Tag: Cheese


Aug
2014

Zesty Peaches & Cream Mini Bundt Cake

categories: Baking, Cakes, Desserts, Summer

Zesty Peaches & Cream Mini Bundt Cake1

Hiya.. I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day long weekend. Ours was relaxed and lazy and juust perfect. Monday was tough indeed. Today was only bearable because I had this cake in my life. First bite into it and I instantly regretted making a mini version because this was over in seconds!! So to save you from regret I suggest you double the following recipe and make 2 mini bundts! 😉

The combination of orange, peach and cream cheese is blow-your-mind-off-amazing! This mini bundt is supremely moist unlike the dry, crumbly pound cakes we all dread. It turns into a piece of heaven drizzled with the vanilla glaze. Isn’t this mini size so cute! Give this a go before the peach season officially ends.

Enjoy & eat it all up! 🙂

 

Zesty Peaches & Cream Mini Bundt Cake4

 

Zesty Peaches & Cream Mini Bundt Cake

Yields: 1 6-inch bundt | Serves: 6 | Prep time: 15 minutes | Bake time: 30 minutes | Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
For Cake:
  • 1/4 cup peach cubes (about 1 medium /2 small peaches, peeled & pitted)
  • 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • Zest of 1 Naval orange
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 Tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp orange extract
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt

For Glaze:

  • 4 Tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp milk or cream (add more to adjust the consistency)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven at 160°C / 325°F. Grease 6-inch mini bundt pan with oil/butter. Set aside.
  2. Put the prepared peach cubes in a bowl. Sprinkle the peach cubes with all purpose flour. Stir lightly, just until peach cubes are coated with the flour.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, add orange zest and sugar and rub it together with your fingers to release the natural oils from the zest. Add butter and egg to the bowl. Cream together butter, egg, sugar & zest with the whisk or using hand held mixer. Whisk in cream cheese, orange juice, vanilla and orange extract. Slowly and carefully, mix in all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Do not overmix.
  4. Fold in the prepared peach cubes to the cake batter and pour the batter in the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 26-28 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the bundt pan for 5 minutes before inverting on a cooling rack to cool completely.
  5. For glaze: Combine powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk, adding a teaspoon of milk at a time until glaze reaches desired consistency.

 

Zesty Peaches & Cream Mini Bundt Cake2

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Jul
2013

Skinny Mac’n’Cheese

categories: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, Pasta

Skinny Mac'n'Cheese2

Oh I love me some mac’n’cheese! It is my no.1 comfort food… I love it on a rainy day, on a bad day, when I’m sad, when I’m happy! I crave for it. I resist few times and sometimes just cave in!

To be honest, I can’t allow myself good-old-over-the-top-cheesy mac’n’cheese everytime I want one! So I gave it a skinny make-over! Of course they are not totally guilt-free but everything in moderation doesn’t hurt right?!

Skinny Mac'n'Cheese1

 

If you are anything like me then you are going to love my version of mac’n’cheese. It has goodness of vegetables too. Yup, I have added some veggie tid-bits to make it little bit nutritious and kid-friendly. Best for those picky-eaters! You can sneak in any vegetable you want.

So wait no more & make it tonight!

Skinny Mac'n'Cheese3

Skinny Mac’n’Cheese

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup broccoli, cut into florets
  • 2 cups macaroni pasta
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
  • 4-5 button mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
  • 2/3 cup skim milk
  • 1/3 cup vegetable stock/pasta water
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
  • 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
  • 1 Tbsp breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

  1. Cook pasta and broccoli together in a large pot of salted water as per the package instructions for al dante (or slightly under-cook for 2 minutes). Keep 1 cup of pasta water aside if you do not have vegetable stock. Drain cooked macaroni-broccoli in a colander. Grease a baking dish with oil and preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.
  2. In a large pan, melt the butter over low heat. Add onion and saute it for about 2 minutes. Then add and saute mushrooms, chili flakes for another 2 minutes.
  3. Add flour and saute for another minute till flour is golden and well-combined. Add milk and vegetable stock/pasta water and whisk raising heat to medium-high. Let it boil for about 3-4 minutes or till the sauce becomes smooth and thick.
  4. Once the sauce is thick, remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add grated Cheddar and mix well until cheese is melted. Adjust seasoning. Add macaroni and broccoli and mix well.
  5. In a prepared baking dish, pour the mix. Top with grated cheese. Combine breadcrumbs, garlic powder, pepper together and sprinkle over the cheese layer. Spray a little more cooking oil on top. Bake for 15 minutes and broil for 1-2 minutes for golden breadcrumbs.

Dig in!!

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Jul
2013

Crust-less Zucchini Pie

categories: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, Summer

Crustless Zucchini Pie3

A wonderful savory pie made with zucchini, parsley, basil, onions, Cheddar and Parmesan cheese.

A simple recipe to make your meal exciting!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend and I am still in a weekend recovery mode.. (Can anyone blame me?! I think not!)

So I was just browsing throu my recipe folder, seeing what mess it is and found this unposted recipe. I had baked this pie almost more than a month back for taking to a party at friend’s place but forgot to post it here and wanted to do it ASAP before it gets lost in a huge mess that my laptop has become! (I need to organize everything into folders big time!!!) 😛

It is as easy as all the other recipes on my blog as easy is what we all love, isn’t it? The hero of this pie is my favorite zucchini which is available in abundance around this time of year. The flavors get a touch of refresh due to parsley and basil leaves. It is perfectly cheesy and oh-so soft and moist.

Crustless Zucchini Pie1

Be sure to squeeze all the liquid from grated zucchini otherwise the pie will stay uncooked at places and it will be sticky while slicing into pieces. So squeeze it down till its last drop, okay?!

Crustless Zucchini Pie2

Crust-less Zucchini Pie

Serves: 4, Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups shredded zucchini, liquid squeezed out
  • 1 large red onion, chopped finely
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh curled parsley
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
  • ½ cup cheddar cheese, grated
  • 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 tsp olive oil plus extra to grease the pie dish
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Freshly cracked pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Shred zucchini, put it in a cheese cloth or muslin cloth and give it a good squeeze to remove extra liquid. Preheat the oven to 400°F/ 200°C. Grease a pie dish with olive oil.
  2. Combine zucchini, onions, parsley, basil and cheddar cheese in a bowl.
  3. Sift flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk, olive oil, beaten eggs, salt and pepper to it and blend well. Combine with zucchini mixture and pour it into pie dish.
  4. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took exactly 37 minutes. Let it cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

*Serve it with crème fraiche or fresh tomato salsa. Pairs well with soups too!

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Apr
2013

Cheesy Broccoli Bites

categories: Appetizers

Broccoli Bites3

 

Hello beautiful people,

I hope you all had an awesome weekend. I personally had a very enjoyable Sunday (I have a working Saturday 🙁 ). But on Sunday, my hubby’s few friends and us got together for a brunch and played Pool, Dumb Charades etc. and it was whole lotta fun!!! And then my Monday Blues started (can u blame a girl???).

So coming to last weekend, I was too tired after work on Saturday to cook anything elaborate for dinner and too finicky to eat out or order in! Plus there was a broccoli head staring at me in fridge from last week and I hate wasting/throwing any form of food. Hence I thought of making this eezee-peezee appetizer and decided to serve it over Tomato & Red Pepper Soup.

It turned out to be an amazing combo!

Posting my recipe for Tomato & Red Pepper Soup is a tale for another time (I know you can’t wait but plzz wait!!!). So here comes the recipe of yummilicious Cheesy Broccoli Bites!

Ingredients:

  • 250 gms fresh broccoli head, cut into florets and steamed
  • 100 gms grated white cheddar cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

Cut broccoli into big florets. Let it steam for 2 minutes and then chop it finely.

Broccoli Bites1
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

 

broccoli Bites
Form small patties with your hands and lay on a greased parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 375F/190C for 30 minutes, turning the patties after the first 15 minutes.

Broccoli Bites2
Serve it hot with accompaniment of your choice. They taste great with soup, salad or as is with tomato ketchup! 😉

P.S. You can also serve these with the homemade low-fat Ranch dressing from this recipe: http://cookbybook.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/veggie-shooters/

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