Vegan Carrot Cakelets

It's like my body just decided to grind to a halt mid-way, stubbornly refusing to move forward. Two weeks of more-earnest-than-ever working out and conscientious eating, and ONE pound lost. Which translates to- three days to go and six pounds to lose. Which translates to- impossible, end of story. This would be the time to crack open a bottle of hard liquor, wallow in some serious self-pity and cry myself to sleep.

But strange as it might seem, I can hardly stop myself from grinning ear to ear all day these days! Despite all the despair on the weight-loss front, life's looking pretty sunshine-y at the moment! :) Why, you ask?


 #1

I GOT PUBLISHED!!

 Sorry, not a cookbook. Not yet, at least. Ermm... no, not a novel either. Not that i wouldn't want to. But for the time being, this is just a couple of my recipes from the blog. In the Mumbai edition of The Asian Age. But needless to say, i was inordinately stoked at seeing my name in print, and have been walking around with my head in the clouds for the past couple of days!

#2

I'M GOING ON VACATION!

And oh, after so, SO long! Cold weather and I don't seem to see eye to eye, so I'd been house-bound all through winter. But now that spring is finally here, I'm all ready to fish out those linen shorts, sunglasses and flip flops and hit the road! And to make things even better, I'm going on this trip with an old friend of mine, who I met in NY after a long gap of eight years! Lots of walking, talking, giggling, catching up, fooling around, and late night gossip sessions lined up for next week ...can't wait!

#3 (saved the best for the last!)

I hit upon the ultimate SNACKING JACKPOT yesterday!

Call them chewy cookies. Or cakes with a bit of crunch. They are pretty, tasty and addictive. Moist and delicious. And unbelievably quick and easy to whip up in a hurry. Not to mention, one hundred percent healthy.  Impossible? Ha, what do you know.

Carrots, oats and whole wheat flour. Rum-soaked raisins. Vanilla, cinnamon and cumin for flavour. Held together with applesauce and honey. Rounded off with a tablespoon of coconut oil. No unrefined flour, butter or eggs, but just as delicious. Tell me the health-freak in you isn't doing cartwheels already!

Peel carrots and grate them fine. Plum up some raisins in hot water, or if you anything like me, in some good liquor, preferably rum.

The original recipe called for all coconut oil, but when I made it that way, the smell and taste of the oil overpowered all other flavors in the cookie. After a couple of trials, i have concluded that applesauce works best, with just a tablespoon of coconut oil in the end, just to give it a slight hint of the aroma and flavor. But if you are a fan of coconut oil, go ahead an do away with the applesauce entirely.

Sift all dry ingredients together, add the carrots and raisins (drained), pour the wet ingredients into the mixture and stir until incorporated fully. For bite-sized cookies, make balls of one tablespoon of batter apiece and lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly to form the shape of a cookie.  Bake for twelve minutes in an oven pre-heated at 350 degrees farenheit. Allow to cool for ten minutes and then- stuff.your.face.

Vegan Carrot Cakelets
Recipe adapted from ohsheglows

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1/4 cup regular oats 
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4-cup slivered almonds 
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots, packed 
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in water/liquor (preferably overnight) 
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (optional)(i like mine really sweet) 
• 1/4 cup apple sauce (could be substituted with coconut oil)
•  1 tablespoon coconut oil (need not add if you substitute applesauce with coconut oil)
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
•  Pinch of cumin
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper 
2. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cumin, baking powder, salt, and oats in a large bowl. Add in the almonds, raisins, and shredded carrots 
3. In a small bowl mix the honey, applesauce, brown sugar, vanilla, coconut oil and freshly grated ginger. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until combined 
4. Take one heaped tablespoon of dough at a time and shape into balls. Flatten slightly and lay on the lined baking sheet 
5. Bake for about 12 minutes and cool for 10 minutes on a baking rack.

Enjoy! Meet you back here in a week's time, all tanned and happy (and atleast a couple of pounds heavier, going by all the junk food that is on the radar!).Till then, take care and be good. Toodles!

Oats n Raisins Granola

OATS.

It isn't so bad.

Not when served with a giant slab of butter, a good glug of rich maple syrup, and generous sprinkling of brown sugar.

Or when topped with browned butter and caramelized bananas.

With cinnamon-baked apples and whipped cream.

Berries, orange zest and heaped spoonfuls of vanilla sugar.

See, told ya. Not so bad.

But sadly, not one of these delicious tricks work when you are on a diet. And I was sick to puking with force-feeding myself bowls of boring porridge day after day. You know, fat-burning food, full of goodness, keeps your tummy full all morning...in short, your basic healthy, diet-worthy, unavoidable  nightmare.

God, I have a bone to pick with you. Why, oh, why did it take you SO long to plant the thought of GRANOLA in my head?

It's baked oats. It's tasty. Crunchy. Healthy. Have it with milk in the morning. Sneak mouthfuls of it in the subway. Top up your fruit and yogurt for dessert at night. Wake up to a rumbling tummy at midnight and stuff your face again. It's good for you. You know, fat-burning food, full of goodness, keeps your tummy full... in short, the diet-food of your dreams.

Enough said.  Let's get baking.

Oats 'n Raisins Granola

(Recipe adapted from JoytheBaker)

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup slivered raw almonds

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberry)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

A pinch of salt

1 and a 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/8 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees Farentheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper

2.Whisk together oats, slivered almonds, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

3.Melt together butter, oil, honey and brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil.    Take off the heat and add vanilla extract. Pour the warm mixture over the oat mixture and toss together to  ensure the entire mixture gets moistened by the sugar and oil syrup.

4.Spread onto prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 to 35 minutes,  making sure to stir the oats every  ten minutes. Remove from the oven, add raisins and other dried fruit, let cool and store in an airtight container.

[This is not so much a recipe, as an idea for a recipe. Add whatever you might wish to add to the oat mixture - raisins, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, flax seeds- let your imagination run riot! :) ]