Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day.
My friend has arranged a small get together at her house.
we enjoyed a lot having a talent rounds like singing,dancing,expressing love .
I baked and frosted these yummy brownies for the evening.We had chapathi,aloo kurma,veggie biryani,chole sundal,gunthaponganalu,lemon rice,fruit salad.Enjoyed the evening with lot of fun filled with healthy environment along with lovable kids.

Chocolate Brownies for a Christmas Party

My neighbour has invited us(mom and kids) for lunch at her house on the eve of christmas.Akshay,my toddler is so excited to meet all his friends.
Brownies are perfect for this occasion so went ahead to make nutty chewy brownies for the group .


Ingredients:
Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie Mix - 1 pack/20.8 oz fast and easy when you have mix in hand.
Chopped walnuts - ½ cup
Chopped dried cranberries - ¼ cup
Vegetable oil - ¾ cup
Water - 1 ½ cup
Eggs - 2 no


Making:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the pan with (Pam)cooking spray.Dust the pan with flour and coat evenly.Place wax paper and keep it aside.

Whisk all the wet ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the brownie mix and beat for 1 to 2 minutes in low speed until well combined.
Add chopped nuts and dried cranberries and fold the batter 2 to 3 times with spatula.
Pour the batter in a lined baking pan evenly.
Sprinkle with Cake Mate Nonpareil Decors and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool completely.
Cut the brownies and serve.
Simple and yummy brownies are ready for the party.

Horsegram Powder/Ulava Podi /ఉలవ పొడి

Ingredients:
Horsegram - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 cup
Vamu ginjalu /Ajwain - 3 tspn
Dry ginger powder /sonti/సొంఠి - ½ tspn
Dried Red chillies 11 to 13 no
Salt to taste


Making:
Dry roast the urad dal until dal changes to light brown color.Roast horsegram in low flame until it becomes slightly change in color and add vamu ,dry ginger powder and asafoetida and trasfer to the plate.Roast red chillies and allow to cool the above ingredients.
Grind to a coarse powder by adding salt according to your taste.
Once cool store in an airtight container.
Mix horsegram powder with steamed rice along with a dollop of homemade ghee.

ఉలవ పొడితో అమ్మమ్మ ముద్ద ghghjljljljlhjljl

½ Marathon and sweet treat Sandesh

Gopi ran the Sanjose
Rock'n'Roll ½ marathon in 2hr 11mins on Sunday October4th ,2009.

Happy Independenance Day

COURTESY:Youtube

Idly and Sambar

Idly:
Wash and Soak 3 cups of rice and 1 cup of urad dal in two seperate bowls.
After 5 to 6 hrs grind into a fine paste and transfer to steel vessel.
Keep oven in warm for 10 minutes and switch off the oven.
Close the vessel with lid and place the vessel in oven and leave to ferment for 8hrs.
Stir in sufficient salt and now the batter is ready for dosa or idly.
Apply oil to the idly plates and pour the batter.Stack the idly plates in pressure cooker and steam for 10 minutes.

Sambar:
Vegetables - 1 cup(Cho cho,sunburst pattypan squash)
green chilli - 1no
Tomato - ½ no
Tamarind paste - 1 tspn
Boiled toor dal - 2 cups
Curry leaves - 4 or 5 leaves
Oil for seasoning.
Water for cooking.
Salt to taste
Cho Cho and Sunburstpattypan Squash Sambar:
Put oil in a pressure cooker and add mustard seeds,red chillies,curryleaves,asafoetida for seasoning.
Add chopped onions,green chillies and fry for a while.Add chopped tomato pieces and chopped vegetables .
Stir for a while and add sambar powder,turmeric,tamarind paste ,salt according to taste.Pour water and close the lid.When steam starts coming add boiled toor dal to the mixture and close the lid and put the pressure.
Switch off the stove after 3 whistles.
Allow to cool the cooker and add coriander leaves to the sambar and serve in a bowl.
Look here for one more idly recipe:
Idly with Vadaicurry
This recipe goes to EFM Theme - Breakfast Series hosted by hostess Sri of Me and My kitchen .

Strawberry Icecream(Eggless)

Ingredients:
Strawberries - 2 lbs
Whole milk - 6 cups
Sugar - ¼ cup
Cinnamon pwd - ½ tspn
Vanilla essence - 1tspn
Whipped topping - 8oz container
chopped strawberries - ½ cup

Making:
Boil whole milk ,Vanilla essence ,cinnamon pwd,sugar and keep stirring continuously in medium flame until it reduces to 4 cups.
Remove from fire and leave the vessel to cool.Meanwhile ,Puree the strawberries.
Pour the chilled milk into the strawberry puree and mix well.Fold whipped topping into the strawberry puree,chopped strawberries.Transfer to the container with a lid and freeze for 3 to 4 hours .

This icecream goes to Happycook who is hosting an event called "Strawberry Feast".

Strawberry and Cherry Picking

Last weekend we planned to visit farms near to our place along with our friends and their kids.We reached the farms after 1½ hours.

My kid was happy to see lot of strawberries at one place.He enjoyed running in and around fields.Strawberries are so juicy and sweet.While picking I can't resist myself tasting tiny red strawberries.Wow enjoyed the taste and picking too.
We did our lunch at near by park and again started ahead to pick cherries.
Here are the pictures of Strawberry Farms:

~~~~~ Strawberry plants ~~~~~

~~~~~ Strawberry flowers ~~~~~

~~~~~ Blackberrys{Red berries are unripe ,when they turn Black its time to pick } ~~~~~








Brentwood Region,Contra Coasta county,California :
Chan's Fruit stand Strawberries,Blackberries
2500b Walnut Blvd. Brentwood, CA 94513 (Corner of Walnut and Payne).
925-325-0640
Per pound - 1$
Maggiore Cherry Ranch
Walnut Blvd., 1/2 mile south of Balfour Road, Brentwood
925-634-4176
Picked & U-Pick Cherries: Bing, Brooks & Corral Champagne.
Per pound - 2.50 $

Wedding Anniversary - Lake Tahoe

Anniversary Cake White sponge cake with strawberry filling Whipped cream frosting



Lake Tahoe from Heavenly gondola

Idly and Sambar

Idly:
Wash and Soak 3 cups of rice and 1 cup of urad dal in two seperate bowls.
After 5 to 6 hrs grind into a fine paste and transfer to steel vessel.
Keep oven in warm for 10 minutes and switch off the oven.
Close the vessel with lid and place the vessel in oven and leave to ferment for 8hrs.
Stir in sufficient salt and now the batter is ready for dosa or idly.
Apply oil to the idly plates and pour the batter.Stack the idly plates in pressure cooker and steam for 10 minutes.

Sambar:
Vegetables - 1 cup(Cho cho,sunburst pattypan squash)
green chilli - 1no
Tomato - ½ no
Tamarind paste - 1 tspn
Boiled toor dal - 2 cups
Curry leaves - 4 or 5 leaves
Oil for seasoning.
Salt to taste
Cho Cho Sunburstpattypan Squash Sambar:
Put oil in a pressure cooker and add mustard seeds,red chillies,curryleaves,asafoetida for seasoning.
Add chopped onions,green chillies and fry for a while.Add chopped tomatoe and chopped vegetables .
Stir for a while and add sambar powder,turmeric,tamarind paste ,salt according to taste.Pour water and close the lid.When steam starts coming add boiled toor dal to the mixture and close the lid and put the pressure.
Switch off the stove after 3 whistles.
Allow to cool the cooker and add coriander leaves to the sambar and serve in a bowl.
Look here for one more idly recipe:
Idly with Vadaicurry
This recipe goes to EFM Theme - Breakfast Series hosted by hostess Sri of Me and My kitchen .

Whole Wheat Gojiberry Cookies(Egg less)

Goji berries are lying in my kitchen shelf for the past 2 months.Actually Goji berries can be added in granola,cakes,muffins and cookies too.Tea was good with the gojiberries decotion on a rainy day.I made cookies with whole wheat flour,mixed nuts and dry fruits along with pre soaked goji berries.
Info about goji berries .


Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour - 2 ½ cup
Rolled oats - 1 ½ cup
Brown sugar - ¾ cup
Maple syrup - ¼ cup
Baking soda - 1 tspn
Vanilla essence - 1tspn
Butter - 1½ stick
Salt - a pinch
Nuts- Almonds,Pistachio
Dry fruit - chopped Apricot
Gojiberries - 1 cup,pre soaked in hot water
poppy seeds - 2 tbspn
clementine rind - 4 tspn

Making:
Grind Rolled oats along with brown sugar to a fine powder in a blender.Add oats mixture,vanilla essence to Whole wheat flour along with all the dry ingredients except Butter.Bring butter to room temperature and add to the whole wheat mixture.
Pre heat oven to 375 deg. Whisk until the mixture comes together.Add a 1 to 2 tbspn of milk to make it a dough.Divide into a 1½ " size balls. Grease the palms and press each ball into a flat disc and place it on a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes until edges are slightly brown.
Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack after 5 minutes.
Store in an airtight container lined with a parchment paper .
Shelf life - 15 days.

Birthday Party

My little one - " Akshay " turned 2 last week.We were bit busy with arrangements for the birthday party.
We invited our friends and G's colleagues for the party.
Akshay enjoyed his day playing with colorful baloons and staying together with his dad.We enjoyed the evening with all our friends and their little ones at our place.s
I prepared Shahi Paneer,Aloo Capsicum Brinjal curry,Chana masala ,Jeera Rice,Sambar,Majjiga pulusu,Carrot Halwa,Fruit Salad,Pickle.We got the cake from our near by grocery store.

Sree Rama Navami Prasadam - Vadapappu,Paanakam

Since my childhood ,i have seen Sri ram navami is celebrated big in India.My grandmom used to do puja on this day and offer vadapappu (వడపప్పు) ,paanakam (పానకం) as prasadam.
In India ,summer is on its peak by this time.Paanakam along with vadapappu is a tasty and healthy combo.Prasadam and brand new visari/visana karra is given to relatives and neighbours, who used to visit our home on this auspicious day.Tuning to Sree SitaRamula vari Kalyanam in Radio and enjoying the commentary by Sri Ushasri on akasavani is really unforgettable moments in life.
Now lets share the prasadam recipes which i learnt from my grandmom ...
Vadapappu:
Moong Dal - 2 cups,soaked for 3 hours
Green chillies - 2 no,chopped
Grated Coconut - ½ cup
Grated Carrot - ¼ cup ,optional
Salt to taste
Mix all together in a bowl and serve.


Paanakam:
Jaggery - 2 cups
Water - 5 cups
Black pepper - 2 tspn ,crushed
Cardamom - 6 no,crushed
Dissolve jaggery in water and add pepper pwd,cardamom pwd .Stir well to mix all the ingredients.

Jam Spirtz Cookies

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Butter - unsalted - 1 stick
Flax seed meal - ¼ cup
Milk - 3tspn
Salt - a pinch
Granulated sugar - ½ cup
Vanilla essence - ½ tspn
Filling :
Raspberry jam - 3 tspn
Making:
Preheat oven to 400º.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together all the above ingredients except the jam, until they come together to form a stiff dough.Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.Fit the disposable piping bag with star tip and scoop the cokkie batter
into the bag.Make sure to press the batter towards by removing air bubbles.Pipe the dough into a star shape.Place jam in the middle of the cookie with the spoon tip.Bake the Spritz cokies for 6-8 minutes until the bottom is slightly brown.Transfer to wire rack . Store in an airtight container with lined parchment paper.

Happy Ugadi

~~~~~~Sri virodhinama samvatsara subhakanshalu.~~~~~~

Amma's Carrot halwa for Akshay

Cooking for kids event is a good idea to know the number of various foods can be given to the children.My mother is the guru for me in cooking.She has given us nutricious and healthy food.I am trying to follow her recipes in my culinary journey.My son Akshay, who is 21 months old ,liked my moms carrot halwa in india on our recent trip to our hometown.Since then iam trying to give him and he liked not only his grandmothers but accepted his mothers one too.
This is the perfect occasion for me to share the delicious carrot halwa recipe through my blog and happy to participate in the Cooking for kids with Love event in memory of Pedatha.
Cooking for kids with Love event is hosting by Dear Jigyasa giri and Prathibha jain .
Ingredients for Carrot Halwa / gajar ka halwa
Carrot - 3 cups,grated ,slightly fried in a tspn of butter / ghee
Mixed nuts - (Walnuts,Almonds)crushed - 1 cup
Dates - 8 no,pitted
Sugar - 4 tbspn
Cardamom - 4 no,crushed
Milk - ½ cup
Milk powder - 2 tspn
Raisins,Cashews (each 6 no chopped into half) fried in ghee/unsalted butter.
Ghee for frying.
Pistachios ,Saffron for garnishing.

Pressure cook the slightly fried carrot along with crushed nuts adding the sufficient water.Once pressure released, transfer the cooked carrot mixture to heavy bottomed vessel and start adding the milk ,sugar and cook in low flame stirring occasionally.
Add milk powder,fried cashews ,plumpy raisins,mashed dates,crushed cardamom to the pan.
Stir continuously and adjust sugar to your taste.
cook until the mixture comes together.
Switch off the stove and remove pan from the stove .
Serve into the bowls with pistachio halves and saffron strands.

Sugar cookies

Rolled Sugar cookies
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3cups
salt - ½tspn
Unsalted butter - 2 sticks
Sugar - 1 cup
Egg - 1 no
Vanilla extract - 2tspns
yields - 2½" 30 cookies
Sift together the flour and salt in a medium bolw and set aside.

cream together the butter and sugar until the light and fluffy with hand mixer.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well .
Add the flour to the butter mixture and blend in a low speed.But dont overmix.
Turn out the dough into work space and divide it into two equal discs .Place the discs in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F

Rolled the dough on a parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness.
dip the cookie cutters in flour and cut cookies and reroll the dough until you have used all the dough.
place the cookies with offset spatula in a lined cookie sheet.
bake them for 10 to 12 minutes .If the cookies start to turn slightly golden around the edges.Remove from oven and cool the cookies completely on a wired rack.


Royal icing using by Egg whites:
2 large egg whites

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

Beat the egg whites in a bowl with hand mixer.Add sifted powdered sugar and beat in low speed for 10 minutes until you get a stiff peak.Transfer to an airtight container.Add food colors as per your requirement to the royal icing.Fill the parchment cone with the desired color and pipe on the cookie.Decorate with jiggle mix decors.


This recipe goes to cookie baking event hosting by Sharmi of neivedyam .

Navrathri Bommala Koluvu

Spring Blooms

Spring blooms - Ranunculus in Carlsbad,California

Happy NewYear and Happy Sri RamaNavami.

Sunburst Pattypan Squash Pickle

Sunburst Pattypan Squash pridely looks with a vibrant color.Good for Dal,Sambar,mixed veggie gravies.I thought of making Dal again but I switched to some another veggie to finish my afternoon cooking.While playing with my lil one with his ball,I just remembered the vegetable "dosakaya" which looks in yellow color ,easily grown creaper in backyard and gives a delicious taste to dal ,sambar.No one can say "na...." to spicy instant pachadi and pickle(aavakaya) made with dosakaya.I decided to make pickle with Sunburst Pattypan Squash like dosakaya avakaya method.It is quite simple and It tasted good.


Making Pickle :
1. Sunburst Pattypan Squash - 2 no washed,wiped of the water with dry cloth
2.Mustard seeds - 3tbspn
3.Fenugreek seeds - 6 no
4.Red chilli pwd - 3 tbspn
5.Turmeric - ½ tspn
6.Salt to taste
7.Sesame Oil for mixing.

Required :
Earthenware/Ceramic jar/ jaadi
wodden ladle

Fry the mustard seeds in a dry pan(no oil) for 2 to 3 minutes in low flame.Add fenugreek seeds and fry for golden brown color.Remove from fire and allow it to cool by transfering to a plate.Grind to a fine powder.Add red chilli powder ,turmeric to it and Blend well .Thats it, pickle mix is ready.

chop squash into ½" size pieces.Add squash pieces,pickle mix,salt,oil and combine evenly with wooden ladle.Shift to the ceramic jar and store in a dark ,dry place(kitchen shelf).Always use dry spoon to take pickle.
Pickle will be good to taste after 24 hrs.


Pickle can be served with Upma,hot rice or curd rice.
Well written post on "Dosa Avakai" by Sailu.

www.veggiegardeningtips.com
This is my entry to WHB Event started by wonderful Kalyn of Kalyns Kitchen and WHB#128 hosts are wonderful Jai and Bee of Jugalbandi.