I hate missing my workouts and last night it was a forced rest day. I reached home late from work and then you know its a chain reaction.  So I decided to take the day off and relax. I looked in the fridge for possibilities and was super excited to see a jar of Pumpkin Puree.

I don't think that I’m ready for this Oh-My-God-it's-Fall attitude The internet has suddenly adopted this theme and like every year is going ga-ga over pumpkins. I am not a fan of Indian Pumpkin recipes. I think as a kid I opposed every gooey vegetable. So if the pumpkin is hidden well in the dish I have no issues eating it. We all have our quirks. Maybe, someday I will start eating like a grown-up .

I have incorporated pumpkin in to my breakfast and before you roll your eyes let me tell you that it tastes divine. I will share that recipe soon. So I normally make pumpkin puree at home for my weekly usage. Meal prep rocks!

I finished 1/4th of the cake before realizing that I needed to click a picture

For now, let me share this beautiful pumpkin cake recipe which I developed last night:

Ingredients:
1 Cup White Flour
1/3 Cup Ragi Flour
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
1.5 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup milk
2/3 Cup Cane Sugar
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1 Tsp Cinnamon powder
1 pinch of Nutmeg
3 eggs

Note: The idea was to use 1.5 Cups of White flour but I ran out of supplies. I decided to do some modifications and used 1/3 cup Ragi flour. You can use 1.5 cups of white flour or maybe mix and match with some wheat flour.

I had cane sugar available at home. You can use brown sugar, white sugar or jaggery sugar.

Method
I greased the pan and allowed the oven to pre-heat for 10 minutes.
In a bowl I mixed Flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk well.
Mix  eggs, milk, sugar, pumpkin puree in a separate bowl and whisk well
Add the dry mixture to the wet one in 3 parts and mixing well after each addition.
Pour the batter (Will be quite runny) on to the greased pan and put it inside the oven and bake until a toothpick when inserted comes out clean.

Tip: I baked the cake on the highest setting (250 Degrees C in my case) for the first 15 minutes and then lowered the temperature to 200 for 20 minutes. 

Overall I was quite happy with the texture and taste. You can even add pumpkin spice to your cake. It is not easily available in India though.

Do you have any other cool pumpkin recipes?
Ciao..
P.S: I am starting a new Pumpkin series and will post quite a few pumpkin recipes with time

***************** Edited to Add*****************************************

Pumpkin Puree
This is in response to Sonal's comment. Check the simplest ways to make pumpkin puree:

Method 1:
Peel pumpkin 
Soak it in little water (1/4 cup water for 1 cup cut pumpkin)
And boil. You can pressure cook pumpkin too.. I prefer doing without it (Because I hate cleaning pressure cookers). Drain excess water and puree the boiled pieces using a blender/ processor

Method 2 (Only when I am in good mood):
Cut pumpkin (with skin) to small square pieces (1-2 inches)
Grease a tray with little oil and arrange the pieces upside down on it
Bake for 20-25 minutes. The pumpkin pieces will become tender and it will be easier to cut them with the skin on. 
When cooled remove the skin and puree the pieces using a blender/ processor 

 
 

I have been running for the past 11 years now and have been competing participating in races for the past 3 years. I have been obsessed with fitness for a while now. It is a big part of my identity and my lifestyle. I love every thing about it. It is a journey. I eat EVERYTHING. Crash diets are not for me and I realized that a long time ago. The fact that I have a sweet tooth does not help either.

I am at a stage in life where I need to lose a few kilos to improve my half marathon performance. I made some conscious decisions last year and the outcome has been great so far. I think I have hit the wall now. Some might argue that a runner does not have to do anything to lose weight because you know running does it for them. It is a myth. Running might help newbies in losing weight but for a seasoned runner (I am taking that liberty here) it gets difficult. Your body starts storing extra water, muscle weighs more than fat and all that jazz. The biggest challenge is that you are always hungry or what I like to call #rungry.

Last week I decided to take matters in to my hands. I have decided to go for a self imposed clean eating challenge. I know it is going to be super difficult but I gotta do what I have to do to reach my target and what better way than to blog about it?

So I will try and post recipes of my dinner. My days are smooth without any issues. I am very disciplined through the day. Sometimes I just go ballistic after my dinner and eat whatever I can. Stress eating is another one of my problems.

Some ground rules that I have set for myself are:

1. No Alcohol
2. No Refined Sugar
3. No substituting honey for sugar
4. No chocolates on rest days or easy workout days
5. Only 2 squares of chocolate allowed on heavy intensity days
6. No Junk food
7. No Biscuits (Another bad habit that I have recently picked up). Only 3 biscuits allowed on heavy intensity days
8. Ice cream only allowed if I am running more than 13Kms
9. Protein with every meal
10. Less portions and 7 meals in a day
11. Eat cheat meals every once in a while

So lets start from yesterday:

Mexican Bean Salad:

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Boiled red kidney beans
1 yellow pepper
1 shredded carrot
1 onion chopped
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup baby corn
1/2 cup sweet corn
Garlic pods chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms finely chopped
Dried rosemary sprigs

Dressing
1 sweet lime freshly squeezed
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Soy Sauce
Pepper
Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Vinegar

Guacamole:
I used the standard Food Network recipe

Method:

In a pan heat a little oil and add chopped garlic pods and when garlic starts turning golden brown add mushrooms, rosemary sprigs and saute well.
Add yellow peppers and all the other vegetables one by one with broccoli at last.
Add beans and mix everything

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, mix well and pour it in to the pan. Mix everything well.

Serve it with Guacamole..



Ciao..

A slice of cake, a good coffee and a good song. You just need simple things to get you started. 
Sometimes you just need a cake. On that note let me tell you that I love coffee cakes. 
Give me a light fluffy cake and I am the nicest person on this planet. I am really a cake person. 

Today morning I realized that I haven't had any cake in a while. So I looked around in my fridge and felt like a winner when I spotted two Valencia Oranges sitting prettily. A friend of mine got me a bag of Valencia Oranges from his farm. I love these oranges. They are so packed in flavor and are so sweet and refreshing. There is a little bit of tartness but it wakes you up. I have used them for salad dressings, as a snack, for chicken marination and I think it was time to use them in a cake. 

I looked around for a recipe and then decided to create my own. 

Upside Down Valencia Orange Cake

Ingredients:

1 orange thinly sliced (with the peel)
2 Tbsp Jaggery Sugar (Can use brown sugar)
2 Tbsp Butter
1.5 cups flour
1.5 tbsp baking powder
0.5 cup Jaggery sugar (Can use brown sugar)
0.25 cup white sugar
0.5 cup oil (I used rice bran oil)
0.5 cup thick yogurt (I used store bought)
Juice of 1 orange 
2 Tbsp orange zest
0.25 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 eggs

Note: I make my own zest. I peel the skin off and cut it in small pieces. In a pan I heat 2 tbsp water and 1 tsp sugar. I then add the zest to it and cook it for a minute. The zest becomes sweeter due to the mixture in which it is cooked

Method:


Brown the butter in a thick bottomed pan and then add 2 Tbsp Jaggery sugar when the mixture turns thick add the round slices of orange.

In a cake tin arrange slices at the bottom. Sprinkle the leftover butter-sugar mixture on them.


In a separate bowl sift flour and baking powder. Whisk the dry ingredients together.

In another bowl - Add sugar, yogurt, oil, orange juice, zest, eggs, lemon juice and mix them well.

Add dry ingredients to the wet batter in batches and whisk well.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Bake it thoroughly, especially in the center, or it may settle when it cools. 

Once the cake is done, let it cool. Place a plate and place the cake tin upside down. Remove the cake tin slowly. 

Enjoy The Cake

Ciao..

I love food. No surprises there. When I talk about my love for food it is not just the eating bit that I appreciate. I love shopping for groceries (Which is mainly online these days) also. When I was in Germany I made sure I visited Farmers market every week for  fresh produce. I create and construct recipes in my head. I come up with ideas, pairing of ingredients and then the task of executing my idea. I do this everyday.

When I moved in with Archana and Deepal back in 2006 I realized the importance of cooking for oneself. Before that I was mainly dependent on tiffin services. Every now and then I hear people moan that they don't like cooking for one person. C'mon how could you not love yourself enough to go through that process. I love cooking and the numbers don't matter anymore. Thankfully fitness is a major part of my life and it has only helped me in my cooking and the choices that I make. Almost Everyday.

The other day I was talking to a friend when she suggested that I share recipes, ideas and tips that I use on a daily basis. She wanted me to bring together my two passions - cooking and fitness. Her suggestion made sense and I have decided to blog about that as well. Let's see how I get on with it.

So please go ahead, read and share your thoughts.. I have decided to kick-start this series with dressings and Sauces.  My preferences keep changing. It is quite a seasonal thing for me. My favorite five dressings/recipes these days are:



1. My favorite dressing these days is Sweet Lime Chilli Dressing
Method: One fresh lime freshly squeezed, 1 tablespoon dark Soy sauce, Chilli Flakes and 1 tsp Honey. Mix well and toss veggies in this dressing

2. Date and Tamarind Sauce: This is my latest obsession after Priyanka shared her dessert recipe with me. Her dessert was too good to be true so I flicked the idea for creating savory dishes.
Method: Soak tamarind and then extract the pulp, mix a tsp of Date sauce with chilli flakes and sea salt
It works really well with chicken

3. Orange-Yoghurt-Dill dressing: Squeeze a fresh orange (I used Mandarin) and mix it with thick yoghurt - 1/2 cup (store bought). Whisk well. Add Dil, Lots of Garlic, Salt and a bit of olive oil. It works like a charm and goes really well with chicken

4. Coconut Milk Dressing: Mix skimmed Coconut milk- 1 cup (I use - Homemade by Dabur), Soy sauce - 1 tbsp, chilli sauce - 1tbsp, Peanut butter - 1 tsp, Garlic- Finely chopped and mix well

5.Plum Sauce: I know I should posting about all things apple now. I am not yet done with Plums though. I love this fruit for the kind of variety that it offers.
Method: Chop plums and then caramalize them in a heavy bottomed pan and add soy sauce (1 tsp) and chilli flakes. It goes really well with chicken and can also be used for marination

What do you think? Yay or Nay?

Ciao..