whole grain – zezoo cooks

[baby friendly] banana oatmeal cake with greek yogurt frosting

american, baby and toddler food, baking, birthday, cake, celebration, dessert, frosting, make ahead, recipe card, refined sugar free, snack, sweet, themed, vegetarian, whole grain

(recipe)

For our little one’s first birthday, we wanted to make something that he can actually eat (as opposed to staring at us over a bowl of oatmeal cereal while we feast on his birthday cake). That’s how this quick and easy food processor cake came along, and with a few tweaks, you can make it yours for your little one!

You can substitute part of the liquid ingredients (mashed bananas, milk) with applesauce. You can use any nut milk, or cow’s milk (after it has been properly introduced per your pediatrician’s guidance), or even water. You could also use thinned out yogurt in place of the milk. Our munchkin loves cardamom, but you can swap it out for cinnamon (and a tiny pinch of nutmeg), or leave out the spices entirely. You can sweeten it with jaggery, which is my favorite refined sugar free sweetener for baby/toddler food, but you could use date sugar, coconut sugar, or any other sweetener you typically use.

The cake is really great also as a snacking option sans frosting. A great option for smash cakes and such to celebrate his first trip around the sun.

Our jubilant and slightly confused 12 month old (having seen a lit candle for the first time)

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Vegan whole wheat mango cupcakes with vegan mango frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, cake art, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, indian, seasonal, snack, spring, summer, themed, vegan, whole grain

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For me, the month of May is all about mangoes. Growing up in India, the month of May is the peak of mango season; my mind is flooded with memories of “aamras and puri” (mango pulp and fried mini roti), mango milkshakes, “amrakhand” (the traditional shrikhand, a thick, sweetened yogurt, with a mango twist) and countless mango-based desserts and cakes that my mom made for our birthdays (my sister and I are both May-born).

So for the month of May as part of my cupcake project, the fruit of the month just had to be Mango. It didn’t matter what else is in season in California at the moment, it had to be mango! I’m always looking for delicious vegan recipes for my mom to bake in India with the ingredients easily available in India, so I decided to make these mango cupcakes vegan (and while I was at it, whole grain, with the use of whole wheat pastry flour)!

These cupcakes are light and moist with a great mango and cardamom flavor, and the mango frosting (made vegan with the use of Country Crock plant butter instead of regular dairy butter) is like cardamom-scented ball of fluff!

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Cupcakes and Gratitude

american, baking, birthday, cake, cake art, california, celebration, chocolate, christmas, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, european, fall, farm to table, freezer friendly, frosting, general announcements, german, holidays, make ahead, recipe card, snack, southern, spring, summer, sweet, thanksgiving, whole grain, winter

Final Update: August 25, 2021!

When I was pregnant last year, there were so many reasons it felt like a cloud was hanging over us, the pandemic being just one of them. Most of the time we powered through, busy with work, getting the house ready for the baby, and like everyone else in the world, tracking down toilet paper and disinfecting our groceries took up 80% of whatever time was left over! The upcoming early months with the baby seemed very daunting at the time, especially since we were not going to have anyone to help out at home, so to make it fun and to have something to mark the milestones and celebrate the fact that we were “surviving” early parenthood, I planned this very special little side project: I decided that for each of our baby’s monthly birthdays (the 25th of each month), I would make a seasonal cupcake recipe, and take his picture with the cupcakes!

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Noodles with Chicken and Mushrooms

asian, chicken, chinese, chinese new year, dairy free, dinner, eggless, lunch, main, savory, weeknight, whole grain

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An easy and flexible weeknight recipe for noodles involving ground chicken, mushrooms and a quick sauce that comes together from pantry/fridge ingredients. Add more vegetables if you have them, make it as spicy as you’d like, it’s all good!

Off late I’ve found ground chicken to be so convenient, to put together quick and delicious meals in so little time! No chopping and dicing and browning required, and it gives the recipe some heft without weighing you down. It’s a perfect ingredient for busy weeknights, as you’ll see with this recipe adapted from Bon Appetit magazine!

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Infinitely Adaptable Instant Pot “end of the week” Soup

american, california, chicken, convenience, dairy free, dinner, eggs, fall, gluten free, grain free, greens, healthy eating, italian, legumes, lentils and pulses, lunch, main, make ahead, meal prep, mexican, recipe card, seasonal, soup, vegan, vegetarian, weeknight, whole grain, winter

This is a template to employ some good ol’ chop therapy, clear out your fridge, and make some soup while you are at it. I call this a template because the base recipe can be adapted to any ingredients you have on hand that you want to use up, that have nowhere else to go. Random sausage links, throw them in. 2 ugly carrots, sure. Stale baguette that’s too dry to do anything with, absolutely! Old can of black beans with no future, use it up!

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Grapefruit poppy seed cupcakes with yogurt glaze

american, baking, cake, california, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, seasonal, snack, sweet, themed, whole grain, winter

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These cupcakes are a really unique and beautiful way to kick of citrus season. Starring grapefruit, a rather underrated member of the citrus family, these cupcakes are bright and whimsical. Easy to adapt to various citrus combinations, but there’s something about grapefruit, poppy seeds and yogurt that makes this particular combination sing!

Thanks to a surplus of grapefruit from the farmers market, I actually tried my hand at candying grapefruit slices at home this time, and used the homemade candied grapefruit slices to decorate these cuties. Before citrus season ends, I do intend to try candying a few more times and share some tips on the blog!

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