No Bake Energy Balls ~Secret Recipe Club Challenge 18th January 2016

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of January my assigned blog is Happy Go Lucky The blog is written by Kara, not only does the blog have lots of recipes  but it also has lots of DIY ideas that are fun to create. I really enjoyed browsing through her blog and wanted to try out all the arts and craft posts but since the secret recipe club is about food I have book marked and will try out the craft ideas at leisure.
Having over indulged over the festive period it is time to get back into shape for the new year.This means eating healthy regular meals. Kara's No bake energy balls were the perfect  for on the go breakfast idea. I recreated them using similar ingredients that I could get in the UK.

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No Bake Energy Balls

by Nayna Kanabar January-18-2016

Delicious cereal and nut balls that are perfect for snacking.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Dried strawberries chopped
• 1/2 cup Dried Papaya chopped
• 1 cup Quick organic Oats
• 1 cup Maple and Pecan crisp (Cereal clusters made with oats, crisped rice & maple flavoured syrup, garnished with chopped pecans and almonds)
• 1/3 cup Honey
• 1/2 cup Almond Butter

Method:

1. Add the honey and almond butter in a large glass bowl and microwave on medium for 30 seconds.2. Add the oats, dried fruits and the maple and pecan crisp into the melted honey and butter and mix together till it all sticks together.3. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and keep aside.4. Pinch walnut sized balls of the mixture and form round balls. Place them on baking tray and make all the balls.Store in an air tight container.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 16 mins Yield: 18 Balls

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Vegetarian Chilli ~Secret recipe club November 16th 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of November my assigned blog is Living the Gourmet . The blog is a joint contributed blog by Catherine, Tammy and  Michael, between them they post some wonderful recipes, reviews and photography on the blog. 
Looking through I found some lovely recipes but one I immediately wanted to make was the sweet and spicy vegetarian chilli recipe. I love one pot meals and this is perfect for the winter to prepare and enjoy. I made very slight changes by using the veg that I had in my vegetable box .The recipe was a super success with my family .We enjoyed it with rice and also with pasta.

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Sweet and Spicy Vegetarian Chilli

by Nayna Kanabar November-15-2015

A medley of seasonal vegetables cooked together in this rustic bowl of Spicy chilli.

Ingredients:

• 400g Precooked kidney beans
• 3 thinly sliced Capsicums red/yellow/green
• 100g Precooked sweet corn
• 1 Large Courgette diced
• 200g chopped Tinned tomatoes in juice
• 1 Medium Sweet potato peeled and diced
• 1 Finely sliced Red onion
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Chilli Powder
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinergar
• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 2 cloves Finely chopped Garlic
• 1 Finely chopped Green chilli
• 2 sprig fresh Coriander

Method:

1. Add oil in a pan when its hot, add the garlic and onion and saute for a couple of minutes.2. Add the sweet potato and peppers and courgettes and saute for 5 minutes.3. Add the sweetcorn, kidney beans, chopped tomatoes and the juice.4. Add the salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, green chillies and cook the vegetables until the sweet potato is cooked through. approx 10 minutes.(Add a little water if mixture is dry )5. Add the honey and balsamic vinegar and stir together.6. Transfer the chili to a serving pan and garnish with fresh coriander. You can serve the chilli with rice or pasta.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: Serves 4

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Asian Mango Slaw ~ Secret recipe club October 19th 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of October my assigned blog is CookwithSara  I enjoyed looking through Sara's blog and finally settled for the Asian Mango Slaw as I had a semi ripe mango that was perfect for the recipe. We really enjoyed this delicious Asian Mango Slaw recipe . I did add raw mango and chillies to spice it up a little.

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Asian Mango Slaw

by October-18-2015

Delicious and tangy Mango slaw with Asian flavours.

Ingredients:

• 300g Finely shredded cabbage
• 2 medium Finely grated carrots
• 1 small Red Onion finely sliced
• 1 Semi ripe large mango finely sliced
• 2 small Raw mango sliced
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 red Chilli finely chopped
• 1/4 cup Flaked Almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Lime Juice
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Light Soya Sauce

Method:

1. In a screw top jar add the vinegar, lime juice, soya sauce, olive oil, salt and red chillies. Put on the lid and shake the jar to mix all the ingredients.2. In a skillet add the almonds and sesame seeds and toast them lightly. Transfer them to a bowl and keep aside.3. In a large bowl add the shredded cabbage, grated carrots, sliced onions and the both types of mango slices and toss together. 4. Pour the dressing over the salad mixture and toss together to coat the vegetables with the dressing. Add half the sesame seeds and toasted almonds and toss together.5. Transfer the Asian Mango slaw to a serving dish and garnish with the remaining toasted sesame seeds.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time:None Total time: 10 mins Yield: Serves 4

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Quinoa Salad ~Secret Recipe club challenge 20th July 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of July my assigned blog is Feast on the cheap written by Mary Anne and Mariel a mother and daughter duo.There were many interesting recipes but I chose to make the salad recipe as we are currently having a heat wave in UK and we are making the most of the warm weather by eating outside al fresco. Salads are perfect for this.I chose the Quinoa Salad recipe although I did change a couple of the ingredients to make it vegetarian for our dietary requirements.

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Quinoa Salad

by Nayna Kanabar July-20-2015

Light and tasty salad with Quinoa and a medley of salad vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Quinoa
• 2 cups Water
• 1/2 each finely diced Red, Green , Yellow peppers
• 200g Precooked Kidney Beans
• 1/2 finely diced Cucumber
• 4 finely chopped Spring Onions
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• Pinch Chilli Flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

Method:

1. Place the quinoa in a strainer and run it under cold water. Next add the washed quinoa in a pan with 2 cups water and bring to boil.2. Once the water comes to boil reduce flame and simmer quinoa on low heat for 15 -20 minutes until all the water is absorbed.Remove from heat and leave to cool. 3.In a large bowl add the cooled quinoa, diced cucumber, chopped spring onions, kidney beans and peppers and mix together.4. In jug add the lemon juice, olive oil, chilli flakes, pepper, cumin, honey and mix it together.5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss together. Transfer to a serving dish and serve chilled

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 2 servings

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Cookie bars~Secret recipe club challenge 15th June

Secret recipe club

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of June my assigned blog The Painted Apron by Jenna Meon .Jenna is an artist nad you can see the creativity in her blog posts.I really enjoyed browsing through all the recipes but I fell in love with the heaven in a cookie bar recipe, and immediately decided to make that. The only changes I made were that I drizzled some white chocolate and added smarties to the cookie bars .

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Cookie Bars

by Nayna Kanabar June-15-2015

Delicious melt in the mouth cookies that will leave you wanting more and more.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Plain Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 10 tablespoons Melted butter
• 2 cups Light brown sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Essence
• 12 oz Chocolate chip
• 1/4 cup Flaked Almons
• 4 oz White chocolate chips
• 1 handful Smarties

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C2.Line a 9x12 baking tray with grease proof paper.3. In a bowl sieve together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.4. In another bowl add the vanilla, melted butter, eggs and sugar and whisk together.5. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds into the flour mixture and add the wet ingredients to it.6. Mix together the ingredients and spread them into the prepared baking tray.7. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes until slightly brown, do not over bake cookies should be chewy in the center. Remove tray from oven and leave to cool.8. Melt some white chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave. Fill a icing bag with the melted white chocolate and drizzle some white chocolate over the cookie bake. For additional touch sprinkle some smarties over the bake and leave the chocolate to set. 9. Once set, cut the cookies into squares and transfer to a serving dish.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: 20 small bars

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Submitting to:
Lets cook for DAD event by simplyfood

White Chocolate Chip Orange Cookies ~Secret recipe challenge 18th May 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of May my assigned blog was The pajama chef written by Sarah who is a librarian and has a passion for baking. She claims that  she would happily wear pajamas 24/7 I guess that's got something to do why the blog is called The Pajama Chef.

I was browsing through the recipes and immediately fell in love with the Chocolate Chip Orange cookies. The only changes I made were that I used white chocolate chips instead of brown as I accidently picked up the wrong ones whilst shopping. The cookies turned out delicious and I am going to make them again very soon.My work colleagues said three dozen were not enough when I took them to work!!!!

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White Chocolate Chip and Orange Cookies

by Nayna Kanabar May-18-2015

Fragrant orange scented white chocolate chip cookies that melt in the mouth.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup White Sugar
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla essence
• 2 teaspoons Orange Juice
• 1 tablespoon Orange zest
• 3 1/4 cup Plain Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 2 cups White chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C /350 degrees F and line 6 cookie sheets with parchment paper.2. Cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla essence, orange juice, orange zest, baking soda and flour and chocolate chips. Mix together to form a dough.Cover and chill for half an hour.3. Scoop small walnut sized balls from the dough and place them on the baking trays making sure they are spread apart as they will spread when baking. Slightly flatten each ball with your fingers.4. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown, remove them from oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

Details

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: 3 dozen

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Apple Cake ~ Secret Recipe Club Challenge 20th April 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of April my assigned blog was Get off the couch and Cook written by Sashi. The main focus of her blog is to create recipes that take less than 45 minutes to cook. Looking through the blog I noticed Sashi likes bacon a lot but being a vegetarian I was trying to find a recipe that would be suitable for me or one that I could adapt to make it vegetarian with minimal change. I spent quite a lot of time looking at all the recipes but finally chose the apple cake recipe that did not need any adaptation. My finished cake was delicious although it did turn out a little dense and did not rise as much as I had expected. We enjoyed it with some vanilla custard.

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Apple Cake

by Nayna Kanabar April-20-2015

Moist apple cake, delicately flavoured with cinnamon

Ingredients:

• 6 Braeburn Apples
• 2 cups Granulated Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
• 3/4 cup Sunflower Oil
• 3 Medium Eggs
• 1 cup Orange Juice
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 2.5 cups Plain Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar

Method:

1.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line and grease a 9 inch spring form cake tin and keep aside.2. Peel and slice the apples and place them in a large bowl with the cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar.Toss and leave aside.3.In another bowl sieve the flour, salt and baking powder.4. In a jug break the eggs, whisk them and then add the vanilla, oil, orange juice and sugar and whisk together.5. Fold the wet ingredients into the flour very gently to form the cake batter, do not over mix.6. Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared cake tin and smooth it out with the spoon. Add the apple slices and liquid from the apples and top the apples with the remaining cake batter.Smooth the top of the cake with the spoon and tap the tin slightly.7. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.8. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to reach room temperature in the tin. Once cake has cooled remove from tin and transfer to a serving dish.Sprinkle the remaining sugar on the top .

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 8 slices

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Submitting to:
Lets cook for Easter event by simplyfood

Bake Fest event by Cooks Joy and guest hosted by Mayuris Jikoni

Potato Hash~ Secret recipe challenge 16th March 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of March my assigned blog was The Heritage Cook written by Jane Bonacci. Jane describes herself as food and travel writer, recipe developer, editor and tester, event manager, passionate baker and cook. Looking through Janes blog, there were many delicious recipes, I liked that her focus is also on gluten free recipes. I settled for breakfast idea. I chose the Turkey Hash as my family love Sunday Brunch and this was perfect for it. I did make slight changes to the recipe to make it vegetarian. I omitted  the turkey and added some mushrooms instead.

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Potato Hash

by Nayna Kanabar March 16th-2015

Delicious and tasty potatoes cooked with onion, peppers and mushrooms for the perfect breakfast accompaniment.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium red potatoes peeled and coarsely grated
• 6 button mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 small red onion cut into very thin slices
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 each green, red and yellow peppers finely diced

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.2.Oil a deep baking dish and keep aside. 3.In a large bowl add the potatoes, onions, diced peppers, mushrooms, salt and pepper and the oil and toss every thing together. 4.Transfer the potato mixture to the oiled baking dish and pack the potato filling down with a spatula. 5.Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until potatoes are cooked and slightly crispy on the edges. Remove from oven and cut into square slices and serve piping hot with baked beans and fried eggs.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Baking  time: 25 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: serves 4

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Coconut Banana Bread Bites ~Secret Recipe club 16th Feb 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of February  my assigned blog was Mangia which means "Eat" in Italian. Mangia is written by Chelsey who comes from a large Italian family and lives in Texas. The main theme of the blog is healthy gluten free recipes. I really enjoyed reading the blog and discovering new healthy ingredients for cooking. I chose the Coconut Banana Bread bites for my challenge.We really enjoyed them.

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Coconut Banana Bread Bites

by Nayna Kanabar February 16th-2015

Healthy and delicious banana bites encased is sweet tendar coconut..

Ingredients:

• 2 small ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon almond butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons dessicated coconut
• 2 tablespoons flax seed mealt

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 Ddegrees F.2.line a mini muffin tin with mini cake liners.3.In a large bowl add the bananas and mash them with a fork. Add the coconut flour, dessicated coconut, maple syrup,vanilla essence ,salt, almond butter, coconut oil, cinnamon and flax seed meal and mix together to form a dough. 4.Fill the mini cake liners with a teaspoon of mixture in each and bake in the preheated oven for 12- 15 minutes until golden brown. 5. Remove from oven and serve with a glass of cold milk.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Baking  time: 20 minTotal time: 25 mins Yield: 24 mini bites

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Microwave Chocolate Cake in a Mug ~ Secret recipe challenge 19th Jan 2015

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of January my assigned blog was Melissa's Cuisine. Melissa lives in with her husband and cute little baby. She is a baker, photographer and cook and spends a lot of time reading cook books cover to cover.

Looking through her blog was fun and I enjoyed making the white chocolate christmas trees and the single serve Coffee cake in a mug. I couldn't find coffee in the ingredient list so instead I added cocoa to my mix to make it a chocolate cake. I used the measurements in Melissa's recipe but I think my mug was too tall and the cake did not fill my mug to the top so I remade it again and doubled the ingredients so that I could get a photograph of the cake showing  in the mug. The cake turned out gooey and fairly dense almost like a chocolate brownie. I guess this was because the recipe did not have egg in it. I am not complaining though, the cake tasted delicious and was chocolicious and delectable.For sheer indulgence a scoop of vanilla ice cream would have taken it to heaven.

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Microwave Chocolate cake in a Mug

by Nayna Kanabar January 19th-2015

The most chocolicious cake that will melt in your mouth and curb the chocolate craving..

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.
• few drops vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chocolate chip

Method:

1.In a bowl sieve together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.2.Add the sugar to the flour and stir it in.3.Add the vanilla and the milk and 3/4 of the chocolate chip and mix together to form a cake batter of dropping consistency. 4. Pour the batter into a 10cm tall coffee cup and sprinkle the top with remaining chocolate chips.5. microwave on high for 45-60 seconds.Check the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer in the cake, if it comes out clean cake is ready. Serve the cake straight out of the microwave with a dollop of vanilla ice cream for sheer indulgence. For sheer perfection a dusting of icing sugar would not go a miss.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Baking  time: 45-60 seconds Total time: 6 mins Yield:1 serving

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