It feels like it has been ages since I participated in the Fantastical Food Fight which is hosted by Sarah. When this month’s theme was declared, I had to be a part of it. It seems the month of January is “National Omelet Month” in the USA and therefore the theme has to be related to it – omelettes! Now, how easy can that be! When eggs are a staple of your breakfast day in and day out, thanks for it being a powerhouse of good protein and fat, then making something for this theme is a very easy task, isn’t it? 🙂 If there is one food that makes HD happy at any time, then it is a sunny side up or an omelette. He would really love our style of omelette with onion, tomatoes and loads of bite, however I, being a lazy-head, always resort to…
“Mouthful” Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
I had scheduled the last two posts before I left. I went for four days home for my TMJ appointment and then a little wedding in the family. I am usually not someone who attends weddings. Our family is huge and there are wedding happening every now and then. It definitely isn’t pocket friendly to be attending all of them, so I always attend those that come within my usual annual holiday scope. But this one was such that I had to attend. When D informed us about elappa’s daughter’s marriage, I checked my dates and realized that my appointment would come around that time. I clubbed both and took leave. Everything went well, Alhamdulillah. The atmosphere was bitter sweet, thick with grief yet a general relief that she got an alliance that her father had wished for her. I have to say those days were emotionally draining but…
Gluten Free Banana Muffins | Using Chickpea Flour
One of the ideas I had for this year’s Bake-a-thon was to bake with a gluten-free flour. When you aren’t known for any food allergies, then the ingredients usually associated with allergens will be a regular part of our cooking and hence the other adjustments are rarely tested. There are very few gluten free recipes on the blog, and I would like to experiment more on them. However, with the way taste-buds are varying within my folks, I prefer not to experiment too much these days. Most of the time, even with little portions I struggle to finish them. 🙁 I had mentioned in the vanilla muffins post that those muffins were baked to compensate for the adult flavor muffins I had baked earlier. These were the muffins in question. I have always been intrigued by how chickpea flour or besan would taste in a sweet bake. After…
Eggless Apple Walnut Scones
Bake-a-thon is a yearly baking series headed by Valli during December and I have been a part of it for the past two years. There will be a total of 13 baking recipes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday till the month ends. Since the last post was more related to the UAE National Day, I thought I would rather move the details of the series in this post. 😀 You can find all the posts related to the previous years here. While the first year, I did random posts out of the burgeoning drafts, I focused on chocolate bakes last year, and this year, I am doing based on the theme of individual servings. Just like the Khameer I posted as the first one… As soon as I had started jotting out my posts for this series, I wanted to bake a scone, and somehow it had to…
Khameer | Emirati Yeasted Flatbread
This month, three days of the week, you will see posts related to the Bake-a-thon. This is a baking event that is conducted by Valli every year. I think I will leave more details in the next post, while today, I will celebrate the birthday of the country that gives our bread and butter… Every year, I have made it a point that I do a post for this day. December 2 was the day when this country was declared in its current known state. The country today completes 48 years of existence. We all know how much the young country called UAE, despite its diminutive area, has managed to come to the top of the world, due to its exemplary leadership, swift development and enthusiasm to soak in new technologies and innovation. 2019 was celebrated as the Year of Tolerance and through out the year, there were…
Parantha | Lachha Paratha ~ Indian Leavened Flatbread
I start this post with a heavy heart. I initiated the Muslim Food Blogger Challenge three years ago with this post. The declaration of the challenge was met with a lot of enthusiasm. With some mini breaks in between, we managed to keep up the challenge going. However, with priorities changing and dwindling participation, I had to take a call to end this series. Of course, it may revive back in case anybody is ready to take it up in the group, but knowing that times are tough and blogging is always the last priority, I felt it was a better time to give this challenge a halt, rather than waiting for it to demise on its own. 🙂 Just like all our previous anniversary challenges, we would be repeating all the themes done for the past one year. Below were the themes and the posts I had…
Easy Paneer Burji – Scrambled Cottage Cheese
I had a little startle as I looked at the calendar today. We have exactly two months to go in this year. How fast does time fly! I don’t want to judge this year now itself since we have the remaining days to see how things fare up. Just hoping that they get better, or at least stay stagnant, InShaAllah… I always believe that meals need to be quick yet filling and comforting. However, the idea of comforting is not likely the same for all of us in the family, isn’t it? 😀 What I find delicious is totally rejected by the girls. As they grow up into their own little individuals, it is a constant fight for me to see what they like and what they don’t. Unfortunately the latter is more than the former, thereby limiting my options as to what to cook for the girls….
Nutella French Toast
After a little hiatus, we are back with the Muslim Food Blogger Challenge this month. Of late, we have been looking at easy themes to get in a bit of participation. How much that strategy has helped, I don’t want to comment. 🙂 When it comes to blogging, it becomes the last priority when life keeps throwing things at you on a constant basis. It is happening at the moment for me too. It is just that I don’t want to let my passion die and I am fighting it as much as I can. I have been doing the same for the past two years and so far, I have been successful. But how much I can hold myself up needs to be seen… 🙂 Coming back to the challenge, the theme for the month is “Sandwich”. So what is a sandwich? In layman terms, it is…
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…
Avil Milk {No Sugar Added!}
As for the final post for the theme “One Bowl Dishes” in the Blogging Marathon #102, I had no doubt what I wanted it to be! Avil Milk is something very synonymous to Malappuram. VH Bakery is the first one to introduce and make it a craze among the whole of Malabar. If you are wondering what this is, then it is a layered concoction of mashed small banana, crispy roasted aval (rice flakes/ poha), some ice cold milk and peanuts for an additional crunch. Anything over and above that are add ons. I wouldn’t call it a milk shake, since it isn’t blended together, but it is very close to being a falooda without any catches to it. Each time I go home, I would miss exactly that time when my family would go to Kottakkal for something or the other. Last year, for the first time…
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…
Easy n Soft Cinnamon Rolls
I just have to pinch myself to believe that we are almost at the mid of this month. Days are literally flying in the real sense! The girls are travelling home by this month end, and I have so many things to finish before they can fly out. I really don’t know when I am going to find the time for all of it. 🙁 But InShaAllah, as always has been the case, somehow matters just work out in time, so hoping for the same too… Usually the month of June gets hot, and as expected, it is getting horribly humid. Cooking and baking is the last thing you want to do. The heat is energy sapping now itself, so wondering how the coming months are going to be. I can’t wait to go home in August, literally running away from here… 🙂 I never…
Masala Oats | Easy Savory Oats
As I sit to type this post, I realize we are almost half way through Ramadan. This month has been very stressful on all accounts, but trying to take into account that life is always meant for surprises and we need to take it into our stride. With my mood not very conducive for long posts, I think I will just stop over here… When time is of essence, then quick meals are the call of the day. This masala oats is something I can eat anytime of the day. Just like this paneer capsicum rice, this meal appears very frequently, usually for breakfast. It is so quick to make and so delicious, that you would want to eat it every other day. I have always had oats in sweet form, but this recipe has changed my mindset for good. The whole cooking takes hardly 15 minutes, and…
Easy Chewy Granola Bars | Granola Bars with Goji Berries & Chia
I am usually very prompt with doing my challenge posts. But for this month’s Muslim Food Blogger challenge, I delayed it as much as I possibly could. It wasn’t that the challenge wasn’t tough. I had a lot of ideas floating in my head. Oh, I didn’t tell what was the challenge. This month, we went with Lubna’s suggestion of making some healthy bites. It is summer vacations back home, and even here, schools were off the past month. When kids are off, then naturally, they are constantly hungry and searching the home up, down and center for something or the other to eat. So this theme couldn’t have come at the correct time. If you have noticed, I did three recipes with the similar theme in the last month’s Blogging Marathon too. 🙂 My first thought was to do something in line with the Dates Bliss Balls….
Dalia Upma | Broken Wheat Upma
There is a reason why I chose this week’s theme when Valli declared it in the Blogging Marathon #98 – “Cooking for Two”. You all know, we aren’t two, we are four. 😀 But most of the time, I end up cooking for two because the other two I have are very fussy that I don’t feel like cooking for them. 😕 HD is forever looking into my food, so for my safety, it is better to cook extra and serve him as well. Do you have husbands who want to eat your food? OK, so jokes apart, dalia or broken wheat is not something that I frequently cook with. But when I got the opportunity to try the ingredient when my mentor included it as a part of my carbs, I fell in love with this upma. Every second day, I was making it for my breakfast…