Taking advantage of the gloomy weather, I went off to Trader Joe's and bought a bunch of supplies for my culinary adventures. While the Olympics played away on the TV, I got into the kitchen, post a hearty workout, for some well-deserved food.
Starting off with basil pesto (recipe later), I moved a step up with this cauliflower recipe. Normally I make it Indian style but this time I just went with the flow. I let the spirit guide me and I added ingredients as they came to me.
Here's how it flowed:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 head cauliflower
1 cup frozen peas
1 root ginger
Red chili flakes and salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons coriander chutney
Mint to garnish (Optional)
- Add olive oil in a warm wok (or any other deep pot).
- Shred a root of ginger (you can also cut it) and add to warm oil.
- Add cauliflower and peas and saute for a few minutes until cauliflower becomes a little soft.
- Add salt and red chili flakes.
- Add coriander chutney and stir.
- Turn off stove and garnish with mint.
The result will be one happy spouse (or you!)
Feeling encouraged, I went onto further uncharted waters - the low-carb diet meant I had banned all desserts but no body informed my sweet tooth! To remedy that, I looked around for healthier dessert options and found a marvelous recipe that uses almond meal.
What is almond meal you ask - when you pulse pieces of almond, you get almond meal! That's how simple it is. Replace that for the flour and it is one guilt free dessert/breakfast. And the best part? You cannot tell! I shared it with a few friends at work and they were absolutely blown away when I told them there was no flour!
While the original recipe called for 3 oz (1/2 cup) of sugar, the bread turned out a tad sweeter than I would have liked, it could work well with 1/3 cup of sugar and ripe bananas.
1 cup almond meal
1/2 tea spoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (or use 1/3 cup sugar and ripe bananas)
1/2 tea spoon cinnamon
3 bananas + extra slices for topping
Slices of almond to garnish
- Pre-heat oven to 300 F.
- Lightly dust a muffin tin or bread dish with some spray oil.
- Add almond meal and baking powder and set aside.
- Beat eggs, cinnamon and sugar together to make it fluffy.
- Add egg mixture to almond meal and mix.
- Pour in baking dish/tin and garnish with slices of banana and almond.
- Bake about 40-45 minutes for bread and 30-35 minutes for muffins (or until top is browned and skewer comes out clean).