A Mothers Delight

Tags

apple, baking, carrot, cocunut, dessert, egg, flax seeds, Friday Feast, fruit, muffins, recipe, walnuts

When I first saw this recipe at Meeta’s amazing blog I felt that the recipe has too much going around with it, too many flavours that may clash with each other but than I sat and looked hard at the recipe and as she mentions, the recipe is every mother’s delight… it has vegetables, fruits and nuts all rolled into one. I decided to give it a try and was very very pleasently surprised at the results. The flavours blend with each other so well that its hard to imagine that their are so many ingredients that went into it.

I did make some modifications to meeta’s recipe though… the major one being I used whole wheat flour instead of maida and yes I added a tsp of flax seeds powder to it

What I used

• 280g whole wheat flour
• 200g sugar
• 50g walnuts – toasted and coarsely chopped
• 270g carrots – grated
• 1 large apple – grated
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup desicated coconut
• 3 large eggs
• 180 ml vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp flax seed – roasted and grounded to a powder

How I made it

• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Toast the walnuts till slightly brown, I roast them in the oven itself when it is getting heated
• Mix all the dry ingredients together i.e. flour, sugar, baking powder. salt and cinnamon, Add walnuts and coconut to it and mix a little
• In a large bowl whisk the eggs a little, add oil and vanilla essence
• Fold in the grated carrots and apple.
• Add this mixture to the dry mixture, stirring until the dough is moist.Dont overmix it which I think is the key to make good muffins
• Pour in greased and lined muffin moulds and bake for about 20 mins

Cool and bite into them, as I said before they were yummy… the carrots and apples keeping it moist, eggs adding softnes and walnuts and flax seeds adding the crunch… and very nutritous 🙂

Guilt free baking and eating

Tags

baking, dessert, fiber rich, Friday Feast, muffins, NaBloPoMo, oat bran, recipe, sweet tooth, whole wheat

I have found a new die hard fan of my baking… my dear darling son 🙂 every now and then he comes and tell me mumma please oven make something… and he is happy with whatever I make muffins, cake, cookies… So I have been thinking of baking something which feels healthy too and then while browsing I chanced upon this recipe of  Oat Bran Muffins at joyofbaking (BTW which is a site I adore) and what a delightful recipe it is….Healthy to the core… it has whole wheat, oat bran, for sugar it uses honey and brown sugar instead of the processed white sugar… not too much oil… hell I can eat while dieting also 😀 and it tastes super yummy too

Ingredients

• 1 cup (130 grams) whole wheat flour
• 1 cup (150 grams) oat bran
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (outer skin of orange)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) honey
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cup (300 ml) milk
• 1/2 cup (70 grams) raisins

Method

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oat bran, sugar, baking powder(the original recipe also asks for baking soda which I skipped, for some reason I have a great dislike for soda) , salt, ground cinnamon, and orange zest.

• In another bowl whisk together the lightly beaten egg, honey, vanilla essence, oil, and milk.

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir just until moistened. Gently stir in the raisins. (The batter will be quite thin.)

• Pour or ladle the batter to fill the muffin cups, and bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 16 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Go enjoy guiltlessly, the muffin has such a nice & different flavor to it… a little nutty I would say with all the fibre of oat bran and whole wheat

A day for Baking

Tags

banana, bread, choclate chip, Friday Feast, muffins, pasta, recipe, vegetables, veggies, whole wheat

Myself, N and Ojas all of us love Pasta, and this is the simplest and frankly the most delicious pasta recpie… Works well with almost all pastas…  I have tried it with Frafalle, Penne, Fussili, Alphabet Pasta, the shells and it tastes well with everythin… ofcourse the colored alphabets are Ojas’s favorite are colored alphabets 😀

Ingredients

• 1 cup pasta (I use whole wheat/semolina)
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup chopped and blanched veggies (cabbage, capsicum, carrot, baby corn or whatever u like) also if u like ur veggies crisp skip the blanching I blanch more for Ojas
• 1 onion chopped
• handful of fresh oregano, thyme and basil (incase fresh is not there u can use dried variety)
• Red chilli flakes and salt to taste
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp butter

Method

• Boil pasta as per instructions
• Heat olive oil and butter in a pan
• Add the herbs and onions and fry for 3-4 minute, the onions wont really turn brown because of olive oil and butter
• Add the veggies and stir fry for 3-6 minutes depending on whether u blanched ur veggies or not
• Add salt and red chilli flakes
• Fry for another 2-3 minutes
• Transfer to a baking dish, sprinkle the grated cheese
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 5 mins till the cheese is nicely melted
• Serve hot

I usually take out my portion, spice it up with more chilli flakes, Tabasco before baking the rest…

I was in a baking mode today and also made yummy Banana muffins courtesy the Baking Buddies, I modified her recipe a little though…. instead of all maida… I made it 3/4 whole wheat flour and 1/4 maida and increased the eggs to 2… the result was healthier and still yummy muffins…

I also experimented with bread the first time in life… again with Mandy’s recipe… but what a disaster it was…Its edible but doesnt have the bread texture at all… My bread is shouting for help Mandy…. feel there was some problem with the way I handled yeast or the yeast I bought because the dough didnt raise at all even after keeping for 4 hours… we have to use dry yeast only na? Mandy, Smitha help please here…

Carrot Muffins (post no 29)

Tags

apple, baking, carrot, muffins, NaBloPoMo, recipe

I tried making muffins for the first time, I have made cake multiple times but not muffins and I was very happy with the results, everyone at home loved them too 🙂

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (50 grams) walnuts toasted and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups (270 grams) grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)
• 1 large apple, peeled and grated
• 2 cups (280 grams) flour
• 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3.5 grams) salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 3 large egg

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. .
• Toast the walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.
• Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple. Set aside.
• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Stir in the nuts and coconut. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Fold the wet ingredients, along with the grated carrot and apple, into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.