't have ice cream maker blend everything together including mango pulp & let it set in the freezer in air tight container & every couple of hours take it out whip the ice cream(to break the ice crystals), freeze it again. Repeat the process for at least 3 more times.

Here's a pic of Coffee Ice cream with home made brownie bits as topping(Coffee + Chocolate nothing can beat the combination). For coffee version omit mango pulp & blend 3 tablespoon of instant coffee powder  with the mixture & during the last 5 minutes of churning process add 3 tablespoon of chopped semi sweet chocolate + 3 tablespoon of roasted chopped almonds.

Note : It's been 5 years since I'm using my Cuisinart ice cream maker but have never tried manual method but it's a common process & in my case comes from an experienced person who in his childhood has done lot of arm wrestling for this yummy cold treats, yes you guys guessed it right it's DH.....in fact he has some first hand experience of making "mutki wali kulfi" too.....but for that I'm gonna need matka first so till then I'm happy with my electronic ice-cream maker.

Savory Semolina Muffins and No Bake Date & Nut Fudge

Today's post is all about trying recipes from the fellow bloggers. Almost a decade back when I started to have adventures in my kitchen, Bawarchi.com was the main or I should say only place where I would go searching for the Indian recipes. But many a times even I liked the recipes but because of lack of photos I never tried those. I always love reading cookbooks also with food photos. Fast forward o 2009, I discovered food blogs while looking for some recipes and instantly loved that how everything is given with photos. Result is my list of bookmark recipes, sometime I feel, to find a bookmarked recipe I need some sort of search program....I can't help bookmarking, because the details and pictures in the recipe make me go "try this one...try this one". So, to solve that problem I try to make the recipe same day I discover it(provided I have everything on hand plus time to make it). My first trial was Ragi Roti and in the past couple of weeks I tried 2 more recipes : No Sugar Nuts Fudge from Creative Saga and Savory Semolina Cake from Red Chillies, they have also adapted these recipes from other food blogs.

Now for the recipes I mainly followed the actual recipes but with some changes according to my taste & availability of ingredients.So for actual recipes please check the respective blogs as I'm going to mention only the changes I made.

1) No Bake Date & Nut Fudge actual recipe NoSugar Nuts Fudge(Creative Saga) :

Actual recipe doesn't ask to soak the dates but I did soaked them in 2 Tblsp. of warm milk as that made it easy to puree them. But that also add little extra moisture, so for that add either more oats or nuts. But I added sesame seeds & wheat germ which balanced it. Also, I kept only few pieces outside & rest in the fridge as I've used milk in it.

I made two versions, first version was for kids so I used almond meal instead of coarsely grind almonds & I didn't used any walnuts in this. Added 2 Tblsp. of Wheat germ + 1 Tblsp. of instant oats.

Second version : Coarsely grind almond & walnuts. I also added around 1 Tblsp. each brown & black toasted sesame seeds and 1 Tblsp. of wheat germ.

NOTE : a) If you are new to black sesame seeds, it's better to use them in combination with regular sesame seeds you use, as the flavor is really strong, but they have more calcium, for more details check here.

b) Wheat germ is a concentrated source of several essential nutrients & essential fatty acids. Which is naturally found in whole wheat flour. I use it in my baking & cooking whenever I'm using any other flour than whole wheat flour. I don't remember the actual source from where I read it but it said it should be used sparingly as it is concentrated form of nutrients and it also need to be stored in fridge as it can easily become rancid if not stored properly.

2) Savory Semolina Muffins actual recipe Savory Semolina Cake(Red Chillies)

Changes I made in this recipe were :

• chopped broccoli florets instead of peas
• no sugar I used only salt
• 2 Tblsp. of wheat germ
• baked them as muffin in regular muffin tin for 22 minutes at 375 degree F.

Loved the taste of Upma & the ease of baking it in the evening & having it for weekday breakfast next morning.

Thanks to Sowmya & Supriya for sharing these recipes. I feel this is the best way to celebrate my 50th post in this blog world by saying thanks to my blogger friends & enjoying some of their recipes.

Sweet Saffron Rice and Awards

Sometime for no special reasons & without knowing we forget our traditions. Similar is the story with this dish, till this date I never made Sweet Saffron Rice, not that they are complicated or anything but somehow I never made it. Last week while talking to my Mom she told me that's it's Basant Panchami make sweet yellow rice, that's how we refer it in our family. Basant Panchami is a festival to celebrate the first day of spring(basant) and also celebrates the birthday of  Saraswati : Goddess of knowledge and arts. Yellow color of the energy giving Sun has a lot of importance in regard to this festival, the coming of Spring after a long and arduous winter, the mustard fields in bloom are a bright yellow, exuding the warmth of an imminent season of Basant or Spring. In north India people celebrate this special day with religious activities and also by wearing kesari(yellow/saffron color) clothes and making yellow color foods.

So, here you go Mom I did made sweet yellow rice on the basant panchami for the first time. And the sweet aroma of desi ghee, cardamons and saffron is really incomparable. My mom usually put thin slices of dry coconut(available at Indian grocery stores) for garnish, but I didn't used as I didn't had any.

What U need :

• 1/2 cup basmati rice soaked for around 20-25 minutes.
• 4 Tblsp. of sugar(add more if you like it really sweet).
• 2 green cardamons(elaichi), seeds taken out & crushed.
• 2 pinch of saffron(kesar) soaked in 2 Tblsp. of warm milk.
• handful of raisins(i used dry cranberries).
• handful of slivered almonds, toasted.
• 1 cup of water
• 1 Tblsp. of clarified butter(desi ghee)

What to do :

1. Drain rice.
2. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan, add cardamons and rice. Stir so that rice get coating of ghee.
3. Add raisins, sugar, saffron along with the milk and water.
4. Cover & cook the rice on medium, till all the water evaporates.
5. Garnish with toasted almonds & coconut(if using).

Note : If you don't have saffron, 2-3 drops of yellow food color can be used. Also once the rice are cooked, taste them for the sweetness, if needed add more sugar while they are still warm.

Time for Awards: My first regular visitor on this blog was SE of Denufood, she was the one who passed me my very first award and here are couple of more awards from her, Thanks dear for sharing them and being so nice and regularly not only visiting but taking time out to write few lines on each single post.

Rules for accepting the Kreative Blogger award :

1) Thank the person giving the award
2) Copy the award to your blog
3) Place a link to their blog
4) Name 7 things people don't know about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers
6) Place a link to those bloggers
7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

I would like to share these awards with :

1) Sidhhi of Cooked Dil Se....

2) Sowmya of Creative Saga

3) Sushma of Authentic Food Delights

4) Supriya of Redchillies

5) Sage of  SageCuisine

6) AshKuku  of Asra....Ashaon Ka.....

7) Gulmohar of Collaborative Curry

I just noticed my most of the blogger friends have name starting with "S" and now the list of 7 things people don't know about me :

1) Would love to have my own kitchen garden one day, till then I'm planting my herbs and veggies in the pots.

2) Can't watch T.V without reading some magazine or doing some crochet along with it.

3) Love fried foods, thanks to not properly ventilated kitchens here I don't fry often.

4) Love to start my day by taking all the veggies for the whole day, out of the fridge. Looking at the basket full of fresh veggies(though sometime they r in the fridge for almost a week) makes me happy.

5) Love to end my day doing some crochet/knitting even if it is for 10 minutes.

6) Not a health freak but believe everything in moderation is good.

7) I'm not an environmentalist but do my share in reducing, reusing and recycling. I try to use my own grocery bags but still end up with lot of produce bags as we mainly use fresh produce only. Below is the picture of plastic bag dispenser I made using used produce bags.

                          

Healthy after Dinner Sweet for Winter Weather & perfect for New Moms

By looking at the picture some of you must have guessed it, for those who are still thinking what it is, so let me tell you, it's called "Badam(almonds) wala Gur(jaggery)" in simple words. As it has jaggery & almonds as main ingredients. Though you can use any other nuts but I mainly use almonds & walnuts, but today I didn't had any walnuts on hand so result is "Badam wala Gur" or in English I think I would simply call it "Sweet & Spicy Nuts", oh, yes......it does have some spices also in it. This is my Mom's recipe I make it every winter, it's perfect for that little bite of sweet we crave after dinner. One of the fellow blogger was looking for recipe with jaggery for post partum diet, so I thought of putting this on my blog. As for the benefits of this sweet, let me write a little bit about it's ingredient :

1) Gur(jaggery) : also known as medicinal sugar, it's unrefined wholesome sugar full of minerals & vitamins. It's a good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, selenium & also contains moderate amount of calcium, phosphorus & zinc, it also helps in the purification of blood. As per Ayurvedic diet it helps in throat & lung infections. Because of it's health benefits in India it's very common to use lots of gur in post partum diet, it's healthy & helps clean the body from inside after delivery. Also when babies start on solid foods it's good to use gur in baby food instead of using refined sugars.

2) Almonds & Walnuts : Now a days every where one can see the emphasis on heart healthy nuts : almonds & walnuts, so I'm not writing a lot about that. But I would only like to say that new moms need them much more than anybody else, as it will increase DHA & RHA in the breast milk which is very important for babies brain.

3) Ajwain( carom seeds) : It's an excellent cure for indigestion & low-appetite. Very beneficial in cases of cough,cold & asthma. Again new moms are suggested to eat 1-2 spoons full of ajwain during the period they are nursing, not only helps mom but also helps little babies from having gas pains & indigestion. For more home remedies using ajwain for little babies & kids click here.

4) Sund(dry ginger powder) : it's used in Ayurveda from centuries. It's used to treat indigestion, stomachaches, nausea, joint & muscle pains, loss of appetite, cough, colds & flu to name few.

5) Ghee(clarified butter) : it's obtained by gently heating the butter to the point where all the water evaporates & all the milk solids get separated. It's lactose free & also free of hydrogenated oils so good for health-conscious ones. Ghee is not only versatile cooking medium(has very high burning point), but as per Ayurveda it helps balance excess stomach acids and helps maintain & repair the mucus lining of the stomach. Helps lubricate the connective tissues & promote flexibility, used to promote memory. To me it's right kind of fat specially for babies & toddlers & also for new moms.

Now here's the recipe :

Ingredients :

• 1 Tblsp. of ghee(U can use up to 2 Tblsp. or totally replace it with evoo)
• 3/4 cup chopped gur(indian jaggery)
• 1 cup chopped mixed nuts(walnuts+almonds)
• 1 Tblsp. of ajwain(carom seeds) (use more or less as per your taste)
• 1 tsp. sund(dry ginger powder)

Note : this time I used pan roasted almonds & I love the taste better than plain ones. Also if preparing for post-partum diet you can double the quantity of ajwain & sund.

Method :

1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan on med. gas for few seconds then add gur to it & mix it.
2. Once the gur is all melted add rest of the ingredients,stir it together. Turn off the heat & be careful it's gonna be really HOT don't try to taste it, it's gonna be tempting but control yourself.
3. Take a baking tray or thali grease it with ghee & pour the mixture onto it & using backside of spoon spread it as evenly as u can. Once all set & cold to touch cut it into pieces. Let it cool completely before taking them out. Store it in air-tight container. No need to refrigerate it doesn't spoil use dry hands only.

Note : It's very good for new-moms, I use to snack on these after having my second one. But any one can enjoy these they not only taste good but healthy too, only problem with these goodies is to stop eating them.......they are that tasty.

Here it's called Stuffing, Back Home it was called Bread Poha

Before we move to today's recipe....what is this Fruit or Vegetable ???

Now for the recipe, nope it's not using the produce from the above pic, but it's the recipe from our thanksgiving dinner, something so important that you can't think of having a turkey dinner without it....it's stuffing.

It's typically made with bread croutons, some veggies, nuts & dry fruits. You can either fill the big bird with it (which I don't like) or another popular way is you cook it separately and serve it as side dish (it's called dressing when cooked separately). This time when I cooked bread stuffing, it reminded me of bread poha my Mom makes with lots of veggies & nuts, though it's not exactly same but has many similarities. I ate the leftovers for the next day breakfast & loved it.

Ingredients :

• 2 cups bread croutons(check notes for making your own)
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped granny smith apple
• 1/4 cup or more roasted & chopped almonds & walnuts
• 1/4 cup chopped apricots
• 1/4 cup raisins plus dried cranberries
• 2 Tblsp. of unsalted butter (or U can use all evoo instead)
• 2 Tblsp. of evoo(extra virgin olive oil (or you can use all butter instead)
• 1 Tblsp. of evoo for sauteing the vegetables
• 1/2 cup of vegetable stock or water ( I used turkey stock)
• salt as per taste
• black pepper as per taste
• 1 tsp. dried parsley

Method :

1. Heat butter & oil in a big heavy bottom pan. Add bread croutons to it & toss them to get coating of butter. Cook them on a med. heat for about 5-7 minutes, stir them in between. When they start to turn brown, take them out of the pan. If you don't have big pan do it in two batches using 1 spoon of butter & oil each, for each batch of croutons


2. In the same pan heat 1 Tblsp. of evoo & add celery, carrots & apples. Cover and cook them till they get soft, if needed add little stock or water at a time.


3. Once the veggies are soft add croutons, nuts & dry fruits. Also add salt, black pepper and parsley. Mix everything & add 1/2 cup of stock/water. cover & cook for couple of minutes.


4. Turn of the gas. Let it sit for sometime before serving.


5. This can be served as a side dish or can also be eaten as a snack or breakfast by itself. You can also top it with fresh cilantro(instead of parsley) & sprinkle some lemon/lime juice before serving. If you like you can also add other veggies like peas, bell pepper, green beans etc.. My mom makes bread poha version with some tomatoes in it.

Note : to make your own croutons, take 5 slices of 2-3 day old bread, preferably french bread or any hardy bread. I use whatever kind I have at home. This time I used multi grain bread. Cut the slices into 4 stripes & then further cut each strip into 4 pieces. Spread them onto cookie sheet & toast in the oven 350 degree F for roughly 10 min. or so. Shake them in between, once they turn crispy they are done. Remember if croutons are not crispy stuffing will turn mushy.

For Vegan version instead of butter evoo can be used.

This dish is quite healthy as I used multi grain bread to make croutons plus it has lots of veggies, nuts & dry fruits. Specially with all the other flavours going on kids can't figure out that it has multi grain bread in it(so no complaints). I'm sending this to WYF-Speciality event as I cooked it specially for Thanksgiving dinner and I'm also sending it to Yasmeen's HealthNut Challenge-3 : Healing Foods as it contains all the healthy ingredients from carrots to apples & almonds to cranberries. Last but not the least it goes to Radhika & Sudeshna's Food for 7 stages of life : Kids Event.

And yes, before I sign off did you guys guessed what the name of the fruit in above pic is. It's persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "fruits of the Gods". Saw it in the local Chinese farmer market, there were two varieties, one was sold in the pack of 6 or 8 that looked more like round tomatoes. The one I got was sold loose, so I got just one to taste, later checked on the wiki it's called "Hachiya". It was too(when I say too I really mean tooooooo) sweet, pulp inside had similar texture like ripe mango pulp but it was too sweet (we, in fact he only ate one bite, ate it just raw) may be I should have made milk shake with it.

Fruity Granola

I'm Glad I finally made this.I don't now why, but for some reasons I never made granola till yesterday.Though I always keep roasted almond/walnuts and dry fruits on the breakfast table but not everything combined as one thing, called granola. Yesterday, while baking pasta for the dinner I thought why not make granola also, oven is on, so why not use it for something extra at the same time.But I didn't had dried berries(we are not big fan of dried berries....fresh are always welcome) a common feature in granola, so instead, I decided to use all the dry fruits(love them) I had in my cooler box(yes...i mean fridge).Granola is a very versatile recipe you can easily accommodate any kind of nuts & dry fruits according to your taste.

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts(almond/walnut/pecan)
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats(I had instant kind so I used those)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup chopped dry fruits of your choice(I used dates, prunes, apricots, raisins,candid pineapple)
• 1/2 cup cereal of your choice (I used cheerios)

For Sugar syrup :

• 1 & 1/2 tblsp. of light brown sugar
• 2 tblsp. of honey
• 2 tblsp. of water
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Method :

1) Preheat the oven to 325 degree F. Either grease the baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

2)In a large bowl mix together rolled oats, salt & cinnamon.

3)In another bowl mix the ingredients for sugar syrup.Microwave it for 10-12 seconds, it helps in mixing sugar & honey, stir it with fork or whisk.

4)Now pour the sugar syrup over the oat mix & gently mix everything using your hands(make sure syrup is not hot), so that oats get coating of the syrup.Spread it on the baking sheet.

5)Bake it for around 10 minutes then take it out, add chopped nuts and cheerios(if using) to it and mix them using spoon/fork(it'll be hot now).

6)Bake for another 15 minutes, take it out, add chopped dry fruits, mix everything together & let it cool.

7)Once it's cool you can store it in air tight container.Or may be just start eating it, like I did.

Everybody knows granola comes under the healthy food category,to make it more healthy you can also add wheat germ to it once it's baked. And I guess by now you must have figured out why I call it Fruity Granola and not simply Granola,I used more nuts & dry fruit then Oats, and to explain the benefits of all these dry fruits I believe I have to write another post soon.

Lentil Salad

This is one of our favourite salad. Specially dear hubby likes it for lunch in the office. It's quite filling also because the main ingredient is lentils.Though I'm writing the ingredients which I normally use but then agian no restrictions, I always put whatever I have in hand for e.g celery, parsnip, red bell pepper, basically any kind of veg. which you would use in normal salad.

Ingredients :

1. 2 cups of cooked(boiled)* Lentils( I used Red Chorry available at Indian Grocery Stores)
2. 1/2 small onion
3. 1 Large tomato
4. 2 carrots
5. 1/2 cup salad greens of your choice
6. 1 small cucumber
7. green chillies as per taste
8. 1/2 bunch of cilantro
9. handful of raisns
10. handful of toasted nuts of your choice
11. salt as per taste
12. black pepper as per taste
13. juice of 1 lime

Method :

1) Finely chop all the Salad vegetables including green chillies (this is little time consuming, so I usually chop everything a night before & then assemble the salad hour or two before the lunch time).

2) In a big bowl mix drained lentils, chopped veggies, raisins, cilantro, salt, black pepper & lime juice and gently mix up everything.Keep it in the fridge.

3) When ready to eat take it out add roasted chopped nuts mix them well & one healthy lunch is ready. We usually eat it as a lunch but you can have it as a side salad in full meal.

Note : * For boiling the lentils for salad purpose don't use too much of water just enough water to cover them plus one extra cup, and then pressure cook them. Little salt & a bay leaf while boiling enhance the flavours.Water left after draining the boiled lentils can be used to make dough for the chapatis.

Variations : This salad also tastes good with black eye beans or chickpeas.

While we gonna enjoy this colorful & tasty salad today for lunch, I would like to send the same to My Legume Love Affair : the 16th helping event hosted this month by jeanne of CookSister.com, event created and administered by the lovely Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Also sending this entry to No Croutons Required event, hosted by Jacqueline.