Rose & Banana Smoothie

Smoothie is a quick breakfast for many of us.  Its so filling and at the same time delicious too.  I love to experiment with fruits, so I keep making smoothies and fruit punches.  This is the one I recently tried and loved the taste to the core.  
I have a bottle of concentrated rose squash (rooh afza) and except drinking it with milk, I love to use it in different ways.  I recently posted a rose milk pudding made with the same squash and it came out so good.

This rose and banana smoothie is so refreshing with dominant rose flavour.  Addition of banana and curd makes it healthy too.  Its a no fuss recipe so you can make it fresh.  Kids going to love this smoothie.  You can serve it as a party drink too.  
So try it and let me know how it turned out for you.  Happy Cooking :)

Makes  - 1 serving
Time    -  5 min

Ingredients :

Frozen banana*	1
Concentrated rose squash (I used rooh afza)	2 tbsp
Thick curd	5-6 tbsp
Milk	2 tbsp
Cashew (roughly chopped)	6

Method:

• Take all the ingredients in a blender and process for 30 seconds or till the mixture is smooth.
• Serve immediately.

Notes:

1. Make sure your curd is not sour.
2. Use thick curd.
3. For best results, make this smoothie fresh.
4. You can substitute frozen banana with fresh banana and 2 ice cubes (for above quantity).
5. For a healthier version use low fat curd and low fat milk.

*For frozen banana - keep the whole banana in the freezer for a day and use.

Eggless Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

I am back with one more banana recipe.  It is eggless, butterless and made with whole wheat.  But please do not think that I am gonna share the recipe of some tasteless n blunt kindda muffins... no no no.. these are so delicious.  I made these muffins with ripe banana and as banana is a good substitute of egg for many baked goodies, I didn't add any egg in these muffins.  They came out perfectly fluffy and soft.  I always try to make something new with ripe bananas and these muffins are a part of those experiments.  Just after preparing the batter I decided to give a twist to these cutie muffins.  I put a piece of chocolate in the center of all the muffins and when V tasted it, melted chocolate came as a sweet surprise to him :D  

I was very happy with the results.  My toddler too relished these muffins.  These are perfect for breakfast and kids lunch box.  No need of icing.  I just love the flavour of banana in it.  Here, to help you, I have added some pics I took while making these muffins.

So lets start making these perfect, healthy and yummy muffins.  Do try and enjoy.  Happy Cooking :)

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour	¾ cup
Banana	1 (Ripe)
Baking powder	½ tsp
Baking soda	1/8 tsp
Brown sugar	6 tbsp
Bar one / 5 star chocolate	1 bar (optional)
Oil	¼ cup
Milk	1 tbsp
Curd	2 tbsp
Vanilla essence	½ tsp
Mixed raisins	2 tbsp  (optional

Method:

• Sieve together wheat flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.
• Take mixed raisins and add 1/2 tsp flour to it.  Mix well and set aside.
• Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.
• Preheat oven at 180 degree.
• In a mixing bowl, take sugar and oil.  Mix both till sugar melts.  Add curd and mix well.  Add milk and vanilla essence and mix again.
• Take banana in a separate bowl and mash it with the help of a fork.  Add it to the oil mix and whisk everything well.
• Add flour mix little by little to the oil banana mix.  Whisk well to make a lump-free batter.  The batter should not be too thick or too watery.  If you find that the batter is too thick add one more tbsp milk.  
• Finally add raisins to the batter and give it a stir.  
• Take the chocolate bar and cut it into six equal pieces.
• Take the prepared batter and fill the muffin cups till 1/4.  Put a piece of chocolate in the center and top it up with some more batter.  Do not fill the cups more than half.  Likewise, fill all the muffin cups with a piece of chocolate in the center. (pics below).

                                 

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes or till a knife inserted comes out clean.  Take out the tray from the oven and let the muffins rest for 3-4 minutes.

Out of oven 

Remove the muffins from the tray.  Let them cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm.

Notes:

1. Instead of brown sugar you can add white powdered sugar or castor sugar.
2. Brown sugar gave a nice brown color to these muffins.
3. You can skip the raisins and add your choice of dried fruits or even tutty fruitty.
4. Keep checking the muffins in the oven to avoid burning as temperature varies from oven to oven.  After baking the muffins for 15 minutes, keep checking.
5. Do not over bake.
6. Use of chocolate is also optional.

Banana chocolate ice cream

Banana is a very versatile fruit. You can convert it into a shake, cake, bread, muffin, pan cakes or anything your imagination allow. Whenever I find some over ripe bananas at home I make any one of the aforementioned goodies.  Anything made with banana can never go wrong (atleast I feel so :) )

This time I wanted to make something new and after searching on internet I came across some innovative banana ice creams.  Its a very flexible recipe so you can add in your choice of ingredients (with banana of course) as I did.  Here I added dessicated coconut, condensed milk and my chocolate frosting.  I was not sure at all what it would be like but to my surprise it came out very nice.

The best thing in this ice cream is that it does'nt need any cream or gelatine or any fancy ice cream machine.  You don't even need to freeze it overnight or whip it on frequent intervals to avoid the formation of air bubbles.  Just freeze it for 2 hours and its good to go.  Trust me its worth trying atleast once.  Its a nice dessert for kids parties too. 

I had made this ice cream a few weeks back and today I am going to try it again but with some variations.  If this experiments too comes out nice then I will post the recipe soon.

Here I am sharing the recipe of this wonderful ice cream.  Do try it.

Happy Cooking :) 

 

Ingredients:

Banana	1 (small)
Chocolate frosting	1 tbsp
Dessicated coconut	1 tbsp
Condensed milk	1 tbsp
Glazed cherry	1
Sprinkles to garnish

Method:

• Take the banana and peel it off.  Chop it into round slices and shift to a zip-lock bag.  Put it in the deep freezer for at least two hours.
•  Take the frozen banana and put it in the blender.  Blend it till smooth and creamy. 
• Add dessicated coconut, chocolate frosting and condensed milk.  Blend again for 30 seconds.
•  Shift the mixture into an airtight container and freeze for 1-2 hours.
• Serve chilled, topped with glazed cherry and sprinkles.

Notes:

1. Always use ripe, clean and firm bananas for this ice cream.  Use of over ripe bananas would make it taste sour.
2. If not using chocolate frosting then sugar would need to be added.
3. You can add nuts too.

UNNIAPPAM

I had come to know about Paniyaram Pan only a few months back and got so excited to know that it cooks with (almost) no oil.  How cool is that :D  So when my in laws came to visit us they brought one Paniyaram Pan for me :) 

I was so eager to make something in it and the first thing that I made was Unniappam.  The reason was so obvious that I wanted to make something that 'my little bunch of joy' can also have with us. So this dish fit the bill.  Its so soft n fluffy that you would love to have it at any time of the day.  The cherry on the cake is that it does'nt have all purpose flour aka maida, and sugar is substituted with jaggery that gives a nice flavour.  It also has banana that contributes to the softness and flavour.  All in all, a goodness packed snack that kids are surely gonna love.

My LO loved it to the core as its so soft that she could take the bites with her tiny teeth (as she has got only three front ones hehehe).

Me and V also love these Unniappams and have it as evening snacks with tea.  All thanks to Paniyaram Pan. 

With this magic pan I had also made spinach koftas with just one spoon of oil... isnt it great? :)  No compromise in taste.  I will post that recipe soon.

Now coming back to the recipe.. Following is the detailed recipe of these super yummy Unniappams. Do try and enjoy. Happy Cooking :)

WHOLE WHEAT BANANA BREAD

I love bananas.  They are yummy in taste and give nice flavour and texture to the dishes specially the baked goods.  I love using bananas in shakes, appams, muffins and cakes.  I will soon post all these recipes.  

Now come to the recipe i.e. whole wheat banana bread.  This bread is a very healthy one.  I often make it for my one year old baby and she loves it.  Your kids will surely gonna love it.  I too love the flavour of this bread and its guilt free also as I have used whole wheat flour, oil and low fat milk.  I have also substituted sugar with jaggery.  Its so easy to make also.  Just mix up the things, bake it and its done.  So all in all its a guilt free no fuss anytime snack for the weight watchers.

Lets start making this delicious bread.  Happy cooking.