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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Puffed Wheat, Almond and Coconut Granola Bars

Blogging Marathon# 64: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Wholewheat Dishes

Dish: Puffed Wheat, Almond and Coconut Granola Bars

Day 2 of 'Wholewheat dishes' and I'm using it in puffed wheat form today. My husband has been asking me to make granola bars at home for quite some time, so I tried these granola bar recipe from Cooking Light magazine.

Recipe calls for goji berries which I have never used before. I bought some from the bulk section of Whole Foods -- they are quite expensive, but they are supposed have many health benefits. If you can't find them, then use any other fried fruit that you like.

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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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Baked Oatmeal with Coconut Milk

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Coming to today's recipe, keeping with this week's theme of 'Cooking with Coconut', I made this baked oatmeal with coconut milk and blueberries from Vegetarian Times magazine.

This baked oatmeal is so comforting and delicious. It has a crunchy granola like crust with a coconut flavored interior. I absolutely loved how this one turned out. Even my husband who is not an oatmeal fan said he can eat this almost everyday for breakfast :-)

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Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Blogging Marathon# 62: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Chocolate

Dish: Chocolate-Banana Pancakes

Today's dish combines 2 of my kids favorites -- chocolate and pancakes. I've made pancakes with chocolate chips before but never entirely with chocolate. Eating these feels like eating dessert for breakfast which I must admit was thoroughly enjoyed by all (including me).

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Granola with Cinnamon and Nuts

I always stop my husband from buying granola or granola bars and promise him that I will make them at home for him. But never get around doing that and he keeps asking me for them. After procrastinating for as long as I can, I finally made him this Cinnamon-Nut Granola from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain baking cookbook.

This granola is a perfect balance of salt and sweet, crisp and crunch, fruit and nuts. Using butter to make the granola gives it a ton of flavor, especially in combination with cinnamon. But you can easily substitute vegetable oil or coconut oil for the butter. Varying the fruits and nuts in the granola is the fun part, so feel free to use whatever you have in your pantry.

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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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Wholewheat Banana Bread (made with Honey)

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 5

Bake of the Day: Wholewheat Banana Bread

I sometimes feel that overripe bananas are a bane of my existence. They haunt me with their lingering smell and I can't eat or throw them away. The family abandons them the minute they turn slightly blotchy outside even though they are perfect inside. I have learnt to show them only peeled ones so they don't judge it by the package.

Even with all this I end up with 3~4 overripe bananas by the end of the week. I have so many versions of banana breads/ muffins that making another one doesn't excite me that much. But this recipe from Cookie+Kate is made with wholewheat (pastry) flour and is sweetened with honey (or maple syrup) got me off my behind and into the kitchen to bake.

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Avocado Breakfast Sandwich

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Instant Breakfast

Dish: Avocado Sandwich

Day 2 for Instant breakfast and I have another bread based breakfast. Today is a savory sandwich with avocado and other optional toppings.

The idea for this sandwich came from a TV show I watched about an year ago. They had a segment on healthy breakfasts and this avocado sandwich was one of them. I have been making this ever since for myself and enjoy it very much.

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Peanut Butter and Banana Breakfast Sandwich

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Instant Breakfast

Dish: Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich

My theme for this week's blogging marathon is 'Instant Breakfast' and Valli wants it to be a quick dish that can be made in less than 20 minutes. So I have 3 easy to make dishes that are filling and delicious.

Breakfast in my household is usually cereal, oats or quick sandwiches, I don't usually cook anything elaborate except for when we have company. So this instant breakfast recipe theme is definitely up my alley and I'm going to share them here this week.

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Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 4

Bake of the Day: Mini Chocolate Scones

I think scones are one of the easiest baked goods, they can be made without any prior planning with ingredients straight from the fridge. When I see any new scone recipe, I bookmark it right away. This mini chocolate chip scones recipe is from King Arthur flour.

Mini vanilla scones are sold at Starbucks for about a $1, but they are quite easy to make at home for fraction of the cost. Except for using some wholewheat pastry flour I followed the recipe to the T and these mini scones are really very addictive -- flaky and delicious.

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Swedish Rice Pudding for #Food of the World

We are going to Sweden for this month's edition of #Food of the World event. I have tried and posted quite a few Swedish recipes in the past, but I still have a lot bookmarked to try. Swedish Cinnamon rolls aka kanelbullar are on the top of that list. But I posted this sticky pecan bread today, so didn't want to make something similar again.

After searching for vegetarian Swedish recipes, I finalized this simple and easy to make Rice pudding aka Risgrynsgröt. Being a south Indian, rice based dishes are always welcome and this rice pudding is very similar to our very own paramannam except the Swedish version is spiced with cinnamon whereas the Indian version has cardamom.

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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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Harvest Grains Loaf

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 2
Bake of the Day: Harvest Grains Loaf

Here's another family favorite bread that is soft and delicious with a nice blend of grains and seeds. I used King Arthur's Harvest Grain blend which is a mixture of 4 grains and 4 seeds. You can use any combination of grains and seeds. Grains like oat berries, millet, barley flakes and seeds like flax, poppy, sesame, sunflower etc can be used.

I think the next time I make this bread I will use a higher ratio of wholewheat to all purpose flour. Like I said before this is a very soft and tasty bread that is great toasted for even in a sandwich. I made some potato curry & cheese sandwiches and also Nutella sandwiches with this bread. Both tasted great.

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Chocolate Malted Muffins

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 3

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

Dish: Chocolate Malted Muffins

For the 3rd and final day of this week's blogging marathon, I made these delicious Chocolate Malted Muffins. These go to Kalyani's 'Kid Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains' event (an event started by Valli).

I usually substitute some of the all purpose flour with wholewheat flour and wholewheat pastry flour to add some whole grains and fiber to my bakes. I have also used barley flour in a strawberry cake but this recipe uses 1 cup barley flour and is the main ingredient for this muffin.

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Pumpkin Raisin Bagels for #BreadBakers

It's time for this month's #BreadBakers event and the theme is very apt for this time of the year, 'Hearty Fall Breads'. Our host for the month is Wendy who blogs at 'A Day in the life on the farm'. She asked us what reminds us of fall and I immediately thought of Pumpkin and then made these 'Pumpkin-Raisin Bagels'.

Talking of pumpkins, my pumpkin milk shake post from last year got published in 'The Pumpkin Spice' handbook. I was so excited to see the glossy full size picture of the milkshake in an actual book. Publishers were kind enough to send a complementary copy and it is filled with nothing but pumpkin recipes.

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Ful Medames

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 23: Middle East - Ful Medames

For the final day of this week's 'Buffet on Table -- Breakfasts', I have a Middle Eastern staple breakfast called Ful Medames or Foul Medammes. The name sure sounds strange, but it is a hearty and filling dish made with dried fava beans soft simmered with garlic and served with lemon and chopped herbs.

This dish has been on my to-make list for a very long time. I think I saw it for the first time on Vaishali's blog when she made the elaborate Egyptian breakfast last September. I was intrigued by the new bean and wanted to give it a try, it took me almost a year to make the dish.

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Russian Blinis (Buckwheat Pancakes)

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 22: Russian - Blinis

We move to Russia for Buckwheat Blini breakfast. Blini are Russian pancakes made with buckwheat flour leavened with yeast and lightened with beaten egg.

I found a ton of recipes for these pancakes, some with just buckwheat flour, some with a combination of wholewheat and buckwheat flours. I followed this recipe that used both flours, but I replaced the all purpose flour with wholewheat pastry flour.

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Mexican Vegetarian Chilaquiles

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 21: Mexican Chilaquiles

After a simple Cuban breakfast, we move onto Mexico for a traditional dish called Chilaquiles. Lightly fried corn tortillas smothered with red or green salsa forms the basis of this dish.
Chilaquiles are generally served for breakfast or brunch and is usually made with leftover tortillas and salsas. They are also served as the last meal in a long lasting wedding party close to morning in what is known as a tornaboda (or after-wedding party).

I found this 'Chilaquile Manifesto' post and knew right away that the author means business and knows a lot about chilaquiles. So I just followed the recipe without futzing it around. The resulting chilaquiles were soooo good that even my picky eater son loved them and came back for seconds.

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Cuban Breakfast Tostada and Cafe con Leche

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 20: Cuban Breakfast Tostada and Cafe con Leche

We are going to stop in Cuba today for a Cuban Tostada and coffee. It does not any simpler than this one -- toasted sandwich with Cuban style coffee and fruit -- this is a typical breakfast served in Cuba.

Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor.

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