If I had cooked the Dalia Upma and Palak Paneer for HD and me, today’s recipe was made for the girls. 😀 I shouldn’t show any discrimination, right? This week, I am doing three back to back posts for the Blogging Marathon #98 for the theme “Cooking for Two”. Making a purely egg custard has been in my agenda for a long time. But usually, I prefer using whole eggs in my recipes – I did that with my lemon curd, when most of the recipes only use the yolks. I have even made a baked custard which used whole eggs. Somehow it irks me that I have to waste a part of the eggs. When people tell me that they discard the yolks and only cook the whites, I boil from inside. “How dare! The yolks are the tastiest part of the egg!” Hehe… Thankfully, the notions…
Easy Palak Paneer
I owe this Palak Paneer recipe to Huma. She shared this recipe with me before she posted it on her blog and made me fall for it head over heels. I never liked making palak paneer before. If you see most of the recipes online, they involve a lot of steps. It makes you feel like making this humble dish is such a pain. But this recipe changed my whole thought process. This recipe is the second one to feature in this week’s theme of “Cooking for 2” in the Blogging Marathon #98. Paneer is something I have been eating every single day since last January, as a part of my protein intake. It is something that we Keralites never eat. I have already mentioned before on the blog that my family shares a mixed relationship with this ingredient. So I don’t cook it frequently. But for myself,…
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…
Chocolate Biscuit Balls
After making the Pancakes and the Pizza Bites for the Blogging Marathon #98 theme “Kid’s Delight – Bites”, I was totally blank. It isn’t that my mind wasn’t without any ideas but somehow the ideas weren’t being converted into actions. It was really frustrating me to the core. That is when I was reminded of the pack of arrowroot biscuits umma had left and gone for the girls to eat. I had left it in the cupboard since it has all powdered up and eating it without messing up the house is out of question. So there were born these no-cook, super easy Chocolate Biscuit Balls. Sometimes I really wonder why I need to concentrate on posting such easy to make recipes, especially those that are no-cook. We are always looking at ideas which won’t take much time or effort on our part, but will still ensure us…
Easy Pizza Rolls
For this week’s theme of “Kid’s Delight – Snacks and Bites” for the Blogging Marathon #98, I am jumping in with these Pizza Rolls that I baked for Rasha’s class party along with the Brookies. You must be wondering what did I make for Azza then. She came home saying that her teacher asked her to make some “healthy sandwich” and that too only 12 of them. I was a bit concerned. Only 12? And that too sandwich? I asked her again and again, and she kept saying “yes”. I ended up making chicken salad sandwich for her class, which didn’t take much time as Rasha’s goodies took. Anyway… 😀 Rasha actually wanted pizza. But then making mini pizza is a small pain, especially for a class party. So I convinced her that I would make rolls, so that they are easier to carry and eat. After thinking…
Mini Vegan Wholewheat Pancakes
I am coming back to the Blogging Marathon after a hiatus. Somehow, I have mentioned it before and still mention it – this series by Valli gives a much needed push when it comes to blogging. You may have noticed that ever since this year has started, I have been going slow on my posts purposely, since I don’t want blogging to become a burden for me. I must say that the move has helped me tremendously to relax and concentrate on other things in life. 😉 When I need the motivation, I know that this initiative by Valli will be there to get me pepped up. Can you believe that this month is #98? Wow… That’s a really long time… 🙂 For this week, I chose “Kid’s Delight – Snack and Bites”. You may have already seen my event declaration post a couple of days ago. Actually,…
Roundup: Sweets without Refined Ingredients
Last month as a part of the Blogging Marathon #94, a few us had selected the theme “Sweets without Refined Ingredients”. Since the theme is of particular interest to me, I decided to take up the opportunity of doing the round-up of posts for this theme. As you can see below, there are some amazing recipes from some lovely bloggers of sweets that you can enjoy, without feeling too much guilt. A word of caution though – sweets are sweets, and will be calorie laden, how much ever you try to keep them “healthy”, so enjoy in moderation and exercise caution. 😉 So here is the snapshot of all those lovely bloggers who contributed to this very interesting theme… Gayathri’s Cook Spot: Sathu Maavu/ Multi Grain Flour Cookies Kadalai Parippu Thengai Urundu/ Peanut Coconut Balls Bajra Gur Roti Bhavana of Code 2 Cook: Dates Oats Laddu Gajar…
Wheatgerm Cookies
If there is something that can be baked within 30 minutes, then there is no points for guessing – cookies! Even muffins can be done in that time, but totally dependent on the density of the batter. Cookies also have its condition – that the dough can be used to bake immediately, which is usually not the case for cookies like chocolate chip ones. While wondering what to come up as the third post for the “Meals under 30 minutes” theme for the Blogging Marathon #94, my eyes fell on these delicious cookies that I had baked recently. There was this box of wheatgerm that I had bought and was approaching its best before date. Bloggers and cooking fanatics would definitely appreciate how that feels! Even though I have truncated my purchases so much now unlike before, I still have such issues coming up once in a while….
Paneer Dahi Bhalla
OK, so when you are on a quantified diet and you need to eat as per what is in your list, what do you do to cravings? Twist and tweak them as per your diet! 😀 So today, under my theme “Meals under 30 minutes” for the Blogging Marathon #94, I have to share something that I ate “God knows how many times” of late! The first time I had Dahi Bhallas (or vadas) was at Humi’s place, when I went to meet her the very first time – that was around four years ago. I was never a chaat fan – the first time I had chaat at the insistence of my colleague P, I almost puked out at the combination of sweet and sour – please do not beat me! Gradually, it caught up on my taste buds and now I love it! But still not…
Idiyappam | String Hoppers
When Valli’s mail came for the themes for this month’s Blogging Marathon #94 and my eyes fell on “Meals within 30 minutes”, I really wanted to do it. I am currently building up my “Under 30 Minutes” recipes on the blog and the theme was perfect for adding three more. I have chosen three recipes that fits into different courses, so that it doesn’t feel like you get only drinks within that time. 😀 The first one are Idiyappams or Nool Puttu, as we call it. “Nool” is thread, and definitely these are thread-like rice dumplings, steamed and served. I never realized how much my girls loved this till they literally ate my head asking to make it. I thought it was a really complicated process and would just ignore it. It was one Instagram story of Fami which prompted me to try these. I pulled up my…
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins | Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free
After the Honey Yogurt Cheesecake and the Dates Bliss Balls, here comes my third recipe for the theme “Sweets without Refined Ingredients” for the Blogging Marathon #94. Keto and Low Carb are big words these days. Every second person seems to be going on Keto. Hehe… I somehow have a mental block towards that diet, but then it is one of the diets that is causing a lot of people to lose weight really quick. I firmly believe that any diet followed in moderation will do good, but totally giving up on one part of the food chain is not sustainable in the long run. Anyway, to each, their opinion… 🙂 I have some coconut flour in my pantry that I bought out of enthusiasm, only to discover that I wasn’t liking it much! I tried making pancakes with them and they became a dud. I was somehow…
Dates Bliss Balls
While I chose the theme “Sweets without Refined Ingredients” for the Blogging Marathon #94, I had no doubts in my mind regarding this particular one I am making today. Dates bliss balls have been doing rounds for all obvious and good reasons! All ingredients that go into making it are very healthy – whether it’s the dates, the nuts, coconut oil or cocoa powder. It is one of the safest bet to get your sugar fix when you really crave for it. All you need is one ball – take it in your hand, choose a comfortable corner, and slowly chew to enjoy it. It makes you feel really good after eating and your sugar cravings get fixed without a hint of sugar! How cool is that! 🙂 Dates is something I always have at home, but making these balls took too much time. I made…
Honey Yogurt Cheesecake
Time for the Blogging Marathon #94! As usual I am participating two weeks this month too. The first theme I chose was “Sweets without Refined Ingredients”. I guess the title is so apt with the way I am trying to adjust my relationship with sugar and sweets in general. The quantified eating done for a majority of this year has actually refined my tastebuds quite a bit. I can still take sugar in little, but I can’t take it if it goes overboard. I simply can’t touch it! Of late, I have been hating ice creams from out, since I feel it is overtly sweet. The latest I loved was Godiva, which was mildly sweet and creamy, but thanks to its price, I will keep it as a occasional treat! 😉 So coming back to the theme, we had to make sweets that didn’t have any refined ingredients,…
Wholemeal Banana Bread
I always feel it isn’t necessary to make something fresh for breakfast like the Muhalla or the Capsicum Olive Omelette, for the Blogging Marathon #93 theme I chose for this week, “Easy Breakfast”. I am somebody who loves to bake something and keep ready for breakfast at times, be it on weekdays or even better, for weekends. This Wholemeal Banana Bread perfectly fits the bill for a delicious and healthy breakfast without much effort in the morning! This recipe appeared on the King Arthur site as the recipe for 2018. I love their website and refer it to a lot of times for perfect recipes. So I was sure that this bread would be a winner too. I hardly made changes to the recipe – used wholemeal flour for baking it, reduced the sugar a tad bit and used a mix of oil and butter, since I feel…
Capsicum Olive Omelette
I love eggs for breakfast – period! When I started quantitative nutrition, the best thing I loved is that I could eat eggs everyday to cover my protein and fat requirements. Yaay! 😀 So when I do a post for the Blogging Marathon #93 under the theme “Easy Breakfast”, what is easier than having an egg meal? I have already posted a couple of my favorite omelette recipes here and here, but this one takes the cake! I love capsicum and try to include it into most of the meals I can. I keep a small bowl of chopped capsicum so that it becomes easy in the rush to just sprinkle them on while making the omelette. A bottle of sliced green olives is also a part of my pantry, since the whole family can finish a bottle in one sitting. Combining both these vegetables into this delicious…