Mini Bacon & Cheese Frittatas

I don't usually host brunches, but when I do, I make sure everyone has a great time with great food. Last Saturday I hosted a brunch for two of my best girl friends and I must say, we had nothing short of the greatest time spent together.

The menu was pretty simple and and well decided in advance (with 3 days notice) - I wanted to make sure everything was just right for us girls.. Pancakes with maple syrup, smokey cheese sandwiches, samosas, a choice of jams, cereals and the star... these mini bacon & cheese frittatas.

I've been watching a whole lot of Buddy Valastro's Kitchen Boss lately and his recipe for frittatas looked and cooked pretty easy. But I'm also a voracious #Pinterest pinner and was absolutely taken on by the idea of having muffin shaped eggs for breakfast. Soo, when the opportunity presented itself to make frittatas, it had to be grabbed... I HAD TO MAKE MUFFIN SHAPED FRITTATAS TODAY!

Upon request from a friend, who I'm sure is eager to make these for her little bundle of joy, here's the recipe for these little bites of comfort.

INGREDIENTS
6 Eggs
50ml milk
2tbl spns fresh cream
1 red, yellow and green pepper chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 chillies finely chopped
300 gms of bacon chopped
1/2 cup of  grated/ diced Cheddar (or any other cheese)
1 tbl spn Olive oil (I used extra virgin)
2 potatoes (boiled or microwaved till cooked) peeled and diced

METHOD
Grease 2 muffin tins well and set aside.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
Heat oil in a frying pan and add chopped bacon, garlic and chillies till bacon is cooked
Add the chopped peppers and cook till they get soft. Turn off heat and add potatoes.
In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, cream and season with salt and pepper. Mix half the cheese.
Add the the egg mixture to the bacon, pepper and potato mix and cook till eggs start to cook just a bit and take off heat.
Add the frittata batter to the miffin tins and add the rest of the grated cheese on the mini frittata tops.. these make them look (and taste amazing)
Bake  until cooked (for about 20 minutes)
Pop the lovely frittatas out of the trays and arrange them in a serving plate and voila.. they're ready to be devoured!

Healthy Carrot & Radish Muffins

I love to bake. Wake me up in the middle of the night and ask me to bake, and I'll be game.

But how on earth am I going to keep up with this love of mine while I am trying to stick to a weight loss regime? My oven was on a sabbatical while I'd  fantasize about  baking myself a tray of Red Velvet Cupcakes, Lemon Tarts and Apple Pies, but my brain reminded me better than to give in.

But last Saturday, the morning of 19th January, my hands itched to hold a whisk, and while I argued with myself to control and eventually conquer the urge to bake... time had other plans in store it seems. As I flipped through the pages of the newspaper, I came across a recipe for healthy Courgette (aka zucchini)Walnut Muffins by Pamela Tims (Article in Mint, titled 'Courgettes & Chai'). That was it. Here was a recipe that used Atta for white flour, sunflower oil for butter and veggies. I can finally; and I mean  literally, have my cake (read bake ;-) and eat it too!

When I rushed to my very trusty refrigerator, I knew I wouldn't have any zucchini in there, but I crossed my fingers that there'd be some carrots and there were 4 but I took 2. Half a radish sat on its shelf, as if begging to me with puppy-dog eyes "Pick me?!Pick me?!" it said... and pick  the radish I did! A basket of oranges lay on the table, I was sure that I'd have some nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves stashed in the spice jar in the pantry cupboard and the sunflower oil is a staple at my place. Woohooo!! I was jumping for joy!

I threw the veggies right in the food processor, took out the measuring cups and spoons, equipped my cupcake tray with liners, preheated the oven and I was ready to rumble!!!


Makes 12 muffins

INGREDIENTS
(a) 280g Wheat flour (Atta)
(b) 1tsp baking soda
(c) 1tsp cinnamon
(d)1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
(e) 1/4 tsp ground cloves
(f) 1/2 tsp salt
(g) 200g demarara / light brown sugar
(h) 200g finely chopped carrots
(i)  150g finely chopped raddish
(j) 75 ml orange juice
(k) 100 ml sunflower oil
(l) 2 eggs
(m) zest of 2 oranges

METHOD
1. In a bowl, sift together ingredients a to f and set aside.
2. In another bowl add the sugar, eggs, orange juice and oil and whisk until the mixute turns slightly pale and frothy.
3. Now combine the wet and dry ingredients stirring gently until all the flour is incorporated. Be careful not to stir too briskly because that will just knock the air out of all the ingredients.
4. Gently add the carrots and radish and mix slowly.
5. Spoon the mixture into a lined muffin tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for about 20 minutes.

If you're feeling a little bit indulgent you can give these moist babies a dusting of icing sugar. For fans of the extra moist kind, you can go on and mix some icing sugar with orange juice and use the mixture as a frosting.

Oats Upma - Aha!

First of all here's wishing one and all a very happy New Year!

I believe apologies are in order for my prolonged silence ever since my  *ahem first post. This is just my second post and as you might have guessed already, 'discipline' isn't really my thing. But hey! I am working towards it.

That leads me to this post. My second ever and my first for 2013.My resolution this year is to get fit by shedding some kilos (10 to be precise). And in my effort to do so I have started counting calories, working out and make an extra effort (includes talking myself out of food temptations all around and carrying a minimum of 2 fruits to work to snack on) to stick to my diet plan.

Now while I am at it, I have to confess... I hate... No I HATE eating oats for breakfast. Oats look nothing close to appetizing (at least my best friend agrees) and have the most odd texture especially when gone cold- they turn sticky thus painfully hard to swallow (if you are part of the club).

However boring oats may be, the truth is that they are also very healthy to eat. They are low calorie and an amazing source of fiber which can keep you quite full for a while and are also known to be good for the heart, etc...Good enough reason for me to have a bowl of 'em every morning. But if I were to have oats, I had my mind made up- it was not going to be made with milk and sugar. No sir!

They had to be savory and they had to be quick.... Not to forget, healthy. The packaged masala oats aren't tasty... and I believe far from healthy. So I devised my own breakfast recipe for oats  which involves the least bit of prep. involved before I hit the road for work.

Here's the recipe.

INGREDIENTS
(a) 4 tbl spns quick oats
(b) 3 to 4 curry leaves
(c) 1 green chilli (cut right into the bowl with a pair of kitchen scissors)
(d) 1/2 tspn mustard seeds
(e) Salt to taste
(f) 1/2 tspn oil

METHOD
1. Add ingredients b to f in a medium sized vessel and quickly put it on the stove (don't forget to turn on the heat- this happens to me when I am in hurry)
2. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the oats and let them roast a teenie tiny bit and add a tea cup of water.
3. Start stiring once the mixture simmers.Let the water dry out and voila!