Cheesy disc - baked bread appetizer with cheese and veggies

When my elder one turned 12 this june, we had a small party at home with his school friends. I made a Avengers themed cake and some party food. These cheese discs were one amongst them. I named them stark toasts. There were around 12-15 boys, so i made around 20 of these. The moment i placed them on the table, it vanished. They wanted more, I went ahead and made another 10. That too vansihed and i made another 15. Kids loved the cheese and veggie on this baked bread. Next day my phone was flooded with messages from their mommies asking for the recipe as their kids were going on and on about this cheese disc.  It is a simple to make appetizer, all you need is 20 minutes for the prep and just bake them for the next 20 minutes. 

I made these again for my boys lunch today. The usual 1 hour lunch time for my lil one was just 15 minutes today. The plate was clean and he came for second helping too. These cheese discs are inspired from a youtube video which my yoga mate shared with me when i was planning the birthday party menu. I m sending these cheesy delights to Kids Delight-Anniversary party happening @ Srivalli's space.

Inspired from here
Ingredients 

10 nos white Bread slices 

1 capsicum, finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped 

100 grams cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp freshly pounded pepper

1/2 tsp mixed herbs

Salt to taste

Spread

5 tbsp butter, softened

3-4 tbsp tomato ketchup

1/4 cup grated cheese

Method

• Let us prepare the stuffing first, chop the veggies finely, take them Together in a wide bowl, add cheese , salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Give it a good stir. Let it sit.
• Next the spread, take butter, grated cheese and tomato sauce, mix it well together. 
• Now get to the bread. Using a big cookie cutter cut a round slice of the bread. Using a smaller size cookie cutter cut a ring shape to act like a border for our cheese disc. 

Assembling the disc

• Take a bread disc, smear the butter-ketchup spread, place the ring on top. Place 2-3 tbsp of filling in the center. Repeat the same with other discs.
• Preheat  the oven to 200c and bake the discs for about 15-18 minutes. I baked these in my Microwave convection oven, which took around 18 minutes. When i baked them in my Gas oven it too just 12 minutes. So keep an eye on your bread disc from around 10 minutes.

• Remove the discs from the oven let it sit on the wire rack for 5-8 minutes.
• Serve it warm, with some tomato ketchup on the side.

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Eggless Wholewheat Ginger Carrot cake with Ginger cream cheese frosting and Walnut crumble

Carrot cake and cream cheese frosting are match made in heaven. This cake is infused with fresh ginger juice too, which takes it a notch above all.  We as a family are big fans of cooking shows. We watch Masterchef Australia, Nigella's Table, Jimmy and Jammy's food fight, the list is endless. During one such food episode of Nigella, we saw her make this ginger and carrot cake, my lil one wanted me to make this immediately.  He will be on my back until i make it for him. So i made this the same weekend, with  him standing next to me and checking whether i m following all the steps, Nigella showed in her cooking. The cake was amazing, bursting with lovely flavors of ginger. 

The cake is fit for any celebration, I m sending this to Kids delight - Anniversary celebrations happening @ Srivalli's Spice  your life.

Inspired from Nigella's Recipe
Ingredients
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup - 1 cup brown  sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/2 cup oil
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger or 2-3 tbsp candied ginger
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
3/4 cup  buttermilk

For the icing
200 grams cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp freshly squeezed ginger juice

Toppings
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease baking pans with oil and lay it with parchment paper. I have used 2 
• Sift together flour. baking soda and baking powder.  
• Add grated carrots and fresh ginger/candied ginger to this and mix well. Finally tip in the chopped walnuts to the dry  flour mix and give it a good stir.
• Let us get to the wet ingredients, Take butermilk in a wide bowl, add sugar to it and mix well. Next add oil to it and whisk well to combine.
• Now add the flour mix to the wet ingredients in batches and whisk. I use a spatuala while mixing, mix in one direction, be gentle while mixing.  please ensure all the flour is mixed well.
• Divide the batter among the 2 prepared cake pans and bake them @ 180C for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Let the cake sit in the pan for 5 minutes, then slowly loosen the edges using a blunt knife and unmould the cake on a wire rack. Let it cool completely if you are planning to ice it. 
• If serving as such, serve a warm slice with your evening cup.

Topping

• Mix chopped walnuts, with butter and brown sugar. Spread it on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes @ 180C. Remove and let it rest on the counter until it is cool to touch, if it too clumpy, just break it down.

Frosting

• Take cream cheese in a bowl, add icing sugar and ginger juice to it and whip until it soft peak forms. 

Assemble the cake

• Remove the cakes from the refrigerator. Scrap the top of the cakes.
• Put a blob of frosting on a cake board or a plate. This helps to hold the cake in its place while you frost. 
• Place a cake layer on top. Brush the top with simple sugar syrup. Fill the top of the cake with whipped cream frosting. Place the second layer bottom side up. Brush the top again with simple sugar syrup.
• Crumb coat the cake with frosting. This seals the crumbs well and gives a neat finish to the final decoration. Refrigerate the cake for atleast 10 minutes before decorating it further.

• I added another layer of frosting and  and topped with walnut crumbs.  Let the cake rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

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Limonana - Middle Eastern Frozen mint lemonade, Minty Lemon Slushy

While searching for what to make from Jordan, i had the option of cooking a rice and lentil dish, a dip and also some dessert. But serioulsy i was in no mood to cook any of the above. With me and hubby in a low-carb diet, i cook bare minimum at home, basic dal and rice for kids, so to cook something elaborate, i dont have any tummy to feed!! No foodie/food blogger should be in such a situation😆

So, i was in a hunt for a simple single serve recipe, that could be done in no time and will also vanish in no time with almost zero calories. During one such search i landed at Saffron trail's post about jordan visit. I was happy to find this drink in her post and voila, i made almost immediately and gulped it right after i clicked it.

A perfect drink to quench your taste on a hot afternoon, lovely accompaniment during a heavy meal. Some have the habit of sipping soda, but this drink does the same job, the combination of mint and lemon gives you that washdown we look for, after a heavy meal. 

There is no definite recipe here, i have actually eye-balled the ratio, it depends what kind of taste you want, you want more lemony or more minty. The below recipe gives a perfect blend of both, i have used less sugar since i m not used to sugary drinks, so again if you want it a bit more sugar, adjust sugar accordingly.

Ingredients (serves 1)

Handful of fresh mint leaves (around 20-30 leaves)

handful of ice cubes

juice of a lime ( can be increased to 1.5 limes)

1-2  tsp sugar (increase or decrease as per your taste)

fresh mint and lime wedge for garnish

Method

• Take 1/4 cup of water in a microwave safe mug, add sugar to it, heat it for a minute, and mix well. Make sure the sugar dissolves completely. 
• Take all the ingredients in a blender along with the sugar syrup, except the garnish. Pulse and blend to crush the ice well. 

• Once the ice crushes, blend well once, pour it in tall glasses, garnish with mint leaves and lime wedge and serve immediately.

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Coffee jelly topped with whipped cream and grated chocolate

Coffee jelly, a popular japanese dessert, wiki says, that it is most commonly served restaurants, cafe's and convenience stores. I planned to make a dessert from japanese cuisine and was stunned with many options, there was this honey toast, similar to bunny chow, but all sweet, loaded with all sort of sweeties you can think of. Then there was this popular mochi, i even had the glutinuous rice flour stashed in my freezer. But then i settled for this simple jelly, that can be served with innumerable toppings. 

These cute jiggly jellies made with kanten (sea weed) can be served with milk shakes, ice creams, as garnishes on sundae, topped with condensed milk, the list is on, think of any layered dessert, you can include these jello's in them too.

When i made them, i was not sure whether my kiddos will like them, so i made a small batch of 2 cups distributed into 6 shot glasses. But to my surprise, both of them gobbled the  shots as soon as i finished clicking. They loved the combination of soft cream with the black coffee jello and milk chocolate. I too in that gap tasted 2 spoons, yes just 2 spoons, to satisfy my craving that shoots ip when you look  something as pretty as this!

This is one perfect party pleaser, both kids and adults would love them, see to that you beautifully compliment the black coffee jello with lovely cream and chocolate. I didn't add sugar to the cream, instead used milk chocolate to balance the sweetness, i would recommend adding ganache on top that would definitely oomph this dessert to another level. Go ahead, make these cute shots for your weeked indulgence.

Source here
Ingredients

2 cups of water 

2-3 tbsp of instant coffee 

1 tsp agar agar flakes

5-6 tbsp of sugar 

For serving

Whipped cream

Dark or milk chocolate 

Mint leaves for garnish

Method

• Heat 2 cups of water in a sauce pan, when it begins to boil, add agar agar flakes to it and mix well. I used a whisk, whisk until it dissolves.
• Take it off the heat, add instant coffee and sugar to it  and mix well until the sugar dissolves.
• Let this mixture sit on the counter for 5 minutes, then pour it small shot glasses or any other bowl you plan to serve it.
• Cling wrap the individual shot glasses/bowls and refrigerate atleast 6 hours until serve.

• Just before serving, remove the shot glasses/bowls from the refrigerator, remove the cling wrap.
• Top it with generous swirl of whipped cream, add some grated milk chocolate and touch of contrast with some fresh mint leaves, sit back and enjoy the dessert!

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Jamaican toto - Eggless Whole wheat coconut cake

I m dusting this place after 5 months, oh yeah, bloggers block is real and these days i m getting it quite often. Even today, till this moment i was contemplating whether to post or just coil back to my cocoon. Somehow, nudged myself to sit and write the post.

I signed up to regular Blogging marathon this october for all 4 weeks, the first week theme is Pick an alphabet, pick 3 different countries and cook from them. Yes, our gang leader is capable of thinking much more complexities, but since she compiled the October BM announcement just before the mega marathon, she made it a bit easier. Okies, moving on, so i picked the alphabet 'J'. So here comes the first recipe after a lonnnngg hiatus in my kitchen Toto- jamaican coconut cake.

A simple no fuss, no fancy cake recipe, bursting with coconut flavors, i didnt have brown sugar in hand. if you have please use that instead of white. Originally toto is made with flour, molasses and coconut, it is said to be late night snack for the underfed slaves. The original recipe, had eggs, i have used curd and water instead of the eggs, the cake has come out a little dense but the taste and the flavor is good. I was a little worried whether my boys would like them, but to my surprise both enjoyed the nutty cake, it is their evening snack for the past 2 days. Would love to tweak it a bit when i try next time, if i get a better bake, sure will let you all know here. Until then enjoy this one!

Ingredients

2 cups of whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar, brown sugar preferably

1/2 cup oil

2 cups freshly grated coconut

1.5 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger powder

5 nos of cardamon and 3 cloves pounded finely

3/4 cup yogurt

3/4 cup warm water

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 2 square pan with oil and parchment paper.
• In a large bowl take flour, baking powder, cinnamom powder, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves powder together and whisk  to combine well.
• In another bowl, combine coconut and sugar, add yogurt, water and oil, mix well. Add the wet ingredients into the flour mix and combine. 
• While combining, use a spatuala, cut and fold and see to that there is no dry flour in the batter.

• Pour the batter in  the prepared pans, i used 2 square pans, and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Remove the cake, let it sit for 5 minutes, slowly remove the cake on to a wire rack, let it cool, cut them into squares and enjoy while warm.

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