Easy 3 ingredient dessert

My kids school restarted after a long long summer break.....and that means I am totally free for a few hours in a day. I like to take long long walks, try out new recipes, photograph stuff and best of all meet other "free" moms for a "kid-free" meet .... :) I may be exaggerating, but a "mom's time out"......without her kids is so relaxing. You do not even have to go out.....just get together at some place, have "chai" and chit-chat. I love these sessions and I am lucky to have found wonderful women to share this with in all the places, I have lived in.

Usually, morning after the kids leave for school works best and me and my friends decided to meet for a potluck brunch. It was an impromptu decision and yet all of them came up with lovely dishes.

For me, cooking something suddenly for anyone other than my kids is bit daunting ... all I make for breakfast is cold cereal, oatmeal or eggs. To cook something out of the blue, requires me to look at fridge 100 times and search google 500 times ..... :D and then I am inspired to cook!! So with all this search...the actual time for cooking is very less.... well, this recipe requires very less time to cook and is delicious.

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry -- 1 sheet
• Strawberries -- 7
• Nutella -- 6 tsps (or more)
• Powdered sugar -- 1 tsp (optional)
• Cocoa powder -- 1 tsp (optional)
• milk -- 1 tbsp (optional)

Recipe:

• Thaw the puff pastry sheet on the kitchen counter for about 40 minutes.
• Unroll, it on a flat surface and cut into squares or rectangles.
• Pre heat the oven and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Put all the puff pastry squares on the sheet with about 1/2 inch space between each.

• Brush the top of the pastry with milk.

• Bake for 15 mins at 400 degrees F(about 200 degrees C )
• Take them out and let it cool on the baking tray.

• Chop the strawberries.

• Spread about half teaspoon (or more) nutella on the baked pastry square.

• Top it with chopped strawberries.

• Drizzle cocoa powder or powdered sugar on top with the help of a sieve.

Quantity:

• One sheet makes 12 pieces (1 inch by 2 inch)

Notes:

• You can use any fruit available, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, mango, banana or any combination of mixed fruit.
• You can make a big fruit tart instead of individual pieces.
• You can sprinkle cinnamon with sugar instead of cocoa.
•  All pictures taken with my phone, as I made this along with the kids lunches and the morning rush of getting them ready.

FALL Sandwich ....

I named this sandwich, with this unusual name, when I saw it on a blog here.... Melinda has a beautiful blog, I found many  interesting recipes and this is one of them. I love pumpkin, and it symbolises the Autumn season for most of the northern hemisphere. Though, pumpkin is available here, most of the year, in October the "blogosphere" is full of pumpkin recipes ...:) Usually, I make a yogurt based pumpkin salad(raita), or a soup or use it-- for bread/cake, etc.  I loved this recipe, as it is so unusual and yet so simple. It was delicious too. 

In the original recipe, the author has baked the pumpkin, in an oven, for about an hour, which will definitely give it a lovely flavor. But, I chose the easier and faster way-- I cooked the pumpkin, in a pressure cooker. 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of whole wheat/multi-grain or white bread (or any other kind you prefer)
• 1 red/green apple
• 4-6 salad leaves (lettuce/baby spinach/rocket leaves or any other kind you like)
• about 4 tbsp of pumpkin puree (made fresh)
• 2 tbsps of cheddar cheese
• a few drops of olive oil (or butter)

Recipe:

• I usually buy sliced pumpkin which is sold in supermarkets here, wrapped in cling wrap around 150 gms or so. Wash the pumpkin thoroughly and keep it whole, in a pressure cooker container -- skin, seeds and all.
• Pressure cook it for 4-5 whistles. Let the cooker cool. 
• Once the pumpkin is a bit cool to handle, remove the skin and the seeds. Take out the pumpkin flesh and give it a whizz in the blender for 30-60 seconds to get a fine puree. 
• Keep it aside. I didn't photograph this step. I made a puree a night before thinking, I would make the usual soup....:)
• Rest is simple.

• Heat a pan. Grease it with olive oil. Take two slices of bread. Butter it on one side(optional-- I omitted this step). Spread about a tbsp of pumpkin puree on the other side. Place it puree side up on the pan.

• Place salad leaves.

• Slice an apple thinly, arrange the slices on the salad leaves. 

• Grate a tbsp of cheddar cheese on top, or you can also place a cheddar cheese slice.

• More puree on the other slice of bread, and put the bread on top. 

• Grill/Pan fry it on both sides for 1-2 minutes, till the cheese is melted.

• Enjoy it, "hot" off the grill and imagine you are in a nice chilly place with colourful fall trees around you. (Unless, you already live in such a place) .... :)

Quantity:

• 2 sandwiches(serves 1 or 2)

Notes:

• If you use a grill pan, you will get nice grill marks on the sandwich.
• Roast the pumpkin in the oven, to get a different flavor.
• More cheese, than just a tablespoon will make it tastier :)