Tag: breakfast


Sep
2013

Cinnamon Stovetop Oatmeal ~ For One

categories: Breakfast, Fall, No-Bake, Quick Fix, Spring, Summer

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You don’t need me tell you how to make an oatmeal. I’m sure, you can handle that on your own.

Maybe I need to remind myself how to make oatmeal. Maybe I need to remind myself to make oatmeal at all… and eat it.. for breakfast. Staring at my laptop first thing in the morning, burning my mouth sipping hot coffee does not make breakfast.

I thought if I needed a reminder, you might need it too. So let’s make this healthy stovetop oatmeal with cinnamon and any seasonal or even frozen fruits of your choice. A treat for that special person, YOU!

Cinnamon Stovetop Oatmeal-2

This oatmeal is perfect for the weather… so comforting and so healthy! The addition of cinnamon is mandatory. You may throw in some nutmeg too. Addition of nuts or seeds not so much but if you do add them, you’ll not regret it. This makes for such a wholesome breakfast in such a short time and hardly demands a ton of ingredients. Water, milk, quick cooking oats and cinnamon – you could manage these everyday, isn’t it? Total no-brainer. Oh, you could also double the recipe to serve two. ?

Have an exciting weekend peeps!

Cinnamon Stovetop Oatmeal – For One

Serves: 1 | Ready under 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk – soy, almond, coconut or cow milk
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp cane sugar/honey/maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Optional toppings: chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, raisins, cranberries, chia seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds

Directions:

  1. In a medium saucepan, add water, milk, cinnamon and cane sugar. If using honey/maple syrup read the last step. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Add the oats and salt and reduce the heat to low. Let simmer stirring occasionally for a minute.
  2. Turn the heat off. Stir in vanilla and honey/maple syrup (if not using cane sugar). Top with fruits or other toppings (mentioned above) of your choice. Serve immediately.

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Sep
2013

Skinny Banana Chocolate-chip Dutch Baby

categories: Baking, Breakfast, Fall, Pancakes, Quick Fix

Skinny Banana Chocolate-Chips Dutch Baby4

I know I went MIA AGAIN and you must think that I do not take the blog seriously but in my defense, life happened. It so happens that life loves to throw unlikely surprises my way! So what happened you ask… Well, my in-laws arrived in town 3 weeks back and due to the super-dramatic climate-change here, both caught Mono. Next in queue was my hubby dearest!

So in the midst of house-work and multiple visits to the clinic on daily-basis, I could squeeze in time to blog only 2 previous recipes. I was definitely active on social media. I did check-out what my other blogger friends were writing about but I did not have patience to write down a recipe or to edit pictures for the post. It’s not like I did not have recipes to post or I was not cooking. In fact, I was cooking more regularly than ever! At least 3 different meals were being prepared on a daily basis. And now that everyone is fit and fine, I’m going to take a little breather from home-cooking and going to eat-out little bit more and of course, start posting here regularly!

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I bring you today another easy skinny pancake recipe. It is perfect for breakfast or Brinner, serves a small family perfectly that too without the hassle of flipping individual pancakes! You know I’m lazy and love quick-fixes more than anything right?! 😉

The Dutch Baby is another name for German pancake which is baked in a cast-iron skillet or a metal pan and its puff falls soon after being removed from the oven. This pancake is ready in a record time of 20-25 minutes from start-to-finish! Made with minimum ingredients, this is a perfect recipe for days when your refrigerator has scarce ingredients. You just need 2 eggs, little flour, some milk and 1 banana to be in business! Rest of the ingredients are your usual suspects.

I do not own a cast-iron skillet so I baked this in a 10-inch metal pan I have. Brown sugar, banana and cinnamon is a match made in heaven. The result is perfectly caramelized banana topped pancake topped with chocolate-chips. Your house is going to smell delicious for next few hours! Whattay way to start mornings or end work-laden days! Enjoy! 🙂

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Skinny Banana Chocolate-chip Dutch Baby

Makes: 1 big Dutch Baby | Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana thinly sliced
  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk (skim milk, soy milk or almond milk)
  • 2 or 3 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2-3 Tbsp dark chocolate chips (Use more as per your liking)
Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
  2. Prepare a 9-inch oven-safe skillet by spraying with cooking spray or greasing it. Place butter in the skillet. Put skillet in the oven to melt the butter. You can do this while oven is still in preheating mode. Once butter has melted, in about 2-3 minutes, remove the skillet from the oven and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, add eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and whisk to combine.
  4. Add the flour, cinnamon, salt and whisk until smooth and free from lumps.
  5. Pour the batter on to the skillet and evenly top with banana slices. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and puffy. Mine was ready in 15 minutes.
  6. Slice and serve optionally with a dusting of powdered sugar or a pour from maple syrup.
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Aug
2013

Skinny Banana Zucchini Chocolate-Chip Buttermilk Pancakes

categories: Breakfast, Pancakes, Quick Fix, Summer

Skinny Banana Zucchini Chocolate-Chip Buttermilk Pancakes1

Such a long title… huh?!

Don’t get scared!

Today’s recipe is just filled with way too many nice things! 🙂

I love my breakfast so much! That is the best meal of the day for me.. I love it so much that we usually end up having breakfast-for-dinner more often than I would like to admit… not that I’m complaining! I had made these pancakes on one of such nights. They were so so so good!

These healthy yet delectable pancakes are laden with chocolate-chips. Mashed banana and shredded zucchini are folded into the batter for a nutritious breakfast treat. These taste best served the traditional way with butter and maple syrup. If you’re even more calorie-conscious then use the light butter or skip it completely but maple syrup is a must. Because there is hardly any sugar added in the batter itself.

These pancakes have no eggs or butter in them.

Yup… Zero. Zip. Zilch. 😉

They are still quite fluffy, soft and aerated because of these ingredients ~ banana and buttermilk-baking soda. They create magic and make these pancakes possible without addition of butter or eggs.

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Not a zucchini fan? Worry not… Banana successfully masks the tasteless zucchini for you! Trust me… these pancakes will rock your world!

They are so easy to whip up and hardly requires any prep time. The recipe makes enough for a small family and if you’ve any spares than freeze them for quick grab-n-go breakfast! I’m a zucchini fanatic so I love to have them about any time of the day! 😉

So go grab some zucchinis before they disappear!

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Banana Zucchini Chocolate-Chip Buttermilk Pancakes

Yields: around 15 pancakes (4-inch size) | Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 + 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
  • 1 + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of baking soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 very ripe bananas, mashed with fork
  • 3 Tbsp brown sugar (dark/light)
  • 1 + 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
  • butter, for greasing the skillet

Directions:

  1. Put shredded zucchini in a cheese cloth or muslin cloth and give it a good squeeze to remove extra liquid.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the mashed bananas, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla together.
  4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir to combine and then fold in zucchini.
  5. Heat a large non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium-low heat and grease with butter. Work in batches. pour scant 1/3 cup batter for each pancake into the skillet and sprinkle the uncooked top all over with chocolate-chips. When the edges begin to look dry and cooked and bubbles dot the top, flip and cook until golden on the other side.
  6. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.
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Jul
2013

Fresh Peach Fluffy Pancakes Cake

categories: Baking, Cake, Cakes, Summer

Fresh Peach Fluffy Panacakes Cake1

Another fruit cake you’ll say, eh? But I just can’t let the amazing plethora of summer fruit pass by just like that. Without a dessert tribute at least!

I was too lazy to bake muffins or flip the pancakes so I went an easier route. My favorite buttermilk cake route. I know I have given you this and this this month but this recipe is different from those. Of course it uses buttermilk but it tastes like a cross between muffins and pancakes without having to actually make them! How do you like that! 😉

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Just like my previous recipes, this recipe does not require electric mixer and the batter comes together in like 5 minutes total. Seriously! The result is fluffy and tender cake like a perfect pancake should be!

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So how this cake is different from my previous buttermilk cakes? The batter resembles the pancake batter unlike my previous recipes. So no heavy duty mixing for this cake. In fact, you leave the lumps in the batter. Only gentle folding does the job. Another difference is.. Unlike topping the cake with the fruits in our previous recipe, we fold in the fruit in the batter to get peach in every bite! Yum!!

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It’s a gorgeous weather in Bangalore today, I’m having a slice of it while writing this and I just can’t tell you how good it tastes the next day too! I had one slice with the dusting of confectioner’s sugar and another with vanilla ice-cream.. Delicious both ways!

You can replace all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour to make it healthier. Rest, you just got to deal with the sugar! 😛

You have to make this!!! Just be sure to use ripe peaches. Peel them, remove the pit, chop in a bite-sized pieces and you’re ready.. Only 2-3 peaches required!

Fresh Peach Fluffy Pancakes Cake

Prep time: 5-10 mins | Baking time: 35-40 mins

Yields: 8 pieces

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • Salt, a pinch
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup white granulated sugar
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 1/3 cup full-fat yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2-3 medium peaches, peeled, thinly sliced (or a combo of stone-fruits)
  • Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line 8×8 inches square baking dish with a foil and grease it.
  2. In a large bowl, sift all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt.
  3. In another bowl, whisk egg and sugar together. Add buttermilk, yogurt, oil, vanilla and whisk.
  4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients slowly and fold in gently. If you get lumps in better t is all right.
  5. Gently fold in peach cubes. Bake for 35-40 minutes or till the top and sides are golden and toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
  6. Let the cake cool in a baking dish for half hour. Slice it and dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve it plain or along with ice-cream.
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Jul
2013

SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake

categories: Baking, Cakes

SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake1

Happy Half New Year Everyone!!

You must be thinking who remembers or celebrates that! Neither do I! But got reminded of it on through WhattsApp messenger. Guys, we are in the middle of the year, we have finished 183 days of the year already! Another 182 days to go! Today is 184th day.. I know I am a day late in wishing you all but if none of you even remembered it then it doesn’t count, right? 😉

I can’t believe how half the year has already passed by and time has engulfed us in its speed that we can barely keep up! I have not even started ticking my to-do list of this year. So I really need to brace myself as soon it will be Christmas even before we know it!

And its finally raining in Bangalore!! Not as much as I would like but hey I am not complaining. Bangalore marked half of the year by gracing us with rain yesterday evening. I was so happy that I had to do a little dance, listen to my fave songs and bake! With cinnamon!!! I love how the aroma of cinnamon fills the house and this smell mixed with the smell of rain is almost heavenly!

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I had bought almost 2 kg of sugarplums from my regular supermarket as it was on sale! Half of them were super-ripe and sweet so it goes without saying that we enjoyed them just like that. Rest of them were quite sour and tart for which hubby & I both have got pretty low tolerance so I decided to use them in a cake.. A topping for a simple cinnamon buttermilk cake! They look like red jewels… So adorable it makes my heart sing! Plus, all the tartness is masked by the sweetness of the cake.

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As it was raining, there was music and I was in a mood to dance while I bake, I decided to whip the batter with hand. It was so therapeutic!!! No mixer is required for this cake and only 2 dirty bowls! Complete win-win.. 🙂

The plums I had were quite firm so slicing slivers from them was not so messy and quite pleasing experience. Be sure to use a sharp knife for this. Each plum will give around 8 slices.

Perfect as a coffee/tea time cake & perfect as a dessert served with vanilla custard or sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream!

Oh, did I mention it is healthy?? 😉

Enjoy!

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SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day – Heidi Swanson

Prep Time: 25 min | Baking time: 30 min | Serves: 12

Ingredients:

  • 2 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 and 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • zest of 1 very large lemon
  • 6-8 sugarplums, thinly slivered (ripe yet firm)
  • 3 Tbsp granulated white sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F. Grease an 11″ tart pan or quiche dish.
  2. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and lemon zest.
  3. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until all the flour pockets disappear and the batter is just combined.
  4. Spoon batter into greased pan, tapping the pan over the working station. Smooth the batter with back of your spoon, spreading it out towards the edges. Arrange plums in a circular pattern or just scatter them around. Top with granulated white sugar evenly.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes or till the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with a dusting of icing sugar or vanilla custard or sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.
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