Soft 100% WHOLE WHEAT Bread

                 For busy mommies bread is always a saver and if they are whole wheat then double blessing as its healthy and wholesome

.  .

           

       I wanted a fluffy and soft bread with minimum handy ingredients.And I found one recipe online . But that used a little too much of yeast for our liking. But the bread was really soft and tasty. Home made breads always tastes much much better than store bought ones even though it's texture won't be that same. So I searched again to find a way to reduce the yeast but still keep the bread soft. Finally my search ended up in a different bread baking method  known as Water Roux our Thanzong method. Here we make a cooked paste of flour and add it to the dough to make it softer. If need more simplification its as simple as the 'Kappi Kachal '  we keralites do for their for Palappam. The texture of this bread reminded of the unsliced breads we used to buy from bakeries in Kerala which we used to call Rotis. Especially it reminds me of my grandmother who loved these Rotis and used to have them with tea.
   
                     To my blessings I could find an online blog also which will help you to change of your bread recipes to water roux method. Here is the link https://simplyafoodblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/revealing-the-ultimate-secret-to-softer-fluffier-bread-that-stays-fresh-for-days-part-1-my-universal-tangzhong-converting-formula/.I used this conversion method to convert my bread recipe.I am praying another link too which Will help to understand the tangzhong method. Here is thelinkhttp://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16753/what-water-roux.


RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

For water roux

1.Water -  1 and 1/4 cup
2.Whole wheat Flour - 1/4 cup

For bread dough .(for 3 loaves)

1.WW flour- 7 1/4 cups
2.Water - 1 and 3/4 cup
3.vegetables oil - 1/3 cup
4.Honey- 1/3 cups+ 1 tablespoons
5.Instant yeast- 1 tablespoon
6.Salt - 1/2 tablespoons

METHOD

Preparing Water Roux

1.Take a small pan and cook 1/4 cup WWF in 1 1/4 cup water until its cooked in to a thick paste in low flame.Be care ful not to burn it and keep on stirring to avoid burning.
2.Allow it cool.

Preparing Bread dough

1.Mix 1/2 cup warm water,1 tbsp instant yeast,1 tbsp honey and allow it to stand for 10- 15 minutes.
2.Mix 11/4 cup water,11/4 cup WWF ,1/2 tabsp salt,1/3 cup Honey,1/3 cup oil,and cooled roux and yeast starter .Combine well either using  a mixer  fitted with mixing hooks or hand .
3.Now  add remaining flour slowly in to the above mixture and change to dough hook if using a mixer or knead with hands until all the flour is used up and keep kneading for 8 to 10 minutes in a mixer or 15 to 20 minutes by hand.

4.Flour  or oil a working surface and pop the dough in to the surface and knead a few minutes  and divide the dough in to three equal halves ,shape the log and place them in greased loaf pans.

5.Preheat the oven to 100 degrees .keep the loaf pans inside and switch off the oven and keep the pan inside for 20 to 30 minutes
For a quick rise.Then take them out.

6.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes.

7.Take the bread out when the top is brown or when tapped on the bottom produces a hollow sound or an instant read food thermometer read 190 degrees Fahrenheit. brush the top with butter and cool and slice them.

Note: I usually freeze the left over bread after slicing and reheat by microwaving for few seconds.The bread isalways kept inside hot oven for a quick rise to reduce the rising time.if you want  can try normal rising and two rise method also ,which may result in better texture.I haven't tried but would like to do in future.

Happy Baking..

No knead 100% WHOLE WHEAT BREAD.

Home made breads always tastes much better than store bought ones.These breads are not only tasty but healthier than them too.But getting the perfect texture especially with 100% whole wheat bread is little difficult  and the perfect kneading and the two rising too needed for a good bread.But this one is a quite easier one regarding this as this is a no knead one rise bread.I adapted it from kingarthurflour.com.I always find it quite difficult to get a perfect texture for 100% whole wheat breads especially with less yeast but this one is having only 2 teaspoon yeast and have a good texture too .And the no knead ones are considered to be the best for a beginner in bread baking so I give it a go and it came out fine.In our home only healthy bakes and cent percent whole wheat ones are only welcomed so this one is a go to recipe.I have tried few kneaded ones too but this one really worked good regarding a better texture for me as a beginner in bread baking.Orange juice here helps to reduce the nutty flavour of whole wheat so its better not to avoid it.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup Orange juice
1/4 cup Vegetable oil
3 tablespoons  sugar/molasses
2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup milk powder
11/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour

METHOD

1. Grease an 81/2 "x 41/2 inch loaf pan and grease it with oil thoroughly as the dough will be very sticky.

2. Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl.Beat the mixture vigorously for 3 minutes with an electric beater.you will get a very sticky dough which will neither be pourable nor kneadable.Scoop it in to the prepared pan.

3. Cover the pan with a lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise for 60 or 90 minutes.it should just rise to the rim of the pan.while the dough is rising preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

4. Uncover the bread and bake it for about40 to  45 minutes.Tent or cover it with aluminum foil after 20 minutes.The bread is done when the top is golden brown and when tapped on the bottom a hollow sound can be heard.Another exact way is an instant read thermometer will read190° F - 195°F.when inserted in to the center.

5. Remove it from oven as its done and remove to a rack after 5 minutes and brush the top with butter to keep the crust soft.Cool completely before cutting.

1. 
   

One pot Spicy & Quick Vegetable Pulao

       As a busy mommy of two little ones I always like quick and wholesome one pot meals which can be cooked with less time.
Vegetable pulao is one such wholesome meal which doesn't need a side dish and can be taken with any raita ,pappad or pickles.And my husband likes it with a boiled egg so its becomes a totally wholesome meal then with cereals,veggies,fat and protein..When I prepare it always prepare a little more and keeps the rest refrigerated for next day.You can reheat it and use it again.Its possible to halve the recipe also.

INGREDIENTS

Basmati rice -3 cups
Ghee/oil/butter -1 tablespoon
Salt- as per taste
Water-5 & 1/ 4 cups

WHOLE SPICES NEEDED

Cardamom - 4
Cloves- 4
Star anise- 1
Cinnamon-1 inch
Black pepper- 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds- 1/ 2 tsp
Bay leaf- 1

VEGETABLES

cauliflower- 1/2 a cauliflower cut in to florets
Carrots- 2 cut in to cubes
Potatoes- 2 cut in to cubes
Green peas- 1/2 cup
Onions- 2 thinly sliced
Tomatoes- 2 cut in to cubes
Ginger - 1/ 2 inch crushed
Garlic - 4 crushed
Green chilly- 3 slit
Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoons chopped
Mint leaves -  1 tablespoons chopped

METHOD

1.wash and soak rice for 30 minutes in water.( amount of water to be used is 13/4 cup water for 1 cup of basmati rice for cooking)

2.Take a heavy bottomed vessel , I used pressure cooker and a tablespoon of ghee and crack whole spices and saute green chilly,ginger garlic crushed ,onions and chopped leaves

3.Then add the spice powders and saute  for few seconds and pour 1 cup of water to avoid burning then add all veggies and rice add salt and rest of water (4  1/4 cups in this recipe) as required and mix well.

4.Close the pressure cooker and cook for  10 minutes on SIM after first whistle.

5.After 10 minutes turn off the flame and after the air   escapes ,open  and fluff the rice with a fork and have it with raita,salad,pickles or pappad.

Home made Whole Wheat OREO Cookies


                    Nowadays everybody likes OREO Cookies and kids are the biggest fan of it .Here in this recipe a healthier twist have been added to it using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.OREO is nothing but chocolate sandwich cookies.

INGREDIENTS

Butter - 1/2 cup
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1/2

Vanilla - 1/2 tsp
Whole wheat flour- 1 cup
Cocoa- 70 gm
Baking pdr- 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp


METHOD


1.Cream butter and sugar then add egg and vanilla ,combine well.Now add the sieved dry ingredients and mix well make cookie dough.(its good to refrigerate the cookie dough for 1 hour to make the dough more firm while rolling and cutting out the cookies)

2.Roll out the cookie dough and cut out cookies using a cookie cutter.

3.Bake at 180 degree celsius for 10 to 13 minutes.Baking time may vary according to ovens.

VANILLA ICING/CREAM

INGREDIENTS

Butter- 1/4 cup
Half &Half- 1 tablespoons
( Can be made by  mixing 40 ml milk+ 1 tsp Butter)
Vanilla- 1/2 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Sugar- 11/2 cup

METHOD

Cream butter and sugar and add the rest and mix well.

Take the cooled cookies and spread the cream between two( can either use a spatula or a an icing bag for filling the cream) and enjoy the healthy whole wheat Oreo sandwich cookies.

SIMPLE VANNILA CUPCAKE.



This is a very easy and Simple  vanilla  cup  cake  recipe.I  got  this  recipe  from  just  easy  recipes.com. Made some  slight  changes  to suit  my  little ones  sweet  tooth  craving. It's a  super  easy  and fail  proof recipe.I  have  even  used  this  recipe to make a   pressure  cooker vanilla  cake too  and  it  came  out  so well  and  everybody  liked  it  too. So it's a  good  recipe  for   baking  beginners  to  try. My  son  just  loved  it .

INGREDIENTS

All  purpose  flour/Maida - 1 1/2  cup
Sugar - 1  cup
Baking  powder - 2  tsp
Salt -1/2  tsp
Milk - 1/2  cup
Any flavorless  oil- 1/2cup
Eggs - 2
Vanilla  essence - 1 tsp



METHOD

1. Sift  dry ingredients  together  and  mix .

2. Add wet   Ingredients  to  dry  ingredients  and beat  well  until  smooth  and  creamy.

3.  Keep  muffin  tins  ready  lined  with  muffin   liners .

4.   Fill  up  to 3/4  th  of  each  cup .

5. Bake  for 15  minutes  at the  180  degrees.
The  baking  time  may  vary  according  to  various  ovens.

    WHOLE WHEAT PUMPKIN MUFFINS.

This is a very tasty   savoury  muffins. These too  is an  adaptation  from  the  blog cookieandkate. The  main change I  have  made is  that  of the sweetner .The original recipe uses honey but according to our knowledge honey cant be heated so  I used sugar.Here i used home made pumpkin puree.I made it by pureeing pressure cooked  pumpkin.To make the pumpkin puree I used almost 250 grams ripe pumpkin.Peel it and dice it.Pressure cook with little water for 3 or 4 whistles.Cool it,puree in a blender and use it.

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓  cup coconut oil 
• 1  cup sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1  cup pumpkin purée
• ¼  cup milk 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon allspice or cloves
• 1¾ cups whole wheat flour
• ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top

Method

1. Preheat oven to  180 degree C...and keep muffin tins ready lined with muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and sugar together with a whisk. Add eggs, and beat well. Mix in the pumpkin purée and milk, followed by the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice or cloves.
3. Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined. If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. For these muffins, it’s ok to fill the cups a little higher than you normally would. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a small amount of oats, followed by a sprinkle of cinnamon. Bake muffins for 20 to 23 minutes until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.Baking time may vary according to ovens.
5. Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack. These muffins are delicate until they cool down . so it’s best to wait until they have cooled down to remove them from the tin. You might need to run a knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them.

    EASIEST  WHOLE  WHEAT  VEGGIE  PIZZA.

  Pizza  is always a favourite  among  kids  as well as  grown  ups  so I  wanted  to try a healthy  version   of  it . I had a very nice cook book which I got as a compliment with my LG oven which is written by the wonderful  cooking expert Nita Mehta. This book is a great help for beginner bakers like me.In this book she had a recipe for pizza , but the base is store bought. But I wanted a whole wheat base.So I started searching on the biggest and easily available cook book Google..lol...My  search lead  me  again  to  cookieandkate. com.So  my  recipe here is a  fusion of  these two.

Ingredients
water  - 1 cup(very warm, almost too hot for comfort)

Sugar  - 1 tablespoon

Olive oil - 1 tablespoons

Instant yeast - 2¼ teaspoons

Salt - 1 teaspoon

whole wheat flour- 2  3/4cup

Parmesan cheese - 1/4cup

Green bel lpepper - 1/2  (sliced or  cubed ).

Pizza sauce( home made or store bought) -2/3 cup

Mozerella cheese shredded -2cups

Onion cubed - 1

Tomatoes cubed or  sliced thinly - 1 

Oregano-for sprinkling

Pepper powder- for sprinkling

Salt-for sprinkling

Fresh basil - for garnishing.


Method

1. Preheat oven to 220degrees Celsius .Keep two greased baking pans ready.
2. Whisk water, sugar, oil and yeast in a liquid measuring cup or small bowl. Allow yeast to proof for 5 minutes. 
3.    Mix wheat  flour, Parmesan, and salt  until combined,then  slowly pour in the water mixture and combine well until a shaggy ball forms.
4. Dump the dough onto a floured work surface and quickly knead dough a few times until it comes together. Halve the dough.
5. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll dough into two rounds about 11 inches in diameter. For best results, roll the dough out about as thin as reasonably possible. Aim for even thickness rather than a perfectly round shape. Transfer dough to a baking pan .  Brush the outer 1-inch of the dough with a light coating of olive oil.
6. Add pizza sauce of your choice on top of the base leaving the edges.Arrange some vegetables and sprinkle some salt and pepper over it. Sprinkle with cheese and some oregano.Arrange a few more veggies on top.
7. Bake  until the crust and cheese are lightly golden, rotating halfway, about 10 minutes for cheese only pizza and 12 minutes for pizza with additional toppings. Sprinkle with smoked sea salt and/or fresh basil and serve.

Note:we can  either  use  raw or  sauteed  veggie  toppings .We  can  lightly  brush  the  base  with  olive  oil  before spreading  pizza  sauce.I  used home made pizza sauce.Will share it later.My  veggie  pizza  took 13  minutes  to  get  done,baking  time  may  vary  according  to  ovens.

Home made pizza sauce

Cook 4  tomatoes with little water and cool it  and puree it.
Microwave tomato puree,1 tablespoon olive oil,1 teaspoon garlic paste,2 tablespoon tomato kech up,1 tsp  oregano,1/2 tsp salt and pepper for 2 1/2 minutes.OR you can saute all these except tomato puree and mix it with puree  later.

Healthy steamed chocolate banana muffins

Healthy steamed chocolate banana  muffins

I was  searching  for  alternate baking methods  and stumbled  upon  steaming  cakes. So I  decided to give it a try  as I  have  tried  pressure  cooker method , so  many  times  successfully.In  pressure  cooker  method  we  can  use  either  pressure  cooker  oor any  heavy  bottomed   vessel  for  baking , aluminum  preferably.

And  we  put  sand  or salt   inside  to prevent  burning  of  the  vessel,I  have  tried without  salt  also. Both  are  ok  but  it's   better  to  take  off  your  vessel  unless it's old   by   spreading  salt oin one   inch  thickness. Once I  tried  pressure  cooker  method  with  water  also  and  the  cake  raised  well, but  the  only  problem   was   vapor  falling  on  the  top . So  this time I   decided  to cover  loosely with a  soft  thin  cotton  cloth  to prevent  this  and  to  use my  iddly   steamer.  The  advantage  of steaming  compared  to  baking  in pressure  cooker  is , cooking  time  can  be  reduced.So  here  we  go.I  used  the  whole  wheat chocolate   Ragi banana  muffin  recipe  in  my  blog, the  only change I  made  was  used  only  whole  wheat as I was  out  of  Ragi so I used 13/4   cup         whole  wheat  and  increased  the  amount  of   cocoa  powder  to 3   tablespoons  to  make  it  more   chocolatey. The   link  to

Recipe is here 

http://cookingbygrace.blogspot.in/2016/07/fingermilletragi-banana-choclate-muffin.html?m=1

so here I  am explaining the method  only. Here I   used  my iddli  steamer and I had an additional  round plate  which can be used  to steam food by placing it over the water just like idly moulds . So I used it  here.

Method
1.Prepare  batter .
2.Switch  on  stove  and  keep steamer with   water and lid    on it in  high   flame  for 5  minutes
3.Keep  the  muffin  liners  inside  muffin  moulds or small paper  tea cups and fill  up  to 3/4  th  of  muffin  cups.
4.Reduce the flame to low and Keep  the  muffin  moulds  inside  the  steamer and  and cover loosely with a cotton cloth over the muffins without touching the batter and be careful to keep the cloths endings away from fire  ,cover with lid and steam  for 15 to 20  minutes  or  until done or a tooth  pick inserted  comes  out clean.

Your  steamed chocolate  banana    muffins  are  ready  now.....don't forget to remove muffin liners before eating...lol... healthy  and  yummy.

MANGO PINEAPPLE SMOOTHIE

This is a yummy smoothie and this is the only smoothie approved my very picky son who is a banana hater too.So I had to find one banana free smoothie and got this one and its delicious too.

Ingredients
Mango or mango juice - 1/2 cup
Orange juice - 1/2 cup( probably from 2 oranges)
Pineapple chunks- 1/2 cup
Honey/sugar- 1 tablespoon

Method
Blend all the ingredients till smooth...Its ready to drink now.

CREAMY AVOCADO SMOOTHIE

I wanted to taste and use that buttery fruit with green peel .So recently I bought few avocados and I was too eager to taste . I tasted it for first time a few years back when one of my colleague brought it to our work place as she had avocado tree at her  home,and for now I don't remember the taste at all so I was in a little hurry. Just the next day after buying I checked the fruit and it seemed ripe to me so with all my enthusiasm I cut it open and made a smoothie...but for my shock it tasted bitter and all enthusiasm died ..Then I Google why my avocados tasted bitter.Here comes the  truth..unripe avocados tastes bitter.so always use very ripe avocados.Ripe avocados are usually very dark in outer side and softer to touch ,when we press a dent will form.Another important thing is better to avoid scooping out those green part much closer to the peel.So from the search I got an information that you can fasten the ripening of avocados by placing it near fruits which produce ethylene on ripening like bananas,Apple or pineapple.So I kept it along with bananas and was ripened by two days.So I tried again and this time it came out super delicious.This recipe was inspired from food network.com.In the original recipe they calls for two ripe avocados.As we increase the amount avocados the creaminess will increase,but I prefer less creamier so I adapted it to my taste.

Ingredients

Milk - 1 cup
Sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 cup
Ripe avocado- 1/2 of an avocado

Method
Blend everything together until smooth.Very  delicious avocado smoothie ready.Tastes best when served chilled.But we prefer not chilled ,to avoid a  sore throat..lol.

Home made Peanut Butter


Mumma and kids at my home just love peanut butter and its useful in mumm's new found passion baking ,deserts and smoothies.So I wanted to try home made Peanut Butter...My search lead me to several online recipes and I adapted it according to my convenience.Now we don't have to buy those costly jars in the super market.If you want more can double  the recipe too.

Ingredients

Dry roasted and deskinned peanut- 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons
 Honey or sugar-  1 tablespoons

Method

Blend the dry roasted and deskinned peanuts in a food processor or mixer .Then add oil spoon by spoon and pulse in between.Finally add honey and blend once again..Yummy peanut butter is ready now.You can keep it in the fridge for  a couple of weeks.

Spinach Banana smoothie

  It's a green smoothie with few simple ingredients and ofcourse good for those weight watchers even though am not ,I still like the taste of it .Me and my little girl liked it much.you can adjust the amount of spinach according to you taste for 2 cups to 4 cups.

Method

Spinach loosely packed - 4 cups
Bananas- 2
Yoghurt-3/4 cup
Honey/ sugar - 1 tablespoons
Vanilla - a dash

 Ingredients

Blend spinach first then add banana,yoghurt and blend then add a dash of vanilla and honey and blend to smooth.

BEST HEALTHY  BANANA  BREAD.

     It's my hubby who introduced me to the banana bread and asked me to bake one.But he wanted a whole wheat version and my search lead me to the blog cookieandkate.com.There I found a wonderful banana bread recipe with whole wheat.The only change I made was in the sweetener as we  don't prefer baking with honey at our home as its not good to heat it according to our knowledge.So I substituted it with sugar and it came out perfect and tasty.I have already made it more than a dozen of times now and have tried different variations .Here is the best one.

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour/ atta- 1 3/4 cup
Eggs - 2
Oil-1/3 cup
Sugar- 1 cup
Baking soda- 1 tsp
Ground cinnamon- 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Banana mashed - 1 cup or from 2 big bananas
Add ins- raisins,Choco chips or nuts as you like -1/2 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla - 1 tsp


Method

Add oil and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat well and add the eggs and beat well ,now add  mashed banana  and mix then add vanilla ,salt ,cinnamon and baking soda and whisk well.

To the above mixture now add flour and combine just enough to get wet ,small lumps are ok and now add add ins and mix.

Pour the batter in to a 9* 5 loaf pan and sprinkle on top with a little cinnamon.

Bake at 180 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.the baking time may vary according to each oven.

 Cool it in the pan for 10 minutes and remove on to wire rack and cool completely and have it with hot tea or coffee.

You can refrigerate it for 2 or 3 days and freeze for more than a week and  reheat by popping in to a microwave for few seconds or minutes.

Yummy and healthy banana bread....

Omelette Muffins

 Once I was searching on savory muffins and  my search ended up in omelette muffins.I found two different recipes and mine a  fusion of these two.so following is my version of omelette muffins.I like them warm with tomato ketchup.You can refrigerate them for 2 or 3 days or can freeze for more than a week and thaw by reheating in a microwave for few seconds or minutes.One of the recipe calls for jalapeno peppers and since I didn't have them I used ooty chilly.Also the recipe says cheddar cheese but only mozzarella was three in my fridge so I used it.you can follow use veggie as raw chopped ones or sauteed ones.Especially if adding onions its good to sauteed them. And top  the muffins with some more cheese.

Ingredients

Eggs - 6
Milk - 1/4 cup
Shredded or grated cheese - 1/4 cup
Spinach cleaned - half a bunch
Green bell pepper chopped - 1/2
Red or yellow bell pepper- 1/2
Ooty chilly deseeded and chopped - 1
Salt- 1/8 th tsp
Pepper powder-1/8 tsp


Method

Preheat over at 180 degrees

Grease your muffin tins or tray with oil or cooking spray

Beat the egg  and milk together.

Add salt and pepper and chopped veggies and grated cheese and combine well.

Pour up to 3/4 th of muffin cup..each cup should have equal portion of egg and veggies.

If you want can top with grated cheese.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 to 23 minutes..or until the center becomes firm and no more runny.

Cool them slightly and have it with ketchup or as you like.

 Just ready to go in to the oven.

 Warm  out of oven.

Have it  slightly warm with ketchup or mayonnaise or whatever sauce you like.

Mango carrot smoothie

 Me and my little girl has fallen in love with smoothies..whatever veggie or fruit comes in my way nowadays is turning in to a smoothie.This is a mango carrot smoothie.All smoothies tastes best when all ingredients are chilled.But we prefer them in normal temperature .And it tastes better if uses full fat yogurt.Can add sweetener according to your taste.

 Ingredients

Ripe mango  peeled and cut in to cubes- 1
Apple juice - 1/2 cup
Carrot juice - 1/2 cup
Yoghurt- 3/4 cup
Honey/ sugar- 1 tablespoons

Method
 blend all ingredients in a blender till smooth and  enjoy you smoothie

Healthy Green smoothie

I adapted this yummy kids friendly smoothie  from super healthy kids.com.Its  really nutritious and yummy,so thought will share here..Really great for those picky eaters who don't wanna chew that fruits and veggies..A good quick breakfast or snack too.I made little changes to suit my little ones taste buds and also according to the availability of ingredients in our place.

Ingredients

Spinach - 1 cup loosely packed

Robusta banana- 1 big or 2 small

Pine apple cubes - 1 cup

Orange juice from - 2 oranges

Mango cubes- 1/2  or 1 cup or Tang mango powder - 2 tsp

Method

1.In a blender blend orange juice and spinach,then add pineapple cubes and mango powder or mango
and finally add sliced bananas and blend to smooth. And enjoy immediately with a straw..

 Easy Sugar Cookies


         This is a tasty and easy sugar cookies recipe .I got it from Google only long ago so l don't remember the site.But it always came out good and tasty.My kids just devoured them and its always my luck that I get a few for icing ,especially in the December seasons...They are perfect for any occasions like Christmas or birthday parties,make them in any shape and do some creative icing...kids will be super happy.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 1/2 cup
Sugar powdered - 1 cup
Egg - 1 lightly beaten
Milk - 2 tablespoons
Vanilla - 1/ 2 tsp


1 Preheat oven at 180  degree celsius
2. Cream butter and   sugar well and then add egg,vanilla and a 1 teaspoon of milk mix well .Now add flour and combine well and form a ball like chappathy dough..if its not coming together can add more milk.But always add teaspoon by teaspoon ,otherwise you will end up adding more flour...
3. Refrigerate the dough  for one hour
4 .After one hour take the dough out and flatten using a rolling pin in 1/ 4 inch width 4.Cut out cookies using a cookie cutter and place them in a cookie tray lined with baking sheets.
5.Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies are done..(usually between 10 to 12 minutes)..Baking time varies according to oven.
6.cool the cookies and glaze them with icing or just store them in air tight container

Easy cookie icing in the future post..