Mango Ricotta Parfait

 Sometimes thinking of making breakfast can be really tiring. This parfait is perfect for such days or even a midday or after school snack. You can adjust the portion size of the cup depending on what tume you are planning to have this. You can add mango pieces along with the fruits and choose not to use ricotta if you are not a big fan of cheese. 

INGREDIENTS:

Makes 2

1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt

1/2 Cup Mango Puree

2 Tblsp Ricotta Cheese

1 Tsp Honey

1/2 Tsp Honey

1 Tblsp Chopped Pistachios 

1/2 Cup Granola

1/2 Cup Berries

METHOD:

  In a bowl mix together the greek yogurt, ricotta cheese and mango puree along with honey and rose water.

Take two tall glasses and pour a layer of this yogurt mix, add a layer of berries and then granola. Repeat this process one more time and garnish with the chopped nuts.

Spinach Artichoke Soufflé

 Soufflé is an egg dish from 18th century France. These are made with eggs and well beaten egg whites along with other ingredients like vegetables or meat.Made savory for breakfast/brunch or sweet as a dessert.

 This particular recipe is made inspired by Panera Bread's breakfast soufflé. I have tried to make it as a healthy version by incorporating wheat flour rue instead of heavy cream and light parmeasan where asiago cheese can be used.To cut down more carbs you can use multigrain bread crumbs to line the dish instead of puff pastry.

INGREDIENTS :

1 Cup Chopped Frozen Spinach

Canned Artichoke Hearts 6 ounces

2 Egg Yolks 

4 Egg Whites 

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Pepper Powder

1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan 

1/8 Cup  White Wheat/All Purpose Flour

1 Tblsp Butter 

1 Tblsp Olive Oil/Any Oil

3/4 Cup Skim Milk 

1 Sheet Puff Pastry Thawed

4-4" Pie Trays/1-9" PieTray

METHOD :

Pre-heat Oven to 375 degrees.

Clean and butter the pie plates and layer them with the thawed puff pastry. If using 4 small pie trays, cut the single sheet into 4 squares and use them on individual trays.

Drain and chop the artichoke hearts.

Squeeze any extra moisture out of the artichoke and spinach. Mix in cheese, salt, and pepper to this and keep aside.

Start heating the milk. Meanwhile in a pan melt together butter and oil, and once melted add the flour. Whisk together until completely mixed, then pour the hot milk little by little until a thick paste is formed.

Remove from stove and whisk in the egg yolks one by one and then mix along with the spinach artichoke cheese mixture and keep aside.

Now take the egg whites in a clean dry bowl and whisk with a hand mixer until foamy. Then add a pinch of salt and increase the speed a little by little, beating well until stiff peaks are formed.

Add a third of the egg whites to the already prepared cheese mixture and fold it with a spatula. Then add the rest and fold into the mixture, but be careful not to mix thoroughly- it's okay if there are still some white streaks.
Pour this into already prepared pie plates and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 mins for small individual trays or 30 to 35 mins for big single tray.

The time varies with ovens, so check five mins before the final time. If it's done, you will see the soufflé lightly browned and well risen on the top, and an inserted toothpick should come out clean.

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

The change of environment into vibrant colors and the decline of temperatures with a crisp cold breeze always pairs well with the warmth from your oven and the aroma of spices filling your whole house. Even though summer always seems to leave before you can catch those last bright rays, those which fade into the cold, gray clouds all too soon, autumn also brings with it many wonderful things- enter pumpkins! 

Now don't just let these orange beauties go to waste; bring some in home for these spiced up scones, crispy and flaky with a bite into the sweet glaze, balanced by the tartness of the cranberries. Enjoy your mid mornings with these scones and your favorite tea or coffee.

INGREDIENTS:

Scones:

11/3 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Cold Butter

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries/Craisins

1 Egg

1 Tblsp Yogurt

1 Tblsp Cold Water

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

A Pinch Clove Powder

A Pinch Grated Nutmeg

1/6 Tsp Ginger Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)

Glaze:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/4 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 Tblsp Melted Butter

1 Tblsp Milk

METHOD:

SCONES:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then grease it and dust with flour.

 In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. To this add the butter cut into small cubes and mix with a fork or pastry cutter to resemble a coarse meal.

In the other bowl, beat the egg with pumpkin puree, yogurt, cold water, and vanilla essence.

Pour this mix to the dry ingredients and mix untill well incorporated.

Finally add the cranberries and mix well. Do not knead the flour mix. Transfer to a floured surface and spread into a 8" disc.

Place this onto the prepared sheet and cut into 8 or 12 (preferable) wedges and bake for about 14 mins or until the surface turns slight brown.

Cool down for five mins before applying glaze.

GLAZE: Mix together cinnamon and powdered sugar, then add the melted butter and milk to form glaze. 

If you prefer more glaze you can double the quantity. Or serve half the pieces with glaze and leave the rest plain. It tastes equally good.

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros is a mexican breakfast dish served with eggs which translates to "rancher's eggs". Its actually  a mid morning meal in the farms.

You can make and serve them with mexican rice, beans and eggs along with salsa and avocadoes.

  Its really good and filling. It can be had for brunch or occasional dinner too. Hope you guys would enjoy this as much as we did.

INGREDIENTS :

4 Flour Tortillas

4 Eggs

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese 

1 Tsp Hot Sauce

1 Tsp Black Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

For Bean

1 15ounce Can Black Bean or

11/2 Cups Cooked Black Bean

1/4 Cup Chicken Stock or 

1 Chicken Buillion Cube

For Salsa

1 Small Onion 

2  Big Tomatoes

1 Jalapeno Pepper or 2 Green Chillies

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1 Tblsp Lemon Juice

METHOD:

Prepare Bean:

Heat a cooking pan and add the rinsed and drained black bean with the chicken stock, check for salt and pepper and cook on medium low flame, break the beans a little and cook until the stock is absorbed. If using chicken buillion cube, add 1/4 cup water along with this and cook them.

Prepare Salsa:

Chop onion, tomatoes and jalapeno into small pieces. Add chopped coriander leaves to this. Mix in lemon juice and salt.

Fry Eggs:

  In a pan fry the eggs sunny-side up (bulls-eye) and season with salt and black pepper.

In a pan, heat the tortillas on both sides.

  Now arrange each tortilla on to plates. Divide the black bean equally onto the four tortillas. Spoon on salsa over the bean. Place an egg on top of this, drizzle some hot sauce and cheddar cheese on top and sprinkle chopped coriander. Now  heuvos rancheros is ready to be served.

Avocado Almond Chutney

Some avocadoes were sitting in the refrigerator for quite some time. The week went by so fast that there wasn't enough time to even think of making use of it. However, I managed to find a recipe for it when I decided to forgo the routine chutney for dosa and try something new.

Brainstorming lead to this idea and so I gave it a try! But believe me, my kids loved it and insisted eating with both their dosa and chappathi (the next day's dinner). I used almonds, which can also be substituted with grated coconut. The color might not seem too appealing, but the taste is what matters, and in that department, this chutney did not dissappoint!

INGREDIENTS :

1Avocado

1/2 Cup Almond soaked and de skinned

1 Small Onion 

4 Green Chillies

2 Cloves Garlic

1/2 Tsp Tamarind Paste

Salt to taste

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

4 Tsp Oil

METHOD :

 Cut the avocado, remove the seed and scoop out the pulp. Mash it thoroughly with a fork and keep aside.

 Heat a pan over medium heat and pour two teaspoons oil to it. Once hot, add the chopped onion and green chillies and fry until light brown. Add the garlic cloves and coriander leaves along with a pinch of salt and the tamarind paste. Fry this mixture for about two minutes.

Cool this mixture and grind in a coffee grinder or a small mixer. Half way through the grinding add the soaked almonds and grind it to a coarse paste.

 Add this to the mashed avocado and mix well. Add more salt and adjust taste as required.

Heat the other 2 teaspoons of oil, add mustard, curry leaves and the dried red chillies and season the chutney.

Breakfast Messy Eggs

Breakfast is always a challenge, whether it be on a busy weekday or a lazy weekend. You might want to eat something good and filling but you'll want it to be easy to prepare also. I used to make a similar omelette and wanted to share it in the blog, but then I came across this recipe which is much easier to make and so I'm sharing this one first. I made a few changes to the original recipe I read. 

 You can clean and chop the vegatables, then freeze them ahead for a much quicker job on a weekday. Everyone loved this dish.

INGREDIENTS:

Serving Size : 4

Eggs        - 8

Spring Onion - 3 Nos

Celery      - 1 Big

Bell Pepper - 1/2 Small

Jalapeños - 1 No

Plum Tomatoes - 10 Nos

Olive Oil    - 2 Tblsp 

Salt           - 1/2 Tsp

Pepper Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Parmesan Cheese - 4 Tblsp (Grated)

Mayonnaise           - 2 Tblsp 

Tomato Ketchup    - 2 Tblsp 

METHOD :

 Clean and chop the vegetables into small chunks. Remove the seeds from the jalapeño, if you can't stand so much heat in your dish.

Break the eggs into a small bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder and beat well.

Heat a nine inch round and atleast three inch deep pan over medium heat. Add a tablespoon and a half of olive oil and saute the chopped bell peppers. Then add the spring onions, jalapeño and celery along with a pinch or two of salt for about two minutes. The veggies should be cooked but still crisp.

Now add the cheese, then mayo and ketchup and mix well. Transfer this to a plate.

In the same pan, add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil then reduce heat to medium low and pour the beaten eggs. 

Cook and stir gently until the eggs are soft. Now add the vegetables back to the pan with the egg and scramble and cook until the eggs are firm.

Breakfast messy eggs is ready to be served.

Have it for breakfast with a toast and a cup of juice or just the dish itself with a hot cup of tea or coffee and a smoothie for kids.

Spinach Olive Frittata

Frittata is an Italian Egg Omlette made out of eggs with different combinations of vegatables and or meat. Sometimes it is even made out of pastas. Its an easy way to sneak the vegetables for your picky kids. Frittatas are slow cooked over the stove and can be broiled or baked. They are an easy breakfast or brunch for a weekend morning, complete and fulfilling. 

You can use fat free version of dairy to keep your calories down too.

INGREDIENTS:

Large Eggs             - 8

Chopped Spinach   - 2 Cups

Onion Red/White     - 1

Black Olives             - 20 no

Jalapeños Chopped - 1 Tblsp 

Sun Dried Tomatoes - 1 Tblsp 

Mozzarella Cheese    - 1/2 Cup

Parmesan Cheese     - 1/4 Cup

Milk Regular/Fat free  - 4 Tblsp 

Olive Oil                      - 2 Tblsp 

Pepper Powder           - To taste

Salt                              - To Taste

METHOD :

              Pre heat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

Chop all the vegetables and keep them ready.

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, whisk together with milk, parmesan and the sundried tomatoes, add enough salt and pepper and keep aside.

Heat an iron  skillet or oven proof pan over the stove at medium heat. Add olive oil and fry the onions. When they turn translucent add the spinach and fry for 2 mins until it starts wilting. Then add the chopped jalapeños and olives. Fry for a min. Reduce the flame,spread the vegetables over the pan and pour the beaten egg mixture. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over this. Cook over the stove until the egg settles down a little bit and then transfer the pan to the oven.

Bake for about 15 to 18 mins until the frittata is puffy and golden or toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for five minutes in the counter. Slice and serve. 

Tomato Parmesan Basil Scones

Its a snowy morning. There's something in the oven keeping the house warm and the smell of baked goods makes the soul happy. Scones are the best way to brighten up your day. These scones are light and flaky yet warm and filling.

INGREDIENTS :

All Purpose Flour   - 2 Cups

Baking Powder      - 3/4 Tablsp

Salt                        - 1/2 Tsp

Sugar                     - 1 Tblsp

Black Pepper          - 1 Tblsp (coarse)

Dried Basil               - 2 Tsp

Butter                      - 1/3 Cup

Parmesan Cheese   - 1/2 Cup (grated)

Sundried Tomatoes  - 1/2 Cup

Milk                          -1/2 Cup

Egg                           - 1

METHOD :

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

    In a small bowl slightly beat egg, add milk to this, mix well and keep aside.

In a medium mixing bowl take the 2 cups of flour along with all the other dry ingredients - the salt, sugar, baking powder, dried basil and grated parmesan and stir well. 

 To this add the cold butter pieces and mix to resemble a coarse corn meal. Stir in the tomatoes to this mix. 

 Finally add the egg and milk mix to this until the flour mix is moist.

Gently knead the flour and spread it  in to a 7" round disc on a prepared cookie sheet ( line with foil and slightly brush with olive oil) and cut them into equal sized wedges.

Bake them in the oven for about 15 mins. This time varies depending on the oven, can take upto 20 minutes. 

 Brush them with butter or olive oil once you take them out of the oven.

 These scones are so light and flaky. Enjoy them with your coffee. Have it for breakfast or mid morning tea.

Basil Tomato Quiche

      Quiche is a simple yet rich egg dish baked over a puff pastry or pie pastry. If you are making it for breakfast, its preferred to make with puff pastry and if you are making it for brunch, go for pie pastry because the pastry itself is pretty filling. The filling can be anything you would like to have with eggs. The more vegetables you add, the healthier it is. Today, I preferred to make it with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella to bring in those Italian flavors. Try it out, its pretty easy and simple even for beginner cooks. My family enjoys this a lot and hope yours would do too.

INGREDIENTS :

Puff Pastry Sheet - 1
Eggs                     - 6
Heavy Cream       - 2 tblsp
Mozzarella Cheese - 1/4 cup (grated)
Parmesan Cheese    - 1/4 cup (grated)
Plum Tomatoes       - 1 cup (halved)
Basil Leaves           - 10 (chiffonade)
Pepper Powder       - 1/2 tsp
Salt                         - 1/4 tsp 

METHOD :
Thaw the puff pastry sheet. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" pie dish.
In a bowl break the eggs and whisk them well along with the heavy cream, salt and pepper. Check for salt and add more if needed.
Layer the pastry sheet in the pie dish. Arranged the halved plum tomatoes as a layer above the pastry.Then above that sprinkle the basil leaves. On top of that, add both the cheeses. Above this add the whisked egg mixture.
Bake in the oven for about 35 to 45 mins. The time varies with the oven. So you might want to set the timer for 35mins at first, check and set more time if needed. The egg should settle well and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. If you like firmer eggs, then let it bake for few more minutes.