Pumpkin- nut loaf

I got up early today. With Ram still in bed and nothing interesting on tv, I was looking at a really long lazy Saturday ahead of me. I had bought a wedge of pumpkin from the supermarket for making a soup, but then the bread seemed like a perfect baking project for the day.
Making this loaf involves two very basic steps- Making the pumpkin puree mixture and folding it into the flour mixture. (maida+atta+salt+sugar+cinnamon)

You can add dry fruits, nuts, muesli just about anything crunchy to the batter before tossing it into the oven for about 45 minutes at 170 deg c.

Notes: I added a bit of vanilla essence, you can add maple syrup to the pumpkin puree.
For an extra kick you can add more spices like nutmeg/ cloves to the flour mix.

Margherita night!

I don't think we would be ordering pizza so often anymore. It's just so easy! And it's fun.
Making the sauce is fun, kneading the dough, watching it puff up, rolling the base, sprinkling the cheese...
Making the dough was easy. I just followed the recipe behind the Active yeast box. Or alternatively you can get it from here: http://litebite.in/homemade-pizza-base-gluten-free-healthy-recipe-pesto/

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, small dice
• 4 tablespoons chopped garlic
• Salt and pepper
• fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons red wine (optional)
• 3 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup water

Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and add the basil leaves, red wine, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool the sauce before using it to make pizza.

Roll the dough really thin and place it on the baking tray. Sprinkle the tray with flour, so the bread doesn't stick to the base. After about 5-7 minutes, take out the base and brush it with a bit of olive oil and slather it with the rich tomato sauce. Add the thinly sliced mozzarella and toss it back into the oven for another 10 mins. By now the cheese would have started to melt. Time to pull it out and sprinkle the chopped basil leaves and leave it in the oven again for another 5-7 minutes. The cheese would soon start to bubble and turn a lovely crusty golden brown.

Oatmeal fruit n' nut whole wheat bread

Time to get a bit more ambitious with the baking. Bread. Somehow it always seemed so complicated. Watching tv shows, where they have these huge professional looking ovens, pastry chefs stressing how hard it is to make a perfect loaf, seemed like a faraway dream.
My mom found this simple healthy recipe. It was egg-less and used whole wheat flour. I also had an entire tin of oats that I never used. Perfect.
http://litebite.in/eggless-banana-oatmeal-wholewheat-bread/

I made a slight modification to the original recipe. I didn't use as much banana. Just half a small banana chopped finely. Instead of the chocolate chips, I used dairy milk fruit and nut. The raisins and the walnuts in it give a nice crunch. The light hint of cinnamon was wonderful and our home smelt like heaven tonight!