School holidays sure make you busy! No matter what kids demand a lot of things to eat or should i say they eat a lot of unhealthy snacks at this time. So i opt to make healthier versions at home.  these Big and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies is adapted from Farenheit 350 i made a few changes in the recipe to make it more healthier because i have been baking a lot during the holidays so i didn’t want my kids to eat more sugar and plain flour.

Hot from the oven the first batch i didnt even get to see them lined up properly!! Both of them finished it with in minutes!

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup honey
Cream together until smooth

Add:
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
Whip together until light and fluffy

Stir in:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup  wheat germ
1/2 cup ground flax seeds

½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Drop spoonfuls or half spoonfuls as you want and bake for 7-9 mts at 180 C

If you are making crispy cookies bake longer. My kids like chewy ones so i dont bake them longer.  Also if you are making big ones you might need to bake longer.

The first batch i made was chewy ones the second batch crispy which got burned a bit after baking longer! All the crispy ones are left now and i cant even find a chewy one to eat!

Chatpata chaat is there anyone who doesnt like it? Especially now i love the chatpata taste.. I make my chaats with heaps of chaat masala and lime juice!

here is the simple recipe for this chaat

1 cup chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked till tender

1 large potato boiled and cut into cubes

1 large onion thinly sliced

1 large tomato thinly sliced

3-4 tbso of lime juice (add more of less according to ur taste)

1/2 tsp kala namak or black salt

1 tsp jeera or cumin powder

2-3 tsp of chaat masala (add more or less according to ur taste)

3 green chillies thinly sliced

a small bunch of fresh corriander leaves thinly sliced

salt to taste

• Mix all the ingredients and enjoy immediately!

3 large potatoes boiled and mashed. Alternatively you can also microwave at high for 4minuts.

green chillies 3 thinly sliced

lime juice 1-2 tbsps (add or reduce according to your taste)

chaat masala 1/2 tsp

2-3 tbsp grated carrots  (optional)

Mix all the above ingredients and make tikkis.

Heat the oven to 220 C. Oil the baking dish. Also spray some oil on top of the tikkis. Bake for 20 mts for crisp tikkis.

**You may also shallow fry the tikkis in a non stick skillet**

This is for all those wives whose hubbby has never cooked! LOL!! My hubby knows only how to make tea. So when i saw Priti’s announcement for His Cooking i just mentioned how fun it will be to cook! And yes my 6 yr old daughter also offered to help. So they all got excited and i told him to check Priti’s site where her hubby does a lot of cooking.

He choose to do his Poha recipe from her site. But made a few changes as he got confused with cumin and fennel seeds! LOL!!! rest all i think he just followed the same. But it was delicious!

And he was sweet enough to make some kheer for me when i was craving for some sweet today after lunch!! (well the joy of being pregnant!!!) SO i got this easy Microwave Kheer from EC. with in 20 minuts or so the kheer was ready!! The changes he made – instead of suar he added condensed milk. He doesnt know how much me added so i would say if ur adding condensed milk add according to your taste!

Somehow im unable to upload the pic of the kheer.. i guess i’ll do it later on..

Sending this post to Pritis His Cooking event!

This is one of my first cooked food. im so glad it came out really really good even my kids loved it. Im a big fan of spring rolls. When ever we go out we always buy spring rolls, chicken wraps and curry chicken O’s from Old Chang kee which is a famous chain in Singapore.

So i thought why not try the spring rolls? The one thing i liked about the recipe is it is so easy to prepare and the ingredients you’ll always have in with you.. well almost all the time.

The ingredients : 1/2 cup each of onions, bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms (i used canned ones), frozen peas.

salt and pepper pwdr to taste

Pastry sheets

olive oil for frying

Chop all veggies finely except peas or run through the food processor.

In a skillet heat olive oil and when its hot add all the ingredients till half cooked.

When the veggie mix is cooled, Add 1 tbsp to the pastry sheet and roll them as shown in the picture. Deep fry each roll. Its easy to prepare and good to eat!

This post goes to First Cooked Food Event

I got this idea from a magazine.. it really came out so good and for the kids i added little bit of strawberry syrup and topped with soy ice cream.. they loved it!

3 ounces firm silken tofu

1/4 cup each fat-free soy milk

1/2  cup each chopped banana and strawberries

1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate.

strawberry syrup – optional

soy ice cream optional

In a blender, mix tofu, soy milk, banana and strawberries, and orange juice concentrate. Blend until smooth.

This shake goes to the Light Meal event and Healthy Snacking event!

This is my first entry for the Indian Cooking Challenge. I have been thinking to make this since Srivalli posted it but thanks to her last reminder! i just ran to my kitchen, grabbed all the ingredients and started making this after reading her mail.

I have tasted rava laddoo before but i can proudly say the ones i made today was the best LOL!  May be i was reluctant to make it because i thought it might not taste good or whatever.

Here is the recipe from Srivalli. I made minor changes to it and it really really came out yummy!

• Rava / Semolina – 1 cup
• Sugar – 1 cup (i added around 3/4th cup even that was too sweet for me!)
• Ghee – 25 gms
• Milk – 25 ml (i used around 30-40 ml)
• Cardamom powder – a pinch
• Cashew nuts – 10 whole nuts
• Raisins – 10 nos
• Grated fresh coconut – 25 gm
• I added a pinch of salt too.

Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadai. Once the ghee is hot enough, simmer the flame and roast cashew nuts and raisins. Once the raisins balloon up, remove. Then roast the grated coconut. Remove once done. Keep all these aside.

Add the remaining ghee and roast the Rava till its well roasted and aroma starts coming out.

In a bowl, take all the roasted Rava, Nuts, Coconut and add the Cardamom powder. Then add the sugar and salt . Mix well.

Then slowly add the warm milk into the bowl. Check if you are able to gather as balls. When you find that milk added is enough to get you laddos, transfer it back to the kadai and cook in sim for 2mins. Mix well and then cover it and let it rest for 2 mins. Then immediately make balls or laddoos.

It came out perfectly but sadly my kiddos were not impressed! They wanted the ‘orange’ laddoo! But my Dh was very happy with the surprise sweet!

This post goes to FIL – GHEE EVENT and SWEET SERIES

2 Kerala banana cut into thin slices

1 cup maida -plain flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp kalongi – karinjeerakam

1/4 tsp salt

water for mixing

oil for frying

Cut the banana into thin slices. Mix the rest of the ingredients into a thick paste. Dip the banana slices into the maida mixture and deep fry.

Another post which goes for the Ramadan Event.

Ramadan Day 6

Samosas are the most famous snack in Malabar. These are not large samosas like the veggie ones, Malabar meat samosas are small, petite kind of samosas. They look really cute and you’ll need to et atleast 5-6 to fill your tummy.

Samosas are nicked as Triangle Chicken by my daughter! For her even when i make cutlets i make in triangle shape otherwise she wont eat them! And they should be perfect for her!

I make the meat mix and freeze them in small bags. Just take one bag at a time and thaw. Meat samosas can be made of chicken or beef or mutton. I havn’t tried mutton samosas till today but one of my friend was raving about it.

Its easy to prepare and very tasty to eat!

THe recipe for the meat mix

Boneless Chicken or beef – 1 lb

red chili pwdr – 1 tbsp or add more or less according to your taste

turmeric pwdr – 1/2 tsp

oil – 3-4 tbsps

onions – 3 medium sized finely chopped

ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp

corriander pwdr – 1.5 tbsp

curry leaves,corriander leaves, mint leaves – a small bunch chopped finely.

How to proceed :

Cook chicken, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt.

Shred the cooked chicken and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add onions. When the onions are brown add ginger garlic paste and green chillies to it. Fry for another 3-4 mts and ad the shredded chicken, corriander powder and chopped leaves to it.

FOr the wrapper:

All purpose flour is usually used in Malabar but i use wheat flour

salt to taste

knead just like you make the Roti Aata. Divide the aata into small lemon size balls.

Roll the balls into a roti. It should be thin and not so big. Because we are going to make petite samosas not big ones. Cut into 4 pieces. Take a piece and fold the rounded edge into a cone. Fill in the meat mixture. Close the samosa with the pointed edge.

Deep fry in oil and enjoy!!

My Samosas are going for the Ramadan Event!

Ramadan Day 5

I’m smiling as i type this because i was nicked as ‘Bonda’ during my childhood days! I used to be angry when my cousins call me that but now when i think back i cant help laughing because i really was fat and round! the gol gol type LOL! and i loved potatoes and i still do.

Potato is the Raja (king)of all veggies. I havent come across someone who doesn’t like potatoes. Fry ir or bake it or steam it of add to your stew it tastes so good.

Here is my simple recipe for bonda:

For the potato mixture–

1/2 tsp mustard and cumin seeds

3-4 tbsps of oil

4 large potatoes boiled and mashed

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

3 green chillies finely chopped

salt to taste

a handful of corriander leaves chopped finely.

Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard and cumin seeds and let it splutter. Add onions and fry till onions are light brown. Add ginger-garlic paste to it and fry for 2-3 mts. Add green chillies and salt and  mix well. Add the mashed potatoes mix well and then chopped corriander leaves at the end and set aside till it cools. Make lemon size balls after cooling.

For the batter–

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp ajwain

salt to taste

water to mix the batter

Mix everything to form a thick batter.

**The batter should not be watery otherwise i wont stick to the bondas. In my picture my batter was a bit of watery so it did not stick to the batter.

*** Variations of the batter

> 1/2 cup plain flour and rice flour (According to me this one is the best)

> 1 cup rice flour

> 1 cup besan flour

Dip the potato balls in the batter and deep fry.

My bondas go for the Ramadan Event hosted by Lubna