I have been lagging behind on book reviews of late. The main reason has been I have been extremely lazy to cook my normal meals, forget about cooking from the cookbooks I have. I would really like to get back on track but I am in no hurry. I want to give myself my own time and get slowly onto my schedule as my routine eases out and things look better, InShaAllah… However, this is one book review I have been wanting to work on from the beginning of the year. There is one reason for it. When a fellow blogger launches her own cookbook, then it is up to us as her little circle to support her for the same. Moreover if she hands over the privilege of the first sale, then I guess it becomes an even bigger excitement. 🙂 As I do this post, the…
No-Knead Pan Pizza with White Sauce
Time for the second week of the Blogging Marathon! For this week of edition #105, I chose the theme “Pizza and Pasta”. Valli has a monthly Kid’s Delight event happening and this is the theme for this month. My girls are very fond of pizza but they don’t share the same liking towards pasta. However, slowly and steadily with time, they are finding their interest towards pizza. However since they are my girls, I know that they would get bored of it fast, so I am not getting overly excited about the scene. 😀 So from today for the coming three days, you will see three recipes for this interesting theme… Pizza is something my girls really love. I really don’t consider pizza as a meal. I feel that despite paying so much to buy it, it hardly fills the stomach. Please raise your hands if you agree…
Chocolate Coconut Cake
I have been on a dry spree as far as my thoughts are concerned. Somehow my head is quite empty. It is not that there is nothing much to share, but it is more of my head being empty most of the time. There are few tension filled moments happening, but then I guess the best way to live through life and not stress yourself is by looking at what you already have – four walls that protect you, food to eat, a nice bed to sleep, your family, your parents to talk to, your good friends to fall on to, etc. After all, didn’t Allah tells us that we are created of haste… Of late, the stress has getting on to me a bit too much. I have been mentioning that I am trying to hold on to my lost weight, but as soon as I came…
Classic Marble Cake
Getting back to blogging seems to have been far more easier than getting back on track. Even though I have been home for the past few days, the mojo for cooking has been totally missing. We have been just eating this and that and pushing through days. Of course, HD looked a bit irritated though he didn’t show his feeling profusely. So whatever he showed, I chose to ignore. 😉 When you come back from vacation, everything seems different. The eye cooling greens and the cozy breeze has given way to the browns and heat. Naturally, that sags your mood. For me, UAE is always like home since I have spend my whole life over here. Still, the feeling after vacation is always different. I always dread going back home and settling down, since every single thing will be a learning curve for me. Life here makes you…
Almond Butter Maple Granola
Waiting for a break is something that we all do. We just look forward to it, don’t we? Last year, we had decided to take a year off going home this year, since it involves too much of pressure financially. After all, four people travelling up and down to Kerala during the peak season is no joke. If you combine all the money spent on tickets, wardrobe updates, gifts and chocolates, etc, you can go on two international trips to decent countries. I am not joking about it. For an average middle class family, the daylight robbery that every airline does during the school closing time does put a lot of pressure on their budgets. Somehow, despite so much hue and cry, this practice repeats year after year. Since the number of people travelling home at that time doesn’t seem to diminish, I guess the authorities see no…
Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Caramel Drizzle
I don’t know if you have been noticing but of late, I have been quiet silent with documenting my life or feelings. There was a time when I would write a lot on blog. Somehow, that has gone on the negative side these days. It isn’t that I don’t write my posts, I still do type a lot. Sometimes they are long, sometimes they are crisp and short. But whatever said and done, there is no philosophy, there are no thoughts being reflected, nothing much being shared. If you feel that I am being a bit mentally away from the blog, then I may have to say a ‘yes’. I am not sure how I would term the feeling but as much as I love the blog, I am trying to keep a little distance to keep myself from not getting over it. Having seen so many of…
White Chocolate Goji Berry Blondies
At times, ideas play constantly in your head for a long period of time, but it doesn’t necessarily get materialized immediately. It always happens to me. Before I used to put into immediate action any craving or any idea I would have. But now, due to time constraints and other priorities, I often put my ideas onto the back seat. Sometimes I note it down, sometimes I simply forget. This white chocolate blondies were one that have been playing in my head since very long. I had picked up a couple of packs of cooking white chocolate that was up for a good deal. I had this pack of goji berries that Zerin had given me some time. The girls wouldn’t eat it since it had a sour after taste. I would nibble on them when I would remember that it was sitting in the fridge. When the…
Eggless Nutella Brownie Shortbread Bars
I actually had other plans for the second post for the theme, “Bring Some Brownies” for this week of Blogging Marathon #102. I was in fact planning to make some gluten free brownies with rice flour, since I have been intrigued by it for quite some time. But then the plan was not supposed to pan out as such, I suppose…. Ever since I had baked the Brookies, I wanted to try an eggless version. I mean it always helps to have options all the time, right? 🙂 During the similar time, my head was telling me to bake some Nutella brownies for the girls. Somehow, what happened is that both my thoughts amalgamated into one bake, and that is what I am going to post today. 🙂 Last Saturday, we had a lovely time at Fajee’s house. It had been long since we had all met…
Peanut Butter Brownies
This Sunday night, my girls went home. I was under so much stress over this past week due to this. I had few sleepless nights and thanks to that, I landed up with a massive headache. I must blame myself for not doing complete research before I took the tickets. My elder one is 12 and is automatically now an adult as per ticketing terms. Based on this, I booked both of them together, only to realize that for the eight year old to travel, she needs to be accompanied by an adult who is 16 years and above. I did try through all my channels to see if there were any family travelling on the same flight, but I received no good news. Once we went inside the airport, we realized that everyone was scattered and that made it even more challenging. HD was trying to keep…
Cheesy Yeastless Foccacia
While I was deciding on the posts for the “Savory Bakes” theme for this week’s Blogging Marathon #101, foccacia was playing in my mind. My girls love Foccacia, especially the younger one. She would walk up and down the kitchen till she finishes eating majority of the bake, just the way Rasha would walk up and down to finish a chocolate cake! Each time I have baked the yeast foccacia, and then I landed up on this link which gives you a foccacia in flat 1 hour. It has no yeast and comes together so quick. Who wouldn’t like to try such a recipe? But I wasn’t without any apprehensions while making this recipe. I read through all the comments and made sure I stuck to the recipe without playing around too much with it. To my surprise, you wouldn’t miss the yeast at all. The bread rose…
Simple Egg Muffins | Breakfast Egg Muffins
Making these egg muffins have been on my agenda since God-knows-when. Somehow, it just wouldn’t happen. So when I chose the theme “Savory Bakes” for the Blogging Marathon #101, I had told myself that I have to bake this somehow for this series. Even though this is the second post of the series, I had baked it only last week. Eggs are a good source of protein and fat, and we all know it. It has recently shed all its bad name and come into the group of super-foods. A couple of eggs in the morning or as evening snack can keep you satiated for quite a long time. I love eggs and eat at least two every day, especially after I have started my weight loss journey. If there is something that is present 24×7 in my pantry, then it is eggs. Most of the time I…
Spinach Labneh Rolls
Usually when the themes for the Blogging Marathon is declared, my attention always go on what I can make sweet, even though I don’t eat much or avoid eating nowadays. I guess that has been my tendency ever since I have started blogging. After all, what is my blog name? 😉 I have always loved sweets and will always love them, but just that the dimension now is changed from what it used to be before. Even though I still enjoy an occasional sweet indulgence, my focus has moved to have quality over quantity, and if I do love what I make, then I like to eat little of what is there rather than enjoy half the quantity cooked. I hope that makes sense. 😀 So when the Blogging Marathon #101 themes were out, I instantly jumped into selecting “Kid’s Delight: Savory Bakes” as one theme. Ramadan was…