Honeydew Citrus Juice

I am enjoying the warm summer weather, the lovely fresh summer fruit and my backyard garden these days. It makes me sad that it's already middle of summer -- I wish I can hold on it a little longer.
May be I can with this refreshing drink made with honeydew melon and citrus juice. I bought a honey dew melon the other day, it was super juicy, sweet and delicious. After eating most of it as is, I used the rest to make this drink.

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Jicama-Avocado Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

I love trying new vegetables and the latest one I tried is Jicama (spelled as hi-ka-mma). Actually I bought it couple of times before, but I was hesitant to use them right away and by the time I was ready, they rotted :-( So this time, I made sure I had a recipe ready and I made it right away.
Jicama also known as Mexican yam or Mexican turnip is an edible tuberous root of a native Mexican vine. I was surprised that it is from a bean family because it almost looks like it belongs to the potato family. Another interesting thing is that the remainder of the jicama plant (except for the root) is poisonous.

Out side of a jicama is yellow and papery and needs to be peeled. Inside is crispy and resembles raw potato or pear. It tastes a little like apple but is not not sweet -- like a bland apple. It is usually eaten raw in salads and sometimes cooked in soups and stir-fried dishes.

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Apple-Orange Mocktail

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: BM Pair (Sujatha Ram)
Dish: Apple-Orange Mocktail

For the final day of this month's marathon, I have a very simple mocktail from Sujatha's blog. I hardly ever make juices at home, I'm just too lazy to make them. Because it takes quite a bit of effort to make these juices and takes mere seconds to finish them. Sigh!! Its better for everyone to just eat their fruits than drink them. This is totally my personal opinion, no offense meant to anyone.

But this particular mocktail caught my eye on Sujatha's blog. I loved her clicks and the combination of apple and orange with ginger sounded interesting. So I made it for my kids, but I guess I was the one enjoying it the most. The weather in our neck of woods has been quite summer like and this drink was very refreshing on a hot afternoon.

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Iranian Jeweled Rice (Vegan recipe)

For this month's International Cooking Challenge, our host Savitha Ramesh @ Savitha's Kitchen has taken us on a culinary tour of Persia/ Iran. Iranian cuisine or Persian cuisine refers to the traditional and modern styles of cooking related to Iran. Situated in the Middle East, the Iranian culinary style is unique to Iran, but it has been influenced by Iran's neighbouring regions at various stages throughout its history.
Many foods famously associated with Middle Eastern, and indeed World cuisine have their origins in Iran, such as kebab and ice cream. Fresh green herbs are frequently used along with fruits such as plums, pomegranates, quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. Typical Persian main dishes are combination of rice with meat, lamb, chicken, or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian flavorings such as saffron, dried limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.

I made this very flavorful and colorful Iranian Jeweled Rice. It is sweet, nutty and very aromatic. I'm lucky to live in an area that is close to good Turkish/ middle eastern groceries and I have access to good quality ingredients. I bought orange blossom water on one of my so-called 'window' shopping days, which was put to good use in this recipe.

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Eggless Orange-Chocolate Cake with Orange Cream cheese Buttercream frosting

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Eggless Cakes
Dish: Eggless Orange-Chocolate Cake with Orange Cream cheese Buttercream frosting

September & October are birthday months in my house. Both my kids are September born and my husband is October born. So when I saw the theme 'Eggless Cakes' for this edition of BM, I knew I have to take it up to try new cakes to celebrate the birthdays.

For my daughter's b'day I made - Pistachio Rosewater cupcakes & Chocolate-Vanilla Marble cupcakes. Both of them were a hit at the party.

For my son's birthday which is exactly 15days after my daughter's I knew I had to make a chocolate cake. I asked my son if he had any preference and he said he wanted a orange flavored chocolate cake. His latest favorite show is Pokemon and can talk about the characters for hours. So I made him a Orange-Chocolate Cake with Orange cream cheese-butter cream frosting and I tried to add one of the Pokemon characters in the frosting.

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Glowing Green Smoothie

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Moderator's Choice/ Healthy Smoothie
Dish: Green Glowing Smoothie

Day 2 of BM# 31 under 'Moderator's Choice' theme, I picked 'Healthy Smoothie'. We recently bought a new blender and I have been making smoothies quite often. They have come to our rescue when afternoon hunger pangs occurred.

Today's smoothie is super healthy. It is one of Dr.Oz's 5 beautifying smoothies. If you read the article, you will know that this smoothie has more 'gorgeous goods' than any other smoothie. That's because of the chock full of carotenoids found in Kale. Ingesting carotenoids (like the ones found in Kale) was associated with healthy looking skin and helps our tissues from oxidative stress and wrinkles.

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Orange-Yogurt Cake and a Upcoming Review

I was so excited when CSN stores recently contacted me to review one of their products. CSN Stores has over 200 amazing online stores where you can almost find anything you need whether it be a sofa or a suitcase, a crib or a cookie sheet. It is going to be really difficult to decide on what to review.

Coming to Orange-Yogurt Cake, this recipe has been in my drafts for a long time. I had to use up some extra yogurt and made this cake from Martha Stewart's website. It came out so moist and delicious and extremely easy to make. Here's the recipe:

Recipe from Martha Stewart.
Ingredients:
Wholewheat Pastry Flour (or AP flour) - 1 cup
Granulated Sugar - 1/2 cup + 2tbsp
Baking powder - 1/2tsp
Baking soda - 1/8tsp
Salt - 1/2tsp
Plain Yogurt - 1/2 cup (I used 1%)
Vegetable Oil - 1/4 cup
Orange Zest - 1 tsp
Orange juice - 1tbsp
Egg - 1, large
Pure Vanilla extract - 1/2tsp
Confectioner's sugar - for sifting

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan.
  
• Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, yogurt, oil, orange zest and juice, egg, and vanilla in a bowl. Pour into the prepared pan.
  
• Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
• Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.
  

All of you in US, have a fun long weekend and everyone else have a great week.

Orange Pudding Cupcakes

I'm celebrating my 200 posts and my son's monthly birthday with vegan orange pudding cupcakes with chocolate ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World (VCTOW). As I already mentioned before I make a cake/ cupcake for my son’s monthly birthdays. I guess it’s just a reason for us adults to indulge a little bit.

I borrowed VCTOW book (it’s a small book, fits perfectly in my purse) from the library and I look at the pictures and read the recipes like a little girl. I'm now thinking of buying the book so I can have it all to myself.
I made carrot cupcakes from the book twice already, my son loves these. It’s so cute to watch him sit and lick little crumbs & icing from his dad’s fingers. This is why I wanted to make something fruity, so my little one could enjoy.
Orange pudding cupcakes sounded just perfect and I took up the challenge of making them on a weeknight. I baked the cakes and made pudding during my afternoon break and assembled everything in the evening.


Recipe from VCTOW.
Ingredients:
For the Pudding:
Freshly squeezed orange juice – ½ cup
Soy milk – ¾ cup
Sugar – ¼ cup + 2tbsp
Arrow root starch or cornstarch or tapioca starch – 3 tbsp
Turmeric – 1/8 tsp for color (optional)
Vanilla extract– 1 tsp
Orange zest – 1 tsp

For the cupcakes:
All purpose flour – 1 1/3 cups
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – ½ tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Canola Oil – 1/3 cup
Soy milk – ¾ cup
Freshly squeezed orange juice – ½ cup
Sugar – ¾ cup
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

For the topping:
Orange Marmalade – ¼ cup
Rich Chocolate Ganache*
Method:

• To make the pudding: Whisk orange juice, soy milk, sugar, arrow root starch, vanilla, turmeric in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. On medium heat, cook for 2 minutes whisking continuously until heated through and steamy. Reduce the flame to low and cook for 5 more minutes stirring continuously. You may have to use a fork after a while as the mixture thickens considerably. When the mixture is thick and pudding like, take off the heat and remove it into a bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The mixture will thicken further as it cools.
• For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the cupcake pan with paper liners.
• Whisk orange juice, soy milk, sugar, vanilla and 1 tbsp of flour in a medium bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 installments, making sure that everything is well incorporated after every addition. Fold in the orange zest and mix to incorporate.
• Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 to ¾ of the way full.
• Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched and the cake tested inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Remove from the cake pan and cool completely on a wire rack before filling.
• To assemble: Snip a corner off a Ziploc bag and insert the widest tip possible. My tip squeezed out into the second cupcake I was filling, so I went ahead without a tip and it worked just fine.
• Using a finger, poke a hole in the center of each cupcake and by sticking the tip into the cake squeeze as much of the pudding as it can take. Cupcakes will swell a little like a small balloon, don’t overdo or the balloon might burst. :0)
• Wipe the top clean with the back of a spoon or just use your finger. Then spread ¼ tsp orange marmalade on each cupcake.
• The next step is to add about 1 tbsp of chocolate ganache on each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes till everything sets, about an hour. I filled and topped the cupcakes on the wire rack and I put the whole rack in the fridge for convenience.

The cupcakes were a big hit with my family and I can see my son licking on the pudding already.

* For the Rich Chocolate Ganache:
Soy milk – ¼ cup
Bittersweet chocolate – 4 oz. chopped
Maple syrup – 2 tbsp

Method: Bring the soy milk to a slow boil in a heavy bottom sauce pan. Remove from heat and immediately stir in chopped chocolate and maple syrup. Stir till smooth and keep aside until ready to use.

AFAM-Orange Berry Muffins

This is my entry to this month's A Fruit A Month (AFAM) blog event being hosted by Sharmi (@ Neivedyam). These muffins are very easy to put together and they are very (berry) delicious. The orange flavor in these delicate, cakey and generously blueberried muffins is in the background.

Ingredients:
Orange - 1
Buttermilk - about 3/4 cup
Eggs - 2 large
Honey - 3 tbsp
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick, melted and cooled
Sugar - 1/3 cup
All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 2 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Blueberries - 1 cup fresh-preferably or frozen (not thawed)

Method:

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffins cups.
• Zest and juice the orange. Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup.
• Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.
• In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently but quickly stir to blend. The batter will be lumpy and bubbly and according to the author*, its nothing to worry about and thats just the way it should be.
• Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
• Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. When fully baked the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

* Recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook “Baking: From my Kitchen to Yours”.

These muffins are best eaten the day they are made, but they can be wrapped and poppd into the freezer; where they'll keep for up to 2 months; rewarm in a 350 degree F oven, or just split and toast them.

I refrigerated mine in a ziplock container and they lasted for almost a week.