BREAKFAST GRANOLA

Do you eat your breakfast for dinner or as a snack? I do that all the time with my homemade granola. Healthy nutritional breakfast is a kick-start and power boost to keep your energy levels up high to work the whole day. Greek yogurt topped with granola, chia, cherry compote and fruits is my all time favorite. I eat this as dinner sometimes or to ease my pallet for sweet cravings I have it after my meals. It’s that versatile! Try my homemade granola recipe and you won’t buy a store bought one. Do you also like to eat the way I eat my granola?

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SERVES: 8-10 servings

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups rolled oats

• 1/2 cup almonds, sliced

• 1/4 cup pecan nuts

• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

• 3 tbsp sunflower seeds

• 1 tbsp flax seeds

• 100 g pitted majdool dates, chopped

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup honey

• 3 tbsp coconut oil

METHOD

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Separately mix water honey and oil, whisk together to combine, pour it in the dry ingredients, mix them all together.

3. Spread the granola mixture on a large baking tray and place it in a preheated oven for 40 minutes at 170°C, tossing every now and then to get even toasting.

4. Leave to cool completely and store it in an airtight container.

COOK'S NOTES:

• Serve these as it is with cold or warm milk, or have it with Greek yogurt, fruit compote and fresh fruits. You can also sprinkle on parfaits for desserts.

• Easily turn this into a vegan recipe by using raw, locally sourced honey from a reputable bee farming source, or use vegan honey!

#vegetarian #glutenfree #vegetarianbreakfast #glutenfreebreakfast #simple #easy #quick #student #cheap #vegan #oat #granola #healthy #health

CAPRESE SALAD STICKS

Basil and tomato are honestly a match made in heaven, they go so well together! Here’s my little spin on the classic Caprese Salad; serving it on sticks with curled up cucumber and baby mozzarella. Drooling over this extremely simple and attractive appetisers that will surely impress your friends and family. My basil in the garden is still blooming and the baby tomatoes too, I pluck out almost a handful everyday! Serve this green and red awesomeness with drinks and you will be all praises. And don’t forget – always always always make your own basil pesto at home...you just can’t beat that with a store bought one! BTW if you are growing basil in your garden and you have the white flower stem blooming with seeds, just pluck and dry these seeds and preserve to grow your basil plants next winter. Give this recipe a try right now!

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YIELDS: 15 pieces

COOKING AND PREP TIME: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 15 Baby tomatoes

• 15 Mini mozzarella balls

• 3 Lebanese cucumber

For Pesto Sauce:

• 1 cup basil leaves

• 3 tbsp pine nuts

• 2 clove garlic

• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• Salt and pepper

METHOD

1. To make pesto, add all ingredients to the food processor and blend it altogether. Store in airtight container and use the left over for your pesto panini or pasta.

2. With the help of mandoline, slice cucumber into thin strips.

3. On a skewer, thread baby tomato, mozzarella ball, and rolled up cucumber strip; place them in serving platter and drizzle with pesto on top.

COOK'S NOTES:

• Keep the sticks ready in the refrigerator and sprinkle pesto just before serving, you can also sprinkle little pepper on top for a little spicy note.

#salad #italian #simple #15minutes #quick #easy #healthy #student #cheap #tomato #mozzarella #pesto

APRICOT AND NECTARINE PIE

Hey everyone! It’s summer in Oman, but honestly, when is it not! You get to see lot of stone fruits in supermarkets, so I picked up these luscious golden apricots and juicy nectarines, and made this quick rustic pie for my friend’s farewell lunch. It’s super simple, easy, quick and very delicious.

Serve it with a generous scoop of ice cream and you will love the perfect marriage of those piquant tangy sweet fruits and creamy sweetness of vanilla ice cream! I was almost gonna put the scoops of ice-cream on top to take a shot but my pie was still quite warm to hold the shape of scoops intact. I just couldn’t wait any longer for it to cool down completely to take that perfect shot of pie topped with ice-cream as the sun was going down rapidly and was almost getting dusky and I didn’t want to lose that perfect lighting from the sun for my photo shoot. So here’s my virtual treat for you guys.

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SERVES: 8-10

PREP TIME: 30 minutes

BAKING TIME: 40 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hours

INGREDIENTS

For Pastry:

• 1 1/4 cup plain flour

• 1/2 cup/ 115g cold unsalted butter, diced

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

For Filling:

• 4-5 apricots

• 2-3 nectarines

• 4 tbsp caster sugar

• 3-4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced

• 1 egg

METHOD

1. To make pastry, in an electric mixer bowl, add flour, salt, sugar and butter, blend with a paddle attachment until the mixture resembles wet sand; add cold water, starting with 3 tbsp, pulse for few seconds until the dough combines together and forms a ball along the side of blender bowl, if it’s still not combined together add additional tablespoon of water.

2. Now, take pastry dough out on a floured surface and gently roll it into a ball, take care not to over work the dough. Tightly close it in plastic wrap, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 180°C, line the large baking tray with parchment paper.

4. Remove pastry dough from fridge, unwrap and roll it down on a floured surface into 12” circle, place rolled dough on a prepared tray, slightly make a mark by very gently pressing a 9” pastry pan into the center of the dough to make the indentation for you to know how far you need to spread the fruit slices.

5. Wash and dry the apricots and nectarines, cut them into 1cm thick slices, arrange the slices by slightly overlapping each other and cover the whole marked surface of pastry, leaving the edges blank.

6. Sprinkle sugar over apricot and nectarine slices and place small knobs of butter all over. Lift the blank pastry on top of the sliced fruit, and fold the pastry every 3-4 inches as you go around to secure the filling inside.

7. Lightly beat the egg and brush the bare edges of the pastry and bake it in the oven for 35-40 minutes until edges turn golden brown. Let it rest to cool before transferring to the serving platter. Serve it with vanilla ice-cream.

COOK'S NOTES:

• To make it vegan, omit regular butter and the egg wash in pastry and use non-dairy butter and milk instead.

#vegan #veganoption #pie #dessert #seasonal #apricot #fruit #vegetarian #dinnerparty #party