Tomato Rosemary Muffins

Ever since I bought the Better Homes & Gardens Baking book, I have been meaning to make these mini muffins. Don't let their size fool you, there is a burst of flavour in every bite!

You will need: Makes 36

1 ¾ cups All purpose flour

1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

2 tsps Baking powder

½ tsp dried Rosemary, crushed

¼ tsp Baking soda

½ tsp Garlic powder

½ tsp Pepper

1 beaten Egg

½ cup Milk

½ cup Tomato sauce (or substitute with store bought Marinara sauce)

1/3 cup Olive oil

2 tbsp Grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a mini-muffin tray.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, parmesan cheese, baking powder, crushed rosemary, baking soda, garlic powder and pepper. Make a well in the centre and set aside.

In another mixing bowl combine egg, milk, tomato sauce and olive oil. Add this mixture all at once to the dry mix. Combine with a wooden spoon just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

Spoon prepared batter into the greased muffin pan, 2/3^rd full. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on each muffin. Bake for 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes, then remove and serve warm.

Note: These can be made in regular sized muffin pans too, increase baking time and bake till light brown.

I used Marinara sauce and the aroma was heavenly when these muffins were baking . They were very tasty too.

Taste & Create VI – Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

It’s time for that event again where we get a chance to explore a partner’s blog and make a dish from their blog. Taste & Create is an event created by Nicole of For the Love of Food. It’s a good excuse to actually make something from another’s blog, than just adding the recipe to a “to-try” list.

My partner or should I say partners this time were the mother and daughter duo, Psychgrad and Gizmar of Equal Opportunity Kitchen. They have a wide array of dishes on their blog. As always, my quest was for something which involved baking and I finally zeroed in on the Banana Chocolate chip Muffins.

I followed the recipe to the letter, and halved it to make 6-7 muffins.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:

You will need: (Makes 12 Muffins)

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups of mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, whisk together bananas, butter, milk and eggs. Pour flour mixture and stir just until blended. Fill batter ¾th way into paper-lined muffin pans.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and tops are firm to the touch.

I baked these muffins on Sunday night and sent them with my hubby to Columbus, Ohio. He has been traveling from work for a few weeks now. I sure wouldn’t have eaten all 6 muffins (7 actually, I ate one!), so off the muffins went with him. He told me his colleagues enjoyed them.

I must say Banana and chocolate come together very well. The muffins were moist and I had to resist eating more than one! Thanks to the ladies at the Equal Opportunity Kitchen for the muffins and to Nicole for another series of Taste & Create.

I also would like to share something with you all. I had sent in two pictures to The Deccan Herald online edition and both of my food pictures have been published.

The Valentine's day hearts I made out of cake can be seen here: (picture in right panel)

The Sankranthi home-made acchu is here: (picture in the bottom of the page)

Spicy Tomato Soup and Thyme Popovers

It is so cold outside that I feel like huddling up on the couch with hubby dear and stay there forever! Thankfully I don’t work outside so I can stay warm indoors throughout the day. Now that its winter, it gets dark awfully early. Not to forget the hunger pangs which seem to exist somewhere deep within and hit me out of the blue. One such evening, when my stomach was rumbling and it was cold, I decided to make soup. I personally detest the canned ones, which nothing in it, but rather prefer a chunky wholesome soup, with pasta …all the better.

So here’s what I made with the ingredients I had on hand.

Spicy Tomato Soup

You will need

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups marinara sauce
2 (14oz) cans Vegetable broth
1 (15oz) can Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (vary to suit your taste)
1/2 cup Shell pasta (or any small pasta)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Warm the olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the marinara sauce, vegetable broth, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot!

This surely isn't your average tomato soup. I had mine topped with a little bit of grated Parmesan..hmm good!!

Thyme Popovers

You will need

Softened butter for greasing pans, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Generously grease aluminum popover pans or custard cups with softened butter. You'll need enough pans to make 12 popovers. Place the pans in the oven for 2 minutes to preheat. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, salt, thyme, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth. The batter will be thin. Fill the popover pans less than half full and bake for exactly 30 minutes. Do not peek :)

This went well with the hot spicy soup...