Oatmeal Nutella Smoothie (using home made Nutella)

Category: Breakfast/ Oats 
Preparation Time: 5 mins  
Cooking Time: 5 mins  
Servings: 1-2 servings

Oatmeal Nutella Smoothie

Oatmeal Nutella smoothie is a quick and easy on the go breakfast / after school snack for the kids. 

Store-brought Nutella is loaded with refined sugars and palm oil, so I never buy it. This is made with home made Nutella and you can find the recipe here: Home made Nutella.

Home made Nutella with Almonds

Ingredients:

• Oatmeal (Quick cooking or old-fashioned) - 1/2 cup
• Milk / Non-dairy milk -  1 and 1/2 cups (Use as needed)
• Home made Nutella - 1-2 Tbsp (Use as needed)

Optional Add-ins:

• Dates 
• Soaked Chia seeds
• Apple 

Home made Nutella (Hazelnut / Almond Chocolate Spread)

Category: Home made Spreads
Preparation Time: 10-15 mins
Servings: yields around 1 cup

Nutella made with Almonds

Nutella is the popular chocolate spread among the kids. But we dont prefer buying it because it is made with palm oil and loaded with sugar. So I prefer making it at home without any preservatives or refined oils.

Almond Chocolate Spread

For more chocolatey flavour, we can add few chocolate chips or little home made chocolate. 

Nutella made with Hazelnuts

Nutella is made with Hazelnuts and if we didn't have access to those nuts, we can use almonds. I have tried with both hazelnuts and almonds. 

Minion is happy with this Nutella :) 

We can also use peanuts and I have already posted Chocolate Peanut butter recipe here.

We can use this on toasts, breads, crackers, cookies, cakes, chapathis, apples, smoothies or on anything we like to:)

Home made Nutella on Home made Banana Bread :)

Ingredients:

• Hazelnuts or Almonds -1 cup
• Organic Unrefined Sugar - 1/4 cup (adjust as per sweetness)
• Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 2 Tbsp
• Virgin Coconut Oil - 1-2 Tbsp (Use as needed)
• Pure Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Dry Fruits & Nuts Laddoo (Dry Fruit & Nut Balls without any sweeteners)

Category: Kids Special
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 5 mins (for toasting)
Servings: yields around 18 laddoos

Healthy Treats!!!

Dry Fruits and Nuts Laddoo is a healthy sugar-free, and nutrient dense snack for kids. Its not only healthy, its tasty and very easy to make.

Dry Fruits & Nuts Laddoo

If we are having unsalted roasted nuts in hand, we can make this within 10-15 mins. These are perfect for the mid-morning snacks for the kids an also can go well in their lunch box.

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 /  figs are the must for getting the right consistency. We can use either roasted nuts or the unroasted ones. 

Ingredients:

• Figs - 1 cup (I used around 9-10 dried whole Organic, unsulphured figs)
• Dates - 1 cup (I used around 20 Organic dates)
• Raisins - 2 Tbsp
• Almonds - 1/4 cup
• Cashews - 1/4 cup
• Pistachios - 1/4 cup

Home made Badam/Almond Milk Powder (with Turmeric)

Category: Home made Drink Mix
Preparation Time: 15 to 30 mins 
Cooking Time: About 15 mins
Servings: yields around 4 cups of prepared powder

Home made Badam/Almond Milk Powder

Almond or Badam Milk is a healthy drink especially for growing kids. In the commercially available mixes, the quantity of almonds is very less and they are loaded with sugar and other preservatives. We can easily prepare the mix at home and can be stored in refrigerator for about 2 to 3 months. While preparing ourselves, we have the control over the quality & quantity of the ingredients and also really healthy. Here I blanched the almonds and removed the skin, since its hard to digest especially by the kids. 

Usually people will add saffron in the mix to make the Badam Kesar milk. I usually add little organic turmeric powder since its very good to have it with milk and also it gives a gorgeous colour:)

Ready to be stored:)

For preparing Badam / Almond milk, we just need to mix a tbsp of the mix in a warm or cold milk. We can also mix it with milk and bring them to a single boil and serve hot!
We can use this mix to prepare payasam / kheer, sprinkle this over our oatmeal, add them in cookies, pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc., 

Ingredients:

• Raw Almonds - 2 cups
• Rock sugar (kalkandu)  / Palm candy (panang kalkandu)  - 3/4 cup (adjust as per requirement)
• Organic turmeric powder - 1 tsp (adjust as per taste)
• Cardamom seeds - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Measure out the Almonds and keep it ready, here I used unsalted and unroasted raw almonds

Chocolate Chip-Nuts Cookies - Crispier Version (Whole Wheat)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 20 mins  
Cooking Time: 10 -13 mins
Servings: Yields around 3 dozen cookies

Chocolate Chip-Nuts Cookies

Already I have posted a recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies here and this one is a more crispier version and also with more nuts included:)

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat flour - 2 cups

  

  So Crispy!!!

• Egg - 1 no (at room temperature)
• Butter - 3/4 cup (Cold butter sticks)
• Light Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Granulated White Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Walnuts, finely chopped - 1/2 cup
• Almonds, finely chopped - 1/2 cup
• Semi sweet mini Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup (can increase as per likeness)
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, add the wheat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder; mix well and keep it aside
   
3. Finely chop the nuts and keep them ready
   
4. Mix in the chocolate chips with the chopped nuts
   
   
   
   
5. In a wide bowl take both the sugars and cold butter cubes; beat well(If using electric beater, we can beat in high speed) for 4-5 mins until it becomes creamy
   
   
   
   
6. Add in the egg and vanilla extract, beat well for another 1-2 mins until they get combined well
   
   
   
   
7. Now add the flour mix into the wet mixture and mix well until it gets mixed
   
8. Then gently fold in the chocolate chip-nut mixture, mix gently for uniform distribution
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Make small uniform balls (I used 1 tbsp & 1/2 tbsp spoons as scoops to get uniform size), flatten it slightly and place it in cookie tray
   
   
   
   
10. Ensure it is not crowded and leave at least 3/4-1 inch  space between the cookies since it may spread while baking
    
11. We can also place them without flattening if we want a bit thicker cookie. Both of them were very crispy:
    
12. Keep the tray in the pre heated oven and allow it to bake for 10-11 mins
13. After 10 mins, remove the tray and allow it to cool for 5 mins before taking out into cooling rack 

    

    Slightly flattened Cookie dough - After Baking

    
    

    

    Cookie dough without flattening - After Baking

14. While taking out, the cookies will be little soft and upon cooling it becomes crisp
    
15. Then store it in air tight container
    

Ragi-Wheat Banana Muffins (Eggless)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 17-20 mins
Servings: yields 10 - 12 muffins

Ragi-Wheat Muffins - So Soft!!!

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients:

• Ragi Flour - 1/2 cup
• Wheat Flour / Atta - 1/2 cup
• Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch

Wet Ingredients:

• Banana, ripen - 3 nos (long variety)*
• Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
• Curd / Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Oive Oil - 1/4 cup

Other Ingredients: 

• Toasted Almonds, chopped - 1/2 cup (dusted with 1 tsp of wheat flour)

*Bananas should be ripen very well for the muffins to give the natural sweetness

Method: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F for 10 mins
2. Grease the muffin tray or line it with muffin liners and keep it ready
3. Roast the ragi flour in low flame for few mins till we get nice aroma of the roasted flour and allow to cool
   
4. In a sieve, add the wheat flour, Roasted Ragi flour, Baking powder, Baking soda, Cardamom powder and salt. Sieve the dry ingredients into a wide plate/bowl
   
5. In another bowl, mash the bananas well
   
6. Add the Brown sugar, curd and oil, whisk well to form uniform mixture
   
   
   
   
7. Add the sieved flour into the wet mixture and mix gently till combined
   
8. Add the chopped almonds into the batter and mix gently
   
   
   
9. Spoon the batter into muffin cups; fill only 3/4 th of the cup
   
10. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until its done (can be checked by using tooth pick method)
11. Once its done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins
    
12. Then transfer the muffins from the tray to cooling rack
13. Serve Warm with a glass of milk!
    

Home made Granola

Category: Breakfast / Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins 
Cooking Time: 25-35 mins
Yields: Around 5 cups 

Home made Granola

Homemade Granola is always better than the store bought sugar loaded ones. When we make at home, we can use our favourite add in combinations and flavours, also will have a control on the amount of sugar going in it. 

Crunchy and Yummy!

We can avoid the sugar and just use the maple syrup alone. Since Honey shouldn't be heated, I am not using honey in the granola.

Home made granola can be had as a breakfast, snack, topping for the overnight oats, Oatmeal, muffins,etc.,

 Ingredients:

• Oats (Rolled / Old-fashioned) - 3 cups
• Dry fruits & Nuts, chopped - 1 1/2 cups
• Brown Sugar - 2 Tbsp
• Maple Syrup - 1/4 cup
• Salt - a pinch
• Coconut Oil /  any cooking oil - 3 Tbsp
• Vanilla extract - 3-4 drops
• Almond extract - 1-2 drop (Optional)
• Coconut flakes - 1/4 cup  (Optional)

Note: 

• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp of ground Cinnamon can be used instead of Vanilla / Almond extracts
• Dry fruits and nuts are as per our liking and any combination can be used

Granola ready to be baked

• We can use almonds, walnuts, pecans, dry dates, dry figs, raisins, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, etc.,

Method:

1. Preheat Oven to 320 F. Take 3 cups of old fashioned oats in a bowl, Instant oats cannot be used here
   
2. Chop the nuts and dates into small pieces, raisins can be added as a whole
   
3. In a small bowl add Oil, Vanilla extract, almond extract(if using), salt and mix well
   
4. In a wide bowl add the oats, chopped dry fruits & nuts, brown sugar and mix well
   
5. Add the oil mixture into the oats and mix gently
6. Add maple syrup 1 Tbsp at a time and mix gently till it gets coated evenly
   
7. Grease the baking pan and transfer the granola mix into the baking pan
   
   
   
8. Bake for around 15-20 mins in the pre heated oven (320 F)till the oats started to turn golden brown. After 10 mins of baking, mix gently every 5 mins for even baking
   
9. After 15-20 mins, add in the coconut flakes, mix gently
   
   
10. Continue baking for another 5-10 mins
    
11. Once its done, take out of the oven and allow to cool
    
12. Upon cooling, the oats become crispy
13. Store it in air tight container
    
14. Enjoy as a snack or breakfast or as a toppings in oatmeal, muffins,etc.,