Bread Upma

At times, I am this over ambitious person when it comes to meal planning for the week.  And I miserably fail every time when it comes to breakfast. Most of the times, my Plan A would be some elaborate menu which outright-ly screams ‘FAILURE’. But knowing me better, I keep my Plan B, Plan C… Plan Z ready with Plan B – having a loaf of bread handy so I can make a quick toast or a sandwich. But more often than not, I will be forced to Plan Z almost every day – fruits! Come on, I told you I am a total failure with breakfasts. And then I get those angry glares from the bread loaf making me as guilty as possible.

Enough of failure stories. It’s time to brag a success story! It was one of those ‘The bread glares till I die of guilt’ days. And I knew how exactly to deal with them. I made this Bread Upma for evening snacks that used up the entire loaf. Yes, finally done with them all at once and they can never be happier as they cannot be any tastier.

It came out absolutely delicious if I can say so myself. Husband and I loved every bite of it. Give this recipe a try and I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients:

1. Bread - I used one loaf of bread completely. You can use as much as you want.

2. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

3. Urad Dhal - 1 tsp

4. Channa Dhal - 1 tsp

5. Onion - 1 large

6. Tomato - 2 medium

7. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp

8. Sambar Powder - 1 tsp (Homemade Recipe here)
9. Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp (adjust to taste)

10. Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

11 Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

12. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

13. Salt - as required

14. Oil/Ghee 

15. Lemon juice- optional

16. Cilantro - for garnish

Preparation:

1. Cut bread slices to squares or roughly tear them to smaller pieces.

2. Slice onions lengthwise.

3. Chop the tomatoes roughly.

4. Heat some oil/ghee in a pan and roast the pieces of bread to golden brown.

5. Transfer the roasted bread pieces to a plate.

Method:

1. Heat some oil/ghee in a pan.

2. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.

3. Add Channa Dhal and give it a 30 seconds head start.

4. Add Urad Dhal and fry the lentils until golden brown.

5. Add Onions and fry until transparent.

6. Add Ginger Garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds until the raw smell goes.

7. Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, sambar powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt  and give it  a good mix.

8. Cook the tomatoes until soft and all the masala is absorbed.

9. Toss the roasted bread pieces and mix well to make sure the masala is evenly coated on all the bread pieces. 

10. Squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with cilantro.

11. Serve Hot.

Tips:

The ingredients listed are just to give you the basic idea. You can adjust it to your taste.

Removing the brown ends of the bread is optional although I removed it

Blueberry syrup for pancake

                             

Are there any blueberry lovers out there? I personally love blueberries and would pick them up whenever I go to get my groceries. I'm not a fruit eating person and finally found a way to enjoy the fruit which I love without actually eating them ;-)

I decided to make a homemade blueberry syrup. It's very easy to prepare and delicious. You can use this syrup to top your eggless pancake, waffles, homemade lychee ice cream, cakes, eggless french toast, french toast etc.

You're out of syrup? and you want to try something new.. this would be a life saver..
                         

Ingredients 

• Blueberry - 1cup 
• Sugar - 1/2cup 
• Water - 1/3cup
• Corn flour - 1tsp

Method 

• In a sauce pan add blueberry, sugar and water together. Mix well. 
• Cook in medium flame and keep mixing continuously until the fruit softens.
• When the fruit starts to soften, mush little of them. Add corn flour and mix.
• After adding corn flour the syrup starts to thicken at that stage switch off the flame.
• Blueberry syrup is ready to be served with pancakes or waffles or plain sponge cake, anything of your choice.

                      

Health benefits of blueberry 

• Low in fat. One cup of blueberries are 80 calories.
• It contains dietary fiber.
• Helps in building healthy immune system. 
• It has required amount of vitamin C and excellent source of manganese. 
• It has high amount of antioxidant. 

You can refrigerate this syrup for 7-10 days.  

Check our Blueberry Lemonade     

Karamani/Lobia/Black Eyed Pea Salad

We take our evening snacks a little too serious at my home.  Both husband and I are not much of a breakfast person. We usually go with fruits and smoothies. But we definitely need something to munch in the evenings. As much as I would love to have an extravagant evening snack and keep the dinner simple, time is not being my best of friends these days. So I am forced to keep my snacks simple. Black eyed peas salad is one such snack that is healthy, delicious and can be prepared easily. With no further ado, here is the recipe.

The ingredients mentioned here are just the ones I used and to give you an idea. You can be creative as you want or customize it to suit your taste and availability of the ingredient.

Peach Smoothie

Peach is one of the grand total of 3 fruits that my husband likes. We got a big box of peaches from Sam's club, so we're binge eating it. We usually eat it as a dessert post dinner. Today I was in mood for some smooothayyy, so peach smoothie it is! 
Remember my avocado milkshake that I raved about? it was THAT creamy only more flavorful. 

 It is.. umm..
Creamy
Sweet
Refreshing
A tad tart
Tropical
Very filling
Yes that's what it is.. and the bonus is it's color! So pretty right? Or is it just me? o_O
Anyhoo, let me give you guys the "recipe". 

Ingredients

• Peach - 1
• Milk- 1/2 cup
• Honey- 1 tsp

Method
Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.And that's it!! Serve it with chia seeds/ peach chunks/ a drizzle of honey.

Tips

1. You can also add a banana to make it even more creamy & healthy.
2. You can also add some ice cubes.
3. You can also drink right out of blender, no one's gonna judge you.

Are you a smoothie addict too? Check out our other smoothie recipes here.

Capsicum pasta in red sauce

As most of you, I'm a big fan and marathon watcher of "FOOD NETWORK". I watched this recipe and then tried it several times in my world. You might think what is my world? Its my 'kitchen'. 

It's an easy, delicious, flavorful pasta. When I made this pasta, it was a big hit. My hubby is crazy about pasta. He wants to try different flavors and kinds of pasta.

The schools are closed for the summer holiday and I'm sure your kids will love this pasta. This is a  super quick idea for dinner or lunch with a side of garlic bread and a glass of fresh juice of your choice. That would make it a complete meal. I have also posted some more pasta recipes like spinach pasta, vegetable pasta, do try those recipes as well. Stay tuned for more kids recipe ;)

                           

Ingredients 

For the red sauce 

• Tomatoes - 6 (Blanch tomatoes in hot water, peel the skin and blend to smooth paste)
• Basil leaves - 4 (roughly chopped)
• Garlic cloves - 3 (finely chopped)
• Black olives - few 
• Salt as needed 
• Sugar - 1 tsp (to subside acidity in the tomatoes)
• Pepper as needed 
• Olive oil as needed 
• Italian herbs - 1 tsp 

Method 

• Heat the pan with olive oil, add garlic. Saute in medium flame for few seconds. Add blanched tomato puree and give a quick mix. Cook in medium flame for 10 minutes.

                        

• When tomato puree boils, add salt, sugar, pepper, Italian herbs, basil leaves and black olives. Give a stir and cook for 5 minutes in medium flame.
• Now red sauce is ready. Keep it aside. 

For capsicum pasta

• Pasta - 2 cups (any shape you can use)
• Capsicum - 1 1/2 cups (all color)
• Basil leaves - few roughly chopped 
• Black olives - few 
• Pepper as needed 
• Salt as needed 
• Onion - 1/2 cup finely chopped 
• Garlic - 4 (finely chopped)
• Italian herbs as needed 
• Mozzarella cheese for garnish   

Method 

• Keep a water in pan and bring it to boil. Add salt and olive oil, then add pasta to it. Cook it in high flame for 10 minutes. Once done strain the water from pasta and keep aside. 
• Heat pan with olive oil, add and fry garlic till raw smell goes then add onion saute till transparent pink color.

                         

• Add capsicum and give a quick toss, add salt, pepper, italian herbs, black olives and basil leaves. Mix and cook in high flame for 3-5 minutes.
• Now add pasta to the tossed capsicum. Mix well.
• Add the tomato puree to the pasta and cook for 10 minutes. 
• Capsicum pasta with red sauce is ready to be served hot with garlic bread and choice of your juice.  Garnish with cheese when hot and serve.

                         

                    

Tips

• If you want pasta to be cooked faster, you have a trick - soak pasta in water for few hours before cooking.
• Don't over cook the capsicum. It should be crunchy.
• You can avoid cheese and have as such.