Eggless Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Its been toooo long! I know...I won't give any excuses this time. I have become a lazy bum! Infact this pumpkin bread was made a week ago, I just never transferred the pics from the camera. I think I was in one of those phases where you do some things regularly, aggressively, passionately and then suddenly you don't want to do it for a while.......get recharged and then get back to it. Hopefully I am back into writing and won't be as lazy as I was past month :) 


I have missed all your delicious recipes which I will go through one by one in the coming days. For now, here is the delicious Eggless Pumpkin Bread with walnuts that I baked last week. I was just sitting and I suddenly started missing baking, I got up, scanned my pantry and saw this pumkin puree can I had bought a couple of weeks ago. I love pumpkin bread and that's what I decided to bake. Loaded with aromatic spices and walnuts- this bread was a delicious treat. 

This bread was an amazingly easy to make. All the ingredients needed to be stirred together and baked to perfection. That's it. Your house will smell heavenly when you bake this delicious bread. So what are you waiting for? Get those aprons over your head, stir up the ingredients and bake this yummy bread and have a wonderful snack or how about you pack some for tomorrow morning's breakfast? :) 

Here is the recipe (Click here for the printable version)


Ingredients:

3 tbs ground flaxseed

1/2 cup water

1 ¾ cup sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

15 oz pumpkin puree can

3 cups all purpose flour ( or you can use half whole wheat and half all purpose)

1 tsp each cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, and ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the flaxseed and water until thickened.
3. Combine flax mixture in a large bowl with sugar, oil, and pumpkin.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet.  Fold in the walnuts.  

6. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan or 2 small pans.  

7. Bake the large loaf for about 55 minutes and the smaller loaves for about 40 minutes.  

8. Let sit for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Let the bread cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!!

Hawaiian Pineapple Salsa & Veggie Tacos

Aloha People! Yes, you guessed it right....I am back from 8 days of vacation in Hawaii. We went to Maui and it was amazing! Time just flew by, we so wanted to stay longer :). I did get myself some treats including best in the world Hawaiian Pineapple. They have the sweetest pineapples in the whole world. We couldn't get enough.

I decided to use some of the pineapple and make salsa with it along with veggie tacos. Both salsa and tacos turned out super-delicious. They are quick and easy to prepare and makes a fabulous lunch.

This salsa is perfectly seasoned with spices, lemon juice, pineapple's sweetness and hint of cumin. So get in to your Hawaiian mood and prepare this colorful, delicious salsa and enjoy it with chips, tacos, burritos or any of your favorite entree.

Here is the recipe for you all (Click here for printable version)

Ingredients & Method:

For Hawaiian Pineapple Salsa
1/2 cup chopped & seeded tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 jalapeno pepper chopped
1 serrano pepper chopped
1 tsp cumin powder (cumin roasted & grounded)
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1-1.5 tsp lemon juice
salt- to taste
red chilli powder (optional)- to taste (we like our salsa little hot )

Method:
1. In a bowl, just add all the ingredients mentioned above and give it a mix. Check the seasoning and adjust.

Didn't I say, its super-easy? :)

For Veggie Tacos
Tacos- (whichever u like, corn/flour/whole grain)
1/2 cup sliced long onions
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup kidney beans (pressure cooked until soft)
chopped lettuce leaves ( depends on how much you like)
sour cream (about 1 tbsp per taco)
guacamole (about 1 tbsp per taco- Please see the recipe HERE)
1/2 mexican four cheese shredded
1 tbsp + 1 tsp oil
Salsa [ which we made today :) ]

Method:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and stir fry onions and bell pepper lightly. Keep aside.
2. Remove kidney beans from the water it was boiled in and lightly season them with salt and black pepper.

Let's assemble the tacos now:
1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and warm each taco lightly from both sides by holding each with a tong.
2. Add kidney beans on the center of the taco, sprinkle some cheese, add lettuce, onions & bell pepper, sour cream, guacamole. [don't stuff it too much, or else you won't be able to eat without getting that sour cream on your face :)]
3. Top it off with the delicious pineapple salsa we just made and dig in.

Spiced & Nutty Applesauce Cake

A big hello to all my blogger friends and readers. I am back to blogging today after a month and it feels so good to be back. Last month was lot of fun with my in-laws. We took them to Niagara Falls and Finger Lakes in NY. It was a fun vacation.

My come-back post had to be with a "sweet" recipe. I had some applesauce sitting in my refrigerator from God knows when. I finally decided that I should empty some space in my fridge and use this applesauce. I went online and read some different recipes from many different sites. I finally decided to bake a spiced applesauce cake. I used the pumpkin spice ( the one we use in pumpkin pie), added some cinnamon, walnuts and raisins. Cake turned out moist and super delicious.

I couldn't help but eat a warm slice with ice-cream even before I was finished taking the pictures. I was taking the pics and I just couldn't help myself. Kept the camera aside, ate a huge slice and then resumed my picture taking session.

This cake was super easy to make. Just dumped all the ingredients together, mix and bake. Seriously!!

Here, let me share the recipe with you. (Click here for printable version)

Ingredients: 
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
2 cups (16oz) of applesauce
1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup raisins
1 tsp pumpkin spice OR all ground spice (whichever you prefer)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Method:
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degree F and keep a 9" inch square pan ready by greasing and dusting some flour on it.
2. Take all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry and add applesauce,melted butter, walnuts and raisins. Mix well, making a smooth batter.
4. Pour the batter into the greased baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before inverting it on the cooling rack.

Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and enjoy the warm cake with ice-cream or as is with your favorite coffee or tea. A perfect evening snack cake.