Blogging Break...

Ya..I know...again I am taking a long break. I thought last break was long but this will be even longer. Sorry to dissapoint all of you. This is a sudden trip to India due to some personal reasons. So see you all in mid of October. Till then enjoy rest of summer and happy blogging.

I am back...with Eggless Snow Capped Cookies

Hello Everybody, hope everyone are enjoying and having great time in this summer. I know, I took a long break from blogging, but I am back now and hopefully will not take such long breaks again.

The reason for such a long break is that, we bought a new house last month and all the process of packing and unpacking all the stuff took this long. Still there are few more boxes to unpack, will do that slowly. When we moved last month we just did pooja and milk boiling. Then later that week on a Poornima day we did Satyanarayana Pooja. We missed our family during this celebration.

While packing all the stuff, I was getting frustrated, as it was never ending. At that point, I realized that I had accumulated so many things. It has been a month since we have moved, I am still excited to unpack things, don't know why...

The first thing that I unpacked was the kitchen stuff. Although I prepared sweet on the first day, with all the excitement forgot to click any photos. So, I baked these cookies in my new kitchen. I often make these cookies for my daughter, as it has chocolate and also it is very soft and nutty. This is a recipe given to me by one of our family friend few years back. I have been making them ever since. It is very simple with less sugar, light and delicious. It is nice to have these snow cookies in this summer.

Ingredients:

Plain Flour - 1 3/4 cups

Pecans (chopped) - 1 cup

Butter (softened) - 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup)

Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 2 tsp

Vanilla - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Bakers Semi-sweet chocolate - 3 squares

Bakers White chocolate (coarsely grated) - 2 squares

Method:

• Heat oven to 350 deg.
• Combine flour and pecans and set aside.
• Mix butter and sugar until well blended.
• Add water, vanilla, salt and mix well.
• Gradually add flour mixture, stirring until well blended after each addition.
• Shape into 1" balls; place on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
• Cool on wire racks.
• Melt semi- sweet chocolate in a bowl kept on boiling hot water.(see directions on package)
• Dip each cookie halfway into melted chocolate, then sprinkle or press top lightly into grated white chocolate to create snowy appearance.
• Let stand until set.

PS:

• You can use wheat flour instead of plain flour.
• I have added less sugar, you can add more according to your sweetness.
• Walnuts can also be used instead of pecans.
• Grate white chocolate and refrigerate immediately, until ready to use.
• This proportion gave me 36 cookies.
• In this heat to avoid melting of chocolate you have to refrigerate them, otherwise you can store them outside.

Murgh Kaju / Cashew Chicken

I know, I am taking long breaks now a days. It has been 2 weeks again since I have blogged. Though I am not posting often, I am trying to visit all your blogs and your yummy recipe. So, now am back with this simple and spicy Kaju Chicken.

Ingredients: Chicken - 2 Lb

Coconut grated – ½ cup

Garlic Cloves - 8

Ginger – 1 ½ Tb spoon

Coriander seeds – 3 Tb spoon

Cumin seeds – 2 tsp

Red chillis – 6

Cloves – 5

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

Cashew – ¾ cup

Onions – 1 cup (chopped)

Pepper corns – 1 tsp

Butter – 2 Tb spoon Method:

• Soak red chilies in hot water for 10 minutes.
• Roast separately coconut, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon over low heat until it leaves a nice aroma.
• Add cashew and onions and roast altogether for 10 min.
• Turn off the heat and let it cool.
• Grind all the above ingredients.
• Heat butter in a pan, add ground spice and fry for 10 min.
• Add chicken pieces, salt and little water and cook until tender.
• Serve with rice, roti / chapathi or poori.

Yummy and spicy Kaju Chicken goes to "Potluck - Chicken" hosted by Vicky.

PS: Adjust the spices according to your spice level. You can add water according to the thickness needed.

Have a nice week ahead.

Eggless Apple - Banana Muffins

Hello Everybody ! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Last week we were feeling like summer has started as it was burning with 95 deg temp already. Weekend was cloudy and cool, today we had thunderstorm warning. The weather is crazy, can't predict or plan anything. We did not send our daughter to school today as it was raining very heavily, she enjoyed her long weekend and by evening, she wanted to go to school :-).

Last weekend, one of our friends planned a picnic to a park so that everybody can meet and kids also can have fun together. We were not sure about the weather, as it was raining in the morning and by afternoon it was hot and very humid. We decided by afternoon to meet around 4:00 pm. So, we all decided to make something light and healthy snacks/dinner. I made this egg less muffins as a dessert. Kids enjoyed playing, all men enjoyed talking about their usual stuff and also looking after the kids, we (ladies) walked a small trail talking when the trail will end :-). Totally, everybody had a great time with nice dinner.

So, coming to the muffin, it is quick and easy to make in short amount of time. I made two batches, one with chocolate chips for the kids and the other without them for adults.

Ingredients:

Apple finely chopped - 1

Big ripe banana - 1

Raisins - 1/2 cup

Pecans - 1/2 cup (toasted and chopped roughly)

Flax seed powder - 1 Tb spoon (optional)

Plain flour - 1 cup

Wheat flour - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 - 1 1/4 cup (I have added 1 cup)

Baking powder - 3/4 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon powder -1/4 tsp

Milk - 1 cup

Butter - 3/4 cup

Lemon juice - 1/2 Tb spoon

Chocolate chips – 1 cup (Optional)

Method:

• Toast pecans at 350 deg for few min, then cool and chop roughly.
• Sieve dry ingredients together 2-3 times.
• Melt butter in large bowl, add milk and gently fold in dry ingredients.
• Smash banana, and sprinkle lemon juice over it to avoid it from turning black.
• Peel the skin of apple and chop to very small pieces and sprinkle lemon juice.
• Add raisins, banana and apples, mix very lightly.
• Mix in chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
• Keep mixture a bit lumpy, and do not mix too much.
• A lumpy batter makes better muffins.
• Pour spoonfuls of mixture greased in muffin trays, or in small cups.
• Bake in preheated oven at 350 deg C for 20 minutes or till done.
• Serve hot or cold. Makes: 18-20 cup sized muffins.

Thanks to all the bloggers, who love my blog and have passed on cute award. I love all of your blogs too. I am very honoured to receive it from you all. I have added it in my side bar along with the names. Thank You once again.

Bye Everybody

Have a great week !!