EGG LESS FRUIT CAKE

EGG LESS FRUIT CAKE

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

EDITED: This recipe was featured on Cook Blogg share link party on 2nd January 2018, check here.

Christmas is a time of joy and fun for everybody, the same is for me and my family. A lot of fun activities take place inside and outside our house during the Christmas season or I should say for the whole month of December.

The first one is the decorating of the Christmas tree, which my grandkids really like and surprisingly, every year they bring in some new ideas for the decoration of the tree. Some of the ornaments are made by them in their schools every year, under the supervision of their teachers and some ornaments we buy from the shops. This year we got a white Christmas tree.

The other fun activity inside the house is the elf on the shelf, every morning the kids are so excited when they look for the elf and really enjoy all the places they find elf sitting. The next activity which they really like is the opening of the gifts on Christmas day, which they get from Santa.

Apart from these indoor activities, we go shopping, which is a lot of fun during this festive season because shops and malls are decorated with Christmas decorations and lighting. Another fun activity which we do as a family is a tour/ride of the neighbourhood area to see the decorations and lights of all the different houses. Some houses look really beautiful with a lot of decorations and colorful lighting. There is so much effort and money that goes into these decorations, it is commendable that people put in so much effort during these dark nights!

The other attraction in our town is the Airdrie festival of lights, which is one of Canada's largest light displays. This festival attracts visitors from the past 21 years and is open to the public from 6-9 pm every day in the month of December. If you are nearby and interested in this event, here is the link.

There is another family-friendly fun activity that takes place in Calgary is the Calgary Zoo lights. These lights are the center of attraction in Calgary, and a highlight during the December holidays for many Calgary families. So these zoo lights are a package of fun and learning activities for the kids. A lot of activities are taking place at the Calgary Zoo, even in the winter months, they are teaching children about the migration, hibernation, conservation and behavior of all types of animal. Here is the link

Coming to the recipe, this Christmas instead of baking any cookies I made this - a dried fruit cake. This is a very simple, tried and tested recipe in which I have used buttermilk. I am very sure; if you try this recipe you will enjoy this cake as I did. To make instant buttermilk, take one cup of milk and add one tbs of lemon juice/vinegar and let it stand for 10 minutes at room temperature and the buttermilk is ready.

Recipe link- Joy of baking.com

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 and a half cup (200 grams) all-purpose flour/white bread flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 3/4 cup sugar (150 grams sugar)
• 2 cups dried fruits (300 grams)
• 1/2 cup melted butter (115 grams)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup buttermilk

METHOD

• Grease a cake pan with some butter and sprinkle flour on top of it.
• Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.
• Sieve the all-purpose flour with baking soda and add sugar and cardamom powder in it, now mix the dried fruits in it.
• Mix all wet ingredients-butter, essence and buttermilk.
• Now mix all the wet and dry ingredients together, mix well and pour the batter into the greased tray and bake for 50 minutes, till the toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool on a cooling rack, slice and serve.

I am sharing this recipe with Cook once and eat Twice and with Full Plate Thursday and with Heart and Soul link party and with Cook blog share and with Sweet Inspiration link party and Fiesta Friday and with meatless Monday.

BLACK-EYED BEANS CURRY

BLACK-EYED BEANS CURRY

LOBHIYA CURRY

In the 80's when I was in Kenya, I stayed in a remote area for a year, where there was only one boarding school together with 50 teachers’ houses and very few shops and a post office outside the school, where we could buy some basic essentials and nothing else around for many kilometers. One day my neighbour, who was a very sweet African lady, informed me, that every Wednesday there is a market (farmer's market) outside the school campus, where farmers (mostly ladies) come from nearby villages and sell their products. She asked me if I am interested in shopping for a few things from them.

I enquired about what they were selling, then agreed and told her that I will accompany her because I didn't know the local language of that area. Next Wednesday when I went with her to the market, I was surprised to see that those women were not using the weighing scale and measuring their small sized fruits and vegetables with cups, like one full cup of berries is one shilling and big fruits and vegetables they were counting and selling like a pile of 4 tomatoes is one shilling. Initially, I thought why so, but later I realised that they are subsistence farmers who cannot afford the weighing scales.

The other thing which really surprised me was, to see them selling red kidney beans and black-eyed beans in those cups. Until that time I had no idea that Africans also grow and eat those beans. Let me remind my readers that, at that time there was no internet and Google and that was my first overseas trip to Africa. I asked my neighbour lady, whether they also grow and eat these beans and informed her that we Indians also like them. I was really glad to see those beans, which they were selling at a very reasonable price, and bought them along with other vegetables and fruits from that small village market.

Black-eyed beans stew or curry is a famous dish of the state of Punjab in India and it is regularly made in our house. This is one of my favourite dishes and my elder grandson always enjoys and appreciates his grandma whenever I make this dish. Last week when I made this curry, he really enjoyed with rice and told me, “You are the best grandma in the whole world”. I love hearing such compliments from my grandchildren, they make my day! This recipe is very simple, healthy and tasty; this stew can be enjoyed with rice, naan, and roti or dinner bun with some fresh green vegetable salad.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup black-eyed beans
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tbs tomato puree or one big tomato, finely chopped
• 1tsp ginger and garlic paste
• 2tbs butter or oil
• 1tsp cumin seeds
• 1tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp garam masala (optional)
• salt and chilli powder to taste
• ½ tsp turmeric powder

METHOD

• Rinse black-eyed beans two/three times in water and soak them overnight in three cups of water.
• Add salt and turmeric powder and boil in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes after the whistle or boil in a pot for 30 minutes till they are done.
• For garnishing (tadka) heat the butter in a frying pan, add cumin seeds, then garlic/ginger paste, saute for 2 minutes, add onion and fry them until golden brown. Add tomato puree and mix well.
• Add garnishing (tadka) and garam masala in boiled black eyed beans.
• Serve hot with naan, roti or white rice.

A slow cooker can be used instead of a pressure cooker to cook this curry, in that case, you will have to cook for 7-8 hours on high. This can be served to three/four people.


I am sharing this recipe for the following blog parties Cook once and eat Twice and Meatless Monday
and  Hearth and Soul blog party and with Fiesta Friday, and Cook blog share and My Legume Love affairs with Lisa and Susan, and with Full plate Thursday

PIZZA ROLLS

PIZZA ROLLS

Grandchildren are the best gift from God, and I am lucky to have three grandchildren, two are boys and one is a girl. My granddaughter is three years old and she lives in Toronto. My two grandsons are living with me and they both know that I love my blog and enjoy sharing my recipes and they both even know the name of my blog. They both love my cooking and they always appreciate and give the best compliments a grandmother can ever have in the world. All three of my grandchildren are artistically inclined and many a time I have enjoyed and admired their creations.

When I started my blog in 2014, my eldest grandson who was 8 years old at that time, after asking the name of my blog, suggested using spices to write the name of my blog. I really liked the idea and the three of us did a good project of writing the name of the blog with the available spices in my kitchen and they really enjoyed that project. I took the picture of that, which I used as a blog header for many months on my blog.

 

Yesterday, when I was doing some work on my laptop, the younger one who is 7 years old now came to me and told me, “Grandma I am bored, I do not know what to do”, I gave him the idea that he can do some drawing and coloring. After listening to my idea of colouring and drawing, he got some pencils and colours and sat on a chair, near my table and was busy for half an hour and I was busy too with my work.

After half an hour he came to me and showed his drawing, to my big surprise, on that paper I saw the heading was, “Herbs Spices and Tradition”, with a lot of colourful food items that were also drawn on it. I was totally impressed with his drawing, couldn't believe my eyes and gave him a big hug and told him that I will take the picture of it and post it on my blog. Then I suggested to him to write the name of the food items as well so that my readers can also enjoy his drawing and understand what he has drawn, for which I helped in spelling some words as well. Following is the picture.

Both my grandsons love these pizza rolls and they even take them in their lunch boxes to school, so they are made regularly in my kitchen. This recipe is an easy one and I have used brown flour to make it healthy.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups brown bread flour (Whole wheat flour)
• Half packet active dry yeast ( 5grams)
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbs oil
• more oil for coating

FOR PIZZA FILLING

• One medium finely chopped onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs butter (preferably at room temperature)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2tbs tomato ketchup
• 50 grams grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 green chili optional

METHOD

• In a cup, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water, add sugar and salt in it. Mix well and leave it for 5 minutes until the colour of the water changes and becomes foamy.
• In a big bowl take flour, add salt, oil and this foamy water of yeast, mix more water and make a soft dough, coat all sides of the dough with oil.
• Cover with plastic wrap to let it rise (until double the original size). Keep it in a warm place for 1-2 hours to rise.
• Finely chop onion, garlic and green chilies and mix into the butter (room temperature) and keep it aside.
• Punch the dough down and divide into two big balls, roll out the ball thin on a flat surface, spread the mixture of onion garlic and butter thinly on top of the dough.
• Now give a thin layer of ketchup and sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top of the dough.
• Cut thin strips as shown in the picture, and roll all the way up to the end of the strip and keep them on a baking tray, leaving some distance in between the rolls.
• Bake at 350 degrees F/180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes till the cheese is melted.
• These rolls can be served hot or cold.

I am sharing this recipe for the following blog parties Cook once and eat Twice and Meatless Monday
and we are pinnable link party and Hearth and Soul blog party and with Fiesta Friday and Full plate Thursday

CHEESY JALAPENO POPPERS

CHEESY JALAPENO POPPERS

Normally, we bloggers say that blogging is not a joke because it requires a lot of work. Starting from planning, this includes the recipe selection, then making the item with the properly measured ingredients, then taking nice and presentable photographs of the process and the final product. Not only that but the real work starts after that, which is writing a post about it and then about the recipe with the detailed ingredients and list of steps to follow, which should include all the details so that readers can easily understand and reproduce the recipe and so on and so forth.

But, on the other side of the coin, blogging is a lot of fun. I get the feeling of contentment whenever I share my recipes or even when I do something for my blog. There are enormous reasons behind it, first is that cooking is my passion and when there is an intense desire to do something, a person will definitely enjoy it, the same thing is happening with me. The other reason is that blogging has opened many ventures/doors for me to learn not only new recipes but also to try new cuisines and a lot of new things about food and the food industry. The other thing which I like most about blogging is the integration with people, not only with my readers and people who come and comment on my posts but also with other bloggers. In the last three years, I have made many many new blogger friends, who are from different continents, countries, and cultures and we share the same interest in blogging.

Blogging has not only opened doors for me to learn about the culinary art but also has opened doors for me to learn so many other aspects of life and particularly to learn a lot about DIY projects because many of my blogger friends have blogs in which they share their awesome DIY projects. This recipe is my blogger friend Nikki's recipe; surprisingly her blog is not only about food but about lifestyle too, where occasionally she shares some food recipes. This is the link to the recipe.

I met Nikkki Frank-Hamilton, around 3 years ago, soon after I had started my blog. She is a beautiful lady with a beautiful heart, even apart from her busy life; she is always willing to help others. Her blog is View from in here, which is an awesome blog. She is a great writer and a very good friend of mine. Her friendship is a treasure for me which I want to save for the rest of my life. Her posts are so informative, interesting and knowledgeable that anybody would love to read them. Recently she wrote about “Life lessons learning over 50 years”, which is a must-read for everyone turning 50, every single paragraph of this post is awesome and worth reading. Here is the link-

She also has a Facebook Community group of bloggers, Way-Wow community group where we 20 bloggers help and promote each other. If you would like to join this group, please do contact her.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 8 jalapeno chili peppers
• 100 grams grated mozzarella cheese
• 100 grams cream cheese.
• 1-2 tbs of milk if required
• 2 tbs oil for greasing the chilies and the oven tray
• 100 grams chopped cilantro
• salt and black pepper to taste

METHOD

• Wash the chilies thoroughly, slice in the middle and cut them half lengthwise and de-seed them.
• Mix cream cheese and mozzarella cheese together with salt and pepper and cilantro, if the mixture is too dry, add the milk to make it smooth.
• Grease the skin of the chilies and the oven tray with oil, Stuff the mixture into the chilies.
• Heat the oven for 400 degrees F /204 degrees C.
• Place the chilies in the greased tray close together so that they do not fall over.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, when chilies are brown on the top serve hot as a side dish and enjoy.

I am sharing this post with Sweet Inspiration Link party and Meatless Monday and Fiesta Friday

and Cook once and eat Twice and we are pinnable and Hearth and Soul Link party and with Cook blog share