Starting the year on a sweet note is usually what everybody wants to do. Sometimes we don’t realize that the upcoming year is usually a repercussion of what has already happened in the previous years. I really don’t want to muddle over it, but would rather leave you all with a little poem that really made an impact on me during the end of 2019: Miss Me, But Let Me Go When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom filled room Why cry for a soul set free! Miss me a little, but not for long, And not with your head bowed low. Remember the love we once shared, Miss me, but let me go! For this a journey we all must take, And each must go alone; It’s all a part of…
Baked Chicken Toast
I am breathing a sigh of relief. 2019 has been a rather rough year. I wouldn’t want to sound pessimistic but it wasn’t a happy year. There were too many downs than ups, but Alhamdulillah, we faced the tide and rode against it. As much as challenges arose, we fought it and downed it, only to be faced by more. I guess with passing days, tests leave you becoming a little paranoid when little joys come your way. It is during those times I remind myself of the immense number of verses in the Qur’an, where Allah warns us of hardships. He promises His Jannah for those who are steadfast and patient. It is difficult, but not impossible. We all very well know that this life is transient, yet we do not want to accept that fact… I guess I wouldn’t want to think too much about this year….
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…
“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…
Crazy Crust Pizza
I am so thankful to this version of Bake-a-thon for introducing this super easy pizza that I would have never ever found out otherwise, or maybe I would have taken more time. I thought the 20 minute pizza was the best, and of course it is the easiest to make. But it is made in a pan and doesn’t feel like how a baked pizza feels. Then what is the best thing about this recipe? Let me tell you… The best and the only reason you need to have is that it is a no-knead, no-yeast, no proofing base. I know I have posted a no-knead pizza before but it needed proofing. This absolutely doesn’t need that! The base is a typical crepe or pancake like batter that needs to be poured, topping put on top and pushed into the oven while you wait with unabated breath for…
Baked Sago Pudding
I had absolutely no plans to make this dish, whatsoever. It wasn’t even in the initial or the second list. It sneaked its way into this Bake-a-thon! 😀 Like I mentioned earlier, I initially had decided that I would peep into my pins and word documents saved, so that I could try some of them and include them for this month’s post. However, that wasn’t to happen. I ended up baking more on what interested me during the last couple of months and thought would be interesting to my folks as well. This is one of them that got baked in due course. Baked Sago Pudding is a South African pudding delicacy. It feel like a sago kheer, but in a dessert avatar. I discovered this recipe by accident during some casual browsing and then it just stuck to me. I love anything with sago pearls and this…
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…
Chicken Curry Rolls
Didn’t I mention here that my parents were in town? Well, early morning yesterday, they went back home. It was a short sweet stay and it helped them overcome the jet-lag of being in the US with my sister for two months. It was actually tricky dealing with D during this time. Wherever we would go, especially at a relative’s place, I used to drag him out reminding him that it was quite late and we are having a work day . I hope you get the point. 🙂 He would be in his full energy from 9 pm onwards with no inkling of sleep, and I would be literally wanting to fall on bed after a day at work. Thankfully, towards the end of the stay, his sleep clock got back to normal, so hopefully they both will sleep normally at home. 😀 The girls are a tad…
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…
Goji Berry Breakfast Cookies
If anybody enters my kitchen, they will think they have entered an office. I have a white board on the side of my fridge with full of scribbling, a cork board on one of my cupboard doors with lots of cut outs pinned to it and a sticker hanger with even more papers clipped onto it. Anyone new who comes gives a very curious look at them to see what I have spread on them. Obviously, they are recipe printouts and cut outs that I pin up so that I try immediately. That “immediately” has no specific time frame – it can be a week, a month or even years. But I must say that this recipe I am posting today didn’t have to wait indefinitely to be tried, thanks to the Bake-a-thon. 😀 I mentioned about receiving a small pack of goji berries from Zerin, while I…
Malu Paan ~ Sri Lankan Fish Buns
While I was trying to figure out what all I need to bake for this month’s Bake-a-thon, the first thing I did was to go through my Pinterest boards for ideas. However, it so happened that nothing went as per what I was planning to do. Interesting ideas kept coming in between and I kept changing my plans but then if there was one thing that I stuck to and did was to bake these buns called Malu Paan that I had bookmarked when I had dabbled a bit with Sri Lankan cuisine in an edition of the BM sometime ago – remember the Sri Lankan Chicken Curry? If you haven’t tried it, then please do! I don’t have a tuna friendly home, to say the least. I love it as a lazy meal and usually prepare it this way. It is the best thing you can get…
Simple Vanilla Muffins
After ages, we had a long holiday the past week due to the National Day. I had already scheduled the Khameer and the Apple Scone so that I wouldn’t miss out on the posting on the due dates. I had a lot of plans for the weekend. I had literally pushed my cousins into excitement so that I could have them along to go to Muscat. I have gone there two times already, however my trips have lasted less than 24 hours and I haven’t been able to explore the beautiful places around it. This time, I really wanted to stay three days, relax and move around for some long drives, some mountain and farm sight seeing and in general, just be calm. A break from your own surroundings is usually a good way to rejuvenate, when you are constantly under stress. The trip was planned in such a…