Heart of Winter Loaf

After enjoying a relatively mild winter weather in January, we are back in the freezer for February. I'm not complaining, not that I enjoy the cold but I'm happy when the weather is seasonal, if it is not then I get worried about global warming.

This 'Heart of Winter' loaf recipe is from King Arthur flour catalog and it caught my attention with its name itself. We are technically in the middle of winter and what perfect time but to make this bread right now.

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Pancakes with Multigrain Flour and buttermilk

Today I have a healthy and nutritious multigrain pancakes. I recently borrowed this 'Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole grain flours' cookbook from the library. I was hoping to find a bread recipe for this month's Breadbakers 'Breads with Ancient grains' theme. Unfortunately most of the recipes in this book had whole wheat flour in them.

But I did find a few recipes that looked very good and these pancakes made with Multigrain flour is one of them. There is a master recipe for multigrain flour mix that can be made in large quantity and kept in the pantry along with your other flours. It can be used in place of or along with other flours in any of your baking recipes.

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Oats Khichdi (Oats-Lentil Porridge)

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains

Dish: Oats Khichdi

We are starting a new week of blogging marathon and my theme for theme this week is 'Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains' being hosted by lovely Kalyani @ the sizzling tastebuds. Kid's Delight event is a brainchild of Valli.

Coming up with kid approved whole grain dishes was not easy as I thought it would be. My kids are a little picky and I have blogged about most of the whole grain dishes that they eat. So coming up with new ones was a good exercise for the brain. I cook/ bake with brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat flour etc., and they eat most of what I serve.

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Oats Butterscotch Cookies

After a few month's break the Home Baker's challenge has regrouped again this month, big thanks to Rafeeda @ The Big Sweet Tooth for taking the initiative and getting the group active again. Our theme for this month is 'Baking with Oats' and she gave some yummy bakes to choose from.
I made these very addictive Oats & Butterscotch cookies. I had the butterscotch chips in the pantry for a while begging to be used and they went straight into these cookies and tasted amazing. Recipe is right from the back of the wrapper which of course I never looked at until I read Rafeeda's recipe :-)

I'm always looking for people to share any goodies I make, so luckily I was meeting some of my blog buddies couple of days ago and these cookies were just perfect to bring along for them. They all loved them and even my chocolate loving son liked them a lot.

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Chia Bircher Muesli

After 3 kid friendly breakfast recipes this week, I have a figure friendly healthy breakfast oatmeal that can be made at night, so you can wake up and have it with no fuss. This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine.

After trying the blueberry chia jam, I made this overnight oatmeal. It is as simple as combining a few ingredients in a bowl and refrigerating overnight. This bircher muesli is a nutritious, quick and delicious breakfast for busy bees who are always on the go.

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Chocolate Granola

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Healthy Breakfasts

Dish: Chocolate Granola

Today's kid friendly breakfast happens to be my favorite too. I couldn't stop myself munching on this delicious and addictive granola. Recipe for this chocolate granola is from Bobby Flay's 'Brunch with Bobby' cooking show. I had the recipe bookmarked for a very very long time and finally made it for the kids.

Original recipe is with chocolate and coconut, but I skipped adding the coconut chips and coconut extract to the granola because I didn't have neither at home. But even without them, granola tasted amazing.

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Tomato Dosa with Oats

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Lentils -- 3 Ways

Dish: Tomato Dosa with Oats

I have an interesting dosa recipe for the final day of this month's blogging marathon. Dosas are an excellent mix of lentils and rice and give a good dose of protein and carbohydrates to the body.

I saw this recipe for dosa with tomato and oats on a Telugu cooking show and immediately noted it down in my book. I made these couple of days ago and they turned out great. Adding oats makes these dosas a little more nutritious.

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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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Baked Chocolate Oatmeal with Bananas

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 16

Bake of the Day: Breakfast -- Baked Oatmeal

Baked oatmeal for breakfast is a great way to start any day -- it's easy to put together, quite healthy and can be made for 1 or for a crowd in almost the same time.

I tasted baked oatmeal with raspberries at a cute little restaurant in Harrisburg last year and it has been on my mind ever since. I actually wanted to try the same recipe with raspberries but I couldn't find any good berries in the store. So ended up making this chocolate version because the kids would prefer this version over the berries.

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Pan Seared Oatmeal with Warm Fruit Compote

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Brunch Recipes

Dish: Pan Seared Oatmeal with Warm Fruit Compote 

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfast foods and I can have it either sweet or savory in the morning. I soak them in milk and ground cinnamon the night before, if I remember, and they are ready for me in the morning. I eat them along with some seasonal fruit and nuts and I'm good to go till lunch.

Since this week is all about brunch recipes, I have a slightly elaborate dish with oats that is perfect for a leisurely brunch or even to serve for company. The good thing about this dish is both the components can be prepared ahead of time and it takes just a few minutes to pan sear the oatmeal triangles and warm the compote.

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Morning Glory Oatmeal

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Morning Glory Oatmeal

For the final day of this year's blogging marathon, I have a very healthy & delicious variation to regular oatmeal. I bookmarked the recipe from Joy the Baker's blog and made it almost a year ago in January of this year. Finally these healthy oats are seeing the light of day today :-)

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No Knead Honey Oat Bread

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 6
Bake of the day: No Knead Honey Oat Bread

I like baking bread and usually use either my stand mixer or breadmaker to knead the bread. But I recently started making no-knead breads. As the name suggests there is no kneading required to make these breads. No-knead bread was how people made bread thousands of years ago -- before they discovered that by pulling, beating, stretching, stirring or otherwise 'kneading' wheat doughs they could speed up the gluten-developing process. A renewed interest in this technique started after a no-knead bread recipe was published in 2006 in The New York Times.

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Lemon Oats (Oats Nimmakaya Pulihora)

Blogging Marathon# 46: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Lemon/ Lime Recipes
Dish: Lemon Oats/ Oats Nimmakaya Pulihora

For the 'Lemon/ Lime recipes' theme, I have a very simple and healthy dish with oats today. My husband is not a big fan of oats or may be I should he doesn't like oats cooked in any way. But I like oats, both in savory & sweet preparations like this breakfast oats or this vegetable oats. I usually make these dishes for myself when my husband is traveling :-)

Today's recipe is a healthier alternate to Lemon rice/ Nimmakaya Pulihora. I can eat these lemon flavored oats any time of the day -- filling breakfast or light lunch/ dinner. My peanut loving 2 year old loved it too.

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Swedish Christmas porridge

This is a hearty and delicious oatmeal porridge that you would love to wake up to on Christmas morning. The oats are soaked overnight making them soft and quick & easy to cook in the morning. Adding grated apple was my favorite in this dish.

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Whole Grain Pancake Mix

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole Grains 
Dish: Breakfast -- Whole Grain Pancake Mix

We are starting 3rd week of blogging marathon# 35 today and my theme for this week is 'Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole Grains'. This edition of Kid's Delight event is being hosted by Sandhya @ My Cooking Journey. She is looking for kid approved dishes that are made with 'Whole Grains'.

When I signed up for this theme I had a lot of ideas of what I want to make for this week. But then I started thinking if any of those dishes will be approved by my super picky 6 year old son. Then I decided to incorporate whole grains into dishes that he loves and I'm glad that he enjoyed the dishes I made for him. 

For the first day, I referred to the 'King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking' cookbook and found this whole grain pancake mix recipe. My son loves pancakes for breakfast on weekends and I make them almost every other weekend. This pancake mix is very convenient to have in the fridge/ freezer and pancakes can be made in no time now.

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Oats Rava Idli (Instant Oats Idli)

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Instant Idlis/ Dosas
Dish: Oats Rava Idli

Today we are starting 2ndvweek of BM# 34 and my theme for this week is 'Instant Idlis/ Dosas'. I'm one those lazy people who always forgets to soak dal and rice for idlis and dosas, but dreams of fluffy idlis and crispy dosas. I wake up one morning craving for a good homemade South Indian style breakfast, but alas somebody forgot make the batter(!!!!!) So most of the time I'm making these instant idlis and dosas to satisfy my cravings.

I mostly make adai (mixed lentil dosas) or pesarattu (moong dal dosas) which require minimum soaking time and no fermentation time. But for the next 3 days, I'm going to post recipes that require no soaking time to up to a maximum of 30minutes soaking time. They are great for mid-week or even mid-day idli/ dosa cravings.

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Oatmeal with Honey & Dates

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: BM# 32 Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Quick Oatmeal with Dates & Honey by Sreevalli

We start our last and final week of BM# 33 for this month and my theme for this week is 'Bookmarked recipes from BM# 32'. This was probably the hardest theme for me this month. I had a very tough time selecting 3 dishes to make from more than 550 dishes.

Finally after a lot of deliberation, I decided on 3 dishes based on the ingredients I had in my pantry. So for the first day I made this quick, simple and healthy Quick Oatmeal with Dates & Honey from Sreevalli's Ammaji's Recipes.

This was one of the recipes that I knew I would make right away because I love oatmeal and keep trying new recipes. The combination of dates and honey sounded very appealing to me and I wondered why I didn't think of it earlier.

Sreevalli made it in the microwave and called it quick oatmeal, but I made it on the stove top which takes a few more minutes than microwave. Either way this is a very quick and healthy breakfast that gets done in less than 10minutes. I generally use soy milk in my oatmeal, but any milk or even water (for a less creamy oatmeal) can be used.

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Wholewheat Oatmeal Bread

Blogging Marathon #25: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Baking with Whole Grains
Dish: Wholewheat Oatmeal Bread
Wholewheat Oatmeal bread has been on my to-make list for a while now. For some reason the combination of wholewheat and oats sounded delicious. So when I saw the theme "Baking with Whole Grains", I knew right away that I have to give this combo a try.

I found this amazing bread recipe on King Arthur Flour site (my go-to site for all things baking). When I saw that the recipe had 117 reviews and most of them with 5 stars, I knew that thiswais going to be a fantastic recipe. I wasn't wrong, this is probably the BEST bread I've ever baked in my short baking career. For all newbie bakers, this should be the first bread to try, so you can build your bread baking confidence.

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Oats Upma with Carrot & Peas

VeganMofo Day 12: Breakfast on a weekday in our household used to be a quick toast with pb&j or cereal. Being home and having my mom around, we have started to have more substantial breakfasts now. 

Today morning I made this quick and healthy Oats Upma (porridge). I was planning on using Steel Cut Oats, but ran short of time, so ended up using Rolled oats for a quicker breakfast. Also I grated a carrot and added it, so it cooks faster. Veggies like potato, peppers, green beans, shredded cabbage etc can also be added.

 

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Vegan Burger made with Refried Beans

Vegan MOFO Day 2: I planned to cook today's vegan lunch in 30 minutes and post it under '30 minute meals', but little did I know that my 3 week old had her own plans. I was hardly in the kitchen for 10 minutes, she started to cry and wanted to be fed and so my 30 minute meal ended up being more than an hour meal. Even though I wasn't able to make the meal under 30, but I'm sure it can done if there are no distractions.

One of my favorite things to do while on maternity leave is to watch tons of TV. Feeding time is the best time to catch up on Law & Order: SVU marathons and loads of cooking shows. One of the cooking shows I've started watching is Bal Arneson's Spice Goddess on Cooking Channel. I'm not too thrilled with her Americanized Indian accent and her over using of spices, but this Veggie Burger did catch my attention when I watched it. She used canned refried beans as the base for the burger and I thought that was a pretty genius idea.

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