♥ Yummy Delights !: March 2012

Mar 27, 2012

Easter Egg Carrot Cupcakes

Easter marks the end of Lent(a forty-day period of fasting and prayer which begins on Ash Wednesday) that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ (three days after his death by crucifixion). It is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important day of the church year. Easter customs vary across the world but one of the oldest & common tradition is to use painted chicken eggs and hide the brightly colored eggs for children to find on Easter morning! But the modern practice is to substitute chocolate/plastic eggs filled with confectioneries. The egg is used as a symbol of the start of new life (just like a new life emerging from an egg when the chick hatches out). So, i thought of baking a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting, decorated with coloured coconut flakes & egg shaped candies. This is a common type of decoration but still i wanted to give it a try once :) Isn't that really cute? I used to have shop bought carrot cakes but this was my first trial & i totally loved the homemade taste! Hope you'll also love these :)

And now, I am taking this opportunity to thank all those who entered the giveaway. The winners were chosen through Random.org. The lucky winners of the 'The New Green Smoothie Diet' eBook are:

Hema @ Aromatic Cooking
Prathibha @ Cook-Ezee
Reshmi @ Noel Collection

Congrats all three of you! Hope you will love this eBook. Please mail to yummydelights@hotmail.com with subject as ''Winner of Giveaway'' so that i can mail the eBook to you :) Hope you'll love reading & experimenting the lovely recipes in it! Now coming onto the cupcake recipe:

Ingredients for the cupcake

1 cup all-purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
2 Eggs
1 cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup grated Carrots
1 cup chopped Walnuts
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp Vanilla essence

Directions

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F and fill the cupcake molds with paper cups.
Whisk sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla essence in a cake mixer.
Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Mix with the above batter.
Add sugar and salt. Whisk until smooth.
Stir in carrots, coconut flakes and walnuts.
Fill 12 cupcake liners 3/4th full and bake for 20 to 25 min.

Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz Cream Cheese
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

Directions

Whisk cream cheese, butter & vanilla in a mixer.
Then add sugar & blend until smooth.
Spread frosting on the cupcake.

Ingredients for the Decoration

Coconut flakes

Food colours

Egg shaped candies

Directions

Mix the food colours with the coconut flakes & spread on top of the frosted cupcakes with the egg shaped candies. Sit back & enjoy the pretty & delicious cake :) Wishing you all a Happy Easter in advance!

Cupcake pan & Cake mixer useful for this recipe:

Mar 22, 2012

Croissant BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Here is a simple Croissant Sandwich with pulled BBQ chicken and Coleslaw filling! This recipe is very easy, delicious & you can prepare in no time!!! Before going into the recipe details, i wanted to inform you that i've started event albums for monthly food blog events in my FB page. March & April albums are now open. Do check it out here & let me know your 'event with the link'(if yours is not mentioned there). Hope you'll find this more useful for sharing recipes without missing any of the monthly events :) And now coming onto the recipe details:

Ingredients for the Coleslaw

1/4 cup minced Onion
1/2 cup shredded Carrot
1 cup chopped Cabbage
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tbsp Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Combine mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Add cabbage, carrots & onion to the above dressing.
Mix well & refrigerate for at-least 1 hour.

Ingredients for the BBQ Chicken

2 cooked Chicken breasts
3/4 cup Honey BBQ sauce
1/4 cup chopped Onion
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 cup water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

In a pan, add the onion, sauce, pepper, garlic, salt and water. Bring to boil.
Shred the cooked chicken with fork & add to the above sauce.
Close the pan and simmer till the chicken is drenched.

Other Ingredients

Croissants
Potato Chips

Take a croissant & carefully slit open one side & fill it with pulled BBQ chicken, Coleslaw and enjoy with potato chips :) Voila!!!!

Mar 16, 2012

Banana Waffles & a Giveaway!!

Here is my second waffle recipe after the Apple Cinnamon Waffles. The method of preparation is the same but with different ingredients. If you want to have a yummy chocolaty breakfast, go for this recipe :) And please don't forget to check out the giveaway details below.

Ingredients

1 cup Flour
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Sugar
4 tbsp Butter
1 Egg
1/2 cup chopped Banana

2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
Blueberries
Chocolate syrup

Directions

Take a bowl & combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add egg yolk, butter and milk. Mix thoroughly.
Beat egg whites separately till fluffy & add to the above mix.
Stir in the chopped bananas.
Pour batter on the hot waffle iron and bake for 5 min or until golden brown.
Serve with chocolate syrup and fresh blueberries.

Giveaway

I got the amazing opportunity from Hilary Greenleaf to share her eBook with three of my lucky readers. Hilary Greenleaf is an author, educator, and nutritionist. She is the leading authority on organic foods and is considered America’s #1 Organic Expert.

The New Green Smoothie Diet is an amazing book by Hilary, that talks about the benefits of green smoothies and gives recipes and tips on making them. She uses green smoothies as an alternative to eating vegetables to help you accomplish the following health goals:

Weight loss by drinking tasty smoothies
Achieve instant energy without consuming sugar or energy drinks
Detox your body without dangerous chemicals

The book also comes with a set of 20 plus recipes that aren't expensive compared to your weekly grocery shopping. These recipes are so easy to put together that even your kids can do them :)Hence I'm sure you are gong to love this !!!

Rules for participating in the giveaway:

Visit Hilary's website by clicking here.
Follow my blog publicly.
Become a fan of my FB page 'Yummy Delights' by "liking" the page here. (If you are already a fan, let me know in your comment)
Leave a 'comment with your name' mentioning that you have done all the above and mention 'your favourite smoothie' too.

Entries will close on March 26th, 2012. Three winners will be chosen through 'Random Number Generator' and announced with my Easter special recipe post on March 28th, 2012.
Good luck!!!

Waffle maker used for this recipe:

Mar 12, 2012

Cilantro Chicken Sandwich

For the past few days I've been thinking about a unique recipe with cilantro as the main ingredient. I got this idea from my mom who used to make the veggie version of this sandwich with just the cilantro, grated coconut, butter & cumin. I tried adding chicken, onion, tomato and it came out great! This is not like the taste of the usual sandwiches. Something really different & the only way to experience the taste is to try it out yourself :) I'm sure you are gonna love it. Enjoy a scrumptious breakfast :)

Ingredients

A bunch of Cilantro leaves
6 Whole wheat Bread slices
1/2 cup Peanuts
1/4 cup grated Coconut
2 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup cooked Chicken pieces
1 Tomato
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/4 cup finely chopped Onion
1 Green chilly
Salt as required
Ketchup

Directions

In a food processor, make a paste of cilantro leaves, peanuts, butter, green chilly, grated coconut and cumin powder.
Take the above paste & mix with chicken pieces, onion, tomato and salt.
Cut off the edges of the bread slices & spread ketchup on one side of each bread.
Fill it with the chicken mix(2) and enjoy it with potato chips.

Sharing this recipe with EP Series: Herbs & Spices event hosted by Julie @ Erivum Puliyum

Blender used for this recipe:

Mar 9, 2012

Dates Fritters

This is one among the popular snacks in Kerala. I never knew about this recipe until i heard from Chaithanya, my close friend & a wonderful cook! This recipe is her method of preparation and I just fell in love with this appetizer in my first trial itself. The best part of this snack is the stuffing inside the dates. The seed is carefully taken out & stuffed with cashew nut pieces which gives it quite a different & yummy taste!!!! Hope you guys will also enjoy this tea time snack. Do try it out & let me know how much you enjoyed :) :)

Ingredients

1 cup Dates
1 cup All-purpose flour (Maida)
4 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Cardamom powder
1/4 cup Cashew nuts
1 cup sweetened Coconut Flakes
1/4 cup or more Water
Vegetable oil for frying
A pinch of salt

Method

Make a thick batter with flour, coconut flakes, sugar, salt & water.
Chop the cashew nuts & mix with cardamom powder.
Take out the seeds from all the dates carefully through one end & stuff with the cardamom coated cashew nuts.
Heat oil and coat the stuffed dates in the prepared batter.
Fry till golden brown and place in a paper towel so that excess oil will be absorbed. Eat hot & crispy!!!!!!

***Sharing this recipe with:

'Only'-South Indian event hosted by Pari @ Foodelicious.
Colour N Sweet-HOLI FEST event hosted by Preeti @ Preeti's Kitchen.
Fruit Fiesta event hosted by Ramya @ Ramya's Recipes.
Snack Recipes hosted by My Culinary Creations.

Mar 7, 2012

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

Wanna start your day with a healthy drink?? Try out this combo of Banana & Blueberries which is fully loaded with essential nutrients!!! It is damn simple to prepare, with very few ingredients. So what are you waiting for?? Grab the below ingredients form your refrigerator, put them in a blender & blend until you obtain the desired consistency. Transfer into a pretty glass and enjoy the refreshing drink!!!!! :) :)

Ingredients

3/4 cup Blueberries
1 1/2 frozen Bananas
1 cup Yogurt(Curd)
3/4 cup Milk
2 tbsp Honey

Note: Add more milk if you don't want your smoothie to be too thick.

***Sharing this recipe with:

Midweek Fiesta hosted by Amy @ Food Corner.
Fruit Fiesta event hosted by Ramya @ Ramya's Recipes.

Blender useful for this recipe:

Mar 3, 2012

Apple Cinnamon Waffles

Waffles are prepared in most of the countries but it is more famous in Belgium & America. For those who don't know what a Waffle is, it is a batter cooked in a waffle iron (patterned cooking appliance). The common toppings are ice cream, whipped cream, fruits, honey, syrups etc. There are different variety of recipes & patterns also. Recently i was lucky enough to win a Heart shaped Waffle Maker as part of St. Valentines Day Giveaway by Coupon Loving Chicks. Those who entered the giveaway was asked to share about what Love meant for them. Here is the simple description that i gave: ''Love is a truly special feeling & an everlasting bond which means: L–Listen to Each Other, O–Open your Heart, V–Value your relation and E–Express your feeling. No person in this world can live without love and that special feeling is God’s greatest gift for us :)''. Finally they chose me as the winner..Yaay....I was so excited to make the heart waffle as soon as i received it & i'm sharing my first delicious breakfast recipe with you all!!!

Ingredients

1 cup Flour
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Sugar
4 tbsp Butter
1 Egg
1/2 cup chopped Apples

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Directions

Take a bowl & combine flour, sugar, cinnamon powder, baking powder and salt.
Add egg yolk, butter and milk. Mix thoroughly.
Beat egg whites separately till fluffy & add to the above mix.
Mix in the chopped apples.
Pour batter on the hot waffle iron and bake for 5 min or until golden brown.
Serve with syrup and fresh apples.

This is the appliance i used:

***Sharing this recipe with:

Midweek Fiesta hosted by Amy @ Food Corner.
Fruit Fiesta event hosted by Ramya @ Ramya's Recipes.

Waffle maker i used for this recipe:

Mar 1, 2012

Round Up of Valentine's Day Event (Part 2)

Here are the remaining 100 fabulous & delicious recipes shared by my buddies for the 'sweet & romantic' event. I've posted the recipes almost in the order in which i've received. If there is any mistake in your names/links or if i have missed out any of your recipes, please feel free to correct me. Scroll down & enjoy the tasty treats!!!!!!