Avocado cup cake

Other day we went to Sam's club for shopping and bought a bag of avocados. I used half of it for gauc. I didn't wanna use remaining for gauc not that we don't enjoy it but wanted to enjoy avocado in various other ways. I started googling and guess what.. I found a nice recipe of a cup cake. Sounds so very appetizing .. so what we waiting for.. Let's make note of ingredients

Ingredients - 

Cupcake - 

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
•  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup mashed avocado
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil/ olive oil/ canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup non-dairy milk ( you can also use regular dairy milk if you are not vegan)
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.  

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup mashed avocado
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 cups icing sugar
• Milk if needed for thinning

Directions - 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line a muffin tin with 12 liners. In a large bowl combine the flour, lime zest, baking powder and soda, and salt. 
• Puree the avocado in a bowl or blender then mix in the oil. Stir into this the sugar followed by milk, lime juice and vanilla extract. 
• Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Make sure there are no lumps. 
• Pour batter into prepared liners and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Let the cupcakes cool in pan. 

Frosting Directions - 

• Mash avocado with the lime juice in a medium bowl until smooth then stir in icing sugar. Cover and refrigerate it until cupcakes cool and ready for frosting. 
• Spread about a tablespoon of frosting on each cake. 

Let me know if you like them. I enjoyed the new way of consuming avocado. To avoid calories, I skipped frosting :P

Banana-choco bread

I found this yummy recipe on one of the groups on facebook called Chef at large. It was super hit amongst everyone. The best part of this recipe is it is yeast free and zero oil, uses whole wheat flour. Very healthy and absolutely no compromise on taste. Let's get started without further delay -

Ingredients - 

• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 
• 2 banana
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup crushed almonds and walnuts
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• Pinch of salt

Directions - 

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and prepare a tin/ pan
• In a bowl; mix flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Keep aside. 
• Blend bananas and sugar with electric mixer for 3-4 minutes
• Add vanilla extract and yogurt to the banana mixture and mix well. 
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Add nuts to the mixture. 
• Pour batter in the prepared tin and sprinkle some nuts on top of the batter. 
• Bake for 45-60 mins or until done.  

Please do leave a comment and help us bake better. 

Amish White Bread

Bread is such a staple food in everyone's home these days. From west to east, all of us enjoy eating bread with butter, cream cheese, jam, spreads, etc etc.

It avoided baking this for very long due to my apprehensive nature and am glad not only that I overcame my apprehensions but it was softest bread and from now I intend to bake bread and stop buying from market.

Trust me after you have tried this, you won't ever wanna buy it from market.

Let's dive in -

Ingredients - 

• 1 cup warm warm (about 110 degrees F)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups bread flour/ all purpose flour

Directions - 

• In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. 
• Mix salt and oil into yeast. Mix in flour and knead dough until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. 
• Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes and shape into loaves. Place into well oiled loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes or until dough has risen 1 inch above pan. 
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes. 

It rose so much that it touched upper rack and those marks are visible on bread... Had to adjust rack position but was too late by then.  

Tip: 

If you don't like sweet bread reduce sugar according to your taste. 

Timing to bake bread varies depending in oven. So you may be more or less than 20 minutes.  

Do try this and post your opinion in comments below.

guacamole

S, had asked me to prepare guac way long back. I finally surprised him last evening with guac during our snack time. S, loves food (good food) and he doesn't praise unless I nailed it perfect. When he tasted guac, he gave me a pat on my shoulder. I was on cloud nine :)

Let's get started - 

Ingredients 

•  3 Avocados - Peeled, Pitted and mashed
• 1 small lime juiced
•  Salt to taste (add little less than what usually you use) 
• 1 small onion (you could also use spring onion/ scallions/ green onion)
• 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro (coriander)
• 1 large tomatoes - diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (optional)
• 2 jalapenos (depending on spice level of your choice).

Directions 

In a bowl, mash together avocados, lime juice and salt. Stir in onion tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and jalapenos. Serve immediately.  

Tip: If you have prepared this ahead, keep stones of avocadoes in gauc and keep it refrigerated to retain green color. 

Enjoy and relish this healthy snack without any guilt. 

Very soon will upload recipe of baked chips to munch with gauc. Till then goodbye. 

If you like my post please do leave a comment.  

Thepla

Thepla, is another type of indian bread from Gujarat, India. It is also called as 'Dhebra'. This is very popular as they are served regular meals, best companion during travel and picnics. These can be made with variety of flavors like ajama (Carom seeds), Til (sesame seeds), Doodhi (Bottle gourd), Mooli (Radish). 

Ingredients  -

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp chilli powder 

1 tsp coriander / cumin powder

salt to taste

whole wheat flour for rolling

oil for cooking

Directions - 

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead into a soft dough using enough water. 

Knead the dough well cover it and keep aside for 10 mins. 

Divide it into equal portions and roll out each portion into a circle desire of your thickness.

Heat a tava (griddle) and cook each side, after that add little oil on each side and let it cook till golden brown color from both sides. 

Serve it with chundo (sweet mango pickle), or aloo subzi (dry potato side dish), yogurt (curd). My personal favorite is aloo subzi. :)

Tip: If preparing for travelling, knead it with milk instead of water. For soft thepla, dough should be soft and cook it on high flame.

During travel, I enjoyed these with srikand, Chundo, ghatiya, spicy mango pickle, onion, aloo subzi and Alphonso mangoes

Try it, click it and share it.

Potato Soup

This is my second winter in USA and this year winter is so much better than previous year. While I think what to cook for dinner the only thing which occurred to me was something which keeps us warm and then I decide for potato soup, which will warm us on a cold winter night.

Ingredients

1-1/4 potatoes, peeled and quartered

3/8 small carrot, finely chopped

1/8 stalk celery, finely chopped

3/8 small onion, minced

1/2 cup water/ vegetable broth

salt to taste

3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cup shredded swiss cheese

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, vegetable broth/ water and salt to boil. Reduce heat cover and simmer until all veggies are tender. Once cool pour this in a mixie and make  it into a nice smooth. I left some potato pieces intentional to chew it while sipping it. Also, I used water instead of vegetable broth. 

Stir in milk to the mixture. 

In a small mixing bowl, blend butter, flour, parsley and pepper; stir into mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

Remove from heat, add cheese and stir until melted. 

Garnish with cheese and croutons. Serve hot. 

Try it, click it and let me know if you enjoyed it. 

Mango cheesecake

It is a season of love, romance and to fill our lives with sweetness. To celebrate valentines day was thinking of various options to gift my S (my spouse). I wanted to gift something apart from card, chocolates, candles, accessories, clothes, etc. so thought of making an eggless no bake mango cheesecake. S loves mangoes and in USA we don't get the type of mangoes which are so very easily available in India. And I was very happy with results. It was such a delight to see him enjoy cheesecake. This is a simple recipe with few ingredients. Best part is no bake and no egg. 

Let's make note of ingredients required (for a 750 gm cake) 

250 gm Mangoes
200 gm digestive biscuits
3 tbsp melted butter (unsalted)
3/4 cup sugar or more (Depending on sourness of fruit)
1 cup hung curd (You could also use cream cheese)
1 cup cream
1 tbsp gelatin (or agar agar)
4 tbsp water
some pistachio for garnishing

Steps:

1. Grind the biscuits and mix in the melted butter with it. Line the base of the serving dish evenly and smoothly with the biscuit mixture. Put in the refrigerate to set. I used individual classes to serve this to all guests. You could use either of things as per your preference and comfort.  

2. Puree mangoes and sugar together in a mixie/ blender. Add the hung curd and cream, blend well to make a smooth mixture. Pour it into a bowl. You could also use readily available mango pulp in that scenario sugar is not required. I used pulp and skipped sugar. Add 4 Tbsp of water in the gelatin. Then pour the gelatin slowly into mixture. Keep stirring continuously. 

3. Now pour the mango mixture onto set biscuit base. Cover and refrigerate to set overnight.

4. Pour some mango pulp on the top of mixture as a final layer to dessert and refrigerate for 30 mins and serve cold. 

Garnish with sliced pistachio and serve cold, unfortunately I ran out of it so couldn't garnish :( 

Tip: Make sure to drain water from curd. The curd should be really thick. 

Note: I have never used agar agar so not very sure how to use it. Please refer some youtube videos to guide you.