Berry Blast Smoothie

This is one of my kid's favourite smoothie. Fruits and flaxseed makes it healthier. I make ours with frozen yogurt and kids with icecream. Enjoy this delicious smoothie on a hot summer day!

Ingredients:

Strawberry - 1 1/2 cup
Blueberry - 1 cup
Frozen/ Thick yogurt - 1 cup ( Can substitute vanilla ice cream)
Skimmed Milk - 1/2 cup
Flaxseed meal - 2 tbsp.
Honey - 3 tbsp.

Method Of Preparation:

~ Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
~ Serve chilled.

Sending this to following events,
May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Tomato Blues Summer Spirits

Pineapple Pistachio Delight/ Watergate Salad

Don’t go by the name, it’s not a salad, it’s a dessert and one of my favorite desserts. Not only because it’s super easy to prepare ahead of time, it tastes divine!! I have gotten comments that this is the best dessert they have ever had! Anyways, I already had this Watergate Salad posted on my blog, but reposting for my event and also with better pictures. It didn’t get the love it deserved then, so giving it all now. :o)

Ingredients:

Crushed pineapple in juice – 1 Can (20 oz)

JELL-O pistachio instant pudding mix – 1 pkg (3.4 ounce)

Miniature Marshmallows – 2 cups

Chopped pistachio and walnuts – 1 cup

Heavy whipping cream – 1 quart or 32 oz.

Sugar – ½ cup(if Required – I usually skip it)

Method of Preparation:
 ~ Put whipping blades and whipping bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes.
~ Take it out and then pour the heavy whipping cream in it. Whip the cream for about 5 minutes or until the small spikes starts on the whipped cream.
~ Now add sugar, instant pudding mix and whip for another minute to mix it thoroughly.
~ Take out the whipping blades. Add drained crushed pineapple and nuts.
~ Now add the marshmallows and give it a stir. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Sending this delicious dessert to following events,
May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Tomato Blues Summer Spirits
Divya's Showcase - Desserts

Cranberry Banana Bread

We had a fight over something last week, so to make my DH talk to me, I baked these cakes. The Banana Walnut bread that I make are his favorites. I tried a variation of that with cranberries this time. It turned out really moist and delicious. And yes, you guessed it right, DH was all praise for it. Later he did ask me, if I baked it to get him talking. :o)

Prep Time: 10 min| Baking Time: About 1 hour| Makes: One Bread loaf

Ingredients:

Flour - 2 cups (I used maida & whole grain in 1:1 ratio)

Flaxseed flour – 1/3 cup (optional)

Baking Soda – 1 tsp.

Brown sugar – 1 cup

Olive oil – ½ cup

Eggs - 2

Yogurt (Beaten) – 2/3 cup

Ripe Bananas – 2 or 3 – 1 cup 

Cranberries – 1 cup

Salt -  1/4 tsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

~ Add a tablespoon of flour on cranberries and coat them all lightly

~ Mix flours, baking soda and sieve them together

~ In another bigger bowl, mix together brown sugar and olive oil. 

~ Add eggs, half of yogurt and  bananas.  Mix well. 

~ Slowly add flour mixture and yogurt alternating.

~ Lastly fold in cranberries

~ Bake for 50-55 minutes.

~ Remove when inserted toothpick comes out clean.

~ Let it cool for some time and then let it completely cool on a cooling rack.

~ Cut into slices using a serrated knife and serve.

Sending this delicious bread to following events,
May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits
Vardhini's Bake Fest Hosted at Now Serving

Jackfruit Pancake/ Phanas Poale

Jackfruit or Phanas as we call it, is one of my favorite fruits. We used to get that in abundance in my native place in North Canara. During our summer visits first thing I used to do was to run to the big jackfruit trees in the backyard and count how many we could have before we leave. We would keep a watch on the ripening jackfruit so no monkeys can harm them. Even before they ripe sometimes my granny would take it out to make curries, chips etc. Ripe ones were usually attacked by all the grandkids.. But she would sometime ask us to leave some of it so she can make dosa or idli out of it.

Here I don't have the luxury of getting fresh fruit. But I always stock up on canned ones. My kids love it too. So when I was blog hopping Kaveri, I jumped to this recipe of jackfruit pancakes. Though I have had this many times before, it's never enough for me. :o) Kaveri has lot of Palakkad recipes on her space. These pancakes turned out really good. Jackfruit gives real nice flavor to common dishes. Try it out and let me know.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time | Pressure cook time + making each pancake

Ingredients:

Jackfruit - 1 Cup (1 can full of jackfruits)

Paraboiled rice/ Long grain rice - 1 1/2 Cup

Jaggery - 1 Cup (Brown Sugar)

Salt - 1/4 tsp.

Oil to grease the pan

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash rice and leave it to soak for 3 to 4 hours.
~ Soak jaggery in little water and let the impurities settle down.
~ Meanwhile if you have fresh jackfruit, remove the shell, pull out each fruits from it. Deseed and wash the fruits. If it's from canned, remove the syrup and rinse with water
~ Roughly chop the fruit and pressure cook for 2 or 3 whistles.
~ Grind the rice adding little water. When the batter is coarse, add cooked jackfruit and jaggery, grind to smooth paste.
~ Heat a thick pan and pour a ladle full of batter onto the pan. Drizzle some oil on and around the pancake/ dosa. Let it cook on that side for a minute.
~ Flip it over gently using a flat spatula and cook the other side.
~ Serve it hot with some butter on top.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

These are cooked up to go for Radhika of Tickling Palates blog hop event.

Sharing this at May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Srivalli's Kids Delight hosted at UK-Rasoi,
Chandrani's Spotlight - Healthy Breakfast ,
Divya's Let's Party - Breakfast 

Pineapple Papaya salsa

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! Today I am taking this beautiful Pineapple Papaya salsa for the party. Isn't it beautiful. It's a great twist to the normal salsa. I saw this recipe on my office bulletin board a few days back. I was really impressed how simple changes turn something familiar into a totally different experience.

Ingredients:

Papaya - 1 whole
Pineapple - 1 whole
Green Onion/ Scallions - 4 springs (chopped fine)

Garlic - 3 pods, minced
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Pepper - 1/4 tsp.

Method of Preparation:
~ Wash, cut into half, deseed, peel the skin and cut papaya into small cubes
~ Cut pineapple in half. Remove the outer skin. Chop them into small cubes.
~ Mix everything and serve it up. :o)

Sharing this at May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Srivalli's Kids Delight hosted at UK-Rasoi

Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie

This is one of my all time favorite breakfast smoothie. Especially if am in hurry to get out, all it takes is two minutes. I do love to sit down and enjoy every sip of it though. Here is a quick look at the quick recipe.

Prep Time: 1 min| Makes: About 2 and half cups

Ingredients:

Strawberry - 5 to 7 (I use the ones that I froze)
Banana - 1 medium
Protein Powder - 1 tbsp (optional)
Cold Milk - 1 Cup

Method of Preparation:

Blend everything to smooth consistency. Serve it chilled.

Note:
~ Options are endless to what you can add to this combination. I usually add another piece of fruit or flaxseed meal or oatmeal.
~ You can add sugar or honey if you need more sweet. But usually the fruits compensate for that.
~ Since I used frozen strawberries I didn't add any icecubes. You can add one or two cubes if needed.
~ Serve it immeditely, otherwise bananas will tend to make the shake loose it's bright pink color.

Sharing this at May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Srivalli's Kids Delight hosted at UK-Rasoi,
Chandrani's Spotlight - Healthy Breakfast ,
Divya's Let's Party - Breakfast 

Roundup Bon Vivant #3 - Breakfast Ideas

I started this series to remind me to add recipes to few sections. And ofcourse my recipe list on the Breakfast items was very low. I needed ideas and inspirations. I can't believe how much talent is out there in culinary world. All credits to my blogger friends who are making it happen.



So here is Bon Vivant's latest collection of Breakfast Ideas. Visit them and appreciate their creativity with new and classic dishes.

Roundup - Bake Fest #6

Baking is such a comforting art. I know many of you will agree with it. I bake when I don't feel like cooking on stove top, I bake when I bored, I bake when I want to spend some time with my kids educating them. So there are many more reasons for which I bake.


I have to thank Vardhini for letting me host her this beautiful Bake Fest. There were so many baked goodies that got linked up. Amazing to see how many women out there are coming up with so many wonderful recipes to feed their loved ones.
Without much delay I present you the baked goodies. Enjoy and keep joining us on Bake fest. For schedule visit Vardhini here.