There was a time when I was very excited about cooking using my microwave oven. That was when we had shifted six years ago to our current residence. HD and I were on our own till we had Rasha and we moved in with my parents. Since I was working, it was easier to be with them, since umma wanted to handle her grand child by herself and it would be more peaceful for me as I go about my work. Even though we hadn’t intended to stay for a long time, we ended up being with them till they finally returned back to be home in August 2014. Then HD figured out this place and then did the booking, without even showing it to me. He somehow likes to sort out things himself and expect me to go with his flow. At times, it totally irritates me…
Nutella Peanut Butter Ice Cream
I think when we say “no cook”, then ice cream is something that comes into our head immediately. With the advent of the whipping cream – condensed milk formulation, making ice cream at home in various variants have becomes such a breeze. However, it has been really long since I have made some at home. It is mainly because I fear I would sit and eat through the whole batch myself – please do not judge! 😉 I had no second doubts about including this double delicious Nutella Peanut Butter Ice Cream while planning my posts for this week’s Blogging Marathon #117 theme “No-cook Recipes” – the other two being Gazpacho and Mortadella Sandwich. Just like the name suggests, this ice cream is totally dominated by the flavor of Nutella, intermittently cut in by the crunchy peanut butter. In fact, I actually made this ice cream to finish…
Magic Cookie Bars
How does it feel when your teeth digs into something that has several layers of goodness and deliciousness in it? That is exactly what I felt when I bit into one slice of these heavenly Magic Cookie Bars. When you bite in, you won’t believe how simple this dessert was. A lot of crushing and chopping, sprinkling and then baking gets you something that is totally irresistible. I don’t know how else to describe these squares of yumminess… For this month’s Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge, the theme is “Chocolate” and it was suggested by none other than our hostess, Mayuriji. If it is something that is very close to my heart, I don’t think twice before jumping in. 😉 I was paired with Archanaji, with whom I am coordinating for this challenge for the first time. We are already connected through the Blogging Marathon posts, however our interactions…
Vanilla Caramel Chocolate Cake | Three Layered Cake
I have been off from work since Eid and I don’t know whether I am relaxed. I have been facing this dilemma for quite a long time now. This leave wasn’t very much away from work, since some days I have had to settle up a few things but over the last week, I made it a point not to entertain anything from work, so that I would feel like I am having a break. This time, since we haven’t gone home, we have been trying to go around over here and visit places, like Hatta. It has been mighty hot and extremely humid, but we have been loving the long drives. HD hasn’t been very much a part of it as usual, but sometimes I wonder how much can I drag him in. He is not keen on long drives and I am trying to not get him…
Eggless Lotus Biscoff Brownies | Cookie Butter Brownies
So just like that the Eid holidays are over. This year’s Hajj was very special. Unlike having millions every year, thanks to the Covid, there were only blessed selected 1000 pilgrims from various nationalities residing in KSA were selected this year. Unprecedented, in all terms… When Hajj was supposed to be cancelled, it still went ahead with all the rituals. I can’t imagine how the selected ones must have felt to be selected during this time. It has been more than six years since we had gone for Umrah and everything is very fresh in our mind despite not having any pictures with me regarding those 10 days that we spent in the journey and going towards Madinah first and then to Makkah. Umrah is nowhere near the rituals of Hajj but the whole experience of seeing the Kaabah and the Masjid Nabawi with one’s own eyes is overwhelming,…
Simple Cocoa Cookies
When the Blogging Marathon #114 was declared with the theme of “Cookies”, I had to include this one into the list. Those who read my blog regularly will understand how much I love food with memories. And there aren’t much of food with memories for me, since umma’s cooking repertoire was limited, but I guess that is what makes memories… Limited yet plenty… 🙂 Umma used to have a small OTG. She had got it at a very low price – I am sure you all agree how our parents were when it came to putting in their money on anything. They realized the value of money so much because it came hard for them. Sometimes, I do feel that we don’t appreciate it as much as they did. OK, that is a different discussion all together. Hehe… My sister and I would bake something or the other…
Brownie Butter Cake
This little break has actually broken off my mojo. When I thought I wouldn’t be able to rustle up much posts during last month because of Ramadan, I ended up posting almost every alternate day. I was really looking forward to continuing it, since I have overflown my drafts and have a lot to post onto the blog. But at the same time, I don’t want to pressurize myself just because there are too many drafts staring into my face… Having said that, somehow the current times and incidents are constantly pointing towards one side… I always wonder what the current situation has taught us. With Covid wrecking havoc in many ways in many lives – people losing jobs, taking salary cuts, businesses shutting down irrespective of how long they have been in the market, life to a standstill, paranoia setting into our minds in every way –…
Chocolate Dates Truffles | Chocolate Date Bliss Balls
Dates are always associated with Ramadan. Somehow, it pops up first! Eating dates during suhoor and Iftar is considered to be one of the best Sunnahs. The Prophet ﷺ said: “How excellent are dates as the believer’s suhoor.” [Abu Dawood, Ibn Hibban and al-Baihaqee; saheeh] (Source) Anas ibn Malik said: “The Prophet ﷺ used to break his fast before praying by eating fresh dates, and if there were no fresh dates he would eat dried dates; if there were no dried dates, he would have a few sips of water.” [al-Sawm, 632; classed as saheeh by al-Albani in Saheeh Abu Dawood, no. 560, Islamqa.com] This year, we actually didn’t have to buy any dates. We had received a huge box of lovely dates from HD’s local friend, that I had thought would take majority of it for my parents and mattamma – a huge date fanatic – when I would be going home for…
White Chocolate Sago Pudding
Do you see the flow in this week’s Blogging Marathon #109 theme “Anything and everything with chocolate”? It is going from dark to milk to white. 😉 Just saying… So after the French Hot Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Brownies, here is the final recipe for this week’s theme… Initially I had decided that I would make a white chocolate rice pudding with a jam topping. I remember seeing it on some blog eons ago and it had such amazing clicks that it stuck to my mind. I have to agree that food, if clicked beautifully, does stick to your mind. I have not achieved that level and there are so many reasons to it, first being my lack of patience and my lack of interest too. I feel I do take decent pictures but I am just not able to push to the next level, or rather not…
Milk Chocolate Brownies
Haven’t I always mentioned that my girls are hard to please? And that applies very much to my bakes as well. If you thought that kids would eat any brownies baked, then you are wrong. My girls won’t. They seem to have a criteria for their brownies – shouldn’t be too dark in color, shouldn’t have any bitter cocoa taste, shouldn’t have anything to bite in between, etc. etc. My problem is I tend to like more of dark chocolate and the girls end up not eating my brownies. I always tell them that everybody loves my brownies but not them, but they care a hoot. So while thinking of what to make for the theme of “Anything and everything chocolate” for the Blogging Marathon #109, I had decided to make these brownies that have been on my to-do for quite a long time. There is a reason…
French Hot Chocolate | Paul style Hot Chocolate
Here I am with the next week of recipes for the Blogging Marathon #109. I chose a theme that I totally love. There are no points for guessing – it has to be chocolate! The theme is aptly called “Anything and everything with chocolate” and I had no qualms about choosing this. After all, chocolate is something that we all love and would love to incorporate it into our daily eating, if life permitted. Thankfully, scientists have declared that dark chocolate takes care of your happy hormones, so that gives us permission to include at least one square into our daily eating. What say? 😉 The first post is a recipe I have been wanting to try since ages. I always enjoy my home made hot chocolate, either made this way with chocolate chips or simply with cocoa powder. When I am haunted by outdoor cravings, there is…
Red Velvet Mug Cake
I am actually not so fond of challenges ending. Especially if I enjoy participating in them, I feel a tinge of sadness. I felt it when we had to end the MFB challenges. I felt it when Sarah had ended her old challenge. I was pretty excited when she started the Fantastical Food Fighting Challenge, but unfortunately due to priorities, she has decided to give this challenge a break. I am sure it is not with a happy mind, but when life gives us some exciting challenges, we definitely need to balance out to ensure that life doesn’t get too hectic and unmanageable. Wishing Sarah all the very best for her upcoming endeavor… Since this one is the last, I wanted to make sure I participate in it. Oh, I forgot to mention the theme! Since February is the month of love for obvious reasons, the theme she…
Chocolate Mousse Cake
I can’t believe I am stuck for words when I am completing 7 years of blogging. 7 years! Wow! I think I should give myself a pat on my back. When life has been in general difficult yet worth fighting for, I have still kept my wits to continue cooking, clicking and blogging. I guess that just shows how much I love this little baby of mine, despite sometimes feeling that it hasn’t been fair to me. But having said that, I always believe in whatever is meant for us will come our way, come what may, so I guess I am happy with the little that is coming my way. 🙂 The last two years has marked a known push from my side to reduce my blogging in every way. I have gone from posting almost every day to posting twice or thrice a week. I feel…
Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies
As much as my girls and I love homemade cookies, I have an aversion towards baking them. Somehow I find it easier to bake cakes, not even muffins. Imagine the height of my laziness! For a cake, usually you just need to make the batter, pour into one pan and forget about it in the oven till the timer buzzes. For a muffin, an extra work of lining the pan needs to be done, even though it takes lesser time to get baked. For cookies, more than the dough part, the shaping part is what irritates me. I start off with shaping them well and then it just gets bad. The last cookies are always the worse looking. Does that happen to you? My girls always say that my cookies are the best. In fact, it finishes faster than my cakes. Yet, I don’t make them as frequently…
Chocolate Creme Caramel
One thing I love about participating in challenges is that it does help you tick your to-do list earlier than later. Ever since I mastered the Creme Caramel, I have been wanting to make the chocolate version of it. I am a chocoholic and so is my elder one. When I had made the creme caramel, Rasha had told me, “Ummi, please try a chocolate version for this!” It’s been a long time since she said that, but when I was planning the Bake-a-thon posts, this request was right up there. I feel that my Creme Caramel is a slightly complicated recipe, so I wanted to make the chocolate version with just pantry essentials – milk, eggs, sugar and cocoa powder. But I was really nervous while making it, since my earlier simple versions have always flopped. I have already noted down that I need to make the…
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 15
- Next Page »