Healthy Rice Krispie Treats with Dates

Traditionally the yummy rice krispie treats are made from Rice cereal , Marshmallows and oodles of butter. But this one is not  your regular rice Krispy treats with Marshmallows. It’s a lighter and healthier version with Dates Puree and peanut butter. Isn’t it great to hear that your favorite snack can be made so healthy and wholesome.. now you can munch on this non-stop without worrying about growing horizontally!!

Rose Pudding with Soy milk-A simple vegan dessert

Tuesdays..Pilates class .. rigorous hour long exercise(or should I call tortureJ?)..and I am almost dying..

So nothing to write..no stories to share..my brain has shutdown and soon my hands will stop working too.Lemme quickly share the recipe before my body shutdown completely

Wait wait I told you here that I am keeping the best for later..remember?

So ladies and gentle man..let me present to you my pilates teacher, May. And yeah thatz her in the picture.

Take your time , go to her site..open your mouth wide open..let your eye pop out..Its all absolutely normal and expected and I have seen that many many times.

And yes she is an excellent trainer..the best I have had so farJ

No pressure..take your time,relax, take some deep breaths and come back to the recipe at your own pace!

13 Bean Soup

Every time I talk to my mom  she keeps reminding me that I was such a super picky eater when I was a kid, there was no way she could make me eat vegetable unless it is all mashed or juiced

I am soo tempted to say that the grown up me is not at all like that but sadly I am still  a picky eater. But of course the pickiness has changed to a different direction. I love my veggies and fruits but started to develop a dislike for hot spicy food somewhere in my late teens and that still continues. I can see some eye rolling, yes coming from India, land of curry and spices I cannot take spicy food. Correction, I can still take..but I will have to spend a pretty long time in toilet the following day.So thinking about a 30 min toilet break, I try to maintain a  safe distance from Super hot food.

Fruit and Seed Balls

After the hit of the Fig and Date balls I am on a steady hunt for no bake, no cook easy yet healthy snack.

Why waste time on whipping, mixing and baking when I can make a super easy dessert in less than 30 min which is healthy ,hearty and guilt free too!

I have been trying different combinations of dried fruit, nuts, seeds and flavorings and there is always a box of this super power balls in my refrigerator.

So here is the latest recipe I have tried with one of my fav ingredient, desiccated coconut.

Apricot Banana Soy Shake

Its Friday and the life has suddenly become all brightJ

I took a day off work, just to get some amble  rest [read it as sleep , sleep and more sleep]

As it is an off day and a day for myself, I made this simple and effortless breakfast for today.

This is a great energy booster for breakfast or a pre workout drink, with all benefits of Soy and fruits

The banana and apricots provide plenty of complex carbo hydrates, the soy milk provides a combo of calcium and protein.

I bet Apricot Banana Soy Shake  is definitely the kind of smoothie your family would love to have !

 Apricot Banana Soy Shake

Ingredients 

1 Cup Soy Milk

6-8 Dried Apricots

1 Ripe Banana

1 tspn Brown or Raw Sugar

Directions

Pour about ¼ Cup boiling water to apricots to soften it. Let it cool down for 15 minutes

In a blender combine the Soy milk, apricots, Banana and Sugar and process until it is smooth.

Top it with some ice cubes and enjoy the breakfast smoothie

Tofu Veggie Scramble

This is the best  vegan alternative to egg scramble..

The best thing about tofu is that it is mostly like a sponge, it absorbs the flavors soo well.

You can throw in the spices and veggies of your choice and prepare this easy recipe in few minutes

Here I added some Chili powder and Garam Masala to give the scramble a hint of spiciness

I served the Spicy Tofu scramble with some warm Naan and we loved the combo!

 

Tofu Veggie Scramble

Ingredients

100 gms Firm tofu

1 Carrot grated

1 Onion finely chopped

2 tomatoes-pureed

¼ Cup Green peas

Few mint leaves

1/2  tspn Turmeric power

½ tspn Chili powder

½  tspn Garam Masala

½ tspn Ginger Garlic paste

½ tspn Cumin seeds

1 tspn Oil

Salt to taste

Directions

Pat dry the tofu using some kitchen towel and crumble it using a fork

Heat the oil in a wok. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds.

Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté for few seconds

Now add the onions and sauté until the onions turn translucent.

Add the purred tomatoes and the spice powder-salt,turmeric power, chilly power and Garam masala.

Add the grated carrots , peas and Tofu.

Add two tablespoons of water and cover and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add the mint leaves and mix well.

Nonya Acar/Spicy Vegetable Pickle

Are you guys having a good weekend?

We are having a long weekend yeyyyy! I had a great start, pampered myself at a local spa and later had a blast at Russell Peter show here!Man, I have seen his youtube videos but the live show is no match! I actually got a tummy ache after laughing non-stop for 2 hrs!

 It’s been some time since I have posted something here! Let me put the blame on my day job and not on my lazinessJ

So let me share a lovely Nonya recipe which I made few weeks back.Nonya cuisine or Pernakan cuisine is a unique blend of Malay and Chinese flavors.Although I live in Singapore, which has a wide array of Nonya Cuisine options, being a vegetarian makes my choices limited!But I can make up on the Nonya desert sectionJ

This is a very unique combination of Spicy, sweet ,sour and crunchy Pickle.You can go ahead and add vegetables of your choice like cabbage,long beans etc. Here I am sticking to basic one

Nonya Acar/Spicy Vegetable Pickle

 Ingredients

1 Cucumber

1 Carrot

1 Small  Pineapple cut into 1/2 inch cubes                                                           

2 tbspn Sesame seeds

1/4 Cup roasted peanuts,pounded

1 tspn Tamarind soaked in 3 tbspn water

1 tspn Brown Sugar

Salt to taste

2 tbspn Sesame Oil

To ground to paste

2 Red Chilies

1 Dried Red Chili

4 shallots

1 Clove Garlic

Ginger a small Piece

Directions

Slice cucumber and carrot to 3 mm long slices.

Rub some salt to the cucumbers and set aside for 30 min and pat dry with kitchen towel to drain the excess water.

Heat 2 tbspn sesame oil in a wok and add the ground paste and sauté until the raw small is gone

Now squeeze the tamarind and add the juice to the wok along with salt and sugar.

Let it come to a boil. Switch off the flame and add the vegetables and mix well

Add the sesame seeds and peanuts and let it cool.

The pickle is best eaten the following day.

Fig and Date Balls

Eureka! I have found the perfect guilt free snack! And what more ,its eggless, no bake and not even any cooking involved.

And with the added goodness of dates, figs , almonds and Oats!

Me being a sneak, I didn’t tell about the hidden Oats and nuts and gave the Sweet balls to DH who absolutely hates anything with a healthy tag on it!

He thought its some laddu and gorged on it and finished it in no time!

Later in the evening, he was searching the refrigerator for the sweet ballsJ

And he was like, it was soo good and you made such a small batch! And that’s when I reveled the secret ingredientsJ

I told him that in fact it had all his “enemy” stuff in it!

Still he was telling me that Oats and nuts are well hidden and next time I should make a larger batch!

So waste no time in whipping, mixing and baking instead try this Super power Fig and Date balls .

I bet these will satisfy your sweet tooth!

Fig and Date Balls

Ingredients

4 Dried Figs

8-10 Dates

10 almonds

3 tbspn Instant Oats

Directions

In a food processor or Mixer ,powder the oats first and keep aside.No need to make it a fine powder. Just a single pulse will do.

Next pulse the almonds for few seconds.

Now add the chopped dates and figs and pulse for few seconds.

Take the mix out to a plate, the mix will be quite sticky now.

Add the oats and mix well . The oats will absorb any left moisture and the mix will be no longer sticky.

Next , roll one tbpsn each to balls and enjoy the healthy snack

This is my entry to the favourite healthy snack recipe event hosted by Nags and Megha 

Corn and Tomato Rice

                                

I just love the idea of one pot meals!

Isn’t it such a cool idea!  Chop,mix and cook .There you have a healthy and comforting meal!

Today’s recipe is one such  easy breezy recipe. A perfect lazy weekend mealJ

Corn and Tomato Rice  

Ingredients           

1 Cup Cooked Rice

2 Tomatoes Pureed

1/3 Cup Corn Kernels

1 Onion chopped finely

1 Green Chilly chopped finely

½ inch piece of Ginger/2 Cloves Garlic Chopped finely

Curry leaves 10 nos                                                                                                           

1 tspn Oil

Flavorings:

1 tsp Chili powder

1 ½ tspn Coriander powder

½ tspn Turmeric

Salt to taste

Directions

Heat Oil in a wok and add the Garlic , ginger and chilies and sauté until fragrant.

Add the onions, curry leaves  and the flavorings and continue to sauté until the onions turn transparent.

Add the pureed tomatoes, corn and 2 tbspn water, salt cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Continue to cook until the gravy has thickened.

Once the gravy has thickened ,add the  cooked rice and mix well.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes to let the flavors infuse well.

Tamari and Sesame Vegetables

This one has been sitting in my drafts for a long while now! Time to pull it out before it gets dusted over

I made this long back when I had a friend over for lunch!

A flavorful stir fry with crunchy vegetables, nutty sesame seeds and hot Red Chilies! A perfect side dish for Fried rice

Tamari and Sesame Vegetables

Adapted from Australian Women’s weekly

Ingredients

Vegetables of your choice-I used Mushrooms, Carrots, Beans and Kai Lan chopped finely –About 1 Cup

1/4 Cup Bean Sprouts

2 tspn Oil

2 tspn Tamari

1 tspn Roasted Sesame seeds

2 Cloves Garlic chopped finely

½ Inch Slice of Ginger chopped finely

1 Long red Chilly chopped finely

Directions

Heat oil in a wok. Stir fry the Chilly, Garlic and ginger

Add in the mushrooms, carrots, beans and sprinkle little water and cook until the vegetables turn soft

Add in the Kai Lan leaves,Bean sprouts, tamari and stir fry for couple of minutes.

Sprinkle the roasted sesame seeds and enjoy with a bowl of fried rice.

Tofu Pancake..Yummy Vegan breakfast

It was after moving to Singapore that I started experimenting with Tofu and Soy milk.

We have a very famous outlet here called Mr. Bean which sells superb soy milk with different flavors.

Thanks to Mr. Bean, I am a hard core lover of their soy milk and pancakes.

Anyways…my dear husband totally hates it.. And here is the weirdest comment you will hear about soy milk

“Soy milk tastes exactly like plastic” as if plastic was part of his staple diet Lolzz

Anyways that didn’t stop me from trying new Soy/Tofu recipes

And here is my  attempt to sneak tofu into our breakfast-> Tofu Pancake

Isn’t that lovely.. And this definitely didn’t taste like plastic at all and we loved it

Vegan Tofu Pancake

Adapted from: Recipes for Health Bliss by Susan Smith Jones

Ingredients

100 gms Tofu- Soft tofu/Silken tofu

1/3 Cup Soy Milk

1 Medium Banana Mashed

1/4 Cup + 2tbspn Whole wheat pastry flour

2 tbspn Flax seed meal

1 tbspn Agave nectar

Pinch of Cinnamon powder

Directions

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth and consistency is that of a cake batter.

If the batter is too runny, add a tablespoon of flour. If it is too thick add little more Soy milk

Heat a non stick pan over medium low heat.

Once pan is hot, pour a ladle full of batter into the pan.

When the bubble appears, flip the pancake and cook the other side.

Server with fresh fruits and syrup