Roasted Bell Pepper Pasta

Category: Pasta / Macaroni 
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30-45 mins
Servings: 2-3 servings

Roasted Bell pepper Pasta

Ingredients:

• Pasta - 2 cups (I used Pipe Rigate shaped pasta)
• Small Onions - 5-6 nos, finely chopped
• Garlic - 3-4 cloves, finely chopped
• Olive Oil - 1/2-1 tbsp
• Pepper powder - to taste
• Italian seasoning - to taste
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - a pinch (Optional)
• Cheese - as required (Optional)
• Chilly flakes - as required (Optional) (I didnt used here)
• Water - as required

For Pasta Sauce:

• Red Bell pepper / Capsicum - 1 big sized
• Tomato - 1 no (not too ripe)
• Walnuts / Almonds / Cashews - Around 1/4 cup (Here I used walnuts) 
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves
• Oil - around 1 tsp

 Method:

1. Cook pasta as per the package instructions; (Boil water; add pasta with little salt and cook for 11 -13 mins until slightly soft yet crunchy enough to bite)
   
2. Drain and rinse with cold water and keep aside. (We can also save the water to use later)
   
3. Wash the Bell pepper and tomato well and wipe off any excess moisture, coat them with oil and keep it ready
   
4. If we are having access to direct flame, we can directly roast the bell pepper and tomato in flame until they get roasted (Skin becomes black and start to peel)
5. Since I am just having electric stove here, I opted for the oven-roasting method. Pre heat oven to 350 F. Place the oil coated veggies in a foil lined baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for around 30-35 mins until it becomes roasted. We need to turn them over couple of times for even roasting. Tomato can be done earlier than the bell-pepper. Once done, take them out and placed in a bowl and cover it for sometime; so that it would be easy to peel off the skin due to condensation
   
6. Once the bell pepper and tomato cools down a bit, peel off the skin, remove the seeds from the pepper and chop them into pieces
   
7. In a pan, add few drops of oil and toast 2-3 cloves of garlic for few mins
8. In a blender, add the roasted tomato & bell pepper pieces, toasted garlic and walnuts or any other nuts (we can also leave them out if we dont want to)
9. Grind them into a puree and keep it ready
   
10. Heat Oil in a pan, add the finely chopped garlic and saute for 2-3 mins
    
11. Add the finely chopped small onion and saute for another 2-3 mins
    
12. Now add the ground puree and saute for a min
    
13. Add around 1/2 cup of water (we can also use the water used for cooking pasta), mix well and bring to boil
    
14. Add required salt, pepper powder, Italian seasoning, a pinch of sugar and mix well
    
15. Allow it to boil for 3-4 mins in low to medium flame
    
16. Add the cooked pasta into it and mix gently until the pasta gets well coated with the sauce
    
17. Check for salt and spices and adjust as required and switch it off
    
18. If making for adults, serve hot with chilli flakes sprinkled on the top
19. For kids, serve with grated cheese:)
    

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Cake (Eggless & Butterless)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 25-40 mins
Servings: yields 1 big square cake or 2 loaves

WW Banana Chocolate Cake

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat flour - 2 cups
  
• Cocoa Powder - 2/3 cup
• Baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

• Banana, ripen - 4 nos (long variety)
• Olive Oil - 4 tbsp
• Brown Sugar - 1- 1 1/2 cups, packed (If we dont want to be sweet, we can use just 1 cup as I used here)
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Hot Water (Not boiling, just hot) - 1 1/2 cups
• Lime / Lemon Juice - 2  tsp

Method: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F for 10 mins
2. Grease the baking pan and keep it ready
3. In a sieve, add the wheat flour, Baking soda and Cocoa powder. Sieve the dry ingredients into a wide plate/bowl
   
4. In another large mixing bowl, mash the bananas well
5. Add the oil and whisk well 
   
6. Add the Brown sugar and beat well
7. Add Vanilla extract and mix well
8. Add warm water and mix to form a uniform mixture
   
9. Then add the lime juice into it and mix 
10. Add the dry flour mix into the wet mixture and blend well without any lumps
    
11. Pour the batter into the baking trays
    
12. Bake in preheated oven for about 30-40 mins or until its done (can be checked by using tooth pick method). Since I used small cake pans, mine got done in 25 mins
    
13. Once its done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins in the pan
    
14. Then transfer them to cooling rack and allow to cool
15. Slice and Serve hot!
    

Dry Fruits & Nuts Burfi (Sugar-free Healthy Snack)

Category: Kids Special
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Servings: yields around 20-25 squares

Dry Fruits & Nuts Burfi

 Dry Fruits and Nuts Burfi is made from Dried fruits like Figs, Dates, raisins and chopped nuts. There is no sugar added into it and its a healthy treat for kids. We can add any of our favourite nuts into it and its sure a way to make kids eat these healthy foods. We can alter the ingredients according to our taste, but dates and figs are the must for getting the right consistency. We can use either roasted nuts or the unroasted ones. 

Its been told that giving figs to children will increase their appetite and its a great way to make them eat:)


Ingredients:

• Figs - 1 cup (Around 9-10 dried whole figs)
• Dates - 1 cup (Around 25 nos)
• Raisins - 2 tbsp
• Almonds, chopped - 1/4 cup
• Cashews, chopped - 1/4 cup
• Pistachios, chopped - 1/4 cup
• Cardamom seeds -1/2 tsp, powdered
• Ghee - Around 1/2- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Here I used dried whole figs and I blanched them for 2-3 mins in hot water to soften them
   
2. Measure out the dates and then finely chop them and keep aside
   
3. Drain the figs after blanching and add to the blender jar along with raisins
   
4. Grind them into a fine paste
   
5. Coarsely grind the chopped dates
6. In a pan, add around 1/2 tbsp of ghee and then add the ground fig-raisin mixture and saute in low flame for 3-4 mins
   
7. Then add the coarsely ground dates and mix well; saute for another 3-4 mins until they get combined
   
8. Keeping the flame in low, add in the chopped nuts along with cardamom seeds powder
   
9. Mix well until all gets combined; allow to cook for a min and then switch it off
   
10. Meanwhile grease a pan/tray or line up with butter paper and grease it with few drops of ghee
11. Add the prepared mixture into the pan and spread it evenly using hands
    
12. If using a plate / tray, we can roll them using rolling pin to make it set well
13. Since I used a pan, I pressed it with the back of a stainless steel cup / tumbler to get a even smooth layer
14. Refrigerate it for atleast 30 mins to an hour
15. Then take it out and make slices / squares
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. We can store it in airtight container for 3-5 days depending on the outside temperature or we can refrigerate them to prolong the shelf life
    

Vendakkai Sadham (Okra/Lady'sfinger Rice)

Category: Rice Varieties
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 2 servings

Vendakkai Sadham

Vendakkai Sadham / Okra rice is a healthy variety rice and perfect for lunch box. Kids will really love the crispy Okra along with roasted nuts in this rice. 

Vendakkai Sadham with Tomato & Roasted Peanuts

We can prepare this with or without tomato. In the step by step recipe, I haven't used tomato. 

To make it more rich, we can use ghee roasted cashews or roast the peanuts in oil and add to it at the end.

Vendakkai Sadham (without Tomato)

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Lady's finger / Okra - around 20-25 nos
• Peanuts, Roasted & halved - 1/4 cup
• Oil - 1/2 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Onion, finely chopped - 1 no
• Green chilly - 1 nos (Optional)
• Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - a pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Masala powder - 1 tsp* (I used home made Pav bhaji Masala powder and little Garam Masala powder)
• Lemon juice - from 1/2 lemon**

*Masala Powder: We can use Sambhar Powder or Pav Bhaji Masala Powder or a mix of coriander powder, chilli powder and Garam Masala powder; Quantity can be adjusted as per taste and spice level

**We can also use Tomato instead of lemon while using Sambhar powder; In that case we can saute it well before adding okra 

Method:

1. Wash and soak 1 cup of rice for atleast 30 mins and then cook as usual in such a way the grains are separate. Once its done, spread it in a plate and allow it to cool
2. Wash the Okra and wipe off any moisture on them, trim off the ends and chop them into 1/2 inch pieces

Eggless Whole Wheat Marble Cup Cakes (Vanilla & Chocolate Flavour)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 17-25 mins
Servings: yields around 10 muffins 

Marble / Swirling / Zebra Cup cakes are nothing but  cup cakes with both vanilla and chocolate flavour. This is an eggless version and these cup cakes are really very soft and crumbly. Kids will enjoy it for sure and also its made of whole wheat flour:)

WW Marble Cup Cakes

 Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat flour - 1 1/4 cup
• Milk powder - 3 tbsp
• Baking Powder - 2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

• Cold Butter - 1/2 cup
• Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup, packed
• Milk* - 1 cup (Should be warm)
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients:

• Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsp dissolved in 2 tbsp of hot water

*Here I used White Whole Wheat flour, if using Atta we might need additional 1-2 tbsp of milk

Method:

1. Pre heat oven to 350°F
2. Grease the muffin pans / line with muffin liners
   
3. In a sieve add the dry ingredients (Wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and milk powder) and sieve them into a bowl and keep it ready
   
4. In a mixing bowl, add the chopped cold butter and powdered sugar and beat it well till the sugar gets dissolved and become creamy texture
   
   
   
   
5. To this add the remaining 1 cup of warm milk and beat well
   
6. To this add the vanilla extract and mix well
   
7. Now add the sifted flour into the wet ingredients and gently mix it up to form a batter
   
8. In a small bowl dissolve 2 tbsp of cocoa powder in equal amount of hot water
   
9. Divide the batter into two equal parts; one for vanilla flavour and the other for chocolate flavour
10. For vanilla layer, we will just keep the prepared batter as such
    
11. For chocolate layer, add the dissolved cocoa powder mix into the other half of the batter and mix well to combine
    
12. In the muffin cups, add 1 spoon of vanilla batter
    
13. Then add 1 spoon of chocolate batter
    
14. Again add 1 spoon of vanilla and followed by chocolate batter
    
    
    
    
15. We can bake as such to get the marbled effect
16. If we want, we can also make swirling pattern; using a tooth pick, just swirl the batter gently so that we can view a beautiful swirl pattern
    
    
    
    
17. Bake for around 20-30 minutes (depend on the size of the muffins), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean 
    
    
    
    
18. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then remove from pan to cooling rack

    

    So soft!!!