Choco-Nut spread (Homemade Nutella)

With the high amount of adulteration that is being present in packaged foods these days, I always try to hunt for homemade alternatives. It also works out cheaper and we can have them guilt-free!

I have been hunting for a perfect alternative to a chocolate spread for bread and was so glad to come across the same in gayathriscookspot.com :-) Here blog has been my savior whenever I hunt for eggless recipes!

Hazelnuts are not easily available in India and even if we get them, they are pretty expensive. If you don't mind the high price tag, then go ahead and substitute the peanuts in the below recipe with hazelnuts, to exactly replicate Nutella! But trust me, peanuts added a unique flavor to the spread and the combination with chocolate was amazing. 

You might also check out my Homemade Peanut Butter recipe

100% wholewheat bread (With easy step-wise pictures)

Buying a loaf from a bakery is always an easy job. But the happiness of baking it at home from scratch, has some special feeling attached to it, that is hard to explain in words. The aroma that spreads our home while baking goodies, surely creates some positive vibes! This can never be got from a store bought bread. And a feather on the cap would be that you are using healthy ingredients and there are no hidden preservatives in it!

I sincerely followed the recipe from VegRecipesOfIndia and it turned out so well! My dad usually does not prefer to have bread but he too loved the taste and asked for more :) This is what happiness means to me! Try out this recipe and experience the bliss as I did!

You might also like to check out other bread recipes that I have tried before:

• Healthy banana walnut loaf
• Wholewheat honey oats bread
• Wholewheat and oatmeal quick bread

Yogurt Wheels

Bored of sandwich and toast? Then here is a yummy twist for a bread snack/breakfast apart from the usual bread upma or the deep fried bread bajji/bonda. The filling that I have used here can be varied according to your taste and preferences. I wanted to keep it simple so just used 2 - 3 veggies and had ketchup as accompaniment. Serve it hot as breakfast or snack and enjoy tastefulness, absolutely guilt free :)

Recipe source: Nita Mehta's 101 diet recipes

INGREDIENTS:

• Any bread of your choice (I used whole wheat bread)
• Oil - 2 Tbsp

For filling:

• Yogurt - 3/4 cup - hang in muslin cloth or strain in a tea-strainer for 15-20 mins
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Capsicum - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
• Cucumber - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
• (You could also add the following veggies - potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, sweet corn, boiled and mashed peas etc.)
• Salt - as needed
• Pepper - 1/2 Tsp or as needed
• Chat masala - 1/4 Tsp, optional

METHOD:

1. Make sure that the yogurt is hung/strained at least for 15-20 minutes, so that the excess water is strained and the yogurt is thick
2. Mix all the ingredients for filling together
3. Cut the edges of the bread along the sides that you are going to roll (you could also cut all 4 edges)
4. With the help of a rolling pin, gently press along the length of the bread, so that the holes get closed
5. Spread a layer of the prepared filling on the bread and carefully roll it. You can seal the edges with the help of yogurt
6. In a non-stick pan, toast the rolls with very little oil, so that it gets brown and crisp
7. As an alternative, you could also grill it for 6-7 minutes. (In this case, just brush very little oil on each roll before grilling)
8. Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney!

We enjoyed this as a Sunday morning breakfast! How about you? Do try it out and let me know :)

Whole wheat honey oats bread

I recently attended a baking course and since then, I've been really tempted to try a lot of cakes and cookies. But what kept me on hold was the usage of maida and sugar in all baking products. Yes cakes are junk food and I didn't want my health and interest for baking part ways. So, then came the idea of using whole wheat flour instead of maida!! While I was just thinking about this on my way back home from baking class, I was held up in traffic jam and what struck my eyes then was, SUBWAY and my favorite bread at subway is honey-oats bread. That's how I ended up utilizing my Sunday evening by baking a healthy bread at home. There were a lot of recipes for this bread online and I referred a few that were easy to understand. Let's jump in straight to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

• Whole wheat flour - 330 gm
• Boiling Water - 285 ml
• Oats - 50 gm
• Honey – 70 ml
• Butter – 15 gm
• Salt – 1.5 Tsp
• Dry Yeast – 0.8 Tsp
• Warm Water – 30 ml

METHOD:

1. Combine oats, honey, butter and salt with boiling water in a large mixing bowl. Keep it aside for an hour
2. When the oats mixture is almost ready (i.e. after 50 mins), in a small bowl, sprinkle the dry yeast over warm water (if the bowl is cool, then wash it in warm water before use). Gently mix it so that the yeast dissolves and let it stand until creamy for about 10 minutes. Once it is ready, pour the yeast mixture into the oat mixture and gently mix it.
3. Add the flour to this mixture 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well with a wooden spatula after each addition and make sure not to over mix
4. When the dough has come together, put it out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 20 minutes (Rigorous exercise for your arms!!). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn it so that both sides are coated lightly with oil (as shown below) 
   
5. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set it aside in a warm place until it doubles in volume. This will take about 1 hour.
6. Remove the dough and put it again on a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into a loaf. Place the shaped dough into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf tin. Cover the loaf tin with a damp cloth and let it rise until doubled in volume. This will take about 40-45 minutes (I had only a smaller size loaf tin, so I split the dough into two – one into a loaf tin and other into a small  round cake tin)
   
7. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 C.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped (A lovely aroma of oats and honey will spread across your home.. yumm)
8. Remove the loaf from the pan, and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack
9. Enjoy this fresh and healthy home-made bread along with any spread of your choice!