Cakemix Chocolate Chip Muffins

It's hard to strike a balance with muffins, isn't it? The massive monstrosities available at the coffee shops are obviously bad news, and even mini muffins are dangerous because there's a good chance you'll eat too many at once. Even if you find a reasonably sized muffin, it will leave you feeling hungry. How do you solve this conundrum? You don't need to know the muffin man, just have a box of cake mix in your pantry! Yes, you heard it right! BOXED CAKE MIX, People! These muffins are delicious, low in calories, and incredibly filling, thanks to addition of pumpkin puree. And don't chocolate chips make just about everything better? Make a batch of these muffins now, and you'll be smiling for days. And yes, eating chocolate first thing in the morning is generally a bad idea, but not with these muffins. So tasty, so satisfying, and perfect any time of day. Make them and thank me later!

Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

¼ cup water

2-3 tablespoons semi sweet chocolate chips

How to:

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Mix all the ingredients but the chocolate chips in a bowl with a wooden spoon.

Prepare 12-cup muffin tray with muffin cup liners.

Spoon the batter into those lines, filling them about 2/3^rd.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until done.

Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Banana Nut Muffins

Just to use up those extra zucchinis you might have in your fridge or to make something sweet with veggies sneaked in! These muffins are exactly what you need to make otherwise not-so-healthy muffins completely nutritious. There is also walnuts inside muffins also. and of course, muffins are topped with same healthy nuts.

 

Here’s how I made these:

Yield: 18 standard size muffins

 

 

Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients

 

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup chopped peeled apple (optional)

3/4 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 teaspoons grated orange peel

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

How to:

Gently toss together  zucchini, apple, walnuts and orange peel; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Combine eggs, oil and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick).

Fold in zucchini mixture.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.

Top with chopped walnuts.

Bake at 375° for 20-22 minutes or until muffins test done.

Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Lyonnaise Potatoes

I know, I know. I was AWOL for a long time! But now I am back. Looks like I am up from a long night's sleep. So, Let's have some breakfast!

If you like buttery, crispy potateos with caramelized onions, this is the dish for you. My family and I are big potato lovers. and yes, I am a self-proclaimed QUEEN OF POTATOES! My sister can vouch for that. I love to make and eat potatoes different ways. So here's the story. This restaurant, right in the buidling where I work, serves this potatoes for breakfast. They have all-day breakfast specials and I always go for any kind of eggs with these potatoes. So I knew I ad to make it for my family at least once. And guess what? Once I made it, it didn't stop thiere. I keep on making this every now and then as the request keeps coming in! This is much better than having those uh-so-ugly hashbrowns!

Here's how I made it:

Lyonnaise Potatoes
Ingredients

3-4 large Russet Potatoes,sliced(not too thin)
2 medium onions, julienned
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
oil as needed
salt and pepper
Green onions and parsley to garnish

how to:
To speed up the breakfast, I parboil the potatoes(microwaver the sliced potatoes for about 3 minutes, 1 minute per potato).
Keep it aside
Heat oil in a thick bottomed skillet
Caramelize onions on medium high heat. If you have a cast iron skillet, it works best for this.
Once onions are done, start browing potatoes in the same leftover oil.
Do not overcrowd the skileet. Take your time. It won't take too long. Just a few minutes for 3 potatoes.
Season potatoes with salt and pepper as you go.
Keep working in batches.
Keep the golden brown potatoes aside.
Now, heat up a bit more oil, add garlic to it.
Once garlic is soft, add back cooled patotes and onions.
Mix up the vegetables, and garnish with green part of scallions and parsely.
Enjoy!

Spinach Mushroom Omelette

 

There is this restaurant in the same building where I work. It serves eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s not a diner. It’s a full scale restaurant. And I just love their omelettes. They have different pastas with eggs in them or eggs in sauces. I am not brave enough yet to try all of them. But I love the breakfast. And this omelette is what I normally get every time I am there. it’s so hearty and yummy, it keeps me full for the rest of the day! No kidding!  And it has spinach and mushrooms in it. So I have my vegetables and protein in just one dish. I know I don’t need nothing more than it. I wanted to recreate it at home and finally over the weekend, I was able to make it for breakfast. And it was totally worth it. Try to sneak in as many vegetables you can for your picky eaters. If they love eggs, you are good to go! This omelette with toasted English muffins, fruits, juice and coffee. The breakfast of the champions!

 

Here’s how I made it.

 

Spinach Mushroom Omelette

 

Ingredients

4 large eggs

1 cup baby spinach

½ cup sliced mushrooms

Salt and pepper as needed

Oil as needed

A pinch of nutmeg

 

How to:

 

Heat the skillet on medium high.

Add a tbsp oil and sauté mushrooms until just golden.

Beat eggs with salt and pepper and nutmeg in a bowl.

Add spinach and mushrooms to beaten eggs.

Add another couple tbsp. oil to the same skillet.

Pour eggs in the skillet.

Once the edges are set, push them to the centre and let the uncooked eggs run towards the sides of the skillet.

Fold over, serve.

Enjoy!

 

Cannoli Cream Pancakes and Happy New Year!

Happy and Blessed New Year to all my friends! May God Almighty bless us all bountifully in 2015!

I’ve made cannolis.  Been there, done that!  too much work. I still enjoy good cannolis every now and then but at home, I try to satisfy my craving for cannoli with foods like this. Because  Cannoli cream, no biggie. I always have ricotta and mascarpone cheeses on hand. So I can make that in a jiffy. And I have used prebaked phyllo shells earlier.  This time, I thought, why not make pancakes?  And that’s exactly what this is. Absolutely heavenly! Maybe next time, crepes! Who knows?!

Well, I don’t have pictures of the full platter that I made of these pancakes. just a couple to show you how good they looked. They were much better with a drizzle of warmed Maple syrup.

Here’s how I made it.

Cannoli Cream Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup your favourtie pancake mix

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 tbsp vanilla

For filling

1 cup ricotta cheese

¼ cup mascarpone cheese(I tried to cut down the fat from this cheese, that’s why I am using less!)

½ cup icing sugar

1 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tbsp or more chocolate chips

How to:

For pancakes:

Mix all the ingredients and make about 5” large pancakes.

Now mix all the ingredients for filling, except chips.

Spoon or pipe filling into  each panckae, sprinkle some choco chips, roll up and place seam side down on plate.

Serve with dusting of icing sugar or your fav syrup.

Enjoy!

French Toast Rolls

Who doesn’t love good French Toast for breakfast? We all do, right?  I’ve made French toasts thousand times. And I was still craving French toast last weekend. And I wanted to make it somewhat differently than usual way. I had a week old white bread loaf sitting in my fridge, had to use it up.  And my family love Nutella and Strawberry Cheesecake. So I thought, why not combined them both and make a breakfast they would enjoy? So, I came up with this.  When you are pressed for time, this is not the breakfast to make I tell you!  It does take some prep time but the end result is oh so delish!  I am so glad I finally was able to make it for breakfast today!

So, let’s get cooking!

Here’s how I made it.

French Toast Rolls

Ingredients
8 slices of white bread, crust removed
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
butter or oil for frying
for filling:
Nutella as much as YOU want!
a cup or so sliced strawberries
1/2 cup cream cheese, whipped with 1 tbsp. icing sugar

How to:
Flatten the bread slices with rolling pin.
Spread Nutella on 4 slices, roll them up
Now spread Cream cheese mix on 4 more slices, add sliced berried on them and roll them up as well.
Heat up oil in skillet.
Crack eggs in a shallow bowl.
Add milk, salt, vanilla and cinnamon powder to it.
Dip each roll good in egg custard and shallow fry till all sides are nicely cooked and golden brown.
At this point, you can serve the rolls with maple syrup or mix sugar and cinnamon powder and roll the prepared hot rolls in it, making them extra special.
Enjoy!

 

 

 

Khaman

Now this is authentic Gujarati Khaman. We call this dish “vaati daal naa khaman” because this used the ground split chickpeas.  This is a long process just like making Idlis and dosas from scratch. You make Nylon khaman right away using besan. Anything nylon is not authentic and instant!  Just like the fabric itself. But this khaman dish takes time and effort to make and thus, tastes so much more better than the Nylon Khaman.  Frankly, I hadn’t made this khaman in a long time, maybe 3 years or so. Everytime we feel like having khaman, I would go for besan and make nylons.  I happen to have  4 lbs. of split chickpea bag that I bought over Christmas period last year.  I thought, let’s make khaman this time, the proper way. And I am glad I did. They came out so good, I can’t even describe that taste in words.  I also gave some to my Marathi co worker and she now absolutely is in favor if this khaman over nylon khaman.

Here’s how I made it.

Khaman

Ingredients

1 cup split chickpea, soaked overnight

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

A pinch of turmeric powder

½ tsp citic acid

1 tsp Eno fruit salt

Water as required

How to:

Grind the soaked chick peas with salt in a blender to smooth consistency, adding just enough water to run the blender smoothly.

Adjust the water quantity. It should be thicker, just like idli batter.

Leave it overnight in a warm place to ferment.

Heat up a big sauce pot with water in it.

Boil the water.

Grease a deep pan(I used 8” cake pan) with oil and set aside.

In the meantime, add citric acid, pepper and turmeric to the fermented batter.

Once the water boils, then only sprinkle Eno on top of the batter. You will see lots of bubbles instantly forming up on the top layer.

Now gently fold the batter to incorporate the Eno.

Pour in the greased plate, steam it for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare tempering.

Once cool down, cut into pieces and pour over prepared tempering.

Enjoy!

Ingredients for tempering:

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustart seeds

Pinch of Asofoetida

Green chillies and cilantro leaves and shredded, fresh coconut for garnish(Optional)

Heat up the oil, add mustard seeds.

Once the seeds crackled, add asofoetida, green chilles(chopped) and pour over the prepared khaman.

Good-for-you Oatmeal Muffins

These are serious muffins! If you want to eat healthy first thing in the morning and at the same time need something as a grab and go breakfast, you are at the right place. For so long, this dreaded natural flavor oatmeal bag was staring at me. I tried once to eat with some cinnamon sugar and dried cranberries and fresh apples, it was ok. It didn’t wow me nor did I want to go back to it. It seriously lacked something. And then one fine morning, it hit me! I thought let’s make muffins. Let me just use more oatmeal as possible and see how it turns out.  Turned out, they were plain delish!  Give it a try. You will feel good and your body will thank you for taking good care of it!

Here’s how I made it.

 

Good-For-You Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup quick, uncooked oats

½ cup AP flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp each ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and ground cardamom

¼ cup milk

½ cup sugar

3 tsp vegetable oil

1 egg, lightly beaten

How to:

Pre heat oven to 400°F.

Line the 6-cup muffin tray with paper liners or lightly spray with oil.

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.

Pour wet ingredients in dry ingedients bowl and gently stir until the dry mixture is moistened.

Fill the cups almost full, and bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops are nicely brown.

Cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes.

Serve warm with pat of butter.

Enjoy!

Nutella Crepes

 

 

I made this for one Sunday breakfast. I love crepes. I love nutella. Never had them together before. Now that I did, I am hooked! It was divine. I know I will be making this a lot for sure.

 

Crepes can be intimidating to a few people. It’s really very easy to make. You really throw in measured ingredients which are handful in your blender and let it do the rest of the job. And the best thing is, you can make a whole lot of crepes and freeze them. They freeze beautifully. So make once, eat more than once. And we all know crepes are such versatile. From breakfast to dessert, you can use those pre made crepes. So what are you waiting for?

 

Here’s how I made it.

 

 

Nutella Crepes

Ingredients
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter, for coating the pan

Nutella, as much as you want!

Sliced almonds(optional)

How to:
In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds.

Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat.

Pour ¼ cup of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly.

Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool.

Continue until all batter is gone.

After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months.

When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.

 

For Nutella crepes, place 1 crepe on a plate, spread Nutella on it. Roll up and serve.

I added sliced almonds in mine for that crunch.

Enjoy!

More tree Pancakes!

Trust me, I am not done yet! This is another version of the Christmas tree pancakes! And yes, you are not allowed to say enough already! Yet another idea popped in my mind and you will see the post next weekend! That will only change if my family is tired of having pancakes every Sunday morning!

This Christmas tree is a very easy to make. Involve your kids to make it and they will have a blast in the kitchen. Again, all the ingredients stay the same as past 2 weeks’ pancakes. Just alter the method. Place the pancake batter in a bottle( honey bottle works great) and drizzle the pancake batter on the hot skillet to make the tree shapes. You can omit the food coloring if you want to. Just make regular pancakes and garnish it with edible Christmas confetti.

Enjoy!

Oh Christmas Tree Pancakes!

Told ya last week, asking you all to stay tuned for this one! Since Christmas almost here, hence the title of this post! Again, nothing’s changed in ingredients. 

 

 

HAVE A VERY MERRY AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS. MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Christmas Tree Pancakes Again!

This is another extension to the tree pancakes from last weekend. Real Christmas tree shaped pancakes this time. All the ingredients remain the same. Just use a tree shaped cookie cutter and pour ¼ cup batter inside of it and cook the cakes.

 

Or you can make pancakes as usual and use the tree cookie cutter to cut out the shape of the trees.

Decorate your mini edible Christmas trees whatever way  you like and devour!

Enjoy!

Tree Shaped Pancakes

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! Well, there it is. Finally, snow is here and so is December. Almost everyone's favourite month. Well, it is in my house. And you can feel the excitement in the air. Christmas is around the corner. And this is the good way to welcome the spirit of Christmas. Yea, I am talking about these pancakes. I've made a batch of pancake mix this time to use over this month, Why, you ask. Because, this is not the only pancake post this month. You will see more and more and more!

Here's how I made it.

Pancake mix

Ingredients

6 cups AP flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

Mix everything thoroughly and keep in a cool,dark place. Use it within 3 months.

For pancakes

1 cup pancake mix

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tbsp melted butter

Stick of butter to grease the skillet

Drop of green food colouring

How to

Mix all ingredients in a a bowl.

Heat the skillet and brush with softened butter

Now make pancakes using 1 tbsp, 2 tbsp, 3 tbsp, 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup measures and make pancakes.

Decorate with your favourite toppings.

Enjoy!

I didn't have time but next time, I will make star shaped small pancakes to decorate the tops.

Banana Nut Bread

Needless to see, this is by far the most enjoyed bread. Every rookie baker starts their baking lessons by baking this bread! This is such a forgiving bread, even if you srcew up a bit in measurements, you will end up with delectable results.  This recipe can be transformed into muffins as well.  Who doesn’t like to wake up to a freshly baked bread, especially it is loaded with bananas and nuts? All you need is a cup of coffee or a glass of cold milk and a couple of slices of this bread and you are all set for the day.

I like to toast the leftover bread and slather the toasted slices with either butter or jam. Divine!

Here’s how I made it.

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients

1 egg

½ cup mayonnaise

About 3 mashed bananas

1-1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

¾ cup chopped nuts(I used walnuts, use any nuts on hand, or omit nuts altogether.)

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

 How to:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Beat egg, mayonnaise and bananas until blended.

Combine remaining ingredients, mix until just moistened.

Transfer to a pre-greased loaf pan.

Bake for about 1 hour or do the toothpick test.

Cool in a pan for about 15 minutes on a wire rack.

Cool completely.

Enjoy!

You could add 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips into the batter for that extra special banana bread. Or make glaze out of those chips and just drizzle over the slices.

Fond of Veggies? Add a cup or two of shredded zuccini/carrots to this bread.

Breakfast Egg Muffins

I like to have eggs as breakfast on lazy long weekends. I normally sleep in those days as I wake up very early in the mornings to get to work every single day. So I always make an effort not to wake up at least until 7 o’clock on day-offs. At the same time, I want to make something new, something different and something nutritious for my family to wake up to. And yes, it should be done in almost no time. This recipe fits the bill. I made it over one of the summer’s long weekends. My way to find out if my family likes what I give them is this one question: would you like to have it again? Just like most of my dishes, the answer was YES to this dish! Yippee! Another victory.

Here’s how I made it.

Egg Muffins

Ingredients

9 eggs

½ cup milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped green onions
Red bell pepper, diced
Hot Italian Turkey sausage, cooked and crumbled
Spinach leaves

Cheddar cheese, grated (at least 1 cup)

Feta cheese; ½ cup

 

How to:

Spray 12 muffin cup-tray with nonstick spray, or line with muffin papers.

Sprinkle some chopped green pepper on the bottoms of each cup, then some sausage, and both cheeses and whatever vegetables you’re using. The cups will look more than half full.

Now beat eggs in a large bowl, add milk, salt and pepper. Beat again lightly.

Fill the cups with egg mixture until almost full.

Gently stir each cup with a chopstick and bake at 375° F for about 20 minutes.

Serve with your favorite berries and toasts.

Enjoy!

The beauty of these muffin cups is that they refrigerate well. You can put the leftovers in a zip lock bag and refrigerate and grab one when you are ready to hit the road on weekday mornings. Just microwave for a few seconds and they will be good as freshly made. A good way to feed your family healthy ‘stuff’, isn’t it?

Breakfast Soufflé

 Now this is the easiets soufflé ever. Those lazy Saturday mornings, when you are cosy and comfortable in bed, don’t feel like getting out of it soon and still want to make an over the top breakfast for your family that everyone can love to come to table for, this is it!  Only a handful of ingredients thrown to gether and baked beautifully in a risen, warm goody, you would for sure rise to the occasion just as your soufflé. And the best part is this soufflé won’t fall down once out of the oven. It does hold the shape which is a delight to look at.

Now soufflé is lightly baked cake, with cream and egg yolks and beaten egg whites. We are omitting all those creams and little bit of flour and just stick with eggs and cheese. After all, it’s breakfast. Lunch will be on the cards so you don’t want to fill up right in the morning.

Here’s how I made it.

Breakfast soufflé

Ingredients

3 eggs, separated

4 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese

¼ cup grated cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp onion powder

How to:

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

BEAT egg whites in medium bowl with mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Beat cream cheese with salt, pepper and onion powder in a  large bowl with mixer until creamy.

Add egg yolks; beat until well blended.

Now add grated cheddar.

Gently stir in egg whites until well blended.

POUR into 3 ramekins sprayed with cooking spray.

BAKE 24 to 26 min. or until top is puffed and golden brown.

Do Not Open the Oven Door until fully fluffed or your soufflé will be crashed to the bottom of the ramekins!

The only downside of this soufflé is that it doesn’t reheat well. So you can’t make more and stash them in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

Move aside Tiramisu! Mascarpone is the best on the toasts!

For years, I’ve often restrained myself from buying this expensive cheese. Once in a blue moon when I would crave Tiramisu, I let myself go and grab a container of it. Or better, just grab a premade Tiramisu! It surely satisfies the craving. Now the scenario has changed. No more excuses of not making this exquisite cheese at home because it is insanely easy to make! Don’t believe me? Well you will once you see the recipe.  I looked up this recipe a couple of years ago and kind of laughed at it because I really didn’t think of making it at home.  I was talking to my sister and she said she made this at home. I said ok, when the heavy cream goes on sale, I will give it a try. To my surprise, it did on the very same weekend and I had no choice but to buy the damn thing! Well, I am glad I did. Because I am now in love with this recipe and will be making and using this wonderful creamy cheese not only for dessert, but for so many recipes that calls for cream cheese or ricotta cheese.

There is only one set method for making it. You can go nuts searching the web, you will only land on one recipe.

Here’s how I made it.

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream(35%)

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

 

How to:

I prefer to use the double boiler when I heat up the milk or cream just to preven it from scalding.

Boil 1 cup of water in a  large skillet.

Place the sauce pot in water, pour cream in it and heat up the cream up to 190° F.

You can directly heat up the cream on low heat until it reaches to 190° F.

If you don’t own a thermometer, don’t panic. Just heat up the cream until you see boiling  bubbles appear on the surface.

Now add the lemon juice. Don’t expect the curdling action like ricotta or paneer. This is heavy cream, it won’t curdle that much.

Keep on stirring.

Bring it back to 190°F temperature.

It is ready  when the cream will coat the back of the spoon in a thick layer.

Remove from heat.

Keep aside for about 20 minutes.

Now strain in cheese cloth.

Don’t squeeze.

Refrigerate for about 24 hours.

You will only get a tablespoon or so whey.

Your mascarpone is ready to use.

Go crazy with Tiramisu or use it the way I did!

Spread fresh cheese on toasted bagles or English muffins and top it off with powdered sugar and fresh fruit.

Enjoy!