Whole Wheat Berry Pancakes

Okie am back again.After my long 2.5months India vacation,I thought I wudnt take a break again,but realized the break wasn’t enough.Now I blame it to the beautiful weather which has been terrific.Winter was more like a “Staycation” meaning a stay at home vacation.Hence,we want to make the best use of Summer.I haven’t been able to blog much,this is an old draft which am posting now.

There was a time when I envied my freedom of getting up in the morning and plan my day.It was only work,work and work that kept me occupied.Now I have all the time in the world and also the weather in favor, nothing stops me.We’ve been busy travelling and visiting a lot of new places,some new adventures,exciting vacations etc.

This month has been quite busy,started with an adventurous Houseboat trip – my first houseboat experience! Weekend in the water – that’s how I spent my July 4th long weekend.Well I have no words to describe.Here lakes are as huge as a Sea. Imagine you are in the water in a houseboat, jes given a Map for navigation,lake surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of islands,wudnt one get lost???? Which direction would one travel? Except for the radio base which cud be reached for help,there is nothing else other than water!Its a mini home kinda set up inside the houseboat with stove top,refrigerator,Oven,Bunk beds accommodating eight people,bathroom,dining table etc…wat more can one ask for?We docked the boat in different locations – at times in secluded places,once at the beach to feel the cold water.Too amused by our Vegas trip,we wanted to try our hands in the casino,so docked our boat at the casino too.We were abt 100miles away from Canada,that was exciting too.Am looking forward to more such trips in the future.Well this is how the houseboat looked.

Coming to the post,making a pancake always makes me happy.I ran out of whipped cream,but this tasted good even without it.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat flour – 1 ½ cup
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Sugar – 2 tsp
Egg – 1
Milk – ½ cup
Blueberries/Strawberries – ½ cup(only strawberries to be chopped)
Water – as required
Cooking Spray/Canola oil – for cooking.

Method:

Whisk egg and sugar together.Mix all the dry ingredients together.Add the wet ingredients to this and mix well.Add water,just enough to get a thin batter.Heat a pan,spray with cooking spray(you may use oil too),pour ¼ cup of the batter on the pan and cook on both sides just like Dosas.

Serve hot along with any syrup(maple syrup or any fruit syrup will do good).

Verdict – Its utterly delicious one.Soft and gui gui(with the syrup).Perfect for breakfast or Dinner.

Looking forward to more entries for FIC-Express your Mood.

Fruity Stacks

Sunday was eventful.Weekend in the wild,lovely..…..hmm before anyone gets me wrong,I was talking about my visit to the Zoo.Its been quite some time since I visited one. I was all the more excited when P mentioned that this place was more of a wild life sanctuary. He was indeed right and I was happy to see animals in vast open spaces amidst thick vegetation. I believe it’s cruel to put animals in cage and not giving them freedom to move around. It was a good five hour walk thru the vast area.I was able to spot the majestic Tiger,its agile cousin the leopard,fast and furious Puma,marathon winner Ostrich,wild wolf to name a few.It was also a treat to watch cute li’l kids feed to Giraffes. The trip would have been memorable if I had spotted my fav animal the mighty Elephant.The highlight of the trip was the Monorail which runs across the entire place,giving us a panoramic view of the wild life and vegetation.Yet again the weather favored us.Last but not the least there was a festive mood in the Zoo,thanks to the wonderful musical orchestra.

I had picked up a box of Strawberries,Blueberries and Raspberries from Sams thinking I would make something.We kept munching some on our way to the Zoo and before we finish the entire box I decided to make “ Fruity Stacks”.I guess this one is a perfect dessert when we end up with an unplanned dinner/party ,easy to make and great to relish!

Prep Time – 30min
Baking – 10min
Start to Finish – 40min

Ingredients:

Phyllo sheets – 3 (thawed)
Butter –2 tbsp( I used Butter spray,coz its easy to use)
Almonds and Pecans – 2 tbsp (sliced or very finely chopped)
Whipped Cream – 1 cup ( I used the fat free one)
Sugar – 1/4 cup
Fruits – You may use any fruits available (Strawberries,raspberries,Blueberries,Mango,Kiwi fruit,Banana,Apple,Nectarines,Peaches etc) – Chopped into small slices/pieces.

Method:

Place one Phyllo sheet on a baking tray.Spray/brush butter and sprinkle sugar,place another sheet on top and brush butter and sprinkle sugar,place the last sheet ,brush/spray butter and sprinkle the almonds pecan mixture.Cut the Phylo sheets horizontally into three strips,further cutting them into small squares.Bake at 350F for about ten minutes/until golden brown.Cool it completely.

In the meanwhile,beat the cream and a tbsp of sugar (this is optional,the cream had sweet so I avoided this).Just before serving,assemble the Phyllo square and fruits.Place one square,top it with Whipped Cream and fruits.Place another square and repeat the same.

This is off to “Strawberry Feast” hosted by Happy Cook,”Click” event hosted by Jugalbandhi and “Low Fat(Eggless) Baking event” hosted by Madhuram and Fruit n Nut hosted by Mansi

Low Cal Yogurt and Banana Frozen Dessert

Talk about Birthday parties,if it is ours its fun,if its our friends it all the more fun,what if it’s a small kido’s birthday?
After moving here,I have been attending Kids Birthday Parties more than ever before.While P doesn’t miss any of it,more so for the free meal(as always):-D,I often wonder how much he actually enjoys being a part of it.Initially,I used to feel a li’l out of place during these parties as most people had kids leaving the newly weds as minorities.However over a period of time I’ve started getting used to these, reminding myself that I wud be in the same boat sooner or later hosting my kids party.It also makes me realize the amount of patience and responsibility that I need to have before I become a parent.The birthday babies all decked up are blissfully unaware of the colorful surrounding ,clapping hands and multitude of new faces.They look extremely adorable and hog the limelight for the entire evening.Thanks to the technology – Digital Camera,Camcorders etc,these precious moments are captured and can be treasured lifelong.Shopping for gifts isn’t easy either,with tons of cute options available .I wish I were a kid here celebrating birthdays and receiving gifts:). How I wish?

The Birthday cakes again are so colorful and fascinating.Having a cake in the shape of Garfields,Barbie or Dora is so common these days.Its jes not the taste of the cake,the presentation and decoration makes it even more appealing to the taste buds.I realized after coming back from my vacation,I haven’t baked a cake/a pie/tart.Since I wanted to make something different,some thing simple and low on calories I made this yummy looking dessert.The recipe was from the book Smoothies and desserts,but I have tweaked it to suit my taste buds and yes it is a Low Cal Dessert,aint that good enuf to indulge on?:-P

Prep Time – 20min
Start to Finish – 3.5 hrs(including freezing time)
Servings – 10-12

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crumbs – 1 cup
Butter – 2 tbsp (Melted)
Pecans – 2 tbsp (very small pieces)
Sugar – 2 tbsp

For the topping:

White Chocolate/Vanilla Instant Pudding & Pie filing mix – 1 pkt
Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt – 2 cups
Milk – ¼ cup( I used 1% milk)
Low Fat Whipped topping – 1 ½ cups – Frozen(thawed)
Bananas – 2 ripe and firm (chopped into cubes)
1 tbsp – chocolate syrup

Method:

Grease an 8 inch square baking tray,with fork mix crumbs,melted butter,Pecans and sugar until crumbs are evenly moistened.With hands,press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of the plate.Bake at 375F for 10mins.Cool it well.This is the usual recipe I follow to make the crust.
In a bowl,mix the pudding mix,yogurt and milk,whisk for a minute until smooth(I used an electric blender for a min in low speed).Fold in the whipped topping,don’t try beating it.Drop the Bananas and stir in slowly.Spread this mixture onto the crust(Crust should be at room temperature or cold).Cover and freeze at least for 3 hours or until firm.

Remove from the freezer , let it stand for 10min and then cut into squares and top each squares with chocolate syrup. Always store the remaining covered in the freezer.

The second time I tried this,I didn’t bake the crust.I went by the original recipe – I spread the crumbs and placed it in the freezer for 10mins,did the topping and it was jes perfect.

Verdict:

Looks can kill,don’t they?During each bite, I could feel the banana chunks,it was very well coated with the cream and yogurt.In between l’il pecans made it crunchy.I could eat this guilt free not thinking much of calories.230 cals per serving for this wonderful dessert….ain’t that great?:P)

Am sending this to Sugar High Fridays “Fruit & Nut” (Banana & Pecans are the Fruit and nut that I have used)and since this doesn’t contain Egg and is Low on fat this is also off to Madhuram’s “Low Fat Baking Event“

Preethi of Preethi’s online Cookbook has passed on the lovely blog award.Thanks so much Preethi.

I am also asked to pass this on to 10 bloggers,so here I go – I would like to pass this on to Harini,Padma,Somoo,Priya,A2ZVegetarian,Parita,Divya Vikram,Pavithra,Prathiba and Varsha

Also, Varsha has tagged me for the “Honest Scrap Award” where am supposed to write 10 things about myself and guess I have already done this here.