Today marks the end of a year. For those who don’t diligently follow the Hindu Calender, I’m not joking.

Though before the year ends, do take a minute to stop and reflect on the year that has gone by. To  remember both our triumphs and  our missteps, our promises made and broken. The times we opened ourselves up to great adventures or closed ourselves down for fear of getting hurt because that is what new years is all about- getting another chance.

Okay, fine. I might have completely plagiarized these lines from Hilary Swank’s speech in New Years Eve. But it doesn’t make the sentiments any less true.

Getting another chance is something all of us hope for at some definite point in our lives. Heck, I wanted another chance this morning when I woke up to an empty Nutella bottle. But you get my drift.

So it seems today a lady is in desperate need of another chance.

Well no, of course not me. I’ve already used my second chance to reclaim a pack of Ghirardelli’s Dark & Sea Salt Caramel chocolate squares.

Its this lady called Oleevia.  So I don’t really know her personally, but I’ve heard a lot about her. Much like you and me, cooking is weak spot. She loves food and she loves it even more when she is able to share that joy with her friends and family. We can all relate to that right?

So a few days ago, Oleevia had invited her friends over to try her attempt at cooking from her Grandmother’s secret recipe book. And lo and behold, a few hours before her guests arrive, she realizes that she’s lost the recipe book ( Loves cooking? Loses stuff? We could be twins!).

As any one of us would be, Oleevia is sad but she is resilient. She isn’t giving up hope. She thinks it’ll be possible to build another recipe book.

She knows for a fact that her Grandmother vouched by her four kinds of Oleev Olive Oils – The Extra Virgin, Extra Light, Pomace Oil and Active Oil. So what she needs to do is build from there.

Here is where you and me come in!

We, in our usual helpful stances and in our added emotion of helping people make the most out of their second chance, have to help Oleevia build up her recipe book. So that a few days from now, she can finally invite her friends and cook them a perfect meal from there.

So, all you have to do is click on this link - http://bit.ly/MissingRecipeBook2

Turn a few pages and fill in your recipe.

Your recipe could be ANYTHING. It could be a salad, a curry, a cake even! But all you need to ensure is all recipes use Oleev’s Olive Oils.

Once you open the book, you will realize that like I’d mentioned, there are four kinds of Oils for your to chose from.

• Extra Virgin Oil for garnishing & dressing,
• Extra Light Oil for sautéing & baking,
• Pomace Oil for frying, deep frying & roasting
• Active Oil – ideal for Indian cooking.

Chose any, and submit a recipe. Or submit 4! I’m sure Oleevia would love the help.

And well, because she is the kind hearted person she is, she is going to giving away an assured special  hamper from Oleev to the person with the best recipe entry, who has submitted an entry from The Heavenly Hearth.

Along with the hamper, your recipe would be getting published in a Recipe Book to be handed out by Oleev.

And the best part, you have a shot at winning a brand new Microwave Oven as the Grand Prize!

The last day of submission is 25th April 2013, so ensure that you submit you recipe by then. This is open to entries from all over India

So go ahead, send in your recipes via  http://bit.ly/MissingRecipeBook2, win lovely goodies and help a friend out!

After all, its a brand new day

Nay, the true importance of the Sunday Breakfast.

(Which, after the hour I wake up in, is more of a Sunday Brunch. But lets just keep calling it the Sunday Breakfast, shall we?)

After a week long practice of dragging out of bed at sunrise, stuffing some pseudo breakfast in your face while running around the house for your missing watch, or missing breakfast altogether because you slept through the alarm again – you really need an indulgent laid-back breakfast. Be a king for a day. Go all out. You know what I mean.

Ever since strawberries came into season, my go-to snack has been strawberries and peanut butter on a spoon (It was strawberries dipped in Nutella jars last year). But really, the strawberry – peanut butter combination is quite underrated. Peanut Butter and Strawberries on toast? So perfect.

So these Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes with Strawberries were a long time coming.   Jumping right into this sweet, tarty, smooth and juicy combination.

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes with Strawberries

Makes : About 10 pancakes.
Difficulty : Medium-ish.
Preparation Time : 5-10 minutes.
Cook Time : 1-2 minutes per pancake.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of Whole Wheat Flour (Atta) (Can substitute to use All Purpose Flour/Maida as well)
• 2 Tbsp of Castor Sugar
• 1 Tbsp of Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 cup of Peanut Butter
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbsp of Oil
• 1 1/2 cup of Milk
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract/Essence
• Chocolate/Peanut Butter Chips (Optional)
• Sliced Strawberries
• Honey or Maple Syrup

In a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar.

Mix it all together. This is our dry bowl.

In a separate bowl (the wet bowl), crack an egg. Add the peanut butter (any kind you like – chunky or smooth), pour in the milk, add the oil (I used vegetable oil) and drop in the vanilla.

Whisk it all together.

The Peanut Butter will be quite cranky at the start, it’ll all stick to your whisk. But it just needs some persuasion. Keep at it till its all mixed together and uniform.

Bit by bit, add in the dry mix to the wet bowl. Keep whisking.

By the end, the batter should be a bit thin.It should be of this consistency.

If too thick, keep splashing in milk till it reaches this state.

If feeling super indulgent, add in the chocolate and peanut butter chips. (So much win!)

Now, to make them pancakes, we heat up our non-stick pan. Keep the heat low.

(If we are paranoid like me, we add a tinsy amount of all at the start. But you can totally skip this step, if your non-stick is brand new and works fantastic. A claim I cannot make.)

Take a big ladle/spoon full of batter.

Swiftly draw out an outside border for the pancake and then quickly fill in the center with batter. (For the ones familiar how to make a dosa, just replicate that!)

Do whatever you need to, but just make sure the layer of batter isn’t too thick. Spread it out to the sides if its too thick (Big pancakes are awesome too).

Once tiny bubbles start appearing on the top, you are ready to flip.

Slide in the spatula, make sure you’ve gotten right under the pancake.

Take a deep breath and flip!

And repeat till you use up all your batter.

Once all the pancakes are ready, round up the strawberries.

Hull em’.

Slice em’.

And stack them up on the pancakes.

A big plate of these soft peanut butter pancakes, strawberries, syrup along with a glass of milk or Orange Juice, and the newspaper.

Does it really get more indulgent breakfast than this?

Drizzle some honey/syrup on the pancakes right before consumption.

Task : To attack and devour fluffy not overly sweet just perfect pancakes.

Mission Successful.

Which Sunday are you waiting for? Go indulge!

Fluffy Pancakes with Strawberries for President!

Here’s hoping that this year is filled with happiness, good health and a lot of general all around niceness. Knowing that I unknowingly described some freshly baked cookies (what are they if not nice, healthy and filled with happiness?), I shall move on with the orders of the day.

However much I may worship all that is sweet, buttery and indulgent, farm fresh food has always had a special place in my stomach heart. The crunch of a fresh carrot, the freshness of a lettuce head,  the juicy tomato, the bright green appeal of any spinach; all heart stealers I tell you.

So it only makes sense to celebrate all that is fresh and healthy in our lives Not just because its healthy and its good for you, not even because it is just magnificiently yum. We should because ‘why can’t I bake a cake and eat it to mister’? Healthy and delicious, SOLD.

The Chicken Caesar Salad has always been a favourite. This version is light enough to not feel stomach heavy and delicious enough to keep attacking this plate with your fork.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Makes : Enough for 2 people.
Difficulty : Medium-ish.
Preparation Time : 10-15 minutes.
Cook Time : 10-12 minutes.

Ingredients

For the Salad

• 1 Bag of mixed Salad Greens
• 2 Chicken Breast
• Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

For the Herbed Croutons

• 3 slices of bread (The staler, the better)
• 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• 1 large Garlic clove
• Pinch of Salt

For the Dressing

• 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1/4 of a small Garlic clove
• 3 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• Pinch of Black Pepper
• A little bit of Sugar

First, we deal with the Herbed Croutons.

Stack up the bread slices.

Full parallel slices here.

Turn by 90 degrees, and a few parallel slices there.

Lo and behold, we have a bunch of tiny bread cubes.

Spread these bread cubes over a baking tray.

Now letting the bread be, we mince the garlic.

We tear out the rosemary leaves (how gorgeous do they smell!)

In a mixer, add in the rosemary leaves, garlic and a pinch of salt to the olive oil.  And Blitz.

Mmm. Herb oil.

Saving a few tbsp, drizzle this oil over all the bread, mixing them both together as you go.

Once evenly mixed and spred out, bake this at 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes.

Keep checking on the croutons in the last 5 minutes of the baking time. Remove whenever you feel they are brown/crispy enough. Keep them in for longer if you think they need to get crisp-ier.

While the croutons ready themselves, marinate the chicken breast with remaining herb oil we made for the croutons.

Keeping this aside, we get started on the dressing.

Dollop in mayonnaise into a bowl. Mince in the garlic after.

Squeeze in the lemon juice.
Add in the Worcestershire Sauce.

Lightly mix, add in a pinch of sugar and black pepper.

Mix till smooth.

By now, your croutons must be done. Crispy and herb-y. Leave them in the oven to keep them warm.

Heat up your grill, and grill the chicken.

(I’ve forgotten to take pictures for the consecutive steps for I was too distracted with the herby-ness of the kitchen. But I’m sure you can all imagine how it goes. You’re smart like that.)

Once grilled, leave it to rest and cool.

Once cool enough to handle, cut the chicken into chunky strips.

On a plate, spread out the salad leaves. (Trikiya Agriculture, you brilliant company having such a lovely bunch of salad leaves on your product line, you)

Drizzle in some dressing. Mix leaves lightly with dressing. And throw on some herbed croutons and a few slices of grilled chicken.

Sprinkle some Parmesan on top. But I prefer mine without any. Makes it much lighter.

Serve with some extra dressing on the side.

Very few things in life that are as satisfying as that crunch of a lettuce leaf, that delicate balance of dressing, the crispy herbed crouton, that juicy grilled chicken.

Fork in and enjoy. A healthy, happy year lies ahead!

Because it is the best enjoyed with family.

Because its the obvious choice during brunch with friends.

Because this is the most hassle-free, delicious accompaniment to any meal.

And a little bit because Pomegranates are is season.

The question to all of the above are “Why Pomegranate Sangria?”

(Why someone would ask that question is beyond me. But then again, not everyone is as enthusiastic about Sangria as I am.)

Pomegranate Sangria is like that refreshing, pleasing, feel-good friend. You have the taut of the wine, the sweet of the fruit juices and the crunch of the apples and pomegranate seeds. It is just perfect.

Pomegranate Sangria

Makes : About 1.5 Litres
Difficulty : Super Easy
Preparation Time : 5-7 minutes.
Cook Time : Refrigerate 2 hours to Overnight.

Ingredients

• 1 Chopped Apple
• 1/2 cup of Pomegranate Seeds
• 1 Sliced Orange/Tangerine
• 1 Bottle of Red Wine
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of Pomegranate Juice
• 2 cups of Sprite
• 1/4 of Sugar (Optional)

First, we prep our fruits.

De-seed the pomegranate. Its fairly simple. Go through the easy procedure here, if unsure.

Grab your citrus fruit. I was lucky enough to find Tangerines, so I decided to go for it. Oranges are also an obvious choice.

Slice it into halves along its equator.

And slice up these hemispheres. Don’t worry about the thickness too much. Cut it down into further quarters.

Grab your apple.

Slice it down the middle.

Cut out the central core, to split it into further segments.

Turn around a segment, and slice.

Turn by 90 degrees, and dice.

Repeat till all segments are chopped up.

The Red Wine I used was a bottle of Argentinian wine lying in the fathers liquor cabinet since the start of the century. Okay, its not really that OLD. But I was just slightly frustrated about a fairly decent wine just lying around not being consumed.

Wine Bottles are packaged so beautifully.

Anyway, measure out your pomegranate juice while pouring out your bottle of wine into the pitcher you plan to hold your Sangria in.

Now in the pitcher, add in this juice and the Sprite. (Yes, I forgot to take the sprite photo. But assume its there, please?)

Very important step - Taste a bit of this combination. Adjust the juice, or Sprite if needed.

If you think this concoction isn’t sweet enough for you, stir in some sugar. About 1/4 cup of it should be fine. Else, ignore please.

Now, holding back a small amount of the fruits, drop in rest. And Stir.

Look.How.Gorgeous.

You can see the apples standing proud, the tangerine peeking out, and those seeds are a shy bunch. You need to really pursue them to get their appearance.

Refrigerate this pitcher for a few hours, preferably overnight. The longer you keep the juices, fruits steeped together in the wine, more does the flavor develops and intensifies.

Once chilled, pour out into wine goblets.

Add a few (not too many!) fresh fruits (apples, seeds) for a stronger crunch.

Serve and watch your family and friends be amazed.

Best enjoyed with a warm, soul satisfying meal.

Total Winner.
*Swigs the Sangria*

But really, this is one of those things which if you know, it becomes quite an easy, enjoyable and fun experience.

Like Math? Driving?

Anyway, we start of by slicing off the top bit (aka the Tintin Hair) of the Pomegranate.

As soon as you do this, you’ll notice that the fruit is divided into segments with a thin white layer.

Now all you need to do is, cut the fruit along these divisions. You’ll notice that segment coming off very easily.

Once its off, all you need to do is just gently pull out the tiny red rubies that are these pomegranate seeds into a bowl. Just make sure you’re careful if wearing white, as a lot of the red juices might be flying around at this point.

All the while, making sure that, these white pith layer type thing(which my thumb is pointing at) doesn’t go in with your seeds. These are incredibly bitter beings.

Continue the same process for all segments, and there you have your own bowl of rubies within a few minutes.

As simple as that!