My Hobbie Lobbie

Our weekday breakfasts are usually hurried as we get ready to make our way to work and get on with our day ahead. So on weekdays, its usually a couple of slices of buttered toast, a cup of coffee and a fruit or some cereal or porridge and a fruit. So over the weekend, I feel its only fitting to have a more leisurely and stepped-up-a-notch type of breakfast. Some of you will remember that one of these types of breakfast is a helping of pancakes. Another such fairly simple, yet very satisfying breakfast option for me is French Toast.

I love sprouts. If you do some reading up about moong sprouts, you'll realize what an amazing superfood this is. It has all sort of medical benefits. Once sprouted the moong bean is an amazing source of Vit C that the seed in itself can't provide. It's also a great source of protein. These are just a few benefits that I can remember off hand. I'm quite sure the list goes on.

I can't believe its almost been a week since I last posted. I was just so proud that I'd managed to post regularly over the past couple of months, then the last few weeks took me completely by surprise. So many things came up all of a sudden, I barely had time to cook up our daily meals for us. I did make a few treats that I can't wait to share with you. I'm hoping things will be a bit more back-to-normal now. I have my fingers crossed. If you're wondering what I was so busy doing, don't fret, I will let you on to it really soon.

I'd made this ice cream a couple of weeks ago. After the success I had with the Mango Ice Cream, I decided I was definitely going to try out a few more options. I had this sudden craving for a roasted almond ice cream. It was all I could think about for a few days. I had a scoop @ 'Natural's' when we'd gone for a movie and just needed to have some again. After scouting the web for a while, I came across a version of this ice cream to be made in an ice cream maker, that could be easily adapted to make a No Churn version. The best part is that this recipe uses no sugar. You heard me alright, not a grain of sugar. Honey is the only sweetener used. What I realized is that this ice cream tastes best after it has spent a few days in the freezer. The flavors mellow and blend well and the roasted almonds add a lovely flavor and crunch to it. I hope you try this out sometime.


Honey & Roasted Almond No Churn Ice Cream
Adapted from: Chocswirl

500ml single cream
120-150ml honey (or to taste)
50g almonds

Spread the almonds on a baking tray and set it on the top rack of the over and grill till they've browned. Let them cool, then chop them roughly.

Whisk the cream  and the honey till it has thickened a little.

Add the chopped roasted almonds and stir it in.

Pour into a freezer container and freeze for a few hours or till set.

Enjoy!

Notes:
The original recipe calls for it to be beaten every 45 minutes or so about 3-4 times. I did it just once and the consistency was nice and creamy. I'm sure it would've been fine even if I hadn't done this, since there was nothing with a high liquid content added to the cream.



This recipe is linked to -
Ice Cream Social 2011
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweets for a Saturday

For this months edition of The Secret Recipe Club, hosted by the lovely Amanda of Amanda's Cookin, I was assigned Jeanie's blog The Tasty Cheapskate, "Hi Jeanie"!!!. Over the last month, I've had so much fun going through this lovely blog and I've found some very interesting recipes that I can see myself making very soon. One  recipe that caught my attention and kept coming to mind every now and then, almost menacingly, in a nice way though, were Oma van der Wouden's Dutch Almond Bars. I've never seen or had Dutch Almond Bars before, but I'm quite fond of almonds and these bars looked so amazing, I had to try them.


This recipe calls for almond paste and in this part of the world we don't get this stuff off the shelf in stores. I did a little digging online and most sources called for additional sugar, eggs, extracts and so on. I decided to do things a little differently. Since the recipe for these bars seemed to have sufficient sweetness, I simply added some homemade almond paste (details below). The batter came together beautifully and while these bars were baking, I was going nuts with the anticipation (read 'doing a crazy dance all around the kitchen and eagerly peeking through the oven door almost every minute'). The wait and the anticipation was so worth it. These bars are a real treat. They are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. They are not too sweet but have this lovely nutty richness that the butter and the almonds have to offer. They are so wonderfully moreish. Be warned, you won't be able to stop at one. So thank you Jeanie for sharing this lovely treat. This recipe is a definite keeper.

This treat is ideal for the summer. It comes together really quick and you don't even have to switch the stove on. I made this ice cream a few days ago and it was lovely. It was so good, that my husband wants me to whip up another batch of the same flavor. That says a lot. I was really pleased with the way this ice cream turned out and I most definitely am going to make another batch, but this time I will try another flavor. What flavor do you think I should try next? Any suggestions? Leave a comment and let me know. For this mango ice cream I used Nigella's no churn ice cream as a guideline and then simply went by taste. But I made a note of the quantities I used, incase any of you want to try it out. I used large pulpy mangoes that are called "Badami" mangoes in Maharashtra. You can use any pulpy, tasty variety.

This is a salad like accompaniment that is widely served with Indian food. The dressing is a yogurt based one, which makes this salad ideal for warmer climates and hot summer days. Its really healthy, refreshing and tasty, of course. You will find a number of varieties of raita being served at an Indian restaurant. The base to all of these is  identical, the veggies you find in these salads will vary. Today I've made a basic raita with an assortment of salad veggies which you can adjust to your liking.

You can serve this with biryani, jeera rice or any other spicy Indian food. The yogurt helps soothe the palate.


Mixed Raita

1/2 cup curds / natural unflavored yogurt
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
A pinch of black pepper powder
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1/4 yellow pepper, chopped
1/4 red pepper chopped

Mix the veggies in a bowl and season with salt, lime juice and pepper to taste.

Beat the yogurt in a bowl. You can add a little sugar if you'd like to. Add the beaten yogurt to the veggies.

Mix well.

Check for seasoning and adjust, if needed.

You can garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.

Refrigerate till ready to serve.


This recipe is linked to -
Savory Sunday
Mangia Mondays
Mouthwatering Mondays
Meatless Mondays
My Meatless Mondays
Let's Do Brunch
Hearth and Soul
Just Another Meatless Monday
A Little Birdie Told Me
Delectable Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

I have finally started trying out new cupcake and brownie recipes, basically the sweet baked stuff, to add to my repertoire. It started with the strawberry cupcakes and now I've moved on to brownies. The first brownie to catch my attention was this cream cheese swirl brownie, that I saw at one of the linky parties that I participate in. This was a great brownie. It had a little tang from the cream cheese but it wasn't too overwhelming. What worked really well with it was the yummy caramel like taste that the edges of the brownies lent to it. The combination of flavors was great. My brother and husband both thought that these were caramel brownies and if I didn't know better I would've thought so myself.

In a nutshell, try it out. Good stuff, I tell ya.



This is what the inside edges look like -



Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
Adapted from: The Flour Sack
Makes 16

For the Brownie base:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs

For the Cream Cheese Swirl:
8 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk

Preheat your oven to 160ºC.

Butter an 8" square pan

For the brownie base, whisk the flower and baking powder in a small bowl and keep aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler. When the chocolate has melted completely, remove from the heat and whisk in sugar and vanilla.

Cool slightly. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking between each addition.

Continue whisking till the mixture is well incorporated and smooth.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients and mix till just barely incorporated.

For the cream cheese layer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk till well combined.

Pour half the brownies base batter into the pan. Dollop half the cream cheese mixture by the spoonfuls. Repeat by layering the brownie base over it and then dollop the rest of the cream cheese mixture. Use a butter knife and gently swirl the batter to give a marbled effect.

Bake till the edges of the brownies have puffed slightly and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with several fudgy crumbs attached to it. This should take about 55 minutes.

Cool completely. Cut into squares and enjoy!

(Note: I halved the recipe and used a 6" square pan and I got 9 pieces.)


This recipe is linked to -
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweets for a Saturday
These Chicks Cooked