Maple Pecan Scones for #BreadBakers

For this month's Bread Bakers, we are baking with natural sweeteners. I looked high and low for yeast bread recipes using natural sweeteners but couldn't find one that I wanted to try. Finally found the recipe for these Maple-Pecan Scones in Vegetarian Times Magazine.

Our host for the month Mayuri (Mayuri's Jikoni) wanted us to bake using natural sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, blackstrap molasses, dates, coconut sugar etc. These are healthier and tastier alternates to refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners.

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Baked Maple Doughnuts

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Recipes for Kid's Summer Vacation

Dish: Baked Maple Doughnuts

We are starting a brand new month of blogging marathon today and my theme for the first week is 'dishes you would make for kids during their summer vacation'. That's quite a long name for a theme :-) but that is how difficult it is to feed hungry kids when they are at home.

I asked my kids what they would like me to post for this week and they gave me a few options, so for the next 3 days I've 3 dishes that are kid friendly and approved by my kids.

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Easy Granola (with Almonds)

Here's an easy peasy recipe to make Granola. I say easy because it requires a very few pantry ingredients that are mixed together and then baked off until golden. Recipe is from a cookbook that I recently bought, Clean Slate.

This cookbook emphasizes on eating clean, whole and unprocessed foods. Original recipe for this was made with rolled barley flakes and rolled spelt flakes. I went shopping looking for these ingredients but I couldn't find them, so I made the granola with them and with just rolled oats.

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Curry flavored Roasted Mixed Nuts

Roasted nuts are my husband's favorite go-to snack. He is the snacker in the house, grabs a handful every time he walks into the kitchen. I don't like snacking, I'm more of a 'eat a full meal and wait for the next meal' kind of a gal. Even when I snack, it has to be in a proper bowl, I don't do handfuls, I only have bowlfuls :-)

Anyway, my husband has been asking me to make roasted nuts for a long time and I finally made him these curry flavored roasted mixed nuts. Recipe courtesy Ellie Kreiger's Food Network show.

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Vegan Eggnog with Almond Milk

I've heard a lot about Eggnog but never tried it myself. The thought of drinking raw egg didn't really appeal to me. Last year I made this Mango Eggnog and it was quite a hit even with the kids.

This year I was tempted to try a vegan eggnog recipe when I saw this on Food52. It  is made with soaked cashews and full fat coconut milk to make it thick and the spices give the required oomph and deliciousness. I looked for more vegan eggnog recipes and found another recipe from Tasty Yummies, this one is made with cashew milk, soaked raw cashews and coconut milk.

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Toasted Millet & Oats Granola

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 3

Bake of the Day: Toasted Millet & Oats Granola

Today I have a simple and easy to make granola recipe with millet, rolled oats, coconut and pistachios. Recipe is from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart. This recipe has been on my to-make list for a while now and I'm glad I can finally strike it off from the list.

This granola is crunchy with the toasted millet and chewy with the coconut flakes and dried cranberries. I like to eat it over some Greek yogurt for breakfast. Soaking it in almond milk makes it a little soft and easier to eat.

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Blueberry Chia Jam

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Healthy Breakfasts

Dish: Blueberry Chia Jam

Bread and jam is such an universally accepted and appealing breakfast. I guess this is the most easiest and the most convenient to have on a busy morning. Add a nut butter like peanut or cashew or almond butter to that toast and you have yourself a filling and delicious breakfast that keeps you going till lunch time.

For today's 'Kid friendly Healthy Breakfast', I made an easy and nutritious Blueberry Chia jam. I bought chia seeds on a whim from Trader Joe's, but I haven't used it much yet except in smoothies.

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Oats Bread with Maple and Walnuts for #BreadBakers

For this month's #BreadBakers challenge, our host for the month Rocio picked 'breads with oats'. We are free to pick any form of oats -- steel cut, rolled or quick and it can be a sweet or savory bread.

I chose to make Oats bread with maple syrup and walnuts from King Arthur Whole Grains Baking cookbook. Whole wheat and oats are the featured whole grains in this soft, high rising loaf. Original recipe used maple sugar, but since I don't have it, I just used light brown sugar. Maple syrup adds a hint of sweetness and the nuttiness of walnuts is a nice counterpoint. This bread is great as is or toasted with some butter, jam or my kids favorite Nutella.

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Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Fruits in any form

Dish: Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup

For the second day under Kid's Delight -- fruits in any form theme, I made strawberry pancakes and served them with strawberry maple syrup. My kids love pancakes and waffles for breakfast, but I rarely make them. After a lot of nagging from them, I finally treat them with some pancakes.

Last month, we went strawberry picking and seeing all the beautiful strawberries we got too excited and picked way too much than we can really handle. Strawberries are quite fragile and need to be treated very gently. I sorted them out and put them in a single layer on paper towel lined baking sheets in the fridge.

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Maple Glazed Sweet Potatoes (Thanksgiving Recipe)

Here's another super simple, yer super tasty Thanksgiving recipe with Sweet Potatoes. Sweet potatoes are cooked in a blend of maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. As the potatoes cook this sugar & vinegar thicken into a light glaze making the potatoes glisten. 

Using pure maple syrup and good quality apple cider vinegar is crucial for this dish. The only time consuming part in this dish is peeling and dicing the sweet potatoes -- after that the dish is cooked entirely in the oven.

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Pumpkin Tiramisu (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Desserts with Vegetables
Dish: Pumpkin Tiramisu

If you are still thinking of what to make for Thanksgiving dessert, then here is a perfect recipe for you. I made this couple of weeks ago for our (very) early Thanksgiving party. After that party I realized that we don't really have to wait for Thanksgiving to give thanks to people we love and care about, it can be and should be done any time.

I was asked to bring a dessert and I thought something with pumpkin will be appropriate. I found a recipe for Pumpkin Tiramisu on Martha Stewart's site and I planned to make it. Recipe used uncooked pumpkin puree for layering with the lady fingers. I wasn't sure if it would be too pumpkiny, so I scratched that recipe. Then I found vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli's Vegan Pumpkin Tiramisu and after reading through the mostly positive reviews, I made it for the party.

This dessert is a little time consuming to make, but it totally worth the effort. Pumpkin crème layer can be made at least 2 days ahead and kept in the refrigerator until ready to use. Once the cakes are baked and the trifle is made, it needs to be refrigerated for at least 3~4 hours or overnight to set. The original recipe uses whipped coconut cream to make it completely vegan, but I used regular whipping cream since I never whipped coconut milk and didn't want to take try my luck at this party.

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Vegan Pancakes

I am not a big breakfast eater. I pack me a pb&j sandwich or eat my cereal at work. Weekends used to be no different, wake up late, skip breakfast, eat lunch. But with the baby in the house, we are waking up bright and early even on the weekends (actually we are forced out of the bed by the little one). Since I have to make him breakfast, I started making for us too.

This weekend I made these vegan pancakes from Vegan with a vengeance by Isa Chandra. They were really very good, fluffy and cakey. My son definitely loved them.

Recipe adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance.
Ingredients:
All-purpose flour – 1 ¼ cups
Baking soda – 2 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Soy milk/ Rice milk – 1 to 1 ¼ cups
Water – 1/3 cup
Canola oil – 2 tbsp plus oil for the pan
Pure Maple syrup* – 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract – ½ tsp

Method:

• Sift AP flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
• In a smaller bowl (I use a measuring cup), mix all the other ingredients.
• Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Do not overmix or the pancakes will be tough; few lumps are OK.
• Oil a large skillet (I pour about 2tsp oil and quickly wipe the oil on the skillet with a paper towel) and pre-heat on medium-high flame.
• Cook pancakes until browned on the bottom and bubbles form on the top; about 4 minutes. Turn the pancakes over and cook until the bottoms are browned. Repeat with remaining batter.
• Serve with maple syrup* or fruit preserves. This makes about 12-14 medium size pancakes.
• 1 cup of blueberries can be added to make blueberry pancakes.

* Pure maple syrup is quite expensive ($16.99 for a quart from Costco) and pouring it all over the pancakes (or French toasts for that matter) is going to put a big dent in the purse and big bulge in the belly. So to stretch your buck here is a nifty tip: Pour syrup in a shot glass half way through. Using a fork lightly dip a pancake piece (no dunking please) in the syrup and eat syrup side of the pancake first. Check it out and you will be amazed how little syrup you really need.