Kale Breakfast Smoothie

My lil one had a bad cold yesterday. So I called mom to figure out what I can make so she can breathe easy. Mom recommended some home remedy. She was all perky and happy today morning. I asked her how did she feel after the drink. She said, with wonder in her eyes, "Amma (Grandma) is Genius Mommy. She is doctor or what! I feel better already!" LOL, I had such a good laugh after hearing this 3 year old. 

Well coming to this smoothie, it had nothing to do with above situation. But this is what I had for my breakfast. I soon realized I haven't blogged it, so took some quick pictures to go with it. All in all, it took me just extra 2 minutes of my morning for that. This super easy, nutrient and mineral rich smoothie is sure to delight you. It's so filling that you won't be hungry for few hours. 

Kale is one of my favorite for breakfast, I usually make this or the spicy smoothie version. You can make these Kale Chips with it too. Kale is supposed to help boost immunity. So go ahead grab some while grocery shopping today.

Prep Time : 2 min | Makes : One Tall glass

Ingredients:

Kale leaves - 1 Cup (packed)

Banana - 1

Pineapple pieces - 1/2 Cup

Almond Milk/ Coconut Milk/ Skimmed Milk - 1 Cup

Quick Oats - 1/2 Cup

Method of Preparation:

~ Put everything in a blender and mix until smooth.

Sending this to ongoing Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite

Vardhini's New U,
Simply.Food's Let's Cook Healthy Breakfast,
Veg Junction's Healthy Diet - Smoothies
Breakfast Club at Farmersgirl Kitchen
CookCookandCook andThoushaltcook's – Mission Breakfast at Nivedhanam

Blackberry Breakfast Muffins

Breakfast is something that need to be served to my family quickly in the morning. I am sure that's the case in all household. Breakfast is one meal that should never be missed. I have read somewhere that you should eat a healthy and filling breakfast within an hour of waking up, gives a good kick start to your metabolism. I try to follow that rule. I sometime make these muffins over the weekend, so we can use it once in a while over the week. These freeze well for up to a month or so. Just pull out and pop them in microwave to serve.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time : 30 min | Makes : 18 muffins

Recipe Source - Taste of Home
Ingredients:

Multi-grain Flour + All purpose flour - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Baking Powder - 1 tsp.
Olive oil/ Butter - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1 -1/4 cups
Eggs - 2 (OR Flax-seed Flour - 2 tbsp soaked in 2 tbsp of water)
Spice powder - 1/2 tsp.
Milk - 1/2 Cup
Fresh/ Frozen Blackberries - 2 cups (full or cut up)
Brown Sugar - 1 tbsp to sprinkle on top.

Method of Preparation:

~ Preheat the oven to 375°. Line the muffin tin with paper muffin cups or grease and keep it ready.
~ In a small bowl, sieve flour, baking powder and salt. 
~ In another bigger bowl, cream oil and sugar until soft.
~ Add eggs and beat well. 
~ Now add the flour mixture into this mix, alternating with milk. Make sure to beat well to combine after each time. 
~ Lastly fold in the blackberries.
~ Fill in the muffin cups till 2/3rd. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top.
~ Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
~ Cool for few minutes and then put them on wire rack to cool further. Be careful with cooling, since fresh fruits tend to be more hot when you bite into it.
~ Serve them warm.

On a side note at last decided to create Sumee's Culinary Page on Facebook! I would appreciate if you guys like my page. Thank you!

Sending this to ongoing Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite

Vardhini's Bake Fest #15 going on @Sumee's Culinary,  
Vardhini's New U,
Simply.Food's Let's Cook Healthy Breakfast,
Preeti's Foodabulous Fest 
Food Corner's Cook Like Celebrity Chef
Cousine Delight's Spotlight - Valentine treat
Breakfast Club at Farmersgirl Kitchen
CookCookandCook andThoushaltcook's – Mission Breakfast at Nivedhanam

Multi-grain Pancake/ Buttermilk pancake

I have been preparing these pancakes for longest time that I can remember. I hadn't thought of blogging about it, probably coz I never get to take a picture of it. Before I know it, I serve everyone hot pancake and no time to take picture. At last over the weekend tried to remember and take a few quick picture before they disappeared.

Had read some basic recipe of pancake, but tweaking is a way of cooking right! So that recipe was tweaked and here is my healthier version. Kiddos haven't had any other way than the multi-grain flour. It's my little ones favorite. You can bet that given a choice she will have that everyday for the breakfast.

Some changes to make it interesting -->
~ Adding fruits, like bits of banana's or blue berries. Little one is against finding any of it, so once her's is done I drop in few for everyone else.
~ I crush fruit loops serial in a Ziploc bag and mix it in the pancake and call it my RAINBOW pancake. :)
~ While dropping the mixture on hot pan, use a small spoon and drop one after the other to give a swirling effect on the pancake as above.

Prep Time : 5 min | Cooking Time : 2 minutes each | Serves: 4 


Ingredients:

Multi-grain flour - 1 cup 
Baking Soda - 1 tsp. (optional) - I skip mostly
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Sugar - 1 tsp.
Egg - 1 (optional)
Buttermilk - 1/2 cup (Or Yogurt - 2 tbsp.- Beat with 1 tbsp of water)
Olive oil - 1 tbsp.
Milk - 1/2 cup (more if required for consistency)

Method of Preparation:

~ In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. 

~ In another bowl, beat egg. Make a well in the center and pour in egg, buttermilk and olive oil. 

~ Add milk and mix all the ingredients thoroughly making sure no lumps are formed. 

~ Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat. 

~ Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, using about 2 tbsp of the mix. 

~ Brown on both sides.
~ Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.


Sending this to ongoing Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite

and Vardhini's New U, 
Simply.Food's Let's Cook Healthy Breakfast,  
CookCookandCook andThoushaltcook's – Mission Breakfast at Nivedhanam

Khara Pongal/ Savory Rice dish

Happy Sankranthi everyone. Hope all of you had good celebration. Sankranthi is a harvest festival in India. And usually celebrated exchanging of Sweets made of Sesame seeds, Sugar Candies, Sugar Cane sticks and fruits. The idea was to distribute sweets to spread the sweetness in the community. Back in Bangalore my mom would prepare many plates of all the delicacies and send us to distribute to neighbors and friends. I would even take smaller packets to school to distribute to all my friends. Her "Tilgul" mixture is a classic! 

Pongal is something that my mom learnt in Bangalore. The name Pongal means dish made by boiling milk and rice. Fresh harvest rice would be used to make sweet or savory dish to enjoy during this festival. Today I made savory version of Pongal. By the way Khara means "Spicy" in Kannada. My previous attempts were just so so and I wasn't too pleased with it, coz it was more or like Khichdi. I was telling that to my little sister and she gave me her version of Khara Pongal. It turned out really delicious. Kiddos wanted to eat only that (without the nuts ofcourse!!) It was all yummy goodness. 

Prep Time : 5 min | Cooking Time : 15 min | Serves : 6 Ingredients: Rice - 1 Cup Moong Dal / Yellow split peas - 3/4 Cup Ghee - 2 tsp. Cashew nuts - handful Mustard seeds - 1 tsp. Jeera/ Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp. Hing/ Asefoetida - 1/4 tsp. Green Chilies - 4 finely chopped Ginger - Small piece - sliced in thin sticks Curry / Kadipatta leaves - few Dessicated Coconut - 1/4 cup Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp. Pepper powder - Crushed - 1/2 tsp. Salt - 2 tsp. Water - 3 Cups Milk - 1 Cup Method of Preparation :

~ Wash rice and daal thoroughly. Fill with water and keep it aside to soak.

~ In a wide cooker, heat ghee or oil and roast cashew nuts. Keep it aside once done.

~ In the same pan, add Mustard and Cumin seeds. 

~ Once it crackles, add Hing, Green Chilies, Ginger and Curry leaves. Fry for few seconds.

~  Add washed Moong Dal and Rice. Fry for a minute.

~ Add water, coconut, salt and turmeric powder.

~ Cover and pressure cook for three or four whistles.

~ Once the pressure cooker is cooled down, take out and garnish with pepper powder and roasted cashews.

~ Your one pot meal is ready to be served!

Sending this to ongoing Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite

and Vardhini's New U,
Preeti's Foodabulous

Navaratna Kurma - Favorite Bon Vivant of the month

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my first edition of Favorite Bon Vivant of the month series. As I had announced last month, I chose quite a few dishes I wanted to try. But in the end, I had to nail down to one. Since my hubby's birthday was coming up, I thought I will choose a little rich food. And so I chose this dish. Navaratna Kurma from Home Cook Food.

Now few things about Linsy, author of the blog "Real Home Cooked Food". She is a newbie to cooking blog, but she already has quite a collection of recipes. Her instructions are very easy to follow and got a nice flow in her writings. She has been constant participant in my Bon Vivant series. When I contacted her about trying out her recipe, we realized we both live in the same state. It was really good to connect with her. 

My trial with her recipe turned out really great. Hubby dear was pleased with it. I served it with parathas and peas pulav. Please visit Linsy to get the Recipe Here.  Thank you Linsy for sharing this wonderful dish.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves: 6

Below are the minor changes I did to her recipe - 
~ I steamed the vegetables ahead of time, cutting down the cooking time at later stage.
~ I used canned tomato sauce (3 tbsp.) instead of puree. It gave nice bright color.
~ Skipped Cashew, Ghee and Cream.

Join us for more Bon Vivant here.

Sending this to ongoing Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite

and Vardhini's New U,
Preeti's Foodabulous

Bon Vivant Roundup #10 - Festive Feasts

This is the roundup for last two months. The festivals and holidays through the month of November and December saw a great deal of cooking champions whip out delicacies. I had overwhelming 148 entries and each one was amazing presentation and festive!

Thanks to all those who participated. As promised last month, I went about choosing which recipe I would want to try. I had thought it would be easy task. But it wasn't. I had all these amazing recipes and just ONE for to try. Well, I literally gave my "short" list to hubby and asked him what he would like for me to make for his birthday dinner. He again chose quite a few and then I narrowed down. I have already cooked, eaten and wiped the plate clean. So wait for the post "Bon Vivant of the month" soon. 

And join in for the Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite going on right now at my space. Enjoy the festive feast below..

Bon Vivant #11 - Healthy Appetite

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a fun New Year's Eve and celebrated it with family and friends. I did too. Rather too much fun that we all are lacking sleep now. But the sugar rush is such that it's doing it's work. So after all the holiday season and cooking rich food, I am sure everyone wants to try and eat healthy. Half of the world population has this as one of the their new year's resolution I think. :o) I don't really make resolutions, but I do start back into healthy eating after the holiday indulge. 

So this month Bon Vivant, I invite you to like up all your healthy cooking. I do not want to define what is healthy, please use your on discretion when linking up your recipes. You could replace certain fat ingredients like butter with oil in your recipe, you could bake instead of frying, you could use multi-grain instead of all purpose, or you could exchange the main ingredients of the recipe with a healthier substitute. Possibilities are endless.. And who knows your recipes might be next to be selected for featuring on my blog. Please see the notes below about this. 

Rules for the Bon Vivant event :

~ Multiple entries are allowed. Usage of the logo is a must.
~ Linking back to this announcement page is mandatory to get the word out. I have noticed many of them are not back linked. I will have to promptly remove them if not linked back after one notice.
~ Vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes are allowed. No pork or beef ingredients please.
~ Blog post should be in month of Jan.
~ Two old posts are allowed, if re-posted again in Jan.
~ Please link up your post using the linkz below. In case of any problem linking please send me an email with your name, recipe name, recipe click and url to sumeesculinary@gmail.com
~ Non-bloggers can email the recipe along with a picture of the dish to the above email address.

NOTE - "Favorite Bon Vivant of the Month"
- I will choose a recipe from all the entries to Bon Vivant in the previous month (in this case, it will be Jan 2013 Bon Vivant).
- I will inform the owner of the recipe before-hand about the selection, so if you have any apprehension you can let me know and I will pick another one to feature. Also I will wait for two days for reply, just so that I don't wait too long to choose another one. 
- I will try that recipe in the next month, take pictures, but link for recipe will be given to the original recipe of yours. So I will feature you, your blog and your recipe on my blog. 

A humble note: I am featuring one recipe a month, that does not mean that other participants weren't good enough. It's just that I liked the recipe and wanted to try it immediately. Solely based on my instincts and discretion.