3-Ingredient Watermelon Kiwi Popsicles

 

Hello lovely people! Let me give you an update on whats been going on in life, you don’t know if you’re not following me on Instagram. It’s been more than 2 weeks since I last posted. Very eventful 2 weeks they were. Hubs & I visited my parent’s house for about 10 days. We celebrated Father’s day, spent some time with my grandmother, met up with couple of school friends after long long time, visited some cool, hip places for meal, watched drama after ages, shopped with my mom & sis, visited beach, bought way too many peach fruits, brushed up on some childhood memories, had an early birthday celebration and consumed liters and liters of Aamras (unsweetened mango pulp) accompanied by some kickass mom-made Gujju food! List is quite long and don’t ask me how I was able to fit ALL of this in my stomach in our such a short stay!!! But it was all too much fun!

I celebrate my 29th birthday this Saturday. I’m freaking out as big 3-0 is approaching and my life in twenties as I know it is going to end. I am excited too ‘coz CAKE!!! Yeah, my brain is confused on how to react to this situation. Anyhoo, Friday can not get here sooooner! It is going to be a funtastic weekend!! 🙂

 

 

After dealing with unpacking, laundry and a health check before I apply for the Visa, I finally got some time to sit down today. I made these popsicles before we left to visit my parents (more than 3 weeks back). It was so dang hot there, I missed these very very much. I had to constantly drink ice water/tea or eat ice-creams in order to stay cool. These popsicles are child’s play to make with just 3 ingredients and only 2 if you skip kiwi slices (do not skip though!). The watermelon I used was quite sweet so I didn’t have to use any form of sweetener for these popsicles. In case the watermelon you use is not sweet enough, feel free to add a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup or any sweetener of your choice while blending. These are just perfect for breakfast, post-workout snack or dessert.

Happy Hump Day you all! 😀

3-Ingredient Watermelon Kiwi Popsicles

Yields: 4 Popsicles | Prep time: 2 minutes | Chill time: 6-7 hours or overnight

Ingredients:

• 2 cups watermelon cubes, seeded
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 kiwi slices

Directions:

Blend together watermelon and lemon juice in a blender. Slide in kiwi slices in each Popsicle-mould and pour watermelon mixture on top, dividing equally. Insert stick in the centre of each mould, cover and freeze for about 6-7 hours. To demould, run the moulds under warm running water for 30-50 seconds. Dig in immediately!

*Recipe can be easily doubled or tripled or quadrupled!
*For less sweet watermelons, add 1 Tbsp of sweetener of your choice while blending.

 

Sunshine Smoothie for Two ~ 100th Blogpost!

 

Woohoo (with more o’s than I can type)!!! This is my 100th blogpost! I know I should have reached this teeny-tiny (quite huge for me of course!) milestone a long time back but I’m glad I did. I thank each and everyone of you for being with me on this journey. And even tolerating my sporadic absence. You guys are sweetest. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Really 🙂

I’m sure we all agree on this that no celebration is complete without a cake. And I know I should have brought one today but instead, I come bearing smoothie and I ain’t sorry. This is no ordinary smoothie, it’s a sunshine smoothie! Yes, pure liquid sunshine for breakfast and you won’t need anything else. Great way to get lots of fruit in your system. So go fruit wild this summer. This one is mindbogglingly refreshing!

 

 

This fruity concoction is so creamy, it may trick you into thinking there is ice-cream involved. This smoothie is created using shockingly simple ingredients aka fruits and nothing else! I’m a huge fan of frozen banana whip and it works as a great base for a smoothie. I made this whip for breakfast last week with frozen kiwi and banana and it turned out totally amazeballs. The idea was sparked then to turn it into a gorgeous smoothie.

I went fruit crazy and added mango (my fav), banana, kiwi and orange with a squeeze of lime and a spoon of honey, blend and Ta Da! You get this tropical heaven. Truly summer in your glass! (See I didn’t whine about the hottest, sunniest weather we’re experiencing here even once.. Ha!)

Put your feet up and enjoy this citrus bursting smoothie. It’ll brighten up your day and make the weather certainly more tolerable. Trust me.

Sunshine Smoothie for Two

Serves: 2 obnoxiously | Prep time: 10 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 1 large frozen mango, previously peeled & sliced
• 1 large frozen banana, previously peeled & sliced
• 2 frozen kiwi, previously peeled & sliced
• 2 oranges, peeled, seeded and sliced
• Juice from 1 lime
• 6-8 ice-cubes
• 1 Tbsp honey (optional)

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients in a blender on high speed till you get a smooth consistency (for about 2-3 minutes). Serve in tall glasses.

*You may turn this smoothie into green smoothie by adding 1 cup of your favorite greens.

*You may swap kiwi with frozen chunks of pineapple. Whatever rocks your boat!

No-Bake Kiwi Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Yesterday was a National Cheesecake Day and this is my 50th post on the blog! So let’s combine this two very important occasions of my life and celebrate! With cheesecake!! Now you’re talking! 😉

I have a confession to make! I made this cheesecake more than a month ago and totally forgot to blog about them.. Yesterday when National Cheesecake Day tweet was doing rounds, this is the cheesecake which came to my mind instantly… and this too! Sincere apologies for forgetting such an important thing.

Now that this is off my chest let’s move on..

So let’s talk about cheesecake! Cheesecake!! You want it! Really really crave it and then you think of all the extra calories eating one slice or half slice of it entail and then you either eat it anyway and feel guilty or don’t eat it and deprive yourself from this decadence.

I say you can not be making such appalling sacrifices. It’s against the law, you see! So being a smart one here always presenting you guys with skinny treats, I have a solution. Simple… Make mini-cheesecake!!! I’m on a mini-dessert frenzy nowadays… I simply adore them. One thing they are too cute and another is the amazing portion-control you get without making yourself or others feeling culpable for the indulgence.

So here I present you today kiwi cheesecake with Oreo crust… I have tried and kept the sugar as less as possible. The cream used here is not full-fat whipping cream instead I have used medium fat cream. So I have done my best to bring you a slightly low-cal version.

Hubby & I got to eat cheesecake for 3 days in a row. So we were a happy bunch! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

No-Bake Kiwi Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Yields: 6 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients:

For Oreo crust:

• 6-7 Chocolate Oreos
• 1 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

For the cheesecake:

• 1/3 cup fresh cream (medium fat 40%), chilled
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 kiwi, peeled and diced

For kiwi jelly:

• 1 Tbsp agar agar
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 kiwi, peeled and smoothly pureed
• 1 Tbsp caster sugar

For garnishing: Sliced or diced fresh Kiwi fruit

Directions:

1. Blend Oreos and melted butter in a food processor till fine crumbs form. Place 1 Tbsp of crumb at the base of the each shot glasses and press down firmly. Place glasses in refrigerator till you prepare cheesecake filling.
2. Whip cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract till soft peaks form. Whip the cream in  a separate bowl till the soft peaks form. Fold in together gently.
3. Remove shot glasses from the refrigerator. Equally divide cheesecake filling in all the glasses throwing in 2-3 pieces of diced kiwi in between the layers. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
4. In a microwave safe bowl, heat the water for 30 seconds and add agar agar to it. Mix thoroughly till agar agar dissolves completely. Add sugar and kiwi puree. Whisk till a thick paste forms. Top the shot glasses with approximately 1 Tbsp of jelly mixture and chill again for 2-3 hours or till jelly has set completely.
5. Serve chilled, each glass garnished with sliced or 2-3 diced cubes of fresh kiwi.

 

Kiwi Buttermilk Cake ~ Eggless

After the last post of SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake, many people wanted an eggless version. And I immediately knew that I had to bake one immediately… hence this post.

This recipe is from my initial baking days… very simple and easy to make even for beginners… so naturally it never got posted on the blog. Not bragging but I thought it to be too simple to be posted here. But it is every bit delicious! This is my go-to recipe while baking for non-egg-eaters and it has always turned out perfect so it is tried, tested and tasted recipe in a true sense!

Use this as your basic cake recipe and add any other ingredients you like to it. Cinnamon, chocolate, lemon… anything! Sky is truly a limit. Use any other fruit you like or even better, make it tropical style! Getting ideas?! 😉

Previously I had always used strawberries for this cake. This time I had Kiwis on hand so I decided it was time for a change! I am not a fan of baked Kiwi fruit so I refrained from adding fruit pieces to the batter which I usually do with strawberries but if you have no such qualms then go ahead.

It is perfect for eating any time of the day!

Yup, even for breakfast!

It has yogurt and fruit! Totally acceptable, right?! 😉

Kiwi Buttermilk Cake ~ Eggless

Yields: 1 6 or 8-inch cake | Prep time: 10 minutes | Bake time: about 30 minutes | Total time: 40 minutes

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ cup white granulated sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup Greek yogurt with a little water added to it or buttermilk (I used yogurt)
• 1 Kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced (I used Zespri Kiwi)
• 1 – ½ Tbsp white granulated sugar (For topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Spray a 6 or 8-inch baking dish with vegetable oil.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar with electric or hand-mixer. Add vanilla extract and whisk thoroughly.
4. Slowly whisk dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 2-parts alternating with yogurt/buttermilk, ending with dry ingredients. Do not over-mix the batter.
5. Spoon the batter in a baking dish and smooth out the surface with the back of spoon. Top with Kiwi slices and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes or till the toothpick inserted in a center comes out clean.

*Refrigerate in airtight container for 3-4 days.
*Want to add fruit to the cake batter? Use about 1/2 generous cup of sliced or chopped fruit and fold into the batter.