* Avocado Sandwitch,,a healthy snack

          I'm still  in  my  nostalgic moments of  a  month  of  pampering at  home. I  admit  I'm  spoiled and  lazy now and  watch out  for  every  possible   chance  to skip  my  favorite time  spent  in my  cozy  kitchen. Today's post  is definitely healthy and  a   quick  snack/brunch/breakfast,,, :),Avocado  sandwich, basically  whenever you  are hungry and want a  quick  healthy fix  you  can  go  for  it. Avocado was  pretty  foreign food for  me  until Martha(my  colleague) introduced me  to avocado  over  our  lunch  table. From then I'm just  hooked to avocados. Now I eat at  least  2  avocados  every week. So I have different ways  to eat  although  I  love  to  eat avocados   with a  dash of  salt  on it. So here  comes the recipe  of the  avocado  sandwich.

Ingredients:
1.Small  avocado -1
2. Chopped tomatoes - 1 tsp
3. Chopped onion - 1  tsp
4. Green chilly - 1 (optional)
5. Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - 1 tsp
6. Salt - a pinch
7. Cumin powder- 1/2  tsp
8. Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Procedure:

1.  Cut the   avocado in halves ,take  out the  pit and  scoop  out the  flesh in a bowl.Take  a  fork and  mash the  avocado(if the avocado  is  perfectly  ripen then it will get  mashed easily).

2. Then  Add the  chopped  onion,tomatoes,green  chillies,cilantro ,salt,lemon juice  and  cumin  powder and mix well. The filling is  ready  now.

3. Now  cut the  crust of the bread  out(I  just  take  them out  for  cosmetic  purpose) and  spread the   avocado  mixture  evenly  in a  generously thick  layer in one  slice  and  top  with the  other  slice.

4. Sandwich is ready at this  point  but if you  want  it as  a  finger food in  party then  cut into smaller  cubes,makes a cute  healthy appetizer.

* Ricotta Pound cake.....

  

My  big apologies to  readers  and  followers of my blog for not posting anything  for  long time. But things  at  my personal  end took  front  seat and  kept me overly occupied.I'm just  back  from  my  long India  trip and  coping  with  the jet lag.I planned to  post  this Ricotta  Pound  Cake before  I  left  for  vacation but   Anyone  who  reads  or follows my blog  must  have  known  by  now that I  have a  sweet sweet  tooth. So experimenting  cakes and  various  types  of  sweets are  definitely more frequent than  any  other  experiments in my kitchen. the other day  I was  browsing around and came  across this wonderful  cake in Parita's Blog ,she is amazing baker and  I love to  visit her space. As she vouched for this  ricotta pound cake  I thought I  should  give it a try and the  result was something to  'die  for'  for  a  cake  lover.Me  and  Shaan relished  on this  cake  first time  I made  and I  have  made couple of times  after that  with some modifications every time  and  this is  my favorite  so  far. I always  like to  tweak the recipe  after  first  attempt. The addition of  lemon zest,fresh blueberries and  honey to the recipe made its   even  better. I'm so glad I tried it. So here you go.

This makes a  small 8"  round  cake 
Ingredients:

                                                 
1. Ricotta Cheese                    : 3/4  cup(Ricotta  can be replaced by  fresh home made cheese or  paneer)

2. All purpose  flour                 : 3/4 cup
3. Baking powder                    : 1 1/2 tsp
4. Cornflour/Cornstarch           : 1 tbsp
5. Egg(at room temperature)    : 1
6. Salted butter (melted/softened)            :1/3 cup
7. Raw Sugar                           : 3/4 cup(I used raw  sugar but white granulare  sugar is  just  good)
8. Fresh lemon juice                 : 1 tbsp
9. Freshly crushed cardamon seeds          :1 tsp
10. Rose water                          :2 tbsp
11. Handful of raisins, soaked in water/rum for minimum 2hours, drained
12.Vanilla essence                      : 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Shift  All purpose flour,corn starch and  baking powder together  and keep  them aside.

2. Beat the ricotta cheese  and rose water for 5 minutes  with an  electric  beater.Now time to  pour the 

   melted butter kept at room temperature to the mixture along with raw sugar and  beat  until the  sugar

  dissolves.

3. Add  pure  vanilla extract, egg and  cardamom powder  and  beat  the mixture  for 2 more minutes.

4. Now to the  above mixture incorporate  the  shifted  flour with a  spatula.

5. Once the  flour is  fully mixed add lemon zest, lemon juice,golden raisins, blue berries and  honey.

6. Grease and  flour the  cake baking pan.Pour the  cake  batter then bake it  in a  350 degree 

    Fahrenheit preheated  oven.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or do a poke test until the knife comes  out  clean .

          

 Enjoy this  cake  when warm.This also stays fresh for  2-3  weeks in refrigerator.

     
I would  love to  hear  from you n  Happy Cooking.