Baked Oatmeal

This is a favorite recipe from camp Seneca Hills. Toppings definitely make all the difference, but are not required. It's a hearty breakfast that can easily be made the day ahead-refrigerated and rewarmed = just as yummy!

4 cups quick oats (I've used old fashioned oats before with good results)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups milk
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups diced apples or peaches

Mix all ingredients together. Put in a greased 9x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 35 min or until browned.

Suggested toppings:

chocolate chips (camper favorite!)
blueberries or other berry
dried cranberries or raisins
additional apple or peaches, or other chopped fruit
whipped cream
peanuts or peanut butter, walnut or other nut/nut butter

Anything else I'm missing? Try it out and let me know!

Beetroot curry

Like many vegetable curries, you can use one vegetable as the base and add one or more additional vegetables to vary the recipe. Beetroot curry is no exception. My favorite is curry made with only beetroot and mixed with 1-2 Tbs shredded coconut. But, when you only have one beetroot and are trying to make lunch for 2 people, you have to add other filler veggies :)

Today's lunch was a nice combination of beetroot and golden carrots. Although of course, once the carrots were cooked with the beetroot, no longer looked very golden!

Ingredients & Process

1 beetroot, diced
1 cup diced carrots

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp bengal gram
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste)
6-8 curry leaves

Add 1Tbs oil to a pan, add popu (mustard seeds, bengal gram, urad dal, jeera, turmeric, curry leaves) and salt. Add diced vegetables and stir to combine. Add 1/2 cup water and cover with lid, simmer over low flame, about 20 minutes. Check periodically to prevent burning. If water dries up and the beetroot is still not tender, add little more water as required.

Countless other varieties can be made as well...I often add one (or more) of the following to the beetroot

-1 chopped onion
-1 cup shredded carrot
-2 Tbs grated ginger
-1/2 cup cooked bengal gram

Garnish with 1-2 Tbs cilantro and/or shredded coconut (optional, but highly recommended!)

Tomato Jam

We have gotten so many beautiful, delicious tomatoes from our garden. Brandywine. Beefsteak. Celebrity. Rutgers. We actually were afraid we were losing our crop mid-season. I really can't thank my husband enough for hand-picking off all those nasty army worms. One of his best traits is his persistence. Thanks to that, we have been enjoying juicy tomatoes all summer long. I've canned spaghetti sauce, frozen tons of tomato puree, made a huge tray of mutter paneer for our daughter's 1st birthday party (used about 12 lbs of our tomatoes for the gravy). And then this recipe.

My mom forwarded this tomato jam recipe to me, and ever since I read it, I was intrigued. I only had a couple pint jars, but was so fixated on making it, I decided to just half the recipe and see what happened.

Love is what happened.

I plan on stocking up on jelly jars and making more next year for sure. Now I have the pleasure of discovering the many ways and recipes for enjoying this tomato jam...

This is the recipe. Simple and delicious.

This is my finished product. My husband said it can pass as strawberry jam.
Yes. It's that good!

So far I have eaten it in the following ways:
1.) straight off the spoon (no shame!)
2.) tortilla wrap with cream cheese, tomato jam, and fresh basil leaves
3.) whole wheat crackers topped with tahini and tomato jam

And I am dreaming of lemon bread with tomato jam. Seems to me that would be a delightful combination.

What are other ideas for serving this jam? Please leave your suggestions in the comments, I would love more inspiration!! 

Roasted Pesto

I finally harvested another round of basil. I've already made some pesto, dried some, added to our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners...

This bunch was made into pesto, but with a different twist.

Roasted.

Well, the basil was not roasted, but the garlic and almonds were.

We're talking yum. Bursting with flavor yum.

Here's the ingredients & process.

2 cups basil, packed & overflowing
heaping 1/2 cup of almonds
16 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil, or more as required
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp turmeric

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put garlic cloves on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Seal the foil.
In an 8x8 oven-proof baking dish, put the almonds. Lay the garlic packet inside the dish as well.
Bake for 5 minutes. Stir the almonds. Bake another 5 minutes. Stir the almonds. Turn oven off and leave pan inside for another 10-15 minutes until the almonds are nice and toasty. By this time the garlic should be nice and sizzly as well.

Add the basil, almonds, and garlic to a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds. Add half amount of lemon juice and oil. Process for another minute or so. Add remaining juice and oil and continue to process until desired consistency is reached. Add more oil if required. Add seasonings and process to combine.

All done! Store for use now or later.

I was planning to save these for my afternoon snack, but they didn't make it.
This pesto is too good!

I like to freeze pesto and store for adding to pasta later.

What are your ideas or favorite uses for pesto? Do you have a favorite pesto recipe?

Uttapam

The idly dough has been in the refrigerator for almost a week. At this point, it would make sour, flat idly. When the dough gets like this, though, it's perfect for making uttapam!

Uttapam with a bit of ketchup for dipping

To the idly batter (approximately 2 cups remaining) add

1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
5 curry leaves, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
sprinkle of salt & pepper
1 green chili, minced

Heat small skillet with a tsp of oil. Add about a cup of the batter and press lightly to spread to fill pan. Cook over med-low heat until golden brown, flip to cook other side.

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is amongst my favorite cakes. I love hearty, dense cakes--full of goodies. That's why I added nuts to this recipe. And honestly, next time I may add in some other varieties of dried fruits, like golden raisins and dried cranberries. Perhaps almonds. Yumm-o. The beautiful thing about this cake is that there is no refined sugar added. It  gets its sweetness naturally, hence its inclusion in the cookbook, Sweet & Natural.

Carrot Cake

3 large carrots
1 egg (or egg substitute) *I used 1 Tbs ground flaxseed, whisked together with 2 Tbs warm water
3/8 cup oil
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, in juice
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Scrub & grate the carrots. Measure 1 cup and set aside.
Grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan.
In a blender, combine egg, oil, pineapple & juice, raisins, and vanilla. Process until raisins are finely chopped.
Measure flour, spices, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir well.
Add blended mixture, grated carrots and walnuts to dry ingredients, mixing until batter is uniform.
Spread batter into an oiled pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until done.
Cool.

OK- I cheated and made a cream cheese frosting,
so I can't say this is completely free of refine sugars.

For the frosting,

I just softened a package of neufchatel cheese, added barely 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, and maybe a 1/4-1/2 tsp of vanilla flavoring. Lightly sweet. And oh, so delicious!

Allam (Ginger) Chutney

Ginger has many health benefits. I'm sure it's most popular use is for soothing nausea and aiding digestion. That's why idly with allam chutney is a perfect start to the day. Idly are simply steamed rice and lentil cakes, so when paired with the ginger chutney, are very easily digested. Healthy and light on the stomach. Now that's a good morning!

Ingredients & Process

3 inch piece of ginger, cut into 3 pieces

1 spoon brown sugar or jaggery

1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate (can use dried tamarind soaked in measure of water listed below)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

Popu made with

1/2 tsp mustardseeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1/2 tsp urad dal, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp turmeric,1/8 tsp asafetida, 7 curry leaves

In blender, combine ginger, jaggery, tamarind, water and salt. Puree until smooth. Will be thin, slightly watery is ok. Add the popu and puree for 30 more seconds to thoroughly blend ingredients.

*Ginger has a natural peppery flavor, but you can add additional green chili or dried red chili if your taste preferences are for more spicy chutney.