Friday, January 01, 2010

Recording more recipes...

1. Vegetarian Enchiladas
Ingredients : Tortillas, Can of refried beans, grated mexican cheese, Enchilada sauce, taco seasoning, onions, green peppers, lettuce, guacamole, salsa.

Take a little oil, saute the onions, add taco seasoning, 2 spoons of salsa and the 3 spoons of enchilada sauce and refried beans. Mix it well.
Spread enchilada sauce on top of the tortillas, put the bean filling, wrap it up and lay it out in the baking tray and smother it with enchilada sauce.
Add grated cheese on the top and bake it for 30 mins at 350 degrees.
Add lettuce, guacamole, and sauteed onions and green peppers on the side while serving.

2. Mexican Rice
Ingredients : Rice, green peppers, onions, taco seasoning, garlic, tomatoes, cabbage, spring onions, can of refried beans

Take a little oil and saute the onions, green peppers, garlic, cabbage and spring onions.
Add taco seasoning and the can of refried beans.
Add cooked rice slowly and mix it with the gravy.

First saute the onions and garlic in oil, add sliced green peppers, spring onions, tomatoes and cabbage. Add little water and little taco sauce and ketchup. Prepare the rice separately with little salt.
Add rice little by little to the gravy mixing it as you add. Sprinkle with spring onions.


3. Paneer wraps
Ingredients : paneer cubes, flour tortillas, green coriander-mint chutney, onions, green peppers, Shaan masala for marinating, yogurt, ginger, garlic, green chilies, black salt, chaat masala

Take yogurt in a bowl and add the Shaan masala, ginger, garlic, green chilies and mix it well. Marinate the paneer pieces in this and keep it aside for about 4-6 hours.

Cut onions and green peppers into big pieces and saute them in oil and add black salt and chaat masala to it for seasoning.

Layer the paneer pieces on a baking tray or put them on to skewers and bake them for about 20 mins till the pieces are brown and paneer has really softened up.

Take the tortillas , spread some chutney on it, then add the paneer pieces, onions and bell peppers and top it with black salt and chaat masala.
Wrap up the tortillas with the filling.

4. Pita Pizzas (English muffin pizzas)
Ingredients : mini pita bread or english muffins, basil pesto or marinara, garlic, zucchini, red bell pepper, mushroom, broccoli, olives, roma tomatoes, feta cheese

Finely cut the garlic, zucchini, broccoli, bell pepper, mushrooms and tomatoes.
Take a skillet, add some olive oil, add the chopped garlic and zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli and bell peppers.
Take the pita bread and apply basil pesto/marinara and lightly toast it in the oven.
Add the cooked vegetables and top it with feta cheese, tomatoes and olives and re-toast for 2-3 minutes so the feta gets crisp.

5. Burrito Bowl

guacamole:
4-6 small (or 2-3 large) avocados (depends how much you want)
2 handfuls cilantro - chopped
2 roma tomatoes diced
1 lime - juiced
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Tony Chachere's - green

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and season with garlic onion and Tony's.
Generally speaking I use about 2 tsp onion and garlic (each) and 1 TBSP
tony's (depends how spicy you like it though so maybe start out with a
little less). Let it sit for about 30 mins in the fridge for best flavor.

Cilantro-lime rice:
2 cups basmati rice
2 limes (zest and juice)
2 handfuls cilantro - chopped
Salt (1 -2 tsp kosher or sea salt) or to taste.

Cook rice according to package... 20 mins then let sit 5-10 mins (don't pick
up the lid!). Fluff cooked rice with a fork and add lime zest, juice, salt
and cilantro. Fluff again and enjoy!

Bush's black beans (straight from a can and warm in microwave or on the
stove). Add salt for added flavor if needed.

Burrito Bowl:
Rice, beans, sauted peppers and onions with taco seasoing if you like, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese and guacamole... Tada!

You could also mix taco seasoning into your beans or your sour cream to give
it a little extra flare too! And using Old El Paso Taco sauce (in a bottle)
is divine!

6. Stuffed Eggplant

small eggplants - 4 or 5
1/2 cup peanuts 
2 tbsp sesame seeds
chilli powder
dhania jeera powder
1/4 tsp garam masala or kitchen king masala
1 tsp tomato paste or tamarind extract
a little bit of jaggery
1/4 onion chopped (i usually don't put these since mummy does not eat but it tastes good with onions)
salt to taste

Roast peanuts for 45 sec or a min in the microwave.
Coarsely grind the roasted peanuts and til 
Mix in everything else in the peanuts (except eggplants) and make a dry masala paste (you may add a tsp of water if required).
Make crosswise slits in the eggplant keeping the base intact.
Stuff the above masala in the eggplants. Save the remaining masala.
In a pressure pan, add oil and do the baghar (mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves and hing).
Then add the eggplants, remaining masala and stir on low heat for a min or 2.
Then add 1/2 cup of water to this and put on the pressure and cook for 1 whistle. (only 1 whistle otherwise the eggplant gets overcooked).
Add some coriander leaves on the top if you like.


Monday, December 28, 2009

Movie of the year....

2009 is ringing to a close and what better way to end the year than watching a wonderful, heart warming movie like the '3 Idiots'.
I watched the 3D animation flick 'Avatar' last week which was hugely raved about. Even though the special effects and the theme of the movie were quite extraordinary, it failed to leave the kind of mark '3 Idiots' did. Having read the book 'Five point someone', from which the movie's storyline is loosely adapted, I was wondering how a movie based on the sufferings and travails of the Indian engineers could possibly be an interesting movie. But the movie really transcends all speculations and once again the director Raju Hirani succeeds in making a heart warming movie with a strong message. Of course the stellar performances of Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan all contributed to making such a wonderful experience on screen.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Canadian Rockies

We just got back from a 6 day trip to the Canadian Rockies. Cataloging the main points of the trip here.

Day 1 : Left from San Francisco and arrived into Calgary. We stayed at the Residence Inn Marriott in downtown Calgary.

Day 2 : Left for Banff after breakfast. Arrived into Banff and visited the Johnston Canyon. We took the trail to the lower falls. Then visited Mount Norquay and stopped over a few vista points on the way.

Day 3: Took a day trip to Lake Loiuse and Moraine Lake (about 45 mins from Banff). Also visited the Takakkaw falls. Took the trail to the bottom of the falls

Day 4: Took the gondola ride to sulphur mountain. Visited Lake Minnewanka and Vermillion lake and Bow Falls.

Day 5: Drive to Jasper. Stop over at Peyto lake and Columbia Icefield (Athabasca glacier) and Bow lake.

Day 6 : Day in Jasper. Visited Maligne Canyon, Maligne lake and Athabasca Falls.

Day 7: Drive back to Calgary and visited Mistaya Canyon on the way.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Fantabulous Big Sur

It's a shame that we have lived in the bay area for over 10 years and it is only now that we visited a fabulous place like Big Sur. Why isn't everyone making a big deal about this place? We hear about Monterey, Carmel, Yosemite but not much has been said about Big Sur. Well, the place was a real treat doubled up with great weather. We enjoyed a small hike to the pfeiffer water falls, made sand castles on the pfeiffer beach and enjoyed the plain old playing with kids in the green meadows of the park. We stayed in the Big Sur Inn lodge which is in pfeiffer state park surrounded by beautiful mountains on either sides. One of the main attractions of the area is Point Lobos which unfortunately we missed this time around. But I am happy in a way 'cos that just gives us a reason to visit this fantastic place again.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Proliferation of 'Twins'

Some 10 years back I barely knew one or two families who had twins. Over the last 5 years I have known a few more. But lately the twin phenomenon seems to be going strong. Here's what I mean:
1. I worked for OSAF for 3.5 years and during that span 4 of us had twins
2. I take the kids to MyGym and among some 12 kids there are 2 sets of twins and the instructor herself has twins.
3. My kids are enrolled for a Music Class and among 8 kids there are 2 sets of twins
4. At ParentsPlace and last Friday I met 2 other moms with twins (among 15 kids)
5. Our local Mothers Club playgroup (ages 2-3) includes 2 other moms besides me with twins.

Is it that just because I have twins that I have begun to take notice of more and more twins around me or there is really some phenomenon going around that cannot be dismissed?

Thursday, August 14, 2008

3 is the new 2

In case you have been too busy to notice, let me tell you 3 is the new 2. Being in various classes all week with the kids and being part of the local mothers club, I meet lots and lots of moms and there is one pattern that stands out clearly. More and more families are going for 3 kids. Yes, brave ones indeed and I applaud them. I have also met moms who are having their third kid in late 30s and early 40s. I have tried prodding them to figure out what exactly motivates them to extend their families beyond 2. I haven't found a general answer except the fact that these people are just family oriented people. They enjoy babies and kids and as soon as their older kids grow up they miss having little ones running around at home and that's part of the reason. Having 2 toddlers at home, I can completely relate to them but it would take a lot more convincing to get me to have a third. I mean just the amount of work involved and support required single handedly tilts the decision in favor of no. In the past I have worked for a company in the mid-west where having more than 2 kids was the norm. Everyone around me had at least 3 or more kids. Yes, some even 5 and these are people of our generation. It is true that beyond a point, there is economy of scale but there is certainly a delta of work that must be done by parents.
Anyhow, kudos to those parents who are going for larger families. Especially kudos to Casey, who is having her third baby anytime this week while her older twins just completed a year 2 weeks back.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Wild day with Thomas

If you have a 2 year old, you probably have heard, seen, worn and eaten anything and everything resembling 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. What's a silly looking train has the kids by their wits. My 2 year olds' first toddler toothbrush, toothpaste and underwear had Thomas on it. And it doesn't end there, next comes t-shirt, shoes, books, bag pack and what not. So when a friend mentioned that Roaring Camp in Felton, CA was having this event called 'Day out with Thomas' I naturally jumped on it. It was a dream come true for the kids, actually getting to ride on Thomas and hearing some of their favorite tunes. Of course, for the $18 that they charged us per ticket they could have made the whole experience a lot better than just a simple train ride through the redwoods. Everything else was an add-on. The place was packed with parents and kids dressed in all kinds of Thomas ensemble. The place is fun besides the train ride too. There are jump houses, clown shows, hay stack structures, playdough and bubble stations. The kids had a smashing time. Needless to say, we came back home more tired than the kids.

Friday, August 01, 2008

5 dump trucks and counting..



5 dump trucks, 3 fire engines, 3 diggers, 2 front loaders, 1 cement mixer, 1 bull dozer and more.
You can tell there lives someone in this house who loves anything and everything TRUCKS!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

What's up popcorn?

What's up with the different varieties of popcorn? What's happened to the simple old fashioned regular popcorn that we used to get. I visited a grocery store recently to pick up some for our movie nite. All I wanted was just regular popcorn.
I had to choose from:
1. movie theater butter style
2. blasto butter
3. light butter
4. kettle corn
5. caramel corn
6. unsalted and fat-free
7. 100 calorie
8. organic
9. buttery garlic
10. 94 % fat-free
11. fat-free
12. salt and cracked pepper
13. cheddar popcorn
14. Low-fat and low-sodium

Couldn't they just have one that is labeled "Regular"?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Vegetable Lasagna recipe



Ingredients:

1. Barilla Lasagna pasta sheets
2. Marinara Sauce - 1 bottle
3. Ricotta cheese,
4. Low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese
5. Parmesan cheese
6. Chopped spinach
7. Zuchini
8. Carrots
9. Summer squash
10. Radish
11. Red/Green/Yellow peppers
12.Onions
13.Garlic
14.Italian Seasoning
15.Olive oil


Making the vegetable filling:
1. Slice up all the vegetables in thin, small strips
2. First fry the onions in olive oil, add garlic and once the onions are done, add all the veggies and cook them.
3. Add italian seasoning and some salt to it and keep is aside

Making the cheese filling:
1. Mix chopped spinach with the ricotta cheese,salt and some pepper and put that aside
2. Mix the mozzarella and parmesan cheese and keep it in a seperate dish.

Layering the lasagna:
1. Boil the lasagna pasta sheets
2. Take a large (9'x13') baking dish and cover the base with some marinara sauce
3. Put a layer pasta sheets
4. Add the veggie filling and top it with some marinara sauce and the mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
5. Put a second layer of pasta sheets
6. Add a spinach ricotta cheese filling
7. Add the third layer of pasta sheet, top it with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.
8. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Texan heat, here we come!

We are off for a family vacation to Dallas tomorrow. Yeah, I know lot of people have asked me why Dallas? When has Dallas become a popular spot for vacation and that too in summer. Well, my answer is 'Family'. Viral's family lives there and when you have kids there is comfort in going to places where you have family and home. I hear the temperatures there haven't hit the 100s yet so it may not be that bad. Besides there are lovely indoor pools and water parks to visit there. I will most certainly post the pictures after we are back. This is the third year in a row we are off to Dallas for the July 4th weekend. So Texan heat, here we come again!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Cleaning is theraputic

When you are home all day with two toddlers, as naughty and hyperactive as mine, you need doses of energy supplements and pain relievers every now and then. And instead of popping half a dozen pills, you begin to explore solutions best available right around you. When I was single, meaning with no kids, shopping at a mall was the most effective means of beating my blues. Even getting a $5 trinket coupled with couple of hours of window shopping was best to get me in the best of the moods. Well with that being a luxury these days, I had to find other stress busters around the house. Lately I have realised that cleaning up and organizing household stuff had the same effect. Not necessarily scrubbing the floors or doing the dishes but simple stuff like organizing kids' toys in their bins, labeling them, organizing the closets, putting batteries in the toys, arranging books in the book closet, downloading photos from the camera onto the laptop and AppleTV and just simple things like that. Most of the stuff really takes 30 mins or less but at the end of the day there is a sense of having accomplished something. And again the rewards are in those countless genuine smiles that flash up when a dormant choo-choo gets going again or one of their favorite books that was misplaced for weeks shows up in the closet again.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

cherries, cherries and more cherries

Last weekend we set out for a picnic to Brentwood, the heart of Cherry farms in western California. The cherries were in full bloom but we missed other fruits like nectarines, peaches, apricots etc. We'd have to wait atleast a month more for those to be out in full bloom for picking but we were happy to just go pick cherries. Ripe, luscious and mouth-watering cherries were sitting in large looms waiting to be picked. The kids had fun picking at the low hanging bunches and shooting them straight into their mouths while we climbed the trees to grab the large ones looming at the top.







Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Viva San Diego

This memorial day weekend turned out to be quite memorable. Viral had to make a business trip to Santa Monica and like a loyal spouse I decided to tag along with the kids. Given my were parents visiting, they tagged along as well and it turned out to be one nice little vacation with the entire family. We spent a day in Santa Monica visiting the downtown and the next 2 days with Shamu the whale at Seaworld and elephants and the giraffes at the San Diego Zoo.





Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Tomatoes, basil and more..

Spring is in the air and you can't fail to notice those little flowers blooming everywhere - in the parks, along roadsides, in people's backyards, everywhere. Even the city does a good job planting those colorful shrubs along roadsides. It has especially been a delight taking the early morning walk and enjoying the whiff of fresh morning air muffled with fragrances of fresh flowers.
Taking this delight a little further we decided to embellish our otherwise barren backyard with some plants this year. So we started off with tomatoes and basil and if they survive the next two weeks we plan to add bell peppers,lemon grass, some more jasmine and possibly some mint.

Freshly planted basil and





and tomatoes



Roses in bloom

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Visit to the Natural Bridges state park

We discovered a true novelty of a place over the weekend : Natural Bridges state park near Santa Cruz. Pristine beach, clear water and beautiful warm weather. The kids had a great time playing in the soft sand making sand castles and tunnels. It was warm enough that we could take their clothes off and let them feel the ocean water, something that they don't get to do often.

We had to later make our mandatory stop over at the santa cruz boardwalk on our way back. The kids just can't get enough of the rides there. Ofcourse the cheese and garlic fries are an incentive enough for us adults to keep visiting the place again and again.






Monday, April 21, 2008

Drums, Maraccas, Triangles and more..

I didn't think kids this age were attuned to music but here they are playing musical instruments to the melodious beat of 'Twinkle twinkle little star' , 'Wheels on the bus..' etc



Friday, April 18, 2008

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

a Mom's story...

Many years back this email (attached below) was forwarded to me and I remember feeling overwhelmed with nostalgia at how closely this related to my mom's life back home when we were growing up.

Yesterday when I read this email again I could appreciate it from a completely new perspective, from that of being a mom, and I have to say not much has changed since the last generation.

--
Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, 'I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed'

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches. Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.
She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button.
She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer. She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.

Dad called out, 'I thought you were going to bed.'

'I'm on my way,' she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.
In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. 'I'm going to bed.' And he did...without another thought.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

First Art Class

Kiddos in their first art class. I have to admit I had as much fun with colors and confetti as the kids.