Oats Strawberry Bars

I saw this recipe when I was searching in the internet and found this very interesting and healthy. I did make some changes to the original recipe as I felt it was on the sweeter side. I made this for breakfast and for almost a week, we kept eating this as our daily breakfast. Even Shoj's friend at office asked about it and wanted this recipe, so that even he can save some time while going to office. This is like pick and go kinda bar...not too sweet but very healthy and filling.

Ingredients:
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Filling:
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3 cups fresh or frozen Strawberries
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Sugar
2 tbsp Cornstarch

Crust:
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1 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Quick Cooking Oats
3/4 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Butter (room temperature)
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

Drizzle:
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1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar or Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp Milk

Method:
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Filling:
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1. Preheat oven to 350F. I used a toaster oven so didn't need any preheating.
2. Wash and remove the stem of the strawberries, crush it in a blender with lemon juice.
3. Add the crushed strawberries in a sauce pan and cook until tender on medium flame for about 8-12 mins.
4. In a bowl mix sugar and corn starch and add this mixture to the strawberries and keep stirring on low flame until the mixture gets thick and bubly for about 1 min. Make sure there are no lumps.

5. Off the flame and allow this mixture to cool a bit.

Crust:
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1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mix until you get a crumbly texture.
2. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture for the top.

Drizzle:
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1. Mix the sugar and milk with a fork and keep it aside.

Assembling and Baking:
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1. Take a oven safe glass dish or any baking sheet, grease the bottom of the pan and add the crumb mixture and press down to form a even layer.

2. Now add the filling mixture over the top of the pressed crumbs and even it out.

3. Add the reserved 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture over the top evenly and bake it for about 30 to 35 mins or until the top of the crust is golden brown.
4. Allow it to cool completely.

5. Now you can drizzle with the sugar solution and I also added chocolate syrup over the top.
Note: Make sure you don't drizzle too much, as it will make the bars too sweet. I just used it to decorate for the pic. If you like it to be sweet, then you can add as much as you want. :-)

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Banana, Cranberry, Carrot and Honey Mini Muffins - Healthy and Low-Fat

Once again my fruit bowl is full of ripe bananas waiting for me!! So I started search for some healthy breakfast muffins. I found this recipe from Food Blogga by Susan C. Russo who is a Blogger, Author and a Freelance Writer. I fell in love with the healthy ingredients that she used in making this recipe and decided to make this mini muffins with a little twist and also to make use of my pantry. So linking this recipe to the Wednesday's Blog Hop, hosted by Radhika of Ticking Palates and this recipe is adapted from my partner Jyothi's Blog - Pages. These muffins came out so perfect that now I am not able to wait until it cools. :-(

I would like to re-mention the nutrition information which Susan mentioned in her recipe and added my ingredients nutrition information too:

By using half Whole Wheat Flour and mostly Egg Whites, the Fat and Cholesterol in these muffins is reduced, while the Fiber is increased. Plus Antioxidant-rich Cranberries, high Potassium Bananas, high  β-carotene (metabolized into Vitamin A) Carrots and Almonds rich in Dietary Fiber and Carbohydrates make these muffins subtly sweet, tangy, colorful and of course very healthy.

Ingredients:
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Dry Ingredients:
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1 cup APF (All-Purpose Flour)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

Semi Dry Ingredients:
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1/3 cup grated Carrot
1/3 cup dried Cranberries
1/3 cup blanched Almonds
1 tsp APF (all-purpose flour for dusting)

Wet Ingredients:
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1/2 cup Honey
4 tbsp melted unsalted Butter
2 tsp pure Vanilla Extract
1 large Egg + 4 Egg Whites
2 (1 cup) very ripe Bananas (mashed with fork)
1-2 tsp 1 whole Orange Zest

Method:
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1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Mix the dry, semi dry and wet ingredients separately in  three bowls, use a hand mixer or whisk for the wet ingredients.
3. First add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat with a hand mixer until all the flour is incorporated.
4. Now using a spatula or a wooden spoon gently blend in the semi dry ingredients. The flour in the semi wet ingredients helps from sticking and also while baking they will not sink to the bottom of the muffin cup.

5. Take a mini muffin pan spray with non-stick cooking spray and spoon the muffin batter and bake it for around 13-15 mins, if using a mini muffin pan and 18-20 mins if using the normal muffin pan, or bake it until the top is golden brown or if a took pick or skewer pricked in between should come out clean.

Sending this recipe to Wednesday Blog Hop hosted by Radhika

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Chocolate Lava Cake

I and Anush love chocolate and cakes of course. I wanted to try this chocolate lava cake for a long time. So today is the day, I had lot of time as Shoj was not coming home for lunch and I planned to prepare small meal for Anush with a cake dessert. So I made this lava cake with semi sweet chocolate and dark chocolate in between which was perfect and Anush loved it so much and he could not wait until it was done. Today he ate cake for his lunch. :-)

Ingredients:
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1 stick/ 1/4 lb + 1tsp Butter
1/4 lb Semi Sweet Chocolate chips
4 Chocolate 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 tbsp All Purpose Flour

Method:
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1. Preheat oven to 350F or if using a toaster oven need not preheat it.

 

2. In a microwave safe bowl add butter and semi sweet chocolate chips and microwave it for about 20 secs, remove and stir it, again microwave it for 20 secs and stir it until the chocolate melts.

4. Make sure the chocolate butter is not too hot to add to the eggs, else it will cook the eggs. Add it slowly and keep whisking while adding.

5. Grease the ramekins with butter and pour the batter about 2/3 in each ramekin.

 

 

6. Insert one piece in middle of each of the ramekins and bake it for about 20-25 mins. when a tooth pick is inserted the middle will be wet that is ok and it's because of the chocolate.

 

7. serve this warm and enjoy the chocolate oozing out from the middle.

 

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