Just the word brownie, somehow has the knack of turning a horrible, horrible day into one that you can sail through. even if it involves, measuring, baking and just basking in the aromas that lilt through the kitchen. This Thursday was no different. Home alone, i was bored out of my wits, gym routine done, cooking done, grocery shopping done, I had more than half the day on my hand, completely free! The oven yet again became my best go-to-friend! 
Doesn’t it always…
The monsoon has already started receding, and has left behind this crazy unbearably hot days! The soups will soon be forgotten and in its place a huge bowl of salad will make dinner light, bright and healthy. Last week whilst driving across our end of town, I came across these delicious grapefruits at the local market, thankfully not as expensive as some food baskets sell it at. The salad was planned right there.
I was completely out of ideas. I knew I wanted to bake a soft, springy, light cake, but had no idea what!…it was just one of those days when you have a party at home and want to bake to destress..I finally let my colleagues at work decide the dessert. Within no time they were all of Pinterest pulling out the most amazing cakes. This one by Julia won my heart…it had two of my favourite ingredients blueberry and peaches. Sadly I didn’t get any fresh peaches and had to use fresh apricots instead…
The most difficult thing about being on a diet is staying away from breads, cakes, cookies and everything else that comes out of an oven! But dieticians also give you cheat dates…and I made the most of it with this Chocolate Sandesh that has more proteins than fats!
I actually made a sugar-free low-fat milk version for the husband, but a full-fat and sugared version for the girls at my workplace! This dish is turned around in less than 30 minutes, that is if you’re making cottage cheese too, otherwise it takes less than 10 minutes!
This rich buttery but healthy pound cake has always been on my must do list. I’ve often used oats to bake with but never experimented much with flours and cake, so this was a first for me. So with gingerly steps I actually followed Martha Stewart’s recipe to a point and then well, then my second nature got the better of me. I went experimental What emerged was a delicious, soft, dreamy, pillowy pound cake with all the goodness or barley and the richness of the cream cheese.