Strawberry Banana Milkshake

Here's another super delicious milkshake. As you must know, I love love love strawberries! It's my most favorite fruit next to mangoes and I always buy strawberries in bulk. So this time I made a puree and kept it in the freezer. As I was looking to finish up the puree, I made this eggless strawberry mousse with edible chocolate cups for valentine's day and now I made some milkshake. 
This milkshake is easy to make and tastes so good and with a banana, it makes a very filling drink. Do try it out for your kids.

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Kuthiraivali Upma | Barnyard Millet Upma | Millet Recipes

Here is another healthy breakfast or dinner recipe that you can try. Millets are excellent for health especially for diabetics. Check out the other millet recipes on the blog. I have tried kuthiraivali vegetable pulao, thinnai pongal and ragi semiya and all have been excellent and well received at home. This time I made kuthiraivali upma for my millet loving husband and he thoroughly enjoyed it! I enjoyed it too, it gives you a great sense of satisfaction when you make something healthy for your family and I loved this upma.
Check out the other upma recipes.
In Hindi it's called Jhangora / Odalu in Telugu / Oodalu in Kannada.

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Easy Peas Masala

Peas is a universal favorite, even kids love to eat peas. This recipe makes an awesome side dish for rotis/parathas or even dosa. I like to make this during early morning bustle and it tastes awesome so whenever I'm looking for an easy side dish, this is what I make.
I make another version which requires a bit more time to prepare, I will post that later.

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How to make Cumin Powder | Homemade Jeera Powder

It's always best to use homemade stuff, especially something as simple as cumin powder. If you leave store bought powders aside for some months, you will find insects in them. I don't know what they do but if I can make my own masalas and powders easily then I don't want to go for store bought ones.

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Eggless Chocolate Mousse with Ganache

I have already posted an eggless chocolate mousse recipe. But this recipe is by far my favorite, it tastes absolutely delicious! Nothing can come close to the taste of this mousse! Whenever I have left over cream and ganache, I make this mousse. I made these for a large family get together with some of my husband's friends and everybody loved this mousse. I was getting compliments even the next day! I made these mousse and vanilla cupcakes and both were a huge success!

Even my fussy picky kids loved it! As I was piping the mousse into these cups, my kids finished two! And the icing on the cake was, that night we went out to have some dessert and we ordered a mousse for my kids and they had one spoonful and kept it back saying "mamma, we love your mousse better, we will have that once we get back home!" If my kids gave that approval, then you must know this tastes really good!
Since I was carrying these with me to another destination, I used these paper cups. I cling wrapped it and it was convenient to carry with me. 

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Carrot Cheese Paratha

I normally make carrot paratha for my daughter's lunch box and one day I thought why not make it more healthy by adding some cheese to it. My daughter hates cheese and she never eats it so this was a nice way to include some cheese in her diet. She eats only one paratha and I use only a tbsp of cheese in it but still I am happy :)

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Victoria Sponge Cake

The Victoria Sponge Cake is one of the most traditional, old fashioned cakes, basic cake. It's such a soft, rich buttery cake that it literally melts in the mouth! 

It is believed that Queen Victoria usually has a slice of this cake with her evening tea every day. It is traditionally sandwiched with raspberry or strawberry jam or cream but I did not do that since I made this for my kids and I was not sure if they would care for a filling.
This is such a basic cake that if you are a beginner in baking, you can start off with this cake.

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Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Here is an easy and simple recipe to make your own hot chocolate mixture. It's extremely easy and takes only about 5 minutes to put together. This mix is very useful to me since I drink milk only in the form of milkshakes or with lots of drinking chocolate powder added to it and this comes in very handy for me.
When my kids were little and I used to make them egg custard, I used to add two teaspoons of this powder to change the flavor of the custard and to remove the egg smell.
I love this mixture and I'm happy to have come across this recipe.

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Rose Milk

Everybody loves rose milk, there's no one who does not like rose milk. Even my husband who hates milk and never even drinks milk/milkshakes, love rose milk. As a child I remember having this rose milk and rose milk popsicles, we used to love this as children! This is the simpler version of making rose milk and this works for us every time. 
I have posted a rose milk ice cream recipe, which was a huge hit in my family. Check that out too.

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Mom's Chicken Curry

My mom makes a fabulous chicken curry, it is one of the best curries around and we all enjoy eating it. One of the most common Saturday recipes in our house is the peas pulao and this chicken curry. There are plenty of recipes in this blog which are her recipes, the other famous one is the spicy prawn masala and crab fry.
This chicken is an extremely spicy dish, adjust the spice level to your preference.

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Sundakkai Kara Kuzhambu | Sundakkai Puli Kuzhambu

This is one of my mother's specialty, she makes delicious kara kuzhambu and we truly enjoy it. One such Saturday she made this sundakkai kara kuzhambu and we had such a filling meal that afternoon and I wanted to share that recipe in my blog. She made the kuzhambu with fresh sundakkai, you can make it with dried ones too. My mom uses a lot of garlic and onions in her kara kuzhambu because of it's medicinal values and it makes the kuzhambu tasty too, you can reduce the amount of garlic added. Our kara kuzhambu is more like our marunthu kuzhambu.

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Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

I love pound cakes, they are so rich and dense, it's an old fashioned traditional cake where a pound of each ingredient is used to bake the cake. If you notice the ingredients of a pound cake, there is no 'liquid' ingredient added other than the butter and eggs, unlike other cakes where we add milk, buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, water, fruit juice etc so this cake this a very dense cake and not a moist one and the batter is also a thick one. Also traditionally the pound cake is baked it a loaf pan or a bundt pan and when baked in a loaf pan, it cracks right on top!

I baked this cake for one of my cousin's birthday and this was well received by everyone. Although it's dense, the taste is awesome and the chocolate chips add to the crunch and taste of the cake. What everybody loved about this cake is the beautiful brown crust it forms, simply delicious! 

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Egg Custard | Baby Food

I wanted to post some baby food recipes that I have used for my kids. These are recipes that have worked well with both my kids.
When you start weaning a baby at 6 months, it is best to start off with rice porridge/cereals. Slowly you can start including other foods too. I started giving my kids one egg each day at the age of one. You can ask your doctor when to start eggs and then you can try this delicious and healthy food for your baby.

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Mushroom Peas Masala

This is another dish that was introduced to me by my aunt. I had this in her house in Delhi, when we visited them and she made it again when she visited us and I was hooked on to this taste. Of course mushroom is a hot favorite and no one needs to force me to have some and I'm more than ready to try some new dish with it!
This goes well with roti/paratha or even with dosai. We simply loved it and I liked it even better that it's such a simple dish to make during early morning rush!

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Chana Biryani | Chickpeas Biryani

Here's another easy to make lunch box recipe. My daughter does not like taking sambar rice so I try to make some sort of a variety rice for her and my husband. And this is another recipe that worked well. 
Channa is also called as chickpeas, it is very healthy so it makes a wonderful dish for kids lunchbox.
Check out the other channa recipes - chana masala, chana sundal, oven roasted chana dal.

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Mushroom Kurma

I love mushrooms, it's one of my most favorite! Every time we go grocery shopping, I never fail to pick up a couple of packets of mushroom, if it's fresh. I like to add mushrooms to everything I make. So it's easy to understand why I made a kurma with only mushrooms! I know it's a lot more healthy to make a mixed vegetable kurma but on this particular day, I wanted to enjoy the goodness mushrooms all by themselves!

This kurma tastes absolutely delicious, we truly fell in love with this dish. You can make this as a side dish for idli/dosa and roti/paratha. If your a true blue South Indian, I know you will enjoy this with rice as well! I adapted this recipe from my baby potato kurma recipe.

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Carrot Paratha

My kids love parathas, I was really surprised to find out that they like parathas, mostly because I don't like it at all! You can see that since so far, off the 300 plus recipes in my blog, I have only one paratha recipe - aloo paratha and that too my aunt made!! So when I realised my kids like it, I started making a lot of parathas and the best part of it is I get to add some vegetables along with it.
So this is a regular in my daughter's lunch box and my husband's lunch box. Since I was making this for my daughter's lunch box, I did not add any masala, you can add more masala and green chillies to make it more tasty.
You can also add some cheese to this. Check out the carrot cheese paratha.

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Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm here writing my 300th post! It's an amazing feeling whenever I write a milestone post, simply because with the way life is, I'm really surprised I am able to find time to blog! But yes, I am blogging and quite actively off late! Well, I am a firm believer in celebrating with chocolate so here's a wonderful chocolaty post! 

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Corn and Peas Pulao

We love to have pulao in our house and when my aunt visited us from Delhi she made this corn and peas pulao. We loved this pulao especially the kids loved eating the sweet corn and peas. We make peas pulao regularly since it's a favorite now we have another favorite!
Check out the beetroot pulao and mushroom pulao.

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Edible Chocolate Cups with Eggless Strawberry Mousse

Valentine's day is around the corner and everywhere you turn there are red hearts and red roses! This is the day people celebrate love! We are not too big in celebrating Valentine's day, if you ask my husband he always says, everyday is valentine's day to him!! We don't go overboard celebrating this day with gifts and other cute nothings but I do make a dessert to enjoy. Actually, even that I make because I simply love to bake or make some desserts and this day is a great excuse for me to make something chocolaty!

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Keerai Sadam

Here is a nutritious lunch box recipe that you can pack for your family. I love to make this for my daughter's lunch box and it's one of the few days when the lunch box comes home empty! This is a healthy dish and greens being very rich in iron, it's a very good option for lunch boxes.
You can make this with any variety of keerai (greens), on this particular day I made it with arai keerai.

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Mashed Dal and Vegetables | Baby Food

I wanted to post some baby food recipes that I have used for my kids. These are recipes that have worked well with both my kids.
When you start weaning a baby at 6 months, it is best to start off with rice porridge/cereals. Slowly you can start including other foods too. This recipe can be started at 7 months. 

So here's the second recipe for babies. The first recipe that I posted was mashed idli and banana. This is a wholesome meal with rice, dal, greens and other vegetables. You can modify this to your needs, add more vegetables if you prefer.

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Mashed Idli with banana | Baby Food

I wanted to post some baby food recipes that I have used for my kids. These are recipes that have worked well with both my kids.
When you start weaning a baby at 6 months, it is best to start off with rice porridge/cereals. Slowly you can start including other foods too. This recipe can be started at 7 months.
This is homemade idli with banana. This makes a wholesome breakfast with idli and a fruit.

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Brownie Butter Cake

I baked this cake ages ago but just did not have time to post. It all happened on a day when my kids started hogging a store bought cake that some one had dropped off in our house. Me being someone who loves baking, just could not stand to watch them eat store bought cakes! Hence I set off to bake something for them and I had to satisfy both of them. My son likes chocolate and my daughter does not prefer chocolate so I made this cake and it worked like a charm!! 

This is truly a delicious cake with the best of both worlds! I love brownies, they are my weakness and who doesn't like a perfectly delicious butter cake! To have them both in the same piece of cake is simply divine! The brownie in this cake is so fudgy, just the way I like it and the butter cake is soft and moist making this combination utterly delicious!

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Carrot Milkshake

Here's an awesome milkshake recipe that you can make for your kids. Carrots are so good for health and I normally make carrot juice but I make this carrot milkshake too. Both tastes good! You can try this shake if you have fussy kids who won't eat the vegetable. I have a lot of ways to hide carrot in food like the carrot cake, carrot juice, carrot paratha and this is another recipe!

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Lemon Cake

We wanted to try a tangy cake, normally I am not a huge fan of tangy cakes but it was a long time since I had one so decided to try this recipe. It turned out great, I loved it! Although I should say, my husband did not like the tangy flavor in a cake! If you like a tangy cake then this is a must try!

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Kothu Chapathi with Eggs

This is a common street food and mostly it is made with parotta. Almost all street corners have a vendor making kothu parotta. But you can make the same with chapathi as well, makes a perfect snack time dish. I mostly make this dish with left over chapthi's and it's a huge hit in the family. I like this recipe too because...well, I like any recipe that takes care of the left overs!!

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Salted Cucumber Lassi

I loved the sweet cucumber lassi that I had posted earlier! But unfortunately my husband does not prefer the sweet version. Actually he does not like anything sweet so tried this salted version and he loved it! Mission accomplished!! This is an awesome drink to quench your thirst!

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Oreo Brownies

My next recipe with oreos are these brownies. Although I am not a huge fan of oreos, I find that most kids love these cookies so when another niece of my mine was coming home, I decided to make these for her. This brownie tastes extraordinary! So simple and yet so rich and yum! 
If you don't like oreos, you can just skip that or replace with any of your favorite biscuits, like bourbon maybe! But do try it and you won't regret it.

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Malai Chicken Biryani

Who doesn't like chicken biryani! Everybody loves chicken or mutton biryani. This time around I made a slight alteration to the normal biryani we make at home and it tasted ever more delicious! Adding cream, made the rice more rich and more awesome! We enjoyed it at home and I hope you will enjoy too!

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Oreo Cheesecake (No bake and eggless)

I made this cake ages ago for my nieces, I think all my oreo based recipes in this blog have been made for them! This is an easy cheesecake recipe and it tastes absolutely delicious! I have already posted a chocolate chilli cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, mango cheesecake and strawberry cheesecake (all eggless and no bake recipes). I love all my cheesecakes, it is awesome. The only thing is, it is very rich and so I don't make it often.
As with my other cheesecake recipes, I have used cottage cheese for this recipe, you can use cream cheese too. 

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Kuthiraivali Vegetable Pulao | Barnyard Millet Vegetable Pulao

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, thinnai pongal, my husband wants us to include more millets in our diet. And I think if we start including millets when our kids are small, they will get more used to it than when they are older and their taste buds are accustomed to rice. 

So this time I tried kuthiraivali pulao and I should say it tasted really good! I loved the flavor of this pulao. The only thing is, it can get a little dry if you eat it after sometime so I would suggest have a nice side dish and it tastes awesome! Even my kids ate some and I was happy about that. My husband wants me to pack his lunch boxes with millets so I will be making a lot more dishes with these!

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Dahi Chicken | Dahi Murgh

This is one of the delicious chicken recipes that I have tried. In this recipe we don't add tomatoes and instead we add yogurt. Adding yogurt to chicken while marinating makes it so soft and tender. It's also very easy and quick to make. Actually all my recipes are very easy to make! If it's not easy then I never try it!!
Do try out if your looking for a different chicken masala.

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Eggless Nutella Mousse

Looking for an easy and simple but yet a rich and divine dessert? Look no further, you have landed at the right place! This dessert is so ridiculously easy that even a kid can do it. And it takes just 10 minutes to put together - from start to end (including licking the bowl!!!)

I made this for a family get together and I felt rather embarrassed when everybody started appreciating the dessert so much. I was secretly hoping no one will ask for the recipe! If I had to tell this simple recipe, then all my 'name and fame' would have disappeared!! 

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