The market is brimming with fresh berries and I couldn't resist picking up a pack of bright strawberries from my farmer's market trip on Sunday. The berries were super fresh and tasted just out of this world. Fruits definitely taste best in their peak season.
I made this mixed berry muffins a couple of weeks ago with a mix of leftover berries from the fridge. These days I find myself baking muffins very frequently. Whenever I do, I bake and freeze half of the batch. Whenever I or my LO crave a snack, I just pull one muffin out from the freezer and warm it in the microwave oven for 30-60 seconds.
Ingredients:
Makes 10 standard sized muffins;
Preparation time 15 mins; Baking time - 25 mins
All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp
Oil - 1/4 cup
Eggs - 2 (room temperature)
Buttermilk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla - 2 tsp
lemon zest/orange zest - 2 tsp
Mixed Berries - 1-1/2 cups (I used a mix of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F/200 C. Line a muffin tin with liners or grease with oil. Mix the first three ingredients in a bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with sugar. Add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and citrus zest and whisk again. Add the dry ingredients slowly and mix until no streaks of flour remain. Do not beat or mix more than needed. Fold in the berries with a spatula. Fill in the muffin tin until full. Pop in the oven for 5 mins and reduce the heat to 350 F/180 C and bake for another 17-20 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool it a little and serve warm. This muffins can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Note: Do not open the oven door after 5 minutes when you reduce the heat.
'One should never shop on an empty stomach' is a good saying. You end up buying more than you need. That is true. In my case I got this can of evaporated milk thinking of making some dessert way back in November which was on sale for Thanksgiving. It had been sitting in my pantry often noticed, but never cared for.
The other day I opened this can to make a creamy pasta sauce from scratch. I did not use it up all and it was sitting in my fridge for a couple of days. One fine morning, I decided to make a creamy blueberry oatmeal hoping that my little one will have for breakfast. He loves anything blueberries. But since he was becoming more picky off late, I offered him his usual favorite cereal with milk. He had happily. Coming again to the point that I had to finish off the evaporated milk I still made this creamy blueberry oatmeal later that morning. When it was done, the food blogger in me nudged 'It looks blog-worthy, why don't you take a few clicks'. And so when I was laying the setup, pulling the table near to the window, placing it in cups to picture, he got all interested and said in a sing-song tone.. "yummy yummy blueberry mum-mum". He did give me 5 minutes to click as much as I wanted and then demanded a taste. We set out to finish one cup later.
Ingredients:
Serves - 2
Rolled Oats - 1 cup
Whole Milk - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Evaporated milk - 1/4 cup
Maple Syrup - 4 tsp or to taste
Salt - a pinch
Blueberries - 1/2-3/4 cup
Method:
In a medium glass (microwave safe) bowl, mix the oats, milk and salt. Microwave for 4-5 minutes, stirring once in between. Add the maple syrup, blueberries, evaporated milk and mix. Microwave for one more minute and allow a standing time of 2 minutes. Divide into two bowls and serve hot.
Alternate Stove top method:
Boil milk and water until just hot. Add the oats and salt and cook in medium heat until most of the milk is absorbed. Add the maple syrup, blueberries and evaporated milk. Mix and heat until warm. Divide and serve.
In the stovetop method, if you need a creamy, gooey consistency of the oats, add the oats and salt when the milk is still cold and then start cooking.
Notes: Adjust sweetness and amount of blueberries to your taste.
Looking for oatmeal with fruits? Check out my Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal and Mango Oatmeal.
It is going to be almost a month since my last post. Things have been busy in personal and family front. However I didn't want the whole month of January to go without a single note. Though I have been cooking and clicking frequently, the composing part had to take a back seat due to lack of time.
I love making pasta sauces from scratch but mostly I tried to build flavors upon store bought sauces. This is a hearty sauce which I made with leftover canned crushed tomatoes which I had used to make Minestrone soup. Pasta in tomato sauce is my little one's favorite meal and he didn't complain. Sneaking veggies is my favorite part and he didn't have a clue :).
Add any hearty winter vegetable in the place of or in addition to butternut squash in this soup. Carrots, parsnips, acorn squash and pumpkin are great choices.
Ingredients:
Serves - 4
Penne - 1 lb
Onion, chopped - 1 cup
Garlic - 1 clove
Crushed tomatoes, from can - 1 cup
Butternut Squash, cubed - 1 cup (Can substitute Pumpkin)
Vegetable Stock - 1 cup
Evaporated milk - 1/3 cup (see notes below)
Rosemary sprigs - 2 (optional)
Dried Italian seasoning - 1 tbsp
Crushed red pepper flakes - 1/2 tsp
Ground pepper - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - a pinch
Olive oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Parsley / cilantro - for garnish
Parmesan cheese - for garnish
Method:
Heat a tsp of oil in a cast-iron pan and roast the cubed butternut squash until brown and cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat. In another sauce pan, heat the remaining oil and fry the onions and garlic until slightly brown. Add the cooked squash, rosemary sprig, spices and salt. Add the tomato, sugar and stock. Check for seasoning and allow it come to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet instructions. When done, drain reserving about 1 cup of pasta cooked water. Remove the sauce from heat and use an immersion blender to puree. Return to heat and add the evaporated milk. Add the pasta water to thin out the sauce as needed. Add the cooked pasta and toss well. Serve hot garnished with parsley and parmesan cheese.
Notes:
Cream / Half & Half / Whole milk can be used in place of evaporated milk or it can just be skipped.
This sauce can be made in advance and stored in a glass container in the fridge for a couple of days or frozen in ziploc bags.
Did you know that Oatmeal with fruits is a delightful breakfast. After my attempt with Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, I have been looking ways to sneak in fruits to oatmeal. This is another one of my successful try in making my LO love oatmeal. A sweet and creamy mango oatmeal with a hint of cardamom is more like pudding than a oatmeal. LO didn't make any fuss on seeing the bright sunshine colored breakfast. Now that he is identifying colors, he loves to have a colorful breakfast. Yellow as in Mango Oatmeal and Blue in his Blueberry oatmeal (his another favorite).
Ingredients:
Rolled oats - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Whole milk - 1/4 cup or more
Cubed Fresh Mango - 1/2 cup + more for topping
Sugar/Honey - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Salt - a dash
Method:
Mix the oats with water and salt in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave for 1-1/2 minutes. Mix once and cook another half a minute. Puree the mango with milk. Mix the mango puree with the oatmeal and cook another minute in the microwave pausing and mixing once in the 30 seconds mark. Allow 2-3 minutes of standing time. Mix the sugar if using and serve warm topped with cut mango cubes.
Notes: For babies less than 10 months, use an immersion blender to puree the warm oatmeal before serving
Planning for a make-ahead snack for my LO always seems to be challenge. The challenge does not lie in making something but making something he likes. He is turning to be more picky (ahem, guess like who??). It is easy to count the number of things he likes these days. This is one muffin which he actually liked, so I decided to post under Baby and Toddler Foods section. This muffin is butter-free. The peanut butter acts as a butter substitute and makes it super peanut-buttery. I can't talk enough on the good-for-you factors in these muffins. With Oatmeal, whole wheat flour, peanut butter, banana and cinnamon it talks for itself.
Ingredients:
Makes 12 regular sized muffins
Adapted from recipe here
Old fashioned / Rolled oats - 3/4 cup
All-purpose flour / Maida - 3/4 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup (can substitute AP flour)
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Ripe Bananas - 2 (about 1 cup mashed)
Peanut butter - 1/3 cup
Brown sugar, packed - 2/3 cup (see notes below)
Egg - 1 (room temp)
Milk - 1-1/4 cups (room temp)
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Optional Cinnamon Sugar topping:
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a muffin pan with liners. Whisk the flours, oats, cinnamon, salt and baking powder well. In a large mixing bowl, add the bananas and mash them with a fork. You may really do not want a hand mixer, a whisk even. All my mixing was done with the humble fork. Add the peanut butter and egg to the mashed bananas and mix well. Next add the sugar and mix until it dissolves. Add the milk, vanilla and mix again. Now add the flour mixture in 3 additions and mix until no trace of dry flour remains. Divide equally among the muffin cups and bake for about 18-20 minutes.
Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar topping when still warm.
Notes:
These muffins are not overly sweet and was just right. If you want sweeter muffins use 3/4 cup of brown sugar.
Mealtimes are always a challenge with little ones. They become more picky as they grow. Feeding my LO with a healthy balanced meal has always been a tricky task for me. But sneaking in "healthy stuff" into something he eats has been working so far. Touch wood! My LO likes, well like is too strong a word when it comes to his eating. He likes eats oatmeal when it is a little sweet. But he has never been a big fan of fruits except for bananas. So I sneaked in an apple to his breakfast bowl. That satisfies his daily fruit serving and since apple is sweet, he doesn't notice :).
Ingredients:
Serves - 1
Rolled (old fashioned) oats - 1/2 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Whole milk - 1/4 cup
Apple - 1 medium
Cinnamon - 1/4 tsp
Salt - a dash
Sugar - 1-2 tsp
Method:
Peel, core and chop the apples. Blend to make a puree. In a medium Microwave-proof bowl, mix the oats and water. Cook in the microwave oven for 1-1/2 minutes. Mix once and microwave again for 30 seconds. Mix the apple puree, cinnamon, salt and milk and microwave again for 30 to 60 seconds. Allow a minute or two of standby time (allowing it to rest in the microwave undisturbed). Mix in the sugar per taste and serve.
Notes: For babies less than 10 months old, use a hand blender to puree the cooked oatmeal before serving.
Linking this up to Healthy Diets: Healthy Breakfasts event of Priya hosted by Nandoos Kitchen and to Srivalli's Come Join Us for Breakfast.
Like any new mom when it came to start solids for my little one I had millions of questions. Though most of those questions I had were silly I couldn't brush them off as silly at that stage. I used to ask friends and family "Can I give that?", "How much of that?", "Really, Can I give that?". But then I got a hang of it after two months into solids. In South India, a baby's first solid food would generally be Ragi Kanji (finger millet porridge). The millet is soaked overnight, ground in a wet grinder and the milk extracted is then boiled to make porridge. After the Ragi Kanji, the next food introduced is Paruppu Sadham (Rice and Split peas).
When you first start dhal rice for your baby try this simple basic recipe. (Pressure) cook 1 fistful of rice with 1 fistful of any dhal with a small piece of garlic and a dash of salt and turmeric powder. Mash well and add a drop or two of ghee. Serve warm. This recipe below can be tried when your baby has tasted moong dhal, toor dhal and spinach earlier.
Ingredients:
Rice - 1/2 cup
Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
Moong dhal - 1/4 cup
Spinach - a handful - chopped
Onion - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - a pinch
Garlic cloves - 2
Chilli powder / Pepper Powder - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Ghee - a few drops
Method:
Wash and soak the rice and dhal for 30 minutes. This soaking step is really important for a creamy smooth dhal rice, which the little ones go gah-gah over. In a pressure cooker, heat oil and splutter the cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions and whole garlic cloves and fry until the onions are cooked. Next add the chilli powder, salt and spinach. Cook until the spinach wilts. Drain the rice-dhal and add to the cooker. Add 3 cups of water, cover and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Drizzle ghee, mash well and serve.
I had been wanting to start a section for Baby and Toddler Foods for a while now. Kavin is now 19 months and pretty much eats whatever I make for us. Of course mealtimes are fuss times. Now that he had started saying "enough" (in our language), he starts saying enough midway through his meal or sometimes even after the first spoon. On some days when I have leftovers for me to finish, I make some of his favorites. These recipes I will be posting here are Kavin-approved tasty baby foods.
Ingredients:
Serves - 1;
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Carrots - chopped - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt - a pinch
Pepper - a pinch
Ghee - 1/2 tsp
Method:
In a closed saucepan, cook the chopped carrots with water and a pinch of salt and pepper. When the carrots are completely through, cool it a little and puree in the blender. Mash the cooked rice when it is still hot and mix in the ghee and pureed carrots. Serve warm.
Notes:
Baby age - 7 months and above. Make sure you have already introduced rice and carrots to your baby, not necessarily together.
Ingredients:
