Date balls with nuts, fruits and chocolate

This is something that I have been wanting to make and share for a few months now. These date balls have everything that I love:

Chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate?

Roasted Nuts. Nuts about Nuts.

And

Dried fruits. My favorite- Cranberries. Sweet and tart. Perfect balance with the sweet dates.

The best thing about this is that this can be made differently every time.

You may use : White chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate.

Any combination of nuts or one kind only.

Any dried fruits- craisins, raisins, prunes.

Also, you may add seeds such as sunflower seeds or chia seeds

And, you may coat them with:

Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, almond meal, roasted coconut flakes.

These are the many reasons I love these date balls.

Oh, another thing, I eat these with my morning breakfast, after lunch as something sweet, as afternoon snacks and anytime in between.

 

So, for the no-recipe date balls (about 18 1inch balls), you need:

1 cup of pitted dates (tightly packed, about 16-18 dates)

¼ cup honey or maple syrup or agave syrup

⅓ cup roasted pistachios

⅓ cup roasted walnuts

⅓ cup craisins

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

pinch of salt

For coating, I used powdered sugar, an equal mix of powdered sugar and cocoa powder, roasted coconut flakes.

This is how I did it:

Add the dates, honey or maple syrup, salt in the food processor and make a chunky paste of the dates. Add all the other ingredients and pulse just a few times to incorporate the nuts, the fruits and the chocolate chunks evenly in the date paste. This will be very sticky. Put this mixture in the refrigerator for a 2-3 hours. Put a little bit of oil in your palms before you role the mixture into balls. The oil will prevent it from sticking to your hands and will also help in the rolling process. Roll the date balls in your choice of coating and enjoy.

Sriracha Honey Almonds

Letter # 3


Dear Blog,

Today I want to write about buttons. No, not about the "small disk or knob sewn onto a garment, either to fasten it by being pushed through a slit made for the purpose, or for decoration", but about "a knob on a piece of electrical or electronic equipment that is pressed to operate it" that makes our life easy and saves our time. When I was growing up, we watched a black and white TV with shutter. It had exactly two knobs. One for the volume and one for the channel. And there were only two channels. I don't remember much but I remember that we were happy with whatever came on TV. I have such wonderful memories of that TV. When it would get too hot, the picture would shrink. Me and my sister would go fan the back side of the TV trying to cool it down, especially if there was a cricket game airing live. That TV gave up pretty soon and we welcomed a brand new color TV. With more buttons. Buttons to change the brightness, the contrast and the color of the picture. But, no remote. So, a change of volume every time would mean some one to take a long 5 feet walk from the sofa or the bed to the TV and change it manually. Whew, so much work! So, we got tired of walking that 5 feet soon enough and wanted a TV with remote. But, the TV was working great and buying a new TV just for a remote wasn't a good reason then. So, we designed our own remote. It was tricky. See, you have to choose a tree first, then an appropriate branch which must be straight and sturdy, yet not too thick. Our very own guava tree in our garden did a perfect job. Over the next few months, our thin tree branch (remote) changed in length from 3 feet to 5 feet. But, with increase in length came a problem. Lack of precision. Sitting 5 ft away from the TV, as you try to change the channel using a small little button at the bottom of the TV, most of the time we didn't hit the right button. Instead of walking 5 feet, we would still try to sit there and fix the other end of the twig to the desired button. Ha Ha. Remembering those moments is making me smile now. I am actually laughing out loud. Here, I am now sitting in front of a smart TV with two remote controls (TV and cable) and millions of channels to choose from and no visible buttons. Where does the sounds even come from this TV? Old TVs used to have ears from where the sound came. Good old TV with buttons - I will never forget you.

Missing old style TV,
Smita

Snacking on these as I write this and loving it.

Sriracha Honey Almonds

4 cups ( 1 lb ) Raw whole almonds
¼ cup sriracha sauce
¼ cup honey or maple syrup
3 tablespoon olive oil
½ + ½ teaspoon salt

This is how I made these wonderful snacks:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the nuts, sriracha sauce, honey or maple syrup, oil and half teaspoon salt properly in a bowl. Spread them in an even layer on a foil lined baking sheet.

Bake them for 10 min. Take it out, stir the almonds around and bake for another 10 min.

Cool the almonds completely. Sprinkle half teaspoon of sea salt on the almonds. If by any chance they are not crunchy put them back in to the oven for another 5 min. But 20 min should be fine.

Enjoy snacking :)

Baked Salmon with Pesto

It was a long day already. When we came home it was 6 pm. Both very tired and of course hungry.

Him: What's for dinner?

Me: I don't know. I gotta make something.

Him: I am in the mood for fish.

Me: Yeah. Fish can be done pretty fast.

Him: Can it be done in 30 min?

Me: Oh yes, less than that.

Him: Really? What will you be making?

Me: I have a lot of that cilantro pesto. I'll make my sister's green fish. That just takes 15 min.

Him: Awesome!

Happy me and happy husband.

You need (For 3-4 servings):

1 lb salmon fillet (This recipe goes well with trout too.)

1 cup of my homemade Cilantro Almond Pesto

Salt for seasoning

Roasted almonds and chopped tomato for garnishing

How: 

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Place the salmon fillets skin side down, season with salt and cover them with pesto.

Bake for 15-20 min depending on the thickness of your fillets or until the fish is flaky (check with a fork).

Serve garnished with some roasted almonds and freshly chopped tomatoes on the top.