Black Bean Quinoa Salad

The other day I spotted a few odd ingredients in the fridge.  A chunk of pineapple, some corn, a red bell pepper and some cilantro. Now what do you make with such odd ingredients ? May be a hundred odd dishes, may be delicious ones too... but I just wasn't in the mood to think and create. So I Googled and landed upon Guy Fieri's Black Bean Salad. The salad looked appetizing and I was sure that adding a little something would make it a meal. I decided on quinoa and minutes later was ready with a bowl of bright and zesty Black Bean Quinoa Salad.

Hummingbird Bars

For a while I have had Paula Deen's Hummingbird Cake in my to-bake list. But baking a three-tier cake with cream-cheese frosting does not make much sense unless you are baking for a crowd. So naturally, I had put the idea off for the time being when the inspiration for this lightened and somewhat healthier version of a Hummingbird Cake struck... a Hummingbird Bar ! If you've been here before , you probably have guessed already when and from where the inspiration came... Yes it was those Chocolate Banana Bars !

Pineapple, Orange & Celery Juice

My toddler is a healthy eater by choice. Given the option between a slice of pizza and lentil-rice, he invariably chooses the latter. He loves fish, likes boiled eggs, adores yogurt but the one thing that he refuses to eat, rather drink are juices. Store-bought apple juices he can do, but something about freshly made juices repulses him. He simply does not like them...

Eggless Piña Colada Cake

Its been a while since I baked with Gayathri's Baking Eggless Group.  The August challenge was difficult and September challenge had too many steps. I couldn't get them right, so saving the recipe for later I decided to move on.. In October  Meena Thenappan of Chettinad Fiesta challenged us to bake this beautiful Pina Colada Cake.

According to me, the real deal of the challenge was to make an "eggless sponge cake" and then infuse it with the flavors of Pina Colada. While I have baked many eggless cakes before,  I hadn't yet tried a eggless sponge cake, so I took this challenge seriously. Initially I tried tweaking a couple of standard sponge cake recipes but that did not go too well. So finally I had to resort to a tried and tested recipe. I chose this eggless sponge cake recipe from My Diverse Kitchen, adapted the methods slightly and viola... I had a lovely moist eggless sponge cake in hand !

Once the cake was made impregnating it with the flavors of Pina Colada was an easy job. I simply sliced the cake in half, soaked each half in a coconut cream solution, sandwiched a pineapple-coconut layer between them, then slathering the cake generously with Cool Whip whipped cream, I sprinkled coconut powder on top and thats it... my Pina Colada Cake was ready to go... The final product was really delicious. I can easily imagine myself making this cake for special occasions. It is a lovely dessert that is sure to please everyone.