Cooking with My Baby

                         Avocado or Butterfruit as its called in India is creamy fruit which is full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients.. Its indeed a Superfruit..                  Most common preparation of Avocado is making Mexican Guacamole... Its amazing combination of tomatoes and avocado to go along with nachos and tacos..                But have you ever had a sweet avocado smoothie? In Bangalore, I have noticed lots of fresh fruit juice centers, most of them called Shree Ganesh juice stall. Ya, trust me there is a Shree Ganesh Juice centre on almost every road of Bangalore..                    This is where I tried “butterfruit milkshake” for the firs...

Here comes one more Israel inspired dish, a garlic and tomato soup with Israeli Couscous or Ptitim. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion was responsible for invention of"Ptitim" in Israel, when rice was scarce. Ptitim is made of wheat flour and toasted in oven and shaped into small dense balls. Ptitim is known as Israeli Couscous or Pearl Couscous outside Israel.- Wikipedia This round whole wheat pasta balls are easy to cook and really absorbs the flavor of sauce in which its cooked. Its great substitute for rice when served with stews. It has kinda chewy texture and these balls double in size when cooked. This pasta can be a great hit with kids.. Neil loved to eat the pasta which I made in tomato and onion sauce. I have a small bag of this pasta which I plan to use more for Neil as he loved the pasta. Also its very quick to make. It also makes a wonderful addition to a warm and comforting soup, which is easy to make and uses the ingre...

               Today’s recipe is a muffin.. How exactly is a muffin different form a cupcake!!! There are loads of opinions on this... But for me, cupcake is a sweet and light cake, whereas muffin is more dense heavy, almost a bread.     Neil was also behind my life for a “Caaaaaaaaaakeeee”. So I decided to whip up some muffins for breakfast. Neil didnt eat these muffins. These werent CAKE..For him cake is Chocolate cake only. So i did make a chocolate cake for him later,, thats another cute story for another time.                When we were in USA, we used to love muffins from Cosco, chocochip and blueberry muffins. Whenever we went out on roadtrips, we used to carry few muffins with us. Half a muffin was a filling breakfast for each of us, they were that big and yummmmmmmm. I am almost drooling now.. How much I miss Cosco,, Cosco is a chain of sup...

                        Red, Yellow and Green bell peppers along with paneer form the basis of this quick and simple entree which goes well with rice as well as roti.                      Red bell pepper is sweeter in taste as compared to green one which is little on spicier side. I have used all three kinds of bell peppers to make the dish look colorful as well as I like the taste of red bell pepper.            Its simple quick dish which looks attractive and tastes great. Its more like an Indianized version of Thai red curry.. Ingredients: 1 red capsicum 1 yellow capsicum 1 green capsicum 1 large onion 2 garlic 1 cup paneer cubes 2 tbsp oil 500 ml coconut milk 2 tsp corian...

Jelly..... What does come to your mind when you hear the word JELLY !!! I can picturise wobbling jelly in spoons of kids in Jurassic Park, when the dinosaurs are coming... I love Jelly and so does Neil... Every now and then a kid deserves treats.. Treats are usually considered unhealthy. But what if we made these treats which are not only healthy and tasty but easy to make. So the Jelly recipe here includes milk and natural cranberry juice.. The sweet and sour taste of cranberry is perfect compliment to dense sweet milk jelly. It tastes great, but its also looks very good. Its a recipe which will be hit among kids as well as adults.. these jelly cubes can easily be served as a dessert in your kids birthday party.. For pink jelly Ingredients: 1 cup cranberry juice 1 cup water 2 tbsp gelatin Method: Pour water in a small saucepan, and sprinkle with the gelatin. Allow to soak for a minute or two. Heat over low heat until ge...

                            A great meal is never complete without savoring the aromatic concoction of flavors of clove, cardamom, gulkand, peppermint enveloped in green leaf, called as Paan. Usually eaten at the end of a meal, it is understood to help in digestion and can be a substitute for a dessert.                 In India, it is very common to see various small roadside-stalls, named Paan Bhandar or Paan Stall. These small shops sell Paan- the most eaten chewing material as mouth freshener. These shops are also center point of meeting of many Paan lovers, who love to discuss over various local and national issues, while relishing the wonderful aromatic taste of Paan. What is a Paan??? A Paan is a leaf from a creeper called the Paan creepers, grown in hot a...

Mango, the king of fruits has finally made its appearance in our home.. Though not have been able to welcome “Hapus” , the king of mangoes we were blessed by presence of Payari Mango yesterday.. Payari is ideal choice for aam-ras and mango juices. The mango is one of the most versatile fruits, it can be pickled,made into jams and ice creams, make amazing desserts and can be even added to curries.                 You can also call mango a superfruit, the one being appealing to look at and tasty is also full of nutrients and antioxidants that help fight disease and make you look young..            “ A mango a day makes you look young forever”                   Wanted to try something simple but different with mango pulp. Hence came up with an eggless dessert which is not only low cal ...

2000... Thats the year which made a big decision of my life. A decision that changed my life, made me a dentist.I got admission in Dr D. Y. Patil dental college. That was also the year when I was introduced to few amazing girls in my class, who later on went to be become my best buddies till today.                         Bijal, Aditi, Priya, Dhruti, Aksha, Chaitra & Zeeba.. So many wonderful memories together. We studied together, ate lunch boxes during lectures, played pictionary in boring lectures, called each other at 4 in the morning on exam day to make sure we are all awake and studying,,,,                               Now twelve years have passed by and life has changed so much.. few of us got marr...

Rooh Afza is drink concentrate made from rose, lotus, keora, mint, orange and multiple more ingredients. Its super coolant and is a must item in our fridge once the summer starts.. Its also very easy to make, just add 2-3 tbsp of syrup with ice and water and mix together to get this pretty pink cool drink. This recipe made by Abhi, calls for addition of sabja seeds and falooda noodles in this drink with ice cream on the top... Ingredients: 1 litre cold water 10 tbsp rooh afza syrup few falooda noodles boiled 1 tbsp sabja seeds 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream Method: Add rooh afza syrup tu cold water. Put boiled falooda noodles & sabja seeds in the drink. Let it stand for 30 min in the fridge. This will allow the sabja seeds to become gelatinous and noodles will also absorb sweetness of the drink. Serve in a tall glass adding some noodles and sabja seeds in the drink. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and few dried rose petals.. ...

I am not at all fond of summers, but there is one thing which I do look forward to to,, that's MANGOES.  I love mangoes green or yellow, ripe or raw, any any form... One great way to have raw mangoes is to make Aam Panna. Aam Panna or Kairi Panna is summer cooler drink which is commonly made in our home. Its basically raw green mango squash which has excellent heat resistant properties. This drink not only tastes great with sour and sweet taste but looks also refreshing yellow. A great drink to sip on in summer afternoons. I cant give you exact measurements. Drink can be adjusted according to ones taste.You could replace or add on ingredients such as jeera as well. This version is the way my mom makes it and we all love it... 3 large raw green mangoes 1.5 liters water 1 tsp cardamom powder 1 tsp rock salt 1 cup sugar a pinch of saffron Boil green mangoes with water in pressure cooker, till they are well cooked. once cooked, remove the mang...

Summer heat is on the rise… To cool off here is delicious combination of chocolate and coffee with vanilla ice cream topped with whipped fresh cream…                        Café Frappe is often our preferred choice when we visit coffee shops with our pals. Here have tried to re create the Café Frappe which you can have in the comfort of your home.                   So many important decisions are taken over the coffee… I decided to get married to The Guy over the coffee in Café Coffee Day.         So heres the my treat to My Guy with this Café Frappe.. I am sure all of you trying to woo your Guy or Gal can whip up Café Frappe. Here’s what you need: ·          400 ml cold milk ·      ...

                                When I was a kid, summers was vacation time and I used to be touring all my aunties and uncles house having a gala time with my bestest cousins.. Lots of great memories. One such memory is of my uncle cutting out slices of watermelon and seeding them and giving it to all of us. We used to sit surrounding him and wait for our turn to bite into a large slice of watermelon. It used to be a messy affair. All the faces used to get sticky. But that’s the best way to eat watermelon, start from one end and go all the way to other end of the slice.. Now we all have grown up but my uncle who is now grandfather to our kids still does it for them.. Whenever we get watermelons, I eat atleast one whole slice. Nowadays I am trying my hand at watermelon caving.. this is my First attempt which needs load...