Vanilla Hot Cocoa Drink

Hot Chocolate drink is one thing that will ease you especially when it's cold outside. Not only my kids, we too love this during winter months. First thing kids would want when the snow starts to fall and they are heading out to enjoy it. "Will you make that hot cocoa Mamma when we come back?". Who can say no to that request! So I usually cut short my play time to make these hot cocoas for them.

Prep Time: 5 min | Cooking Time: 10 min | Servings: 2

Recipe Source: Ellie Krieger
Ingredients:

Milk - 2 Cups
Cinnamon - Small Stick
Cocoa Powder - 2 tsp.
Sugar - 1 tbsp.
Water - 2 tbsp.
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp.
Chocolate Shavings (Optional) - 1 tsp

Method Of Preparation:

~ In a saucepan heat the milk with cinnamon.
~ Mix Cocoa Powder, Sugar and Water in a small bowl until smooth paste.
~ Once bubbles start appearing on the edges of the milk coming to boil, add in the cocoa paste mix it thoroughly.~ Take the milk off the heat and add in vanilla essence.
~ Pour the hot cocoa into two glasses, top it with chocolate shavings.

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! With Christmas eve almost in sight, bake these delicious crinkle cookies for Mr. Kris Kringle. These crinkle cookies sure to impress. I had tried this recipe, cut into half 2 weeks ago. It turned out so good that I decided to make them again. It's not only a feast to your eyes, the subtle hint of cocoa, right amount of sweetness and in between surprises of biting into chocolate morsels makes this a sure winner.

Prep Time: 20 min | Baking Time: 15 mins | Waiting Time: 1 Hr | Makes : About 40

Recipe Courtesy: Cooking Classy
Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour + Multi-grain Flour - 3 cups
Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Baking Powder - 2 tsp.
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp.
Softened Butter - 1/2 Cup
Olive Oil - 1/3 Cup
Granulated Sugar - 1 1/3 Cups
Eggs - 3
Buttermilk - 2 tbsp.
Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp.
Red food coloring - 2 tsp.
White Chocolate Morsels - 3/4 Cup
Powdered sugar - 1/2 Cup (To roll the cookies)

Method of Preparation:

~ In a small bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda and keep it aside.
~ In another large bowl using electric mixer, whip butter, oil and sugar together to form soft peaks.
~ Add in one egg at a time, blending each one into the mixture.
~ Add buttermilk, vanilla essence and the food coloring.
~ Slowly add in the dry flour ingredients and mix until combined.
~ Gently fold in the caramel bites. Cover with a plastic wrap and leave it the fridge for atleast an hour.
~ After you take out the dough out of the refrigerator, pre-heat the oven to 350 deg.
~ Place powdered sugar in a bowl. Scoop out small balls of the dough, shape them and roll them into powdered sugar. Transfer them to parchment lined cookie sheets. Handle them gently, otherwise the powdered sugar won't be visible at the end of baking.
~ Bake for about 12 mins, take it out and cool them on a wire rack. Once cooled store them in air tight container.

Note:
- Baking time depends upon how big the cookies are. I had a size of a medium lime.
- When you take them out, after cooling store them immediately. This is true for all the cookies especially when it's cold outside. They tend harden otherwise.

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Sending this to Vardhini's Bake Fest event @With A Spin

Seekh Kabab (Oven Baked)

If you love Seekh Kabab put your hands up. Yeah I know all the hands went up, atleast here in my household. It's very simple to make. Don't be scared because it's one of the exotic dishes. Julia Child once famously said, “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” So go for it.
We love the skewered chicken dishes. My kiddos can survive only on this for days. I just add a side salad and some flavored rice. Using the oven allows me to use lesser oil (rather hardly any except what you spray on the tray actually.) So get your oven on and create your magic to impress your loved ones.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Total Time: 1 Hr. 45 min. | Makes: 4 large skewers

Ingredients:

Ground Meat (Chicken/ Lamb/ Turkey) - 1 lb *
Onion - 1 large
Carrot - 1 large (Optional)
Ginger - 1 lime size
Garlic - 4 large pods
Coriander leaves - handful
Green Chilies - 2
Sauf/ Fennel Seeds - 2 tsp.
Chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1 tsp.
Salt - 2 tsp.
Meat Skewers - 4 **

Method of Preparation:

~ In a large bowl, grate Onions, Carrots, Ginger and Garlic. Add in finely chopped Green chilies and Coriander leaves.
~ In a mortar, coarsely ground Fennel seeds and add it to the mixture.
~ Add in Chili Powder, Coriander Powder and Garam Masala.
~ Mix all this using hands and add Ground meat and salt. Gently mix them all until combined. Cover this with a plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for an hour.
~ Line a oven safe sheet with a foil. Spray evenly using canola oil/ olive oil spray.
~ Divide the mixture into four equal parts. Now take one portion and form it into a long sausage like kebab while pressing onto the skewer. Do this until the meat is on the skewer. Place it on the prepared sheet.
~ Continue to do the remaining skewers and arrange them on the cooking sheet.
~ Switch on the Broil button on your oven, place the cooking sheet on the highest rack. Broil for 7 minutes. Take it out of the oven and turn the skewers. Put them back into the oven and broil for another 7 minutes. ***
~ Once cooled enough to handle, pull out the Kebab's out of the skewers. Cut them in 4 pieces and serve drizzled with some lemon and cut onions.

Note:

* This can easily turned into a Vegetarian Seekh Kabab. Use fresh Soy meat instead of the ground meat
** You can use bamboo skewers for the purpose. First make sure to soak it in the water for atleast an hour, so that it won't burn out in the oven. Also you might have to use 6 to 8 skewers instead, since they are much smaller in size.
*** To broil you don't have to preheat. Keep an eye on the broiler to make sure your highest rack is not too close to the source of heat. You then run into the risk of burning the kebabs rather than cooking. If you see it's getting burned, remove the sheet from highest rack to middle rack. Place the Kebabs back at the high rack for only last minute of cooking to get nice browned effect.
~ This turns out really great with any kind of ground meat. But Lamb is one of the best. Turkey is good for having lean meat.
~ I usually add carrots, zucchini or any greens while making these, so it adds extra nourishment to our daily diet. You can totally skip this part.
~ Once you add the meat in while mixing, make sure you are handling it gently. Otherwise the end product will become dry.

Cabbage Paratha/ Patta Gobi Parantha/ Cabbage Tortillas

Parantha's are easy way to get vegetables into kids diet. Though my kids love cabbage subzi, they love the paranthas even more. I do these parantha's in a different way than doing filling of the paratha and then rolling out. I mix them all up which makes the rolling easier. Also I quick stir fry the vegetables, so they are cooked right along with the parantha.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 30 min | Serves: 4 to 6

Ingredients:

Cabbage (Shredded) - 2 Cups
Onion - Small finely chopped
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp.
Ajwain - 1/2 tsp
Sauf/ Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp.
Green Chili - 2 finely chopped
Grated Ginger - 1 tsp.
Salt - 1 tsp.
Oil - 1 tbsp.
Whole Wheat Flour/ Multi-grain Flour - 3 Cups
Water
Coriander Leaves (optional) - 1 tbsp chopped fine


Method of Preparation:

~ In a small pan heat oil, add fennel seeds, ajwain and green chilies. Once a nice aroma comes, add in onion, ginger, cabbage and red chili powder. Saute for 5 minutes. Add salt and remove from heat. Let this cool for 5 minutes.
~ Place flour in a wide mouthed pan, add in the cabbage mixture, coriander leaves and knead the dough. Add water as required to make dough consistency. Cover with a moist towel and let it sit for few minutes.
~ Now heat a frying pan. Make small lemon size ball of the dough mixture, dust the rolling surface with flour, roll the dough ball out using a rolling pin make round tortillas/ paranthas. Gently transfer this to the frying pan.
~ Fry one side for half a minute, flip over and let it cook all the way for a minute. Now apply little oil on top and flip over to finish cooking on first side. Remove and serve it hot with yogurt and pickle.

Savory Veggie Corn Muffins

Corn muffins are my kids favorite. Since they and we get enough sugar in other ways, I try to do the savory corn muffins more often. These are delicious and can be frozen up to a month. Just take it out and pop it into microwave and they are fresh as out of oven.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 5 min | Baking Time: 30 mins | Makes : 12 to 14 muffins
Serving: 1 Muffin | Calories: 182 | Carbs: 26 | Fat: 5 | Protein: 7 | Sugar: 4 | Sodium: 151

Inspired from here
Ingredients:

Olive Oil - 1 tsp.
Cream Style Sweet Corn - 1 Can
Onion - 1/2 Cup Diced
Red Bell Pepper - 1/2 Cup diced
Broccoli - 1/2 Cup Diced
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Jalapeno Peppers - 2 finely chopped
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Corn Meal - 2 Cups * I used coarse stone ground
Multi-grain Flour - 1 Cup
Eggs - 2 large
Baking Powder - 2 tsp.
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp.
Shredded Cheese Mix - 1 Cup
Dried Thyme - 1 tsp.
Dried Rosemary - 1 tsp.
Thick Greek Style Yogurt - 1 Cup
Buttermilk - 1/2 Cup

Method of Preparation:

~ Saute all the vegetables in a tsp of oil. Add the the corn and salt. Let it cool.
~ Pre-heat the oven to 400 deg Centigrade.
~ In a small bowl mix together, corn meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, thyme and rosemary.
~ Gently stir in the shredded cheese.
~ In a large bowl whisk eggs, add yogurt and mix them. Now add cooled mixed vegetables.
~ Add in dry ingredients in batches alternating with buttermilk, ending with dry ingredients.
~ Spray 12-hole muffin pan. Fill up until little below the rim.
~ Bake for 30 mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
~ Serve it with ketchup or a hot sauce.

Note: You can use any vegetables of your choice. Some of them that turn out really good are mushrooms, Fresh Corn, beans, any kind of green vegetables like spinach or kale,

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Pizza Sauce
Pizza Muffin Bread

Disclaimer: Nutrition fact is based on ingredients that I have used and is an approximate. It is calculated using Recipe Nutrition Calculator from a health website.

Sending this to Vardhini's Bake Fest event @With A Spin

Sardines in Spicy Tomato Sauce/ Tarli Phanna Upkari

I remember in my summer vacation when we used to visit my maternal grandma, she would keep tarli prepared in a small earthen pot. The more days you keep the tastier it would become. It's almost like pickle, when you think of it, it makes your mouth water. It's spicy and tangy. One of the dish that my mom prepares well too. I was always apprehensive of preparing the authentic tarli sol or upkari. This particular dish is courtesy of my friend Shubhi. One day she prepared this right in front of my eyes and I couldn't believe how good it was. It didn't needed an earthen pot (am sure that will enhance the taste though), nor needed to sit longer to taste better. This Sardines dish has become one of mine and my DH's favorite, and can be prepared in jiffy.

Prep Time: 2 min. | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves: 6

Recipe Source: Shubhangi
Ingredients:
Sardine - 1 can (Sardines in Tomato sauce)
Tomato Sauce - 1 Can (or Tomato Juice)
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard - 1/2 tsp.
Hing/ Asafeotida - 1/2 tsp.
Chili Powder - 1 tbsp. *
Salt - 1 tsp.
Sugar - 1/2 tsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ In a thick iron cast pan heat oil and add mustard seeds.
~ When the mustard starts crackling, add hing and fry for few seconds.
~ Now add chili powder, tomato sauce and sardines.
~ Bring everything to boil, add salt and sugar, mix it all gently.
~ Simmer for couple of minutes and take it out of heat.
~ It goes really well with just plain rice.

NOTE:
~ Chili should be added according to your spice level. It has to be little spicier.
~ Instead of tomato sauce you could use V8 tomato juice. Just hold the sugar.
~ Check on the salt since canned sardines and tomato sauce has some salt in it.