hard working cook, lazy blogger

Writing a blog is hard work. Ever so often I find my self cooking away or even clicking away but never get the patience to blog about any of it.

I’m going to be reall-ly busy the next one month, it’s Ramadan plus I will be studying like a crazy nut (or at least I should be!) for all the damned exams that I have to give. I’m quite addicted to social networking and useless browsing so I might even unplug my Internet for the month (yikes!)

So I’m scheduling a couple of posts. hopefully you wont miss me too much 😛

Ohh here’s the Cinnamon french toast with poached caramel flavoured apples that I turned out the other day. Ok Ok so I couldn’t resist. I took a bite before I could click the pic, trust me- you would do the same.

Cinnamon toast + poached apple

What you need:

for the french toast:

1 egg

2 slices of white bread

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup cold milk

For the poached apples

1 red apple; peeled, cored and sliced(whichever type)

1 small cinnamon stick

3 tbs sugar

1 cup water

1/2 tsp lemon juice

What to do:

1. Make the poached apples. Caramelize 3tbs of sugar in a saucepan and pour a cup of water once caramelized. Reduce heat.

2. Put the lemon juice, cinnamon and apple slices in the saucepan and cook covered for 15 minutes till done.

3. Make the french toast. Beat eggs, cinnamon, sugar, salt and milk. Dip slices of bread and fry in a non stick pan till golden brown on both sides.

4. Serve both together. Pour some of the caramel liquid over the apples and the toast. YUM!

I sat down on my pretty little (new!) carpet to enjoy this massive breakfast. ahh soft soft carpet.

Miniature Pancakes

OK why miniature??

I don’t know! just a whim! but they were super cute. I like pancakes once in a while. If I crave for pancakes as a main course, it’s got to be the paper-thin no rise kind.

But If it’s a  decadent Sunday Morning breakfast, I go for the fluffy baking powder kind.

What you need

1 large egg (the fluffier the pancake, the better)

1 cup flour (I used whole)

3/4 cup milk (I used soy)

1/4 tsp baking powder

Salt to taste

What to do:

1. Sift flour with baking powder.

2. Mix everything in a bowl and whisk till a thick-ish consistency is obtained

3. Pour in small ladleful’s onto a hot greased skillet

4. Cover and cook on low for a minute on each side.

5. Serve warm

Bendy Straw Mango Smootie

The best part about Summer is the Mango of course. The Alphonso Mango to be more specific. 

The Mango Season is almost like a festival one to be prolonged and savoured without bothering about trivial obstacles like weight loss or diabetes. My dear (severely diabetic) grandmother bought 6 dozen of these crimson shells of happiness. 

For most of the part, we just eat them whole: It really is nonpareil in it’s natural form. But what harm is it to smootie it or to aamras it or to tart it or cheesecake is?

And there certainly is no harm in eating it for breakfast.

A couple of days back I twittered  about the boredom in breakfast dishes. I take that back. If mangoes were to be my daily morning fix; so be it. 

As though the idea of gulping thick sweet crimson mango flesh wasn’t good enough, I added a bendy straw for additional joy. Of course I’ve always known and used straws but my awareness towards bendy straws arose from an episode of ugly betty (believe it or not). Well what can I say about the power of suggestion, we had the straws at home in a week.

I don’t know what it is about bending a plastic straw toward my face that gives me immense comfort and joy, really.

 

Bendy Straw Mango Smoothie

What you need:

1 ripe mango (pref alphonso)

1/4 cup milk

4-5 ice cubes

1 bendy straw 

 

What to do:

1. Blend the mango, milk and ice cubes.

2. Pour into a glass and place your bendy straw in a strategic position (the way you like it) Drink up the crimson joy.

More veg less egg frittata

I really love frittata. It’s way better than eating a boring omelet. Also, veggies in any form are welcome in my usual high carb high protien diet.

So anyway, I made a fritata with just one egg but a lot of veg and it was surprisingly good. Also I could afford to reduce the egg and use low fat cottage cheese as topping. That stuff even melted!

More Veg Less Egg Frittata

What you need:

1 large egg

4-5 large mushrooms

1-2 baby corn (obviously) on  the cobs

1 small red onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 green chili, finely chopped (modify if you want)

¼ cup of low fat cottage cheese (or any cheese you like)

2 tbs milk

Salt to taste

Chopped cilantro

 

 

What to do:

1. Beat the egg with salt pepper and milk.
2. Stir-fry the veggies with salt and pepper
3. Pour beaten egg over veggies cover and let it cook till bottom is firm
4. Remove from flame and top with crushed cottage cheese
5. Bake on 180C for 10 minutes to brown the top
6. top with cilantro and serve

 

Fruit, Nut and Grain bars/whatchamacallit

I absolutely love experimenting with oats. The other day I wanted a quick fix. something oat-ey and nutty and fruity but please not a boring bowl of oatmeal.

Whenever I experiment, I simply just keep going and letting things happen rather than actually thinking about what I want to eat.

Thus was born the oat, fruit, nut and grain bars/whatchamacallit. These are very crunchy and  chunky and really good.

What you need:

2 cups of quick cook oats

2 tsp of powdered flax seed (optn)

1 large ripe banana

1 tbs butter

1/4 cup of mixed sliced nuts

1/4 cup of raisins and other dry fruit

Sugar/honey as per your taste

1 pinch of salt

 

What you need to do:

• Preheat oven to 150 C /300 F
• Finely powder one cup of the oats
• puree the banana
• mix all the ingredients together
• add just a bit of water if too clumpy (not too much)
• press mix onto oiled baking sheet
• bake for 30  minutes till dry and flaky.

 

Gr8 with sliced banana or just crushed into yoghurt or milk.