Forelle Pear Cake

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How is your Summer coming along? What are your plans for the long week end and July 4th ? July is a special month for my family too. The youngest one the family is born in this month. I can't believe that he is going to be 3 in a few days ! Time sure flies. We already miss his early years ! He sure is a handful ,but sometimes I wish I could freeze the time ,just to enjoy all his cuteness forever.

The other day he was doing something really naughty and his father raised his voice to let him know how mad is he. He turned around and told his father "Acha,turn down the volume". We always ask him to turn down the volume of the TV ,which he never watches, but always keeps switched on for his favorite cartoon as a back ground !

Stories apart, coming to today's recipe.You will agree with me on the fact that these Forelle Pears are an absolute beauty to look at.Also they are very sweet.These are best served as it is, since they are too good as they are. But I had some really ripe Forelle Pears with me and we couldn't finish all of it. So I searched the net for recipes that uses this kind of pears and came across this buttery cake recipe. I went through the reviews and everyone seems to agree on the taste. I tried it and am happy that I did.

The lemon zest and my favorite spice cardamom gives a great flavor to this cake.I loved it when I had a warm slice and the cake was best on the same day I baked.

Ingredients:

Forelle pears/Any small size pears- 5
Orange Juice- 1 Tbsp
Lemon juice- 1 tsp
Granulated Sugar- 2 Tbsp
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

All Purpose Flour- 1 1/4 Cup
Baking Powder- 1 tsp
Cardamom- 1/2 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Unsalted Butter- 6 Tbsp
Sugar- Little less than 1 cup
Eggs- 2
Zest of 2 lemons
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp

Method:

1.Slice the pears lengthwise into thin pieces.This is optional. You could core and slice lengthwise too.
2.Toss these slices with the juices,sugar and vanilla extract.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F and line a 9 inch Spring foam pan with parchment paper.
3.Whisk together the flour,baking powder,salt and cardamom powder.
4.In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and sugar until it is creamy.
5.Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
6.Add the zest and vanilla extract and mix again.
7.Add the dry mixture into the wet one in 2 additions, mixing each time to combine everything. Do not over mix.
8.Spread about half the batter evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan.
9.Spread the 3/4th of the pear slices on top.
10.Spread the remaining batter on top. It might not be enough to cover completely, but once the cake starts baking up, it spreads out well.
11.Place the remaining slices on the top in a layer.You could arrange it in a pattern, which I didn't,but it looks ok :-)
12.Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until the top starts to brown and the skewer inserted comes out clean.
13.Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.
14.Serve warm or cold.

Notes:

1.The original recipe uses cognac instead of orange juice for tossing the pears. I didn't do it since I have kids at home.
2. Also the recipe calls for Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top. This will give a nice caramelization. Unfortunately I didn't have any at home so I did not use any.
3.The cake is best on the same day. Keep any leftovers in the fridge.
4.You could serve this with some Vanilla ice cream.
5.You could use Apples or Peaches instead of Pears in this recipe.

Recipe Adapted from :Here

Summer Salad

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Today there is no real recipe to share. It is just about how I make radish salad and lemonade. It is a refreshing lunch option. Easy to put together and good on your love handles it is great to take a break from heavy food.

The other day on facebook, there was a discussion on “bloggers putting on weight.” I am in the category of people who do. It is probably because of so much cooking. And to top it, when something does not turn out well you still end up eating it and making the dish again. Assuming these repeated dishes are calorie rich you end up consume way more than your body can take.

When things are out of hand I resort to salad for some time. But then creamier dressings are more fun so I don’t know how far it really helps. Finally, when I have abused my stomach enough I resort to a lighter salad and what follows is how I put it together

Salad:
1. Scrub clean a bunch of radishes. Trim the roots and leaves off. Slice the radish into thin rounds and place in a bowl and immediately squeeze half a lime over it. Add salt to taste. Serve it over a medley of spring greens. I prefer to buy the mixed greens to plain lettuce. It packs more flavor into the salad.
2. Radish has a bite to it. It was not my favorite flavor but with lemon it is pretty good and it reminds of red onions. It is not the same but I am saying it has this bite but overall it is a pretty looking salad and I quite like it now.

Lemonade:
1. Squeeze a lime into a jar, grate ¼ inch of ginger in, add a dash of salt, sugar to taste and mix well. Strain to remove shreds of ginger or lime and pour over ice. Make small cubes of watermelon and top the drink. Slice an lemon rind and place on glass.
2. The color is pretty and a great drink. This entire meal is quite good for your stomach. Go easy on the sugar to make it even better. With one like you should be able to make 2 glasses of lemonade. If anybody needs more lemon flavor you can always squeeze the rind used as garnish.

Carrot Kheer/Payasam- Carrot dessert in milk spiced up with Cardamom

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Some flavors blend so well you cannot tell them apart when together. Yet, together they are a flavor to reckon with. In the same way, if I served you the golden sunshine in the bowl below, and asked to describe its taste, you will be torn unable to decide if it is carrot halwa or semiya payasam.

The answer is right here on this page so please read on. You will agree with me on this when you go through the recipe. In the same breath I have to admit that it is better or equally good as carrot halwa or a payasam

I made this a month back and decided to post it only when I had some fresh carrot pictures to post alongside. Obviously, that never happened. The farmer's market doesn't have a good variety of veggies yet, and the carrots that I've planted this season are not ready for harvesting. Then again, when I remembered the bunnies that frequent my vegetable patch, I doubt they will leave any carrots for me to photograph. Everything considered, I decided today was the day to share this pleasantly surprising sweet delicacy with you. At a later time, provided the regular visitors in our yard, the Bunnies, leave some carrots for me to enjoy I shall share some pictures with you.

Speaking of carrots, did you know that most of the baby carrots we get in the US is processed, and "not so baby" carrots? I didn't know this until Sunitha mentioned it once. But there are some varieties that is "baby carrots, " albeit too expensive. The stats shows how consumption of carrots have grown exponentially post marketing baby carrots. And surely consumption shall soar once everyone knows how to make kheer or carrot halwa :-) You will agree 100 % after you have tasted some kheer yourself!

Ingredients:

Ghee- 2 Tbsp
Carrot grated- 2 cups
Milk- 2+1 cup
Sugar- 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Almond slivers- 2 Tbsp


Method:

1.Heat 2 Tsp ghee in a deep and thick bottom pan.Throw in the grated carrots and fry till it is cooked through.
2. Pour in 2 cups of milk and allow to boil.
3.Lower the heat and let the carrot get cooked well.Stir in between. It takes almost 10-12 minutes.
4.By this time almost all the water content will be dried, do not add more milk at this point.
5.Add sugar and start stirring continuously, on low heat.Continue this till all the water gets evaporated and the mixture gets thickened.While stirring if you are able to see the path of the spoon/spatula without the mixture running over there immediately, it is done. This takes ~10- 12 minutes on medium low heat.
6.Slowly add the remaining milk into it. The point is that the boiling shouldn't get stopped while you pour the cold milk.This can be done on high heat and stirring continuously, while you add around 1/3 cup of milk at a time.
7.Once you added the milk, it should be boiled well.Pour more milk to get the desired consistency.Add the cardamom powder. Switch off the heat.
8.Garnish with slivered almonds. Serve warm or cold.

Notes:

1. You could reduce the sugar and add some condensed milk instead.
2.Also you could add some evaporated milk along with the normal milk after you boil with the sugar.

Water Melon Agua Fresca

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I got this huge watermelon home the other day. We cut it open, gushed over how bright and red it looked, took the first bite and gushed again, but this time about how sweet it is. Then reality about most of it may go waste hit us. It would be a shame to waste such goodness, I knew! I looked online for recipes with watermelon. Wow! From a couple of ideas in my head to what variety I was received with. Drunk watermelon (infusing watermelon with liquor) to salsa , the works!

Another instance which made me realize how I was hooked to the net: Last night we had a power outage, and it was only reset this noon. This morning without internet I realized how a fish might feel out of water. I have to agree without the internet connection I am clueless as to occupy myself for the most part. I read some of ‘water for elephants’ it’s a good book and kept me engaged but as soon as the power came on I set about getting the internet ready and had to google a thousand things. I was behaving like a wife meeting her husband back from the war.

Okay exaggerations aside, don’t we all love the net? You will love this watermelon agua fresco as much too. It’s a popular Mexican drink and inspired by recipe from bon apetit I added some ginger too. Delicious!

Ingredients:
Watermelon – 1/8th
Sugar/Honey – to taste
Ginger – ¼ tspn grated
Lime 1/2

Method:
Blend the water melon, 1/4 cup water, ginger and lime and sieve. Serve it over ice and garnish with lime and mint.

  Agua fresca in Spanish means fresh water. This drink was popularized in Mexico.  The drink should be light and hence strained to give that watery feel when you drink it yet infused with the flavor of watermelon. 

  For  me, just the addition of lime and ginger gave this drink a great feel and I would drink it even if it is not strained and enjoy it too.  

Berry-Banana-Oats Breakfast Smoothie & 301 posts !

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This is our 301^st post, and I can’t believe it myself! Neither Sunitha or I realized we had covered 300 posts with the last one. We feel a great sense of achievement, and are thankful to all our readers for your love and support through the last one and a half years. One exciting day after the other is making me quite delighted as I write this post. I mean exciting Father’s day yesterday.

How was it for you? I spoke to my Dad, who was clueless about Father’s day, but I spoke to him and enjoyed our visit. It was definitely more exciting for my daughter. She has been planning the day for weeks and wanted to do something special for her dad. It all worked out well through the course of the day. We went hiking in the foot hills of Rocky Mountain which is a great pass time of this family. On the walk, my daughter got to do something different for her dad from the usual self painted Father’s day card she has been giving him for years. She carefully picked up wild flowers through her walk and gave it to her Dad. She was very pleased and so was he. These moments of simple pride and happiness are so priceless.

Not so much fun for my lil imp because he got excited and grabbed the bouquet from his Dad spoiling the bouquet and upsetting his sister. But on our walk back, the whole family picked flowers and brought home a fantastic wildflower bouquet. It’s sitting pretty on the windowsill. I wish I could take a close up picture to show you but it's a dreary day and hardly any light.

Coming to the recipe of the day - everyone hereabouts must be enjoying the berry bounty of summer. We are no exception. The farmer's market is brimming with greens not so much berries, but I got some from Costco. I think it is fitting to have some berry shake or preserve in summer. I stock a lot of fruits/berries in this season and right now if you open my refrigerator you will see Blueberries and Strawberries aplenty. The days are getting hotter and when you wake up to a warm sultry morning you cannot resist a cool breakfast smoothie. Anyways, some people here don’t like a lot of berries so a refreshing smoothie is always good. It gets the berries from spoiling and at least some respite from the heat.

I have plans of baking these berries and making preserves too. In fact, I already made a small batch of Strawberry jam. This year as I experriment with various flavors and combinations I hope you will be tuned into this space.

After my long winded post, here is a simple yet rich breakfast smoothie. The measurements are only a guideline, add or subtract as you go along but make delicious smoothies. Some things to keep in mind are the ingredients - obviously, it not only affects the flavor but also the color. When you need a softer, brighter color step up on strawberries. It always renders an exciting color :-)

Ingredients:

Blueberries- 1 cup
Strawberries- 10-12
Banana- 1 really ripe Banana
Cooked Oats- 1/2 cup
Honey- To taste
Milk/Yogurt/Soy milk- 1 cup
Ice cubes- a few

Method:

1.Cook the oats in water/milk and cool.
2.Mix everything well using a blender and serve immediately.

Notes:

1.If you want it super thick, leave the ice cubes and blend.
2.You could use any nut milk(for eg: almond milk) instead of milk, which will be great,since that makes this smoothie protein rich.
3,.This serves 2.

Brined and Baked Chicken

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Have you been told your baked chicken is dry and tasteless inside? If you have then brining is your answer. I bake chicken and fish after marinating for hours and get good results. No doubt! But after brining and baking chicken, I am amazed how juicy even simple chicken bake can be. It’s a wonderful process for poultry and shrim. Works great when grilling them too.

Every time we eat a store bought rotisserie or baked chicken my husband and I would be amazed how the inside is juicy and tasty without any visible masala or obvious marinade flavors. Trying to find out how the hotels get prawns and chicken to taste good inside and outside was always a challenge until recently I tried brining chicken and am totally in love with the outcome.

I am totally sold on brining poultry and shrimp before cooking now. Read about it here and here. Especially since we all sort to refrigerated / frozen chicken the taste is never like in a restaurant. But after trying this method I am sure you will think differently.

I recommend reading the highlighted sites in the previous paragraph to know more about the proces and different combinations. The chemistry of how things work is explained well in these sites. Basically, through osmosis salt and water travels through muscles of the poultry or fish and lodges within making the cooked meat soft and juicy. For a gallon of water the recommended salt is ½ cup but depending on the amount of time you have you can decrease the amount of salt but follow the measurement of 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon water. Sugar is added and caramalization while grilling gives a better color. I avoid sugar but it you like , go for it.

The recommended measurement for brining as per the blogs mentioned above are given below.

½ cup kosher salt

½ cup sugar

1 gallon water


What I did and it worked for me is as follows:

For Brining

Chicken – 3 breasts bone in

Water – 8 cups

Kosher Salt – ½ C

Dry Red Chillies – 8

Bay Leaf – 1

Garlic cloves with skin – 4

Metho:

1. In 1 cup of water, boil the red chilies, bay leaf and garlic cloves. While hot, add the salt and mix. Cool and add to the remaining water. You may add ice cubes and cool it down quickly. It is very important to cool the brine before you immerse the chicken.

2. If you have read the sites I have mentioned, it clearly states that warm water stimulates growth of bacteria so make sure you add the chicken only to cool water.

3. Add chicken to the spiced brine and refrigerate for 4 hours

5. Take them out of the water pat dry with tissue paper and rub it with any rub used for grilling or even the masala of your choice.

6. Drizzle oil over it and in a oiled baking pan place them with bone down and bake at 350 D F for 40 – 50 minutes. If you have a thermometer then the internal temperature of chicken should be 170 D

7. I add diced potato, carrots, and celery while baking and squeeze a wedge of lime over.

8. You will have some juices in the pan after the chicken is cooked.

9. To brown the chicken - after it cooks for 40 – 45 minutes change the oven setting to broil and broil on high flipping sides until you have the desired results. Do not overdo cooking time, as it may result in a dry chicken. Even though with brining there is some room for error since the brined chicken is flush with water.

Rubs I use:

Weber's Kickin chicken
Cajun spices

For sides:

You can bake vegetables and yesterday I made some roasted beets.

1. Wash, peel and dice the beets. Make sure the beet is dry of water before you start roasting.
2. Add salt, pepper, thyme and drizzle some olive oil and bake in a pan for 45 minutes or a fork goes through easily. It will cook with the chicken, this way you can stay hand free while everythign just cooks in the oven.

Great to cook over weekends while you can enjoy a movie with you loved ones on the couch.. bliss!

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cooikies

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Do your children like oreo cookies? Or are chocolate chip cookies their favorites? If you answered yes, to any of the above questions, what about both cookies in one? Yes? Yeah! I thought you would like it. Double bonanza, isn’t it?! Or at least that’s what I thought.

It was a brave decision to try this recipe considering - my daughter, though a chocolate fanatic, do not like Oreo cookies. But she loves chocolate chip cookies! I thought it will be fun to try this recipe even if it was only to see my daughter’s expression. Another of her mother’s conniving to get her to eat what she hates.

It is the way things work around this house. My children are extreme opposites in their likes of flavors. Sometimes it is good and otherwise a big challenge for me. Like, when I buy a packet of yogurt tubes with equal parts strawberry and blueberry flavor, the lil one picks the strawberry and my daughter blueberry - this is cool – we make for one big happy family! On the other hand, if it is a fruit where they are choosing one for the other then the mother steps in. I blend the two to make smoothies or crumb bars, where the taste is camouflaged enough, that both of them will feast on it happily.

Things did not go as well in the case of the cookies. My daughter treated the cookies like she would a fruit, where the outer flesh is consumed and seed discarded. She ate the chocolate chip cookie outside and left behind the oreo cookie! Huh! I know, kids!

But, what is great though is my son loves oreo cookies - he carefully went around and ate all the oreo cookies his sister had discarded.  My precious little boy!  You would agree then at the end the cookies are a success.  Because the majority at home liked it.  And what my daughter was ready to throw was not wasted by my son.  After all, "all’s well that ends well!”

I am sure every mother is challenged daily by their kids. But like they say "necessity is the mother of invention." Mothers out there keep on you thinking caps – and let’s keep inventing. I had great fun making these cookies.


Ingredients:

Butter- 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Light brown sugar- 1/3 cup,packed
Granulated white sugar- 1/3 cup
Egg- 1
Pure vanilla extract-1 1/2 tsp
All Purpose flour- 1 3/4 cup
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp
Chocolate chips- 5oz.
Oreo Cookies- 12


Method:

1.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.In a mixing bowl,beat the butter and sugars until well combined.
3.Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.
4.In another mixing bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
5.Gradually add this dry mixture into the wet mixture ,along with chocolate chips, until combined.
6.Take a scoop of the dough and place on top of the oreo cookie.Take another scoop and place on the bottom of the oreo cookie.
7.Press lightly between your palms and seal the edges together by pressing and cupping the cookie on your palm.The oreo cookie should be completely inside the dough with all the edges sealed.(Look in Picky palate for a beautiful picture demonstration)
8.Place the cookies on the prepared baking pan,an inch apart.
9.Cool in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes if you don't want the cookie to get spread a lot.But this step is quite optional.
10.Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the sides start turning brown.
11.Cool in the baking pan for at least 5 minutes, since the cookies will be really soft when you take out them from the oven.
12.Transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely before you store them in an air tight container.

Makes: 12 cookies
Adapted from : Picky Palate
Contributor: Namitha

Prawns and Mango in coconut gravy (Chemmenum Maangayum)

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After the sweltering heat over the first half of this week, we are enjoying some cool weather in Chicago land. Today it’s cloudy, and murky outside, but a great weather to have prawns in coconut gravy with piping hot rice. Yum! My heart warms over just talking about it. I made some of this curry yesterday, and you can find the recipe below.

My sister-in-law had her first baby, and we are enjoying this new born in the family. Also, a very dear friend had her baby recently which makes double the fun. I am enjoying listening to the gushing new mothers gush and thrill at the wonderment of new life. Joyful!

I am also getting ready for another move in the near future. Soon, packing and other travel nuisances shall take over my life. Until then I continue to enjoy all your news on facebook and pretty photographs as usual. I hope you will enjoy this curry I have for you today. Have a pleasant weekend my blogger friends.

Ingredients:

Prawns – 1 lb

Coconut – 1 cup

Raw Mango – 1 big

Green chili – 4

Chili Powder – 2 tspn

Coriander Powder – 2 tspn

Turmeric – ½ tspn

Shallots – 2

Garlic cloves – 4



Ingredients for Tempering:

Oil (Preferably coconut oil) – 2 tspn

Mustard Seeds – ½ tspn

Curry Leaves – 1 spring

Shallots – 1-2





Method:

1. Cut mango into big pieces and cook in 1 cup of water with the green chilis till half done

2. Add the prawns and cook for about 7 to 8 minutes depending on the size of each prawn.

3. Grind coconut, shallots, garlic cloves, chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric to a paste and pour over the cooked prawns and mango add water to your desired consistency and let the curry heat through

4. Once done, take off the heat and temper.

5. For tempering – heat oil in a pan let the mustard splutter, add shallots followed by curry leaves and pour over the curry

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen at Magpies Recipes

Whole Wheat Flax meal Chocolate chip Walnut Cookies

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Hello everyone! How are you all? I know it's been a while since I wrote a post on this page. I have been really busy with the children home on holiday, and some other personal matters which called for time away from blogging. I am back now and hope to catch up with you all soon.

The mercury is soaring up! It feels like we went right into the middle of summer skipping spring entirely. Some of you might have read about the big wild fire in Arizona. As a result of the fire we have a smoke cloud here in Colorado! I cannot imagine how bad it must be for people in Arizona, and hope and pray it will be contained soon.

Coming to today’s recipe, it has been lying in the drafts for a couple of weeks now. I got the book ‘Good to the Grains,’ by Kim Boyce from our library, and as soon as I saw these cookies I knew I had to try them. Coincidently, I saw a post in Swapna's blog on the same and decided to give the recipe a twist with the combination of flours and oatmeal. Good to the Grains is a wonderful book with so many whole grain recipes and ideas. I have already bookmarked some other recipes from the book, including the Olive oil cake. I bet you will love this cookie too.

I made some black currant walnut cookies too using the same recipe, versatile recipe indeed!

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour- 3/4 cup
Flax meal- 1/4 cup
Rolled oats- 1/2 cup
Baking powder- 3/4 tsp
Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Vegetable oil/Oil of your preference- 1/4 cup
Dark Brown sugar- 1/3 cup
Granulated white sugar- 1/3 cup
Egg- 1
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp
Chocolate chips- 1/2 cup
Chopped walnuts/Any dried fruits or nuts- 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it ready.
2. In a large bowl mix the flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl mix well the oil, sugars, egg and vanilla extract.
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using a spatula together with chocochips and the chopped nuts.
5. Place small scoops of the dough in the prepared baking pan, one inch apart.
6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the sides start turning brown.
7. Cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before you transfer them onto a wire rack and cool them completely. When you take out from the oven the cookies will be soft, but they will become firm once they cool down.

Notes:

1. The flax meal and oats can be replaced by whole wheat flour. I replaced the whole wheat with this combo following Swapna's example.
2. The original recipe calls for butter, but I replaced it that with oil.
3. I have tried this with black currants too. You could mix and match with any dried fruits and nuts of your choice.

Adapted from : Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce
And Eat Good 4 life

Breakfast Eggs!

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Weekends I wake up late. This is one reason I need an easy recipe which will work up quickly to make brunch. And then of course it should be tasty and filling enough to tide me over till supper. That is why an omelette is great and this recipe is a close relative of an omelette.

Well, you don't beat the eggs here so maybe not an omelette then what is it?  It's a sunny side up on a bed of veggies.  Fantatic!  I make sunny side up and drop it over a bowl of noodles like you see in American chopsuey.  But when I came across Sneh's blog I loved how she made this fantastic egg and I encourage you to check her blog to see the different names for similar dishes like this.  Loved the pictures and recipes on her blog but here is how I made it. 

Ingredients:
1. Eggs – 2
2. Bell Pepper – ½
3. Mushrooms – 6 - 8
4. Onions - ½
5. Carrots - 1
6. Black pepper - to taste
7. Olive Oil - 1 tbspn
8. Garlic – 2 cloves
9. Oregano – sprinkle

Method:
1. Sauté onions - followed by garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper and season it with black pepper and oregano.
2. Reduce heat to low, and break two eggs over the vegetables, cover and cook until eggs are done like you would sunny-side-up

Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea!

Contributor: Sunitha