Taking my time to do challenges is really helping me breathe well and choose what I want to do on the blog. I am really enjoying the phase, to say the least. With life getting tougher by the day, we need to adjust our priorities and while I still keep my blog close to my heart, I am going really slow and loving the process. This month, after a couple of months break, I got back into Recipe Swap which is now hosted by Mir. In this challenge, we are assigned a blog, which we dig into and choose a recipe that we would love to cook. This month, I was assigned Usha’s blog, which is one of my favorite discoveries after being in the Blogging Marathon. I love her neat, crisp pictures and her simple recipes. Just like her blog name, she features a lot of savory…
Chocolate Hazelnut Spread | Easy Homemade “Nutella”
I had mentioned regarding my tryst with my one and only pack of hazelnuts in this biscotti post. I also did mention that I used up the rest of the hazelnuts in trying to make one of the most loved spreads in the world. Of course there is no point for guessing, it has to be Nutella, right? 🙂 I must confess I am no Nutella fan. I belong to the category who can’t stand eating Nutella, condensed milk or Biscoff from the spoon. I may eat Horlicks or Boost but not these. I really have no reason why. Sometimes, our aversion has no explanation, isn’t it? But I love using them to cook or bake. Here are a few Nutella recipes on the blog, among which my personal favorite are these super easy puffs with banana – so delicious that you must try them for your children….
Chocolate Persimmon Overnight Oats
I haven’t done overnight oats in a long time. So when I saw Sarah’s information email saying that this month, the theme for the Fantastical Food Fight would be “Overnight Oats”, I just wanted to participate. I love overnight oats and since I have been on a quantified eating of late, swapping my rice with oats was usually not a preferred option, so oats had to take a limited offering at times. I don’t know how better I can explain this. 😀 Anyway, there were this persimmons that I had reserved to try this muffin recipe for the Bakeathon that concluded last month. However it didn’t happen, since I had no mood to bake them whatsoever. Happens, right? I just wanted to eat them rather than cook with them. Hehe… Then I thought, why not I use them in overnight oats? I decided to make a chocolate version,…
Paal Vazhakka ~ Malabar Plantain Sago Dessert {Version 2}
Isn’t it such a relief to see a white colored post after an overdose of brown posts in the past month? 😀 At least, I am feeling so much relief to see a change. Hehe… Another year has started, and we inch closer to our end in this world… Does anybody think of it that way? We celebrate each year with so much aplomb, not realizing that every moment that goes by means that we are losing a chance to better ourselves. There is so much that can be written with this regard. But seriously, I am in no mood to write. My head is buzzing with so much that I am feeling tired. I don’t know if it is good or bad… 🙂 I will leave it at that and move on to the post for the day… I have already shared a Paal Vazhakka recipe earlier,…
Rocky Road Bites
I could have moved away from the chocolate theme, while doing today’s post for this month’s Fantastical Food Fight challenge. Sarah had messaged us that this month, the theme would be “Candy”. It is obvious because December is considered to be a sweet month and candy is surely a part of it. After a little bit of confusion, she clarified that candy could include fudge, squares, bites, anything that looked like a candy. I was initially planning to sit out of the theme, since I am not much into candy making. The time I had baked the Fudge Brownies for our school meet-up, I wanted to make something else for the kids. My eyes fell on the pack of marshmallows that Azza had finished 80 percent and wouldn’t eat the rest since it didn’t appeal to her anymore. It always happens, isn’t it? They want everything but then…
Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
Hazelnuts are pretty expensive nuts, just like pecans and pine nuts. That’s why it is something I never buy. The only times I have bought some pecans were to bake these cookies and these ones too and I treated it like gold. I buy pine nuts only when I know I have to be using it for some recipe, and that too, I buy so little that I invite a stupid look from the fellow at the counter. 😀 It so happened that I was walking towards the vegetable aisle when a box of hazelnuts stared at me. I looked at it, wishing I could buy it and then looked at the price. I re-looked at it again. And again. And again. I couldn’t really believe my eyes. The next thing that happened was that the box landed up straight into the trolley. Once the box reached home, since…
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….
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…
Basboosa | Middle Eastern Semolina Cake
This month marks two years of the Muslim Food Blogger’s Challenge. It is an amazing feeling. I have been coordinating this event since the beginning and Alhamdulillah, am satisfied with the way the sisters have taken this challenge in their stride, trying to participate in every challenge possible. This year, we did only 9 challenges, taking a break during the summer months. As was done last year, this year also as part of the anniversary challenge, members are free to choose one of the themes of the previous months and repeat them. Below are the themes we had done over the past year and my posts for each: December 2017 – Arabic sweets January 2018 – Cooking with ingredient: Olives February 2018 – Cooking from cuisine: Bangladesh March 2018 – Breakfast April 2018 – Trying from a blog: This Muslim Girl Bakes May 2018 – Ramadan food from the…
Overnight Oats with Laban
For the Blogging Marathon #84 under the “New Year Challenge” theme, I had chosen to share three overnight breakfast ideas and after the Chocolate Chia pudding, here is the second one. I have a lot of overnight oats recipes on the blog already on the blog, so it feels like I am adding one more, but of late, this has been my favorite way of having overnight oats. I have no other than Fami to “blame” for bringing in me this love for laban. Laban is thick buttermilk that is available across the shelves here in the Gulf countries. It is used a lot in Arab cooking, and is awesome to have on its own. I won’t say I love laban but I have it on and off. With she sharing her smoothies made in laban on her IG handle, I decided to get a bottle to try…
Almond Apricot Cake
When I enrolled for the Bake-a-thon with Valli in October, I was in a lot of thought. How would the whole thing be? I have been a part of the Blogging Marathon for a few months now and it is a more themed activity, but this was thirteen days of baked goodies, with no specific theme as such. Since I had drafts available – referred to as “magic folder” by the BM team 😀 – and I thought I would be able to pull it out, I jumped into it and I am glad I took the plunge. Now looking back at all the posts I did for this marathon baking initiative, I am glad I participated in it. I sincerely hope I have done justice to it and selected the best of the baking recipes that I have tried, tested and succeeded in my kitchen. Do check out…
Mango Bread Pudding
Bread is something that is in my pantry at any given point of time, so the love for bread puddings comes naturally! Whenever I am lost as to what to make for dessert for the weekend, or have a pack of bread getting stale because I picked up an extra one without much thought, or I have a failed bread attempt, it immediately gets converted into bread pudding! 😀 How many like me, please raise your hands! A little search for “bread pudding” on the blog, will throw up a few options. Also this baked french toast was born in similar fashion. While placing the posts for the Bake-a-thon, my eyes chanced upon this amazing bread pudding I had made sometime ago and that left me wondering if I was posting this at a time when there are no mangoes, at least here. I was wrong in my…
Orange Almond Brownies
Sometimes, I really wonder about my girls. They are growing up at a pace that I have no control over. My younger one will turn 7 this January and I am still yearning for her to go back into her diapers! Those who read my blog regularly or follow me on other social media, know that I am working, with an 8 to 5 work schedule. Many also know that I now go for regular workouts during my working days, taking a break from it on Thursdays and Fridays. This means that by the time I am home after all the traffic, it is past 8 pm and at the bottom of my energy level. All I would want is to eat something, feed the kids and then push them off to sleep. Sometimes, I forget that they are children and I be at my worst behavior, screaming when…
Instant Rasmalai
After the Instant Kulfi, here is the second post under the theme “Instant Indian Sweets” for the three back-to-back series. I warn you, this is a photo intensive post. The dish was so photogenic that I couldn’t stop clicking and more than that, I had difficulty in choosing the pictures that would appear in the post, so instead of raking my head too much, I just went ahead and included all that I could into the post! 😉 So it is Ras Malai today, but the cheat version… 🙂 The ras is partly made of milk and condensed milk, which is boiled for some time till it thickens slightly. Usually, the balls in the ras malai are made from paneer, kneaded, first cooked in sugar syrup and then dunk into the milk base. But who has time for all that? Here, the balls are made from…
Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
Can you believe October is ending? Then we will have just have two months left to complete this year. Each year seems to be passing on faster than the previous. Actually, it feels scary too. That we are getting older by the minute, we are moving faster towards the ultimate end… Everyday when I lie down, I wonder what I have done that day to make it special. Maybe it was just a mad rush of traffic, work, gym and home… with not even little time to read the Quran, to listen to it, talk to my kids properly, call my parents, even chat openly with HD… “Man is created hasty…” (Surah Al-Anbiya: start of verse 37) How many times have we forgotten that there is much more than the life in this world? 🙁 I am guilty of the same, day in and day out. Trying to balance…