Yum! Yum! Yum!: August 2017

Aug 28, 2017 1 comment:

Carrot Cupcakes

As 'Back to School' bash started this week, my morning has been fun and hectic in the kitchen with making lunches and packing lunch boxes for my kids. I always love to make fresh meal to pack in their lunch box, as I feel like I connect to them through food while they eat lunch. Me and my silly belief, do you ever feel that way, or am I the crazy one :-) This year I have started packing their snacks in a cute snack box, it's a save on plastic ( I used to pack in ziplock snack bags) and will do good to earth. Though I make time to pack healthy lunches, but I end up packing processed and sugar filled food for their snacks. I have been eyeing to make a batch of cupcakes, so that I can load in their snack box, but the crieteria is they should be healthy ones! When I spotted this Carrot Cupcakes recipe at Pinch of Yum, that made my day. The recipe is so simple with minimalistic ingredients that you can find in your panty and these cupcakes are loaded with goodness of grated carrot. I have made a batch right away and gave these hesistantly to my kids crossing my fingers to see their reaction, they have super liked these and I immediately got their approval to pack these in snack box. They have double okayed it, I bet these will happen once a week for sure in my kitchen from now-on-wards. Here is the recipe for you, Njoy!

Ingredients:

Adapted from: Pinch of Yum

Flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Grated Carrots - 1 1/2 cup
Oil - 2/3 cup
Eggs - 2

*yields - 12 cupcakes

Preparatory Steps:

Pre-heat the Oven to 350 F
Line the cupcake liners in the Cupcake Baking Tray.
Trim edges and peel carrots. Grate carrots with the grater and set the grated carrots aside.

Method:

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix it with whisk and swift the flour so that there are no lumps in it and set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine grated carrot and the oil. Slowly add the dry flour mixture to carrot mixture and fold in gently. Add the beaten eggs and stir/beat few times with cake mixer. ( around 15 beats)
Scoop the batter into cupcake liners about 2/3 of full. Finish all the batter in 12 cup cake liners. Keep the cupcake tray in the oven and bake for 15 min.
After 15 min, you will notice the cupcakes are ready with springy tops and test with toothpick, it should come out clean when you poke inside. Take out these cupcakes from the tray and place them on cooling rack allowing them to cool for 10 to 15 min. Once these are cooled, they are ready to be served.
You can store them for 2 to 3 days at room temperature in air-tight container or store these in refrigerator for 5 to 7 days.

Notes:

Original recipe calls to grate the carrot in food processor, but I did hand grated carrots in grater, I love the carrot flake like texture in my cupcakes. Feel free to grate in food processor if you need to rush or less manual work. ( that doesn't change any flavor so you should be good either way)
For me 4 medium carrots yielded 1 1/2 cup grated carrot.
Baking time for these cupcakes varies based on the oven, I had to keep for 3 more minutes after 15 min. So I suggest to start with 15 min, adjust as needed later at the end.
My family not a biggie for frosting on the cupcakes, that's why I didn't make any frosting or decorate with cream. You can decorate with cream cheese or vanilla frosting. Believe me, these tasted good as it is with out any frosting.
Oh, the cinnamon gives grate taste for these cupcakes, so I insist DO NOT skip the cinnamon, otherwise you will miss out lot of flavor.
These cup cakes are so delicious, spongy and so good. I suggest baking these in cupcake liners as you can directly pack them in lunchbox with liners to avoid any mess.

My kids loved these cupcakes, I hope your's will too, give it a try!

Will be back with another great and healthy recipe,

See ya next time,

-Mythreyi

Aug 26, 2017 No comments:

Fruit & Yogurt Popsicles ~ 2 Ingredient Recipes

Back to School Rush has begun in Dallas, but the Texas heat hasn't cool down yet for this summer. My kids are returning from school with thirst quench. One day my daughter is back from school and craving for popsicles and we are out of popsicles or ice creams, she is so desperate for popsicles that she wanted to make popsicles right away, yes 'SHE wanted to make'! These days she is on the spree to make her own recipes. And also she remember that I bought several popsicle molds, but never used those, so she insisted! So I had to remember where I tucked in those in my cabinates, and luckily found them quickly and we started making these fruit and yogurt popsicles right away. I have to admit, "Daughters are daughters, LOL!' Finally we both enjoyed making these together and had fun in the kitchen, That's what matters! Here is the recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients:

Honey Flavored Greek Yogurt - 1 cup

Fresh Fruit Cut-up - 1 cup ( I have used mango and strawberries)

Method:

Take Yogurt in a medium bowl and cream it with spoon/small spatula/whisk, so that there are no lumps or flakes in the yogurt.
Peel mango and cut up into small cubes. Trim stems of strawberries and cut them into small tiny pieces.
Start adding yogurt into popsicle molds and alternate with fruit pieces. Complete this process until all the molds are full. Seal these molds with cap that has stick that goes in the middle.
Keep them in freezer and allow them to freeze for 24 hours.
Next day take them out, run under lukewarm water and rub the molds in your palms and slowly take popsicles out from the molds, serve and enjoy these right away.

Notes:

For one posible I have used 1 fruit variety. You can add variety of fruits in one popsicle that makes it even more colorful. But try out with your kids favorite fruit first and then you can sneak in other fruits. ;-)
My daughter loved Mango flavored popsicle than strawberry ones, as strawberry one turned out little sour.
Instead of greek yogurt, you can try these with home made yogurt with honey mixed in it. If you are using homemade yogurt, I suggest to strain in a cloth first to remove any cream flakes or lumps.
On Roti Subzi dinner days, I let kids enjoy these yogurt popsicle instead of Curd Rice. They get to enjoy their favorite and it is healthy as these are loaded with fruit and yogurt with no preservatives. Win-Win!

This is a very quick and easy kids friendly recipe, as there is no heat/stove/oven usage in this recipe, kids can just try this on their own. As the title says this recipe uses just 2 ingredients fruit & yogurt. I have used honey yogurt and fresh fruit, however you can vary this recipe by using flavored yogurt and/or frozen fruit variety as well.

will be back with another easy recipe,

Take Care until then

-Mythreyi