RASPBERRY & NUT SMOOTHIE

This my dear friends, is an attempt of mine to stay full and healthy with a super easy snack. Ever since I started school, I am on the go by 6.20 am every weekday.I can barely finish my cup of coffee by that time. Forget about having breakfast that early in the morning! So I usually pack a small container of honey Greek yogurt with some berries,almonds topped with wheat berries.I actually look forward to that,it's just so delicious and super filling!

Today,since it's the last day of 2015 and since I am filling my head with healthy resolutions for 2016, I decided to make a smoothie with peanut butter,fruits,nuts,milk and yogurt to reinforce my thoughts! I never really keep up with any resolutions that I makes,especially if it involves food. This coming year,I hope to stick to the healthy way of eating that I've planned for me as I am always surrounded with white flour,sugar and more sugar.

What are your new year resolutions? Do you make any? How do you keep it up?

I used Skippy's Natural Peanut Butter Spread for this smoothie. You can pretty much make this smoothie your own. Add more if you think it's needed, take away a few things that you don't like and make it all your own. That's one thing I love about making smoothies...it can be customized easily! Here's how I made it!

RASPBERRY & NUT SMOOTHIE
My own recipe

Ingredients:
1 medium ripe banana,peeled
1/2 cup cold milk
1/4 cup honey Greek yogurt,cold
1/4 cup fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon Skippy's Natural Peanut Butter Spread
1 tablespoon slivered almonds

Method:Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth. You can use ice is you like it extra cold.

2015 was a different year for me. I lost my dear Uncle in April whose loss can never be replaced. Other than that, it was a pretty awesome year for me and my family. I joined Le Cordon Bleu and I am chasing my dreams. 2016 is going to be exciting as I will be graduating in June and joining the best industry!

Wishing you and your loved ones a prosperous New Year!
Don't forget to visit Skippy's website for delicious recipes and coupons!!

BAKERY STYLE CHICKEN ROLLS

The earliest memories I have of these rolls are from Cochin Bakery, Kannur. It was many years ago when I was in school. That bakery was located in a corner on Fort Road and after a few years, they shut it down. By then, these rolls were everywhere. Somehow, I was never excited to try them after that. I think it was the size and colour that threw me off. They were huge and ugly brown. It was fried sometime early in the day and still lingered in those shelves till they were sold.

I think Amma needs to be blamed for that! We were and still is spoilt with choices at home. Food is always served hot at home and there was a point when my brother wouldn't eat anything other than those right off of the stove! Imagine! He will not eat any snack that was stored in tins but only those which came out piping hot from the oil! He is so much better now, hostel life changes you in so many ways!

I was scrolling through my cousin Priya Chechy's food photographs yesterday and saw these rolls .I don't know where I got the craving for them but it was very strong that I decided to take action right away. I always have poached chicken with me,either in the fridge or in the freezer. So making these were a breeze.Seriously,these are so much better when made at home.They taste so fresh and are unbelievably flavourful!

BAKERY STYLE CHICKEN ROLLS

Ingredients:
Filling
3 cups of poached chicken, shredded
1 large shallot or 8 pearl onions, diced
3 green chilies,chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
5 curry leaves,chopped
1 teaspoon vinegar
Oil
Salt & pepper

Wrapper
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
Salt

Coating
3 egg whites,lightly beaten
Fresh breadcrumbs from 6 slices of bread

Method:
Filling: Heat oil and saute all the ingredients from shallots through curry leaves.Once the shallots have softened, add the chicken and mix well to coat. Add the vinegar and saute for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and check for seasonings.Let it cool.
Wrapper: Mix all the ingredients together,reserve 1/4 cup of the batter and make sixteen 6 inch pancakes using the remaining batter.
Assembly: Divide the filling into 16 and place them over the 16 pancakes,a little lower than the centre of each pancake. Fold them like how you would with a spring roll and seal the edges with the reserved 1/4 cup batter.Dip each roll in egg white and roll them in breadcrumbs. Deep fry them in hot oil ,drain on paper towels and serve with ketchup!

I wasn't very sure if the filling would be Ian friendly but went ahead with it anyway. Ian was fast asleep when I made these rolls and by the time he woke up, I had fried a few for us to enjoy . He was overjoyed to see the deep fried goodies and happily munched on them!