Eggless Oats & Dates Cookies-A light tea time snack

These are almost fat free, not so heavy healthy cookies perfect to munch with a cup of tea. I followed Mrs.Chithra's recipe without making any changes. I used only 1 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of milk to make the dough. For tastier cookies, you can add 1/4 cup of melted butter instead of oil and milk. I did not add any sugar because of health reasons. Instead I added more dates.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour-1/4 cup
Instant oats-3/4 cup
Dates(minced)-1/4 cup
Brown Sugar-1/4 cup
Oil-1 tbsp
Milk-2 tbsp
or substitute milk and oil with 1/4 cup melted butter

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 F
Mix all the ingredients and make a dough.
Make small balls and place them in a baking tray lined with aluminum foil(grease the foil with oil). Flatten the balls slightly(1/4 inch thick) with a spoon.
Bake for 20 minutes(turn over in between after 10 minutes). Let it cool and store in an air tight container.

Obviously the cookies will taste yummy if butter is used.

I am sending this recipe to the following events:
Sangeeth's Eat Healthy during Pregnancy
Purva's Christmas Festivities
JZ's Santa's holiday challenge
Sharmi’s Cookie Baking Event
Vandana’s Baking for Beginners

Dates and Nuts Fudge(cake)-Sugar free & Natural

Remember Divya's Nutty Energy Power Balls? It is packed with protein, iron and fiber. Thanks Divya for sharing this healthy recipe. I modified the recipe and prepared it today as it marks the beginning of Margazhi(Tamil month from Dec 16th-Jan 14). Rendering of Thiruppavai(holy rhymes) to Goddess Andal is the main significance of Margazhi. Thiruppavai consists of 30 verses and 1 verse is sung every day for 30 days. To understand the meaning of all the verses visit Wiki. I love listening to Thiruppavai early in the morning. If you would like to hear the same, click Hummaa. Pongal is prepared everyday and offered to Goddess Andal during this month.
Also, it is Christmas time. One more occasion to indulge in a dessert!

Ingredients:
Raw Mixed nuts(cashews, walnuts, almonds)-3/4 cup
Instant oats(dry roasted for a minute and ground to a fine powder)-3/4 cup
Dates-roughly 12(adjust according to your taste)
Ghee-1 tbsp
Cardamom-a pinch

Method:
Powder the nuts and oats separately. Grind the dates to a smooth paste.
Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough(like chapathi dough). Add ghee little by little while kneading the dough.
Flatten the dough(see the picture below) and cut into pieces or roll them into balls.





I am sending this recipe to the following events:
Sangeeth's Eat Healthy during Pregnancy
Purva's Christmas Festivities
Happy Cook's Homemade Christmas Gifts
JZ's Santa's holiday challenge

Instant Oats Idli

I tried Usha's Instant Oats idli and it was a success. I will definitely make it again and again. Check out her recipe here.

Makes 12 idlis

This is what I used:
Instant oats-2 cups
Semolina(sooji/rava)-1 cup
Salt
Hing-a pinch
Coriander leaves-chopped 1 tsp
Yogurt-3 cups
Baking soda-1/2 tsp
Some water(if necessary)
Oil to grease the idli plates

Method:
Dry roast oats for a minute and set aside.
Dry roast semolina for 3-4 minutes and set aside.
Grind the oats to a fine powder.
Mix oats powder with rest of the ingredients and make a batter.
Add some water if necessary. The batter should be very thick. Not like idli batter. It should be somewhat like cookie batter.
Grease the idli plates with little oil.
Pour the batter on idli plates with a laddle.
Steam for 10 minutes.
Cool for a couple of minutes.
Check if the idlis are cooked. If not, steam for 1 or 2 minutes.
Serve hot with sambar or chutney.

Usha says, once the oats powder and rava are mixed with yogurt, the batter should be used immediately for best results.

I did not season the batter as I wanted the idlis to taste like regular ones.

Oatmeal porridge with fruits and nuts

Oats are great for breakfast. They are healthy, filling and delicious.

Ingredients:
Instant quick cooking oats(I used maple and brown sugar flavor)-1 packet
Milk-1 cup
Banana-a few thinly sliced pieces
Apple finely chopped-a few pieces or any fruits
Walnuts-2

Method:
Boil milk. Turn off the heat. Add quick cooking oats. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.
Add sugar if needed. Add sliced fruits and nuts.

I am sending this to FIC white event hosted by Kitchen Flaovours and Sunshinemom.
Next comes Recipes for the rest of us event hosted by Ramki who wants us to send any simple and quick recipe. So this dish goes to his event as well.
Also sending this to Eat healthy-during pregnancy event hosted by Sangeeth.

Note:Tastes best when served immediately after preparing it.

Spinach Oats Dosa

I have been seeing oats dosa recipe in so many blogs for quite some time. I tried this recipe from Simple Indian Food blog. It came out so soft and spongy. I modified the recipe by adding some spinach to the batter.

Ingredients:
Instant cooking Oats(powdered)-1 cup
Rice flour-1/4 cup
Rava(Sooji)-1/4 cup
Yogurt-1/2 cup
Salt
hing-a pinch
Jeera-1 tsp
Chopped green chillis
Finely chopped spinach-1/2 cup
Water as needed(approx 1 cup)

Method:
Mix all the above ingredients to make a dosa batter like consistency.
Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Make dosas(don't make it very thin) the usual way.