Pistachio Pear Smoothie

Since I’m not really one who eats whole fresh fruits all that often, I sort of had to find a way to use them. Although my hubby and son both are ardent fruit lover. This smoothie will suffice all of our taste buds and food interest. I love its light green color. This smoothie didn't need much of anything else to make it into something really great. For real, this has got to be the most refreshing smoothie I have ever had, yet, it contains so much protein that it’ll keep you satisfied for a very long time!

 Serves 2

Preparation time:                      2 minutes
Cooking time:                          2 minutes

Ingredients

Pear:                                      2 medium sizes (chopped)
Low fat cottage cheese:          2 tablespoon
Low fat plain Greek yogurt:    2 tablespoon
Soy milk:                                1 cups
Cardamom:                            1 pinch    
Honey:                                   2 tablespoon
Pistachio:                               2 tablespoon (few to garnish)

Method:

1) Put all the ingredients in a blender together and process it until smooth.
2) Serve cold and garnish it with pistachio.

BON APPETIT...

Crunchy Pear Chocolate Cake

Pear and chocolate sounds strange!!!! Wait have a look on the the pictures first. Yes, it totally surpassed all my expectation. This streusel topping will really spruce up your cake. This cinnamon streusel takes just seconds to mix up, just sprinkle it over cake right before baking. It's that easy! Streusel is giving it a crunchy effect. Although the topping is of German origin, it is sometimes erroneously referred to as Danish or Swedish.

Minimally adapted from "Gale Gand's Brunch!" by Gale Gand with Christie Matheson (Clarkson Potter/Publisher, 2009)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

Cake:
All-purpose flour:                          1 cups
Baking powder:                             2 teaspoons
Sugar:                                           1/2 cup
Salt:                                              1/4 teaspoon
Cinnamon:                                     1/2 teaspoon
Egg:                                               1 large
Milk:                                              1/4 cup
Unsalted butter:                              4 tablespoons melted
Vegetable oil:                                 1/4 cup
Ripe pear:                                      1 large (peeled, cored and chopped)
Chocolate:                                     50 grams (cut in small pieces)

Streusel Topping:
Brown Sugar:                                 4 tablespoon
All-purpose flour:                           4 tablespoon
Cold unsalted butter:                      2 tablespoon (cut in small pieces)
Cinnamon:                                     1 teaspoon

Method:

1) Heat oven to 180 degree celcius. Butter the baking pan.
2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Sieve it twice.
3) In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, oil and melted butter until well combined using a whisk.
4) Pour into dry ingredients; add the pears and chocolate cubes. Mix well.
5) Pour into prepared tin.
6) To make the streusel: In a small bowl, mix sugar and flour and cut in butter with your fingers until crumbs form. Sprinkle over top of batter in pan.
7) Bake 35 to 40 minutes until golden and dry on top. Cool in pan and cut as desired.

BON APPETIT..