Yogurt Pie with Strawberry-Balsamic Topping

Okay, so I’m a wee bit embarrassed about the last post. 

I know you come here for the pretty food pictures and the (seemingly) healthy recipes...and here I was, being completely useless, whining and drowning in self-pity. Not to mention, shoving that ghastly picture of my bloated visage in your face. 

Not cool. Not cool at all.

But I’ll make it up to you, I promise. How? I have a master plan. A fool-proof plan involving crunchy oatmeal, creamy yogurt and…strawberries.

Do I see you smiling already? 

This is almost as good as the best cheesecake you’ve ever had, minus the butter in the crust, the cream and egg yolks, and lo, even the cream cheese!

Okay, so maybe we can’t call it a cheesecake…but you’ve got to trust me on this. If there is any way you are going to pass up on loading carbs with an actual cheesecake, this is it. This is you one-way ticket to low-calorie dessert bliss. (Melodrama, much?!)

 For starters, you have oatmeal instead of graham crackers. Applesauce instead of butter. And a fat-free, healthy crust which is just as crumbly as the conventional cracker crust.

For the filling, we have low-fat yogurt. Sweetened with vanilla and sugar, with some dissolved gelatine to hold its shape.

And then…STRAWBERRIES. Loads of them, macerated with raspberries, sugar, mint and balsamic vinegar. Sweet, sour, tangy goodness.

Go on, make a pie, share a slice, spread the love. 

Enjoy! 

Yogurt Pie with Strawberry-Balsamic topping

For pie crust:

1 and ½ cups old-fashioned oats

2 packed tbsps. brown sugar

¼ cup applesauce

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
•  Process the oats, brown sugar and cinnamon in a food processor for about 30 seconds until the oats are crushed and all of it is incorporated together
• Add applesauce to the oats mixture and stir until it is coated evenly
• Press mixture into a 8 or 9 inch pie dish and bake for 10-11 minutes until brown.
• Take the pie crust out of the oven and let cool completely

For filling:

2 cups Greek yogurt (or normal yogurt drained of excess water)

½ cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 envelopes of unflavoured gelatine

• Dissolve the gelatin in three tablespoons of cold water
• Boil water in a pan and reduce to a light simmer. Place a heat-proof bowl over the pan to create a double-boiler.
• Empty the yogurt onto the double-boiler, add sugar, vanilla and stir until dissolved completely. Add the dissolved gelatin to the yogurt mixture and stir again until incorporated fully. Remove from heat and let it cool
• Optional: For a richer filling (and a texture closer to that of cheesecake), you can whip 1 and ½ cups of heavy cream and fold in the whipped cream into the yogurt mixture. This would make the pie lighter and less dense. (I skipped this step as I didn’t want to keep it as healthy as possible- was already going crazy with the sugar, didn’t want to add cream to weigh on my conscience later!)
• Pour filling into pie crust, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until the yogurt is set.

For topping:

2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

1 cup raspberries

¼ cup sugar

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar (you could substitute it with lemon juice, if you don’t have vinegar at hand)

A few mint leaves

• Take half of the strawberries and raspberries and mash them to an almost-pulp consistency with a fork.
• Add the sugar, vinegar and julienned mint leaves to the mashed fruit and mix well.
• Finally, add the rest of the fruit, stir everything together and refrigerate.
• When the pie is set, cut wedges and serve with the macerated fruit on top.

Get cooking already!

Fruit Salad with Green-tea Jelly

What? It's cloudy again? Weather gods, send us some sun please!

And to make things worse, its friggin' HOT! Which means, the option of sipping hot chai all day is pretty much out of the window. What i need on a day like this is something cool and refreshing, but bright enough to beat the gloom outside.

Like...oranges. Sweet, cool, refreshing but zesty and bright. Perfect.

But of course, you didn't come all this way to hear me tell you to go eat oranges. Oh, no. I've got something extra special for you, which is....(pregnant pause for effect)

Le GREEN TEA.

Full to choking with antioxidants and all good things in general. But lets face it, on its own it.tastes.like.HAY.
Which is is why we infuse it with a little mint. And later, a wee bit of honey and lemon juice to perk it up further.

And while we are waiting for the tea to steep, why not sprinkle soak some some gelatin and dissolve it in the hot tea? Pale, delicate, milky cubes of flavored green tea. Genius? Genius.

What next? Salad dressing. Easy peasy. Another tablespoon of honey, some orange zest, orange juice and freshly ground black pepper. Done.

Now for the real deal. Greens: Crunchy iceberg lettuce. Citrus: Orange (Duh!). Other fruit: Whatever you can fish out of your fruit basket- all i had was strawberries. And then, if you are a texture junkie like me, some granola, or toasted almonds for crunch. Pour dressing, toss and finally, top with cubes of green tea jelly.
Yu-hum.

Fruit Salad with Green-tea Jelly

For Green tea Jelly:
2 cups water
3-5 mint leaves
2 green-tea bag
1 and a half tbspn honey
Juice from half a lemon (the last two can be adjusted according to your taste)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1. Boil water with the mint leaves, dip the teabags in the boiling water and allow it to steep for a few minutes.
2. In the meantime, sprinkle the gelatin in a little cold water and allow it to soak.
3. Discard teabags and mint leaves, and add the honey and lemon juice to the tea.
4. Add the gelatin to the hot tea and stir until mixed properly.
5. Pour the tea into a flat pan (I lined it with cling-film so that i could take jelly out easily)

For Dressing: 

I tbspn honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbspn orange zest
1 teaspoon of fresh crushed pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients together

 For Fruit Salad:
1 cup chopped lettuce
2 oranges
5-7 strawberries
1/2 cup granola or toasted almonds

1. Chop lettuce; peel and segment oranges; halve strawberries
2. Mix the greens, fruits and granola together, pour dressing and toss. 
3. Top with green tea cubes before serving.

Guacamole

I love avocado.

Repeat after me,"I love avocado".

Come on, with all your heart, once more..."I LOVE AVOCADO!"

I stayed away from avocado for the longest time in my life. For one, it was called 'butter fruit' back where I grew up. And for someone who has always been on the heavier side, the name instantly conjured images of eating raw butter by the pound, loading my digestive system with unwanted grease, and adding inches to the waistline. Plus, it wasn't as tasty as the mango and jackfruit, which we had in abundance anyways. So, if ever a butter fruit made its way home from the fruitseller, chances were that it would end up on my skin as a face pack.

All until, I met this unassuming guy here, on a chance trip to Mexico:

Guacamole. I was converted. The 'fat' in the avocado suddenly became 'monounsaturated fats' which did good things for the body, and the former but-it-isn't-even-sweet fruit suddenly became a vitamin-ridden,rich and creamy staple in my fruit basket. Now, i make guacamole all the time - I use it a dip for parties, spread it on bread instead of butter, mix it up while making omlettes , hell, i even added a dollop of it into the batter when i baked savoury scones the other day.  It's genius- one of those everyday things that just blows your mind with its sheer simplicity.

So, if you are one of those who cannot make up your mind about the avocado, hang on. Your life is just about to change. Trust me.

Guacamole

1 ripe avocado
Half of a medium onion
one small tomato
Half a lemon
2 green chilles
Few sprigs of fresh coriander(cilantro)
Salt to taste

1. Cut the tomato in half and take out the seeds so as to remove excess water. De-seed green chillies. Finely chop the onion, tomato, green chillies and coriander.

2. Cut avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh from the skin mash it into a homogeneous pulp using a fork.

3. Add the chopped ingredients to the mashed avocado, squeeze fresh lemon juice into the mixture and season with salt.

It could be served with tortilla chips, or if your feeling especially healthy, with carrot, cucumber and celery sticks. We didn't have any of the above at home yesterday, so P (the significant Other in my life, you'll hear more about him the coming posts!) had it with some roasted  pappadoms. As for me, I slathered a healthy serving of it into a slice of multi-grain toast and topped it with some leftover tomato fry from the the day before. Deelish!

(Sorry about the quality of that last picture. Was in a hurry to gobble it down!)