Fruit Salad Switch-Up

Ramadan Reminder: try to give a little charity every day this month.

I looked at the calendar today and was surprised, no shocked to see that it's already August 2nd!!  How can this be? I could have sworn that summer just started and Ramadan was right around the corner!  Now, we're into the last few weeks of summer vacation and it's almost the middle of Ramadan.  Darn, time is flying by!  Got to make most of the time left!!

Okay, back to the Ramadan post.  Fruit salad/chaat is synonymous with the South Asian iftar table.  It shows up in a variety of ways- with masala (which I personally don't like very much), without masala (love!), with tropical fruit, without tropical fruit, with bananas, without bananas...the possibilities are endless!
I decided to shake up the typical iftar fruit bowl and make fruit skewers with fresh Ontario strawberries, sweet pineapple chunks and mouth-watering cantaloupe. The skewers allows the fruit to shine in all of their healthy goodness and brightens up the iftar table.  You can serve the skewers with honey flavoured greek yogurt or eat them as is.  

The single skewer of baby strawberries is for my  4 year old niece :o)

Greek Yogurt Parfait

After a hard work out, I'm usually tired and hungry. If I'm being good that day, I'll grab some fruit, but sometimes I stray and have something that's a little sweet and not so healthy.

This morning I decided to opt for something healthy and came up with a Vanilla Greek Yogurt parfait with granola, organic blueberries and fresh mango. YUM!

Greek Yogurt Parfait

1 small container (single serving) low fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt

2 tbsp granola

20 organic blueberries, washed

1/2 Alphonso mango, peeled and diced

In a glass, fill the bottom with half of the yogurt. Put half of the blueberries and mango pieces on top of the yogurt. Do another layer of yogurt, berries and mango and end with the granola.

Pear and Ginger Smoothie

We're almost into February and there's hardly any snow on the ground! What is wrong with this picture?  Where are the scarves, mitts, shovels, heaps of snow, slush and salt machines?  One of the benefits, (I thought), of being in TO in the winter while hubby is travelling on business would be that I get to have my snow fix.  But it seems like God has other plans!  The weather is completely wonky- freezing one day with wind chills in the double digits, the next day it's a balmy 5 degrees Celsius.  No wonder people are getting sick!

To help me get through this very weird patch of winter weather we're experiencing, I decided to make a pear and ginger smoothie, courtesy of Guilty Kitchen.  I tweaked the recipe just a tad to suit my needs.

Pear and Ginger Smoothie

1 Bosc pear, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
juice of 1/4 a lime
a tiny nob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated (you know those tiny nobs that grow off the body of ginger? well that's what I used)
2 tbsp honey flavoured 0% Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 cup 2% milk

Put all ingredients into a blender and mix until smooth. 

Apple Pie Pockets

YOU Can't Reach For Anything NEW If YOUR Hands Are Still Full of Yesterday's JUNK. ~ Louise Smith

If you're just tuning into my blog, or are getting to know me personally, there is one thing you should know about me. I am an obsessive quote collector.  I always travel with some paper and a pen just in case I come across a quote that I want to add to my collection.  I pin quotes on my Pinterest board, clip them from magazines, calendars, books, and newspapers, tag and share them on Facebook, and write them down in my very own quote book.  I started that quote book after my father passed away in December 2009 after discovering quote clippings in his wallet.

Quotes, whether they be one sentence or an entire paragraph, speak volumes and have the power to shift your mood. Sometimes those words running across the page give you advice that no friend or parent could give. They shed light on difficult situations, help you gain perspective, and analyse things from a different point of view. Simply put, I love quotes. And the fact that my father collected quotes too makes me feel connected to him even more.

~*~*~*~

Growing up, my mom and I would go grocery shopping on Saturday mornings. As soon as the store would open, we would get what we needed and be home before the weekend shopping rush would start.   Sometimes, my dad would come along, or would get some things from the store the night before.  And almost always he would buy danishes, donuts or apple pie for us to enjoy. Now whenever I see danishes, apple pie, or coconut covered donuts, I remember him.  

In October, Loblaws was selling PC's apple-shaped pocket pie maker, and because apple pie is near and dear to me, I picked one up and all the ingredients listed on the box to make these cuties.

Apple Pie Pockets

3 Gala Apples, cored, peeled and chopped into chunks (The original recipe called for Granny Smith, but I don't like Granny Smith so I used Gala instead)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 package of butter puff pastry sheets, thawed but cold
1 egg, beaten

In a pot, stir together apples, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon.  Let the mixture stand for 10-15 minutes or until some juice has been released.  Bring to a simmer over low-medium heat and cook for 10 minutes or until apples are tender and juices are thickened.  Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Unroll one sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Using the apple pocket pie maker, cut four apple shapes using one side of the pie maker. Repeat with other side of closed apple pocket maker and additional sheet of pastry.  There will be 8 pieces- 4 bottoms and 4 tops with the vent.

Open apple pocket pie maker and dust slightly with flour. Gently press in one of the dough cut outs. Fill centre with 1/4 cup of cooled filling. Brush edges of dough lightly with beaten egg. Lay vented dough cut out over top, lining up edges; press mold shut to seal edges.  Lay finished pocket onto prepared baking sheet, vented side up.  Repeat for each pocket.  Brush tops of pockets lightly with beaten egg.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pocket is evenly golden and crisp.

**Some notes:

If you don't have the pocket maker, you can create free-form shapes with puff pastry and stuff it with the apple filling.
If you don't want to make all of the pie pockets, DO NOT brush the tops of the pies with the egg. Instead, layer the pies between waxed paper, put them in freezer bags and stick them into the freezer for a later date.  I wouldn't keep them in the freezer for more than one month.

Low Fat Mini Pumpkin Muffins with Pepitas

Recently, I had another "first-time" food experience. This time it was with pumpkin.  Back in the day, and I'm talking way back in elementary school...grade 5 to be precise, was the last time I had had any experience with pumpkins.  It was in Mr. McFarlene's class and we were carving pumpkins for Halloween.  Now, we didn't really celebrate Halloween, but because this was a class activity, my parents let me drag a pumpkin to school and carve it with my classmates. I remember sticking my hand inside my pumpkin and feeling all of the gushy, thready goo, and giggling/cringing as I scooped out the seeds and flesh until the insides were smooth.  I was no artist, so I drew out a very simple Jack O' Lantern design- a face with a very toothy grin.  After school, I dragged the pumpkin back home and planted it on the front porch. When my dad came home that night, we lit a candle and put it inside the pumpkin and had that stupid grin shine up on the wall.  Ahh...life was so simple back then......

Flash forward a "few" years (ahem..) and pumpkin has re-entered my life yet again. This time in the form of a can.  I thought I would have to cut, clean out, and cook a pumpkin to make this, but luckily this recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes called for good ol' canned pumpkin puree. The first time I tried this recipe, I followed it to a T.  Unfortunately, I found the taste to be very OVERWHELMING because of the amount of pumpkin pie spice used. The second time I made them, I cut the pumpkin pie spice in half and found the flavour to be much more appetizing.  If you like your pumpkin baked goods to be very spicy, go right ahead and use the original measurements. But if you want a more delicate taste, use the measurements from below.

Low Fat Mini Pumpkin Muffins with Pepitas

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups Nutri-Blend flour (same as white whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp pepitas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray mini muffin tins with some oil.

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.
In a large bowl beat together egg whites, pumpkin puree and vanilla at medium speed until thick.
Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until wet and dry ingredients are just combined.
Scoop out batter into mini muffin tins using an ice cream scoop.  Sprinkle pepitas on tops of muffins and bake on the centre rack for 8-10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Remove muffins and place on cooking rack.

A breakfast time saver!

I don't know about you, but I'm finding that I don't have enough hours in the day to get things done. It seems like I blink my eyes and three hours have gone by!  There is so much to get done: I have a stack of books to get through, some unit plan designing to complete, prayers to read, and online classes to attend. Not to mention the daily household chores that must get done after work and daily trips to the gym.

 I know if I manage my time a bit better ( I blame it on no longer having a steady work routine!!), I would be able to complete many of these tasks.  From the minute that I wake up to the time I go to bed, I have to make sure I am not wasting any time.  I'm hoping to start off with a simple breakfast routine on days that I know I will be extremely busy.  I whipped up a really simple breakfast parfait this morning to kick start my day.  Since there is a lot of protein in the Greek yogurt, I felt full and satisfied. If you think this isn't enough for you eat a boiled egg on the side.

Breakfast Parfait

2 scoops PC 0% Honey Greek Yogurt
1 large stem of Seedless Organic Coronation Grapes
3 tbsp PC Blue Menu Raisin & Almond Granola

Place a scoop of yogurt in the bottom of a wide-rimmed glass.  Layer on some grapes and 1 tbsp of granola. Create a second layer of yogurt, grapes and granola.

Ramadan # 7 Lemony Fruit Salad Ice Pops

Today marks the last Friday and the 27th night of Ramadan. I feel like I'm about to say good by to a close friend who is leaving in a few days time and will not return for another year. And who knows what will happen in a year's time...who will be here and who will have departed. :o(  Let's all try to make the best of the time we have left with this blessed month.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The summer is winding down and school will be beginning (or has already started in some places) very shortly. It would be around this time that I, along with my teacher friends, would be opening up boxes and setting up our classrooms for another school year. This would also be the time for last minute weekend getaways, parties, trips to the CNE and of course eating lots of ice cream and popsicles!

I have been noticing that some food trends from the 80s and 90s are making a come back, one of them being making homemade popsicles with plastic molds.  I remember when we were selling my parents' home, my mom and I had come across some plastic popsicle molds in one of the boxes and we decided to donate them- now I wish I had kept them because it would have saved me from spending $15 bucks on new molds. Oh well....

This recipe (from the Everyday Food Special Issue) I'm going to share with you is full of sweet and delicious seasonal fruit and tangy lemonade. I cut the recipe in half from 8 popsicles to 4.

Lemony Fruit Salad Ice Pops

1 ripe peach, washed and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 golden kiwi, washed, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1/4 cup of blueberries, washed
1 frozen lemonade concentrate (the recipe used apple juice)

Follow the instructions on the frozen lemonade concentrate to make lemonade.  Arrange some fruit into 4 3-ounce ice-pop molds, making sure that the pieces fit snugly.  Pour enough lemonade into the molds to just cover the fruit.  Insert the ice-pop sticks and freeze for at least 6 hours.  To release the pops, run hot water over the frozen molds until it releases.

Ramadan # 4 Green and Gold Kiwifruit Salsa

O Allah, I seek your forgiveness for every sin that my soul made seem to me trivial and small, and continued to make seem insignificant, until it finally entangled me in it.

While entering the grocery store last week, I came across a stand displaying gold kiwifruit.  What attracted me to the stand wasn't the actual fruit, but the freebies sticking out of a pocket below! Inside the pocket were these plastic wrapped green spoons/knives with the words "Cut and scoop" on them.  After closer examination, I discovered that the green spoons/knives were for the kiwifruit. Normally I use a regular knife to peel my kiwifruit and eat it. But this spoon/knife was taking me in another direction.  The knife side is used to cut the kiwifruit in half and the spoon side is used to spoon out the kiwifruit so that you are left with a kiwi skin cup. Pretty neat eh?

Anyhow, I stuck a couple of those spoon-knife packets into my purse and continued to explore the stand.  I pulled off a recipe card (from Zespri Kiwifruit) for green and gold kiwifruit salsa. I was hesitant in trying the recipe out because I had never before tried gold kiwifruit. After a few minutes of deliberation, I decided to go ahead and try it out.  I picked up all of the necessary ingredients, did the rest of my shopping and came home.  

I didn't make the salsa right away because the kiwis weren't that ripe. It actually worked out for me because I had to make an unexpected trip back home, so the kiwis had a few days to ripen on my kitchen counter.  

Some info on kiwifruit (came off the back of the recipe card): -

-Kiwifruit are ripe when they give in to slight pressure.
-Gold kiwifruit will last 3-7 days at room temperature and 12-14 days in the fridge.
-Green kiwifruit will last 3-7 days at room temperature and 24-28 days in the fridge.
-2 kiwifruit have less than 100 calories, more than 230% of your daily Vitamin C and 16% of your daily fiber.
-Kiwifruit also have calcium, iron, Vitamin E, zinc, folate, antioxidants, magnesium, and potassium.

Yesterday afternoon I made the salsa (with some minor alterations to the original recipe) and after R and I broke our fasts, we tried it with corn chips and I have to tell you it ROCKS!!!! Slightly sweet yet tart and oh so yummy!  

Some notes:  I used the spoon and knife utensil to create kiwi cups and it isn't as easy as it looks.  After I made a few cups, I went back to using my knife. I think I would only use the spoon and knife utensil if I wanted to serve the salsa in the cups.

Green and Gold Kiwifruit Salsa

3 Gold kiwifruit (Original recipe said 4)

3 Green kiwifruit (Original recipe said 4)

1/2 large red onion, peeled and finely diced (Original recipe said 1 cup of diced red onion. I cut up the halves and put them into a food processor to save myself time and tears)

2 tbsp fresh cilantro/coriander, washed and chopped

1 tbsp fresh mint, washed and julienned

juice of 3 small key limes (Original recipe said 1 tbsp fresh lime juice)

1 tbsp ground cumin

Slice kiwifruit into halves and peel or spoon out the fruit onto a cutting board. Dice kiwifruit into small cubes.

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix gently. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving so the flavours can blend together.  Serve with chips or as a side to chicken or fish (or in fish tacos!).

Blueberry Explosion Muffins

I have come to the conclusion, and have had it verified by several people, that teachers are pack rats.  We find things that could spark interest in the classroom and have the potential to help us create exciting and invigorating lessons. So what do we do with them? We keep them, tuck them away into a bin or box and have them collect dust until that eventful day, which sometimes never arrives.  And if by chance we open that box and find those precious things so many months (or years) later we don't have it in us to toss them into the garbage because we end up suffering a "What if I need it later.." moment. This leads us to dusting the items off and making a mental note of their presence, closing up the bin and then repeating the cycle again and again and again. 

Well I've decided to take the plunge! I have slowly, but steadily been looking at my teaching resources and purging myself (and my apartment) of outdated and no longer "cool and interesting" stuff. At the same time, I have been transferring paper copies of units and resources that are worthwhile to keep to digital copies. I am literally spending hours at my desk going through the painful transfer process.  I am only scanning about 10% of my resources because I want to be able to manipulate documents at a later date.  I am HOPING that by the end of it, I will have 2-3 jump drives with CD backups of my documents and just a few bins of books. 

To help me keep my energies up, I decided to bake some mouth watering blueberry muffins.  I LOVE how these turned out. The  blueberries stain your fingertips as you unwrap the muffin and then burst in your mouth to release their sweet and tart juices.

The original recipe on Gina's Skinny Recipes calls for the use of whole wheat pastry flour, but also gives you the options of using a blend of whole wheat flour and white flour.  I just used Robin Hood's Nutri-Blend flour, unsifted. In the US, the Nutri-Blend equivalent would be white whole wheat flour.  The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of blueberries. Now this works fine in regular muffin tins, but I would cut it down to 1 1/4 cups if I was making these in mini muffin tins.

Blueberry Explosion Muffins

1 cup of unsweetened applesauce

2 cups of Robin Hood's Nutri-Blend flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  The original recipe calls for 325 degrees, but over the years I have found that my oven works best at 350 degrees. 

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the beaten egg, melted butter, vanilla, and applesauce.  Add to the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is just blended. Gently fold in the blueberries with the spoon.

Using two spoons, divide the batter in paper-lined muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out crumb-free.  Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack and allow the muffins to cool for at least 10 minutes.

A beverage for breakfast

As you can tell from my blog, I hardly focus my energies on coming up with drink blends to write about as I usually pay more attention to appetizing and filling recipes. However, I think my two recent (if you call a few months ago recent) purchases of magazines that talked about healthy juicing inspired me to dust off my Magic Bullet and trying to create something tasty and refreshing.

There aren't any special ingredients in this drink, just whatever was available in my fridge at the time.  The berries I used are strawberries, but I think any kind of berry would do fine in the drink. And I think a nice sprig of mint would be a nice finishing touch if you were going to serve it to people.

Breakfast Juice Blend

7-10 strawberries, stems removed, washed and cut into halves

1 small ripe banana

1/4 cup of orange juice

In a blender, blend together all three ingredients until you have reached a smooth consistency.  Pour into a chilled glass and enjoy!

Slaw it up

I don't know about you, but lately I've been getting tired of the typical dinner salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and bottled dressing.  To get some inspiration, I headed to the produce section of the grocery store after my gym class and came out with carrot slaw, broccoli slaw, cherry tomatoes and pomegranates.  What resulted was a colourful salad filled with crunch and tang. 

Broccoli Carrot Slaw Salad

1/2 bag of broccoli slaw, washed and drained
1/2 bag of carrot slaw, washed and drained
10-15 cherry tomatoes, washed, drained and halved
seeds from 2 pomegranates
juice of 4 key limes
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1- 2 tsp dried oregano

In a medium bowl, mix in the broccoli slaw, carrot slaw, cherry tomatoes and pomegranate seeds.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, juice 4 key limes and mix in the olive oil and oregano.  Pour over the slaw salad and mix gently. 

Enjoy!

My mom's Hajj send off

Last month, my mom, accompanied by my aunt and cousin, went for Hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime obligatory pilgrimage that every Muslim must make to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Prior to her leaving, I decided to have a small, all-female gathering at my place so she could meet some people before leaving and for those same people to give her well wishes before embarking on this spiritual journey.  The dinner portion of the evening turned out to be a pot luck set up in a buffet style.  Dessert was all mine.   I decided to stray away from some of the more healthier desserts out there and tried two recipes that caught my eye. For plating, I used a three-tier display tree that my mom had given me way back when.

The first one I'm going to share is a sour cream chocolate cake with minimal adaptation.  This recipe I got from Lynn's Kitchen.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour ( You could also use a nutri-blend flour to get more health benefits)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch-round cake pan with parchment paper. Butter the sides of the pan lightly. In a medium bowl, stir together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, use a hand mixer to cream butter and sugar together until light and airy. Add eggs in one at a time, beating well after each.  Beat in vanilla and reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture in two batches, alternating between the sour cream.  Make sure you start and end with the flour.  Pour mixture into the pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the toothpick test comes clean.
Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cook completely on a cooling rack.

To ice the cake, I melted 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips with a pat of butter over a double boiler. Once melted, use an off-set spatula to spread over the cooled cake.   Once the icing has set, cut into small pieces.


The second dessert item was blackberry jam bars from Elissa at 17 and Baking.  Some of the adaptations I did were cutting down the sugar from 2 cups to 1 1/2 cups, reducing the sugar in my drizzle and using milk for my drizzle.

Blackberry Jam Bars



2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
4 eggs
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup seedless blackberry jam**

Icing
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons 1% milk
1 teaspoon pure almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a half rimmed sheet with butter.
Using a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add in vanilla and almond extract. Slowly add flour and salt, and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix!

Using an offset spatula, spread the batter into the pan. The batter will spread when baking so do not fret if the pan corners are free of batter.  Drop teaspoonfuls of jam over the top of the batter. Try to distribute the drops of jam evenly.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Cook in the pan and the cut into small pieces using a pizza roller.  Mix the icing ingredients together and lightly drizzle over the bars using the tines of a fork.

**In this recipe, seedless blackberry jam is required. I searched high and low for such jam, but couldn't find it. What I ended up doing was warming up blackberry jam (with seeds) in a small pot on the stove and then straining it/ pushing it with a spoon through a fine metal sieve.

Eid Tins

Eid celebrations consist of going for a congregational prayer, receiving guests at your home, and of course, house hopping to and from people's homes. Whenever my family and I would "house-hop," we would take a hostess gift of either sweets or flowers.  For this Eid, I decided to make Eid Tins filled with dark chocolate almond cranberry bark.

This recipe is a variation of the one in Kraft Foods "What's Cooking" magazine.

Dark Chocolate Almond Cranberry Bark

18oz 70% dark chocolate, chopped into medium sized pieces
6 oz white chocolate, chopped into medium sized pieces
1 cup - 1.5 cups of chopped almonds, skin on**
1/3 cup of dried cranberries **

In two separate double boilers, melt both the white and dark chocolates over low heat.  Stir occasionally to assist in the melting process.  In the meantime, chop up the almonds.  Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the almonds into the dark chocolate and the dried cranberries into the white chocolate.  First spoon out the dark chocolate mixture onto a large, parchment lined baking tray and smooth out with an offset spatula.  Next, pour the white chocolate cranberry mixture over the dark chocolate. Using the offset spatula, start creating wave pattens in the chocolate so you get a marble-like look.  Refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours or until firm and then use a sharp knife to break into small pieces. Line small cookie tins with wax paper and fill them up with the bark.

** rough estimates

For the love of bananas!

I love bananas! Mixed in with crunchy flakes and cool milk, bananas are a perfect companion to my morning cereal. They are also great on their own and prove to be a refreshing snack if eaten cold. 

We were going to go on a short trip to Santa Barbara a while back, so I picked up a few ripe bananas to take along with us. The trip got delayed and the bananas quickly began to show their brown spots.  I couldn't consume all of them in one shot, so I decided to try another banana bread recipe that I found on Gina's site. I didn't want to bake two loaves, so I cut the recipe in half.  The bananas I had were far from being over ripe. They had brown spots on them, but were still firm so when I mashed them, I had little chunks of banana. The banana chunks baked in the cake created tiny, moist pockets of sweetness that I just love.

Banana Walnut Bread



I couldn't resist eating a slice before taking this picture.

 4 ripe bananas (not over ripe), mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup natural cane sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment or grease the pan with butter.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl mix melted butter and sugar. Add eggs, mashed banana, apple sauce and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in chopped walnuts.  Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and run a knife around the edges of the pan. Cool for another 10 minutes before enjoying.

A simple suhoor/sehri (early breakfast) for Ramadan

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims worldwide wake up before sunrise to eat their suhoor/sehri/early breakfast.  Depending on the region of the world, this meal can be comprised of porridge, curries, eggs, sandwiches, rotis (plain or stuffed), juices, tea, milk, water, or in my case, plain old cereal out of a box.  I find that if I eat too much in the morning, it does not agree with me the entire day, so my routine since childhood has been to eat cereal for sehri.  This Ramadan, however, I have decided to try something different- fresh muesli (pronounced moose-ley), cereal that doesn't come out of a box! Muesli is a Swiss breakfast cereal made up of uncooked rolled oats, either soaked in water or juice, fruit and nuts. It was created in the 1900s by a Swiss physician and was given to his patients who were on a diet of fruit and vegetables.

My recipe includes fruit yogurt and 1% milk.  If you want to try something light, yet filling, try some muesli!

Muesli

1/2 cup of raw slivered or sliced almonds

1 cup of 1% milk

2 small strawberry fruit yogurt cups, Balkan style

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

a drizzle of honey

1 cup of mixed berries, fresh or frozen ( I used frozen black berries, blue berries and strawberries)

Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, until golden in colour.

In a bowl, mix together milk, yogurt, oats, honey and fruit. Stir in the almonds.

Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.  The muesli will keep for 3 days

A fruit blend enjoyed on my balcony

What do you do when you have fruit that's over ripe and turning brown? Make a fruity juice blend.  If you have a Magic Bullet or a blender, you can whip this up in no time!  I dressed it up by pouring it into a lead crystal goblet and used a sprig of mint for garnish.

A Simple Fruit Blend

1/2 glass of mango juice

1 over ripe, very mushy banana

4 sprigs of current berries

splash of 1% milk

Throw in all of the ingredients above into your Magic Bullet or blender and whip it together.  Pour over ice in a glass and add a sprig of mint for garnish.

A Summery Salsa

A couple of weeks ago I flew back home to Toronto from LA to spend some time with family and friends and get my Umrah visa. God-Willing, my family and I will be going for Umrah during the 2nd half of Ramadan.  Since I've been back, I've been going to my old gym 5 days a week to continue my exercise routine.  My gym, Goodlife, is on the top floor of a grocery store, and because of that, I usually find myself browsing through the produce and Joe Fresh sections on a regular basis. Recently I discovered some organic berries and peaches there! I've recently made the transition from non-organic berries and peaches to their organic counterparts because I've read that because these fruits are very delicate and are eaten with their skins, the non-organic variety have the highest pesticide contamination. So..I was really excited to grab these peaches and take them home with me!
The peaches were juicy and delicious and I wanted to eat them all by themselves, but then I came across a post from Gina about an avocado and mango salsa.  Luckily I had both of those ingredients in my fridge and when I saw those glorious peaches sitting on my counter, I knew I had to add them into this recipe! 
This recipe is refreshing and can be eaten on it's own or with chips or Mebla toast rounds. Yum Yum!

Mango, Peach and Avocado Salsa

1 Pakistani mango, peeled and diced
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed
1 medium-to-large size organic peach, diced with peel on
1/2 Hot House tomato (should be on the large side), diced
1/4 cup of corriander/cilantro leaves, washed well and roughly chopped
1/2 lime, squeeze out the juice
1/2 medium sized onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste

After preparing the fruit, combine all ingredients. Refridgerate before serving.

Who cares if it's the summer? Let's make a cinnamon loaded apple crisp!

Apples and cinnamon is a classic combination. Usually it appears once the leaves change colour and the weather is crisp and cool. Imagine sitting by the window, watching the grey clouds swirl around while enjoying a warm apple pie or apple crisp with a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water and crave something with apples and cinnamon.  It's probably my second favourite dessert out there, after anything chocolatey that is!  Sadly, I don't eat apple pies and crisps that often because even though they are loaded with apples, they aren't completely healthy. 

To my delight, Gina posted a wonderful recipe for a healthier apple crisp dessert.  I wanted to try it badly and fortunately we had friends coming over so I had the perfect opportunity to make it! It was a hit!

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

5 medium apples, peeled and diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup agave nectar
-------------------
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not instant!)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup (half stick) butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the apples, cinnamon, lemon juice and agave nectar until well coated.  Toss this mixture with corn starch and put into a lightly greased glass pie plate.  For the topping, combine the rolled oats, WW flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Spread the topping evenly over the pie plate, making sure that all the apples are covered.  Bake, uncovered, until the topping is a golden brown colour and the fruit inside is tender. Depending on your oven, this could be 30-40 minutes. 

Serve right away or leave to cool on the kitchen counter. When you are ready to enjoy it, warm it up in the oven for 10 minutes at 150 degrees. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Something to whip up when you're bored

Not working full time has left me with a lot of free-time on my hands, free-time that I'm trying to fill with working out, knitting and experimenting in the kitchen. After spending some time browsing the net yesterday, I found a cookie recipe that I wanted to try. It came from Thinkfood, a cookbook that features 50 original, brain-healthy recipes, each created by a different food blogger.

I had to make a few changes, or rather adaptations to the recipe. I used white whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat because that is what I had on hand and swapped the canola oil for olive oil. I also didn't have flaxseed meal (the regular grocery store here in Pasadena doesn't have a healthy/organic food section), so I just took it out.  One thing I noticed is that the dark chocolate chips make the cookies sweet, so the next time I make these, I'll probably omit the agave nectar and sub in another 1/4 cup of milk.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup regular milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well until batter is blended evenly. Use a tablespoon to portion cookies on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, approximately 1-2 inches apart.  Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes.  Remove cookies from baking sheet and allow to cool on wire rack.

'Tis the Season for Fresh Fruit!

I love fruit, especially when they are in season. The tastes, textures and colours are irresistible! There are so many things you can do with fruit- bake them in crisps, pies and cobblers, grill them and serve with frozen yogurt or ice cream, or simply cut them into a fruit salad.  I decided to experiment with a fruit salad today.
 I don't like adding chaat masala (a mixture of hot and tangy spices that is used to spice up many snacks, salads, fruit salads, fruit juices, and some curries) to my fruit salads because I think it covers up the delicate flavours of the fruit and all you end up tasting are the spices.  Instead, I decided to play around with two simple flavours that I thought would enhance the fruit flavours.  I took my inspiration from Delish.

Fresh Fruit Salad

Fruit of your choice (I used fresh pineapple, raspberries, blackberries, seedless grapes and strawberries.)

A big squeeze of lime juice

Several mint leaves cut into tiny pieces ( scissors work well for this)

Wash fruit and put into a bowl. Add lime juice, cut mint leaves and mix gently. Voila! 

**This is great for Ramadan which is starting in August- a great way to break one's fast.