Crunchy Granola with Almonds, Coconut, and Pepitas

Today I am sharing another granola recipe that I prepare at home. This is a recipe in which the granola has a higher quantity of nuts and seeds than is usually found in granola. It is one of my favorite breakfast foods. This granola is delicious and crunchy and can be enjoyed with warm or cold milk. It is also delicious with Greek yogurt and fresh fruits!

Oats and Red Rice Idli | Oats and Rosematta Rice Idly

Of late idlis have become a staple in our diet. No, they longer belong to the weekends. The steamer is always ready in my kitchen now. The regular idlis area  combination of rice and urad dal and are the best part of any gluten free diet. However, I love to experiment with new foods and create nutritious recipes in my kitchen - trying different grains to create a yummy and healthy idli is my current fix.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Almond Breakfast Bars | Eggless Baking

Almonds are a nutrition powerhouse. I love cooking and baking with them and my latest passion is to bake with almond butter. Last month I baked the super delicious Cinnamon Almond Raisin Twists where I used almond butter as a spread in the twists. And last summer my Almond Butter Oats Cookies were such a treat that I keep getting repeat orders for them!!

Almond, Dates, and Oats Laddoo | Healthy Festival Sweets

Navratri is here and its time to get cooking!! I have a long list of delicious treats that I want to make and this list only gets longer each year:) Hey, what's a festival without delicious sweets and savories to tickle the taste buds. If you are looking for Fasting Recipes | Vrat ka Khana, you are at the right spot too as I have a great archive of some delicious Fasting Foods.

Banana Oats Breakfast Cake | Eggless Baking

Banana Bread or Banana Cake is a favorite in our home. I bake it at least once a month - and have many variations of  this delicious cake on my blog. I have baked Banana Cake with raising, with nuts, multi-grain flours, with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips - the list goes on! This latest is a wonderful Breakfast Cake as it is made with oats. Its dense, healthy, and nutritious and packs the power you need in a breakfast food. I love baking this Cake on weekends, for road trips, or to take along on hikes. At home I just warm a glass of milk and enjoy the cake with it. For the road I pack individual slices in cling film and add them to our snack packs. They are perfect with a hot glass of tea after a good long walk.

Oats and Whole Wheat Bread | Atta Oats Dabal Roti | Bread Recipes

Baking bread is always a pleasure. Bring together the ingredients, make a dough, allow it to rise, shape, rise again, and bake!! Fragrant yeasty aroma wafting through the home and delicious loaf for supper!! This loaf is one of our favourites and whenever I plan a crock pot meal I try to bake this bread. Its great for dunking and sopping up the soup. Eat warm, straight out of the oven, or toast, slather with butter and enjoy:)

Almond Butter Oats Cookies | Eggless Baking

I am back to Sunday baking and loving it!! So many delicious breads, cakes, and cookies to be baked. I love that I make these baked goodies at home, instead of buying them in the store. The number of ingredients in an average muffin have always scared me. But over time the difference in fresh home baked and store bought has become so apparent that the sweet and salt levels in these goodies have begun to bother me. I love to tinker with ingredients when I bake so that I get the healthy balanced treat. Here's to home baking and guilt free eating:)

Lemon Oats Bhaat | Savoury Lemony Oats

After publishing the Oats Pohe recipe earlier this month, I got many requests from my readers for more Indian Style Oats Recipes. I use Oats in so many recipes that I was surprised to see only two Indian Oats recipes posted to this blog! So here goes another favourite at my home - Lemon Oats Bhaat | Savoury Lemony Oats. In this recipe, I substitute old fashioned oats for rice in the traditional South Indian recipe of Lemon Rice. The result is delicious.

Zeera aur Ajwain ki Mathri | Baked Mathri Recipe

With Holi just round the corner, I have been mulling over what treats to make! Holi in these parts is celebrated with a puja and sharing sweets. Holi colours are rarely available and some states like the one we live in have banned them for environmental and toxicity reasons. In the first few years we were here, I found that no Desi grocer carried these colours. However, in the last couple of years, some companies have started selling organic, environmentally friendly and non-toxic versions of the Holi colours. They may not have the brightness of the colours we grew up with but they serve the purpose!! Water colours and a wet Holi are out of the question with snow still on the ground and temperatures barely out of freezing.

Maple Pecan Granola | Breakfast Foods

Its so cold here that I feel we are living in the Arctic!! Every week, we see a fresh batch of snow, followed by ice rain, and then temperature drops. The ice rain freezes everything and the temperature which can be as low as -20F with wind chills of -35F keep everything beautifully frozen. This has got to be the bitterest winter I have encountered here. The upside of all this cold is that the kitchen is warm and its easier to dish out yummy recipes. I have been baking a lot and we are eating a lot of pies, gratins, macaroni bakes, and cookies. All essential to keeping up the energy and temperament while essentially being stuck indoors!! A warm kitchen does make for a warm home:)

Healthy Blueberry and Peach Cobbler | Eggless Baking

I have a weakness for peaches. And blueberries are a favourite in my family. So when I manage to get my hands on juicy peaches and fresh blueberries I just cannot resist whipping up some delicious Peach and Blueberry Cobbler! Now this may seem more like a recipe for the autumn, and yes I love baking fragrant crumbles, cobblers, and fruit cakes during the autumn. Its an ideal way to enjoy the last fruit of the summer while welcoming apples and pears into my kitchen.

Crunchy Maple Cinnamon Coconut Granola | Breakfast Foods

I have always loved granola and Swiss style muesli - they are the go to breakfast or even snack for me. Until some years back I would always have a box both in my pantry. Then I started making oats for breakfast and I came to love porridge with warmed milk, honey, and fruit. Cooked oats are especially great on cold winter mornings - hearty, filling, and so tasty.

Sambar Oats Bhaat | Savoury Oats and Sambar Porridge

While oats always means milky sweet porridge to me, it was never quite as tasty as when made savoury!! I have been using oats to make savoury treats for quite some time now. Initially I saw skeptical looks around me when I announced something like Oats Poha, Oats Upma, Oats Pongal for brunch!! But one bite and I had converts all around me:) Now I get requests for Oats Kichiri and Pongal all the time!!

Daring Bakers July 2012: Crunchy Crackers

I was delighted that the July 2012 Daring Bakers Challenge featured four recipes for home made crackers!! Yes, that wonderfully salty treat that goes so well with cheese, a wide array of vegetables, and even fruit. Loved the recipes even more as most did not feature butter! I chose two types of crackers: the first Health Crackers. I made just one third of the recipe, replaced the egg with some milk, and topped the crackers with sesame seeds, red chili flakes, and roasted cumin.

Delicious Apple Pecan Crumble

Its apple season here, and we getting a wonderful variety of local apples at the many orchards that dot the countryside. While some orchards have a pick your own policy, some do all the hard work for you and you can just walk into the barn and get a 5lb bag of you favourite fruit or even a bushel if you fancy!! 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Oats | Eggless Baking

The one bread I have become rather partial to in the last few years is Cinnamon Raisin Bread. The thing, however, that I do not like about the store bought brands is that they are invariably made with white flour and other ingredients that one cannot get one's tongue around!!

Chewy Muesli Bars

Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day. And yet how many of us just pop out of the house in the morning thinking - 'I'll have more time tomorrow', 'I'll buy it on the way', 'I'm not really hungry', or the worst excuse of all 'I'm not a breakfast person'!! Supermarkets offer all kinds of breakfast options, and while the best breakfast might actually be oat or wheat porridge, its nice occasionally to jazz it up. These Muesli Bars do the trick!!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup oat bran
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dark raisins
1/3 cup almonds
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup grated coconut

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 320F.
2. Place the butter in the microwave for 11/2 minutes or until completely melted.
3. Remove and add the sugar. Mix well until it is well blended.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients to the the butter-sugar mix, and blend well. It mixture well just about bind together.
5. Spoon this mixture onto a greased cookie sheet, spread, and the press down with a large flat spoon. You can do this with your fingers too, but beware, the mix might be too hot.
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Cool on the sheet. Slice or cut into squares. (Note: at this stage the baked mix might be quite firm. Take care when cutting).

These Muesli Bars are yummy on their own, with a glass of cold milk, or your morning cuppa ( tea for me)!! Packed with whole grain goodness, I find that the coconut, almond, and pecans all add to my energy levels and keep many cravings at bay till lunch. I always make a fresh batch of these bars on Sunday. These bars also make a great snack especially during long-distance travel. They are really easy to carry and very satisfying after a nice long hike or bicycle ride. Try them once, I promise you will not look back!!!!


These wholesome whole grain bars go out to Suganya at Tasty Palettes who is hosting JFI - Whole Grains this month. And as these grains make a great breakfast, these bars go to Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. She is hosting Weekend Breakfast Blogging, the theme for which is Grains in My Breakfast.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Multi-Grain Banana Bread

I am always on a lookout for healthier alternatives to everyday treats. So when I saw Manasi's announcement for Healthy Cooking - A Cookbook Giveaway Event, I decided to go right ahead and try a new recipe that I put together last week, while considering a healthier approach to Banana Bread. Now, Banana Bread is a great favourite in my home and we adore it warm with hazelnut-cinnamon coffee!! But as we all know, Banana Bread is addictive and can become an adorably sinful if delicious treat.

I had, in fact, been toying with the idea of turning my favourite recipe for this yum cake around for a while and I have to thank the Healthy Cooking challenge for giving me the push that I needed to venture forth!!!! So, this is how I went about it: Firstly, I decided to substitute all-purpose flour with whole wheat, and a combination of grains including cornmeal and triticale. Next I dropped the white sugar and replaced it with soft brown sugar and some molasses. And finally, I replaced the butter in the recipe with canola oil. The result was a highly textured, dense, and moist banana bread with a rich malty-banana flavour. Absolutely and utterly delicious.


While this is also know in our home as the disappearing cake, I find that this cake stay best when stored in a refrigerator in an airtight storage box. Cut only as much as you are serving and enjoy it with your favourite beverage or with a lite soft cream cheese spread. Yummmm, and without further ado here's my recipe for Annarasa's Multi-Grain Banana Bread.

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup mixed grains (cornmeal, soy, rye, triticale, rolled oats, wheatgerm, flax meal)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Canola Oil
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. As I like to make smaller loafs, I used 2 samll loaf pans. But a larger pan will work just as well. Grease the pans well.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour and the grains. Blend in the salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the oil, eggs, vanilla extract, molasses, and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Now add the flour-grain mixture, and the mashed bananas, and mix well using a spatula.
5. Pour the prepared batter into the loaf pans. Bake for around an hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans for around ten minutes.
6. Turn out and allow the loafs to cool on the wire rack.

Enjoy :)

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.