Avenger's Cake

My son's latest craze are the avengers! And he for sure wanted an Avenger's Cake for his birthday. I always bake my kids birthday cakes but this time I had no idea how to make an avenger's cake as I don't know to work with fondants so I was going to order an Avenger's Cake for him from the store. But I ended up making this cute little avenger's cake for him that he enjoyed so much, as he could keep all the little avengers and play with it!! I made the avenger's logo out of parchment paper and had him color it. He was pretty excited about cutting this cake! And he thoroughly enjoyed the little toys!!
This isn't much of a recipe but still I wanted to share this idea so someone can make a simple avenger's cake that your kids can enjoy!

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3 Ingredients Vanilla Muffins

I came across this recipe somewhere in YouTube. It is such an easy and simple recipe but it does come out well. These little muffins, were soft and fluffy and all the kids loved them. And I made these into mini muffins and sprinkled some sprinkles on top which was loved all the more! The only thing I would suggest is, to add some vanilla to the batter as I could get the taste of the heavy cream used. None of the kids complained of it but I could get it and the next time I make these muffins, I will be adding some vanilla!

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Methi Chapathi

Since I pack chapathi's for my kids lunch boxes, I try to to add some veggies to the chapathi dough to make it more healthy for my kids. I have already shared aloo paratha and paneer paratha, carrot paratha and carrot cheese paratha that I make for them. This methi chapathi is another one that I make often for them. I use baby methi leaves and it's a nice way to hide veggies for kids. I like adding methi leaves to my kids lunch box. Apart from these methi chapathi, I also make methi peas pulao, mushroom methi pulao.

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Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes are the best to bake whenever I have kids coming home. I already have a wonderful vanilla cupcake recipe that I love. That recipe uses oil and I was looking for a recipe that uses butter and I tried this one and it came out so soft and delicious! I don't always frost my cupcakes, sometimes I simply add a handful of chocolate chips and they are good to go! These cupcakes are one of my favorites!

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Dark Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is one of my favorites! It is dark, rich, and tasty! I love the flavor combination in this recipe. The addition of a little oil along with the butter, gives a light texture to the cake. I bake this cake often and we love it!

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Kashayam for cold and cough

This is a simple yet very effective drink that you can have when you fall sick with cold or sore throat. This not only relieves the cold or cough, it also helps in increasing the immunity of the body. This can also be given for small children above the age of 1 year but for small children you have to reduce the amount of pepper used. 

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Curry Leaves Idli Podi

Idli podi is always handy to have. During the early morning rush, instead of making chutney, it is easier to eat idli or dosa with idli podi. Every home in Tamil Nadu will have a variety of idli podi. Similarly I also have my own version of idli podi. I have already posted a few of my favorites. 
Curry leaves are full of iron and I hate to waste the curry leaves. Every time I get so many curry leaves for free and I try to use it up in some way without wasting them. This time I made this curry leaves idli podi and it came out tasty!

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ABCO Juice

Everybody knows of the wonderful benefits of ABC juice which is made of Apples, Beetroots and Carrots. This juice is called a Miracle Juice due to it's many nutritional benefits. This juice has become quite popular recently. Usually people drink ABC juice but my dear friend Senthil Kumari suggested to drink this juice along with 'O', the Oranges! Adding oranges to this drink, increases the Vitamin C in the drink which helps the iron from the beetroots to get absorbed more easily and also the oranges increases the overall taste of the juice.

Some of the benefits of this juice are - it is heavily loaded with vitamins and minerals. You get Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, C, E and K and also minerals like iron, folate, zinc, copper, calcium, potassium among others!
- It delays the aging process
- Improves vision and strengthens eye muscles
- Boosts memory
- Fights common diseases
- Slows cancer cells
- Improves complexion
- Helps weight loss
- Detoxifies the body

And many more!! Drinking this juice atleast once a week is very healthy for the body.

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Paneer Paratha

I make this paneer paratha for my kids lunch box. It's tasty, healthy and very easy to make. My kids like to take parathas or pulaos for lunch and I make this paneer paratha and aloo paratha often. I make these paratha and cut it into small pieces which makes it easier and quicker for them to eat!

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Sprouts Salad

This sprouts salad is an easy, simple and healthy salad recipe that you can have anytime of the day! We love this as snacks and sometimes we even have this for a light dinner. It is not only easy to make, this is also a very filling salad with the goodness of green gram and chana. You can even add this to a sandwich and have it for breakfast.

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Methi Peas Pulao

Pulao's are light and aromatic rice dish made with fragrant basmati rice. My kids love to eat pulao and this is another combination I tried for their lunch box. Adding methi leaves can be tricky, sometimes it can turn your pulao extremely bitter which will not go well with kids. So make sure you cook the methi leaves well while making a methi pulao. You can also add some curd to cut out the bitterness. I have used tender methi leaves which were not so bitter and it tasted very well with the peas.

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How to make a soft Chapathi

I am a South Indian and I was never good at making soft chapathis!! I can make super soft idlis and cakes easily but I always faltered when it came to chapathi and somehow I never liked making it. But, now I can happily say that I've mastered the art of making soft chapathi!! If you are a beginner then all I can say is, never give up. Keep practicing and you will end up making lovely soft chapathi!

Few tips
There are many aspects to making a soft chapathi. Here is a list that I have learnt from my trial and error.
1. Add warm to hot water to the flour. Adding hot water makes the dough soft and pliable. Add water little by little and knead till the dough comes together.
2. You can also add warm milk to make the dough. Milk also makes the dough soft.
3. Add a tsp of oil to the flour while kneading. That also makes the dough soft.
4. Knead the dough well so that gluten is formed. Use your knuckles or the palm of your hand and knead the dough atleast for 10 minutes. 
4. Roll the dough evenly. The chapathi should not be too thick. Also it is important that the rolled out dough is not thick at one end and thin at the other. It should be of even thickness to get a nice puffed up chapathi.
5. Let the dough rest for atleast 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6. It is best to cook the chapathi as and when you roll it out rather than to roll out all the chapathi and cooking it one by one. If your not confident in this, then cook 3 or 4 at a time.
7. Cooking the chapathi is also important. Make sure the tawa is heated up before you place the rolled dough. Do not keep flipping the chapathi many times and burning it. Wait for the bubbles to appear and flip just a few times. 
8. Place the cooked chapathi in a hot pack. You can apply some butter or ghee over it. 

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Chocolate Banana Zebra Cake

This is a soft and moist cake made with ripe bananas. This recipe uses oil instead of butter and that makes the cake more moist. I love the combination of chocolate and banana, there are too many recipes in this blog with a chocolate and banana combination and it is a never fail combo especially with a hint of cinnamon. Top it with some chocolate ganache and you have a treat in your hands!

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Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake is a delicious three layers of chocolate goodness! There is a dark and rich dark chocolate mousse layer, a smooth milk chocolate mousse layer and a soft white chocolate mousse layer! All three layers together make this cake rich, tasty and divine! When you take a spoonful of this cake, it simply melts in your mouth! I love mousse cakes and make it quite often. I have posted a few mousse cakes earlier and I made this to celebrate our wedding anniversary and we all loved it.

The cake is actually pretty simple to make but it involves a few steps and it takes a little while to get it all done. For me, I love baking cakes and I thoroughly enjoyed making this cake!

I used an eight-inch springform pan to make this cake and I built the sides of the pan with baking paper as I was not sure if the whole cake will fit in my pan. If you pan has tall sides, you can skip this step.

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Black Eyed Peas Curry

Black Eyed Peas is also known as Karamani in Tamil and Lobia in Hindi. This is a thick and rich gravy made with and it goes well with chapathi. Black eyed peas are rich in protein and fibre. I mostly make a lobia biryani for my kids lunch box and I make a lobia sundal too with these legumes for their snack boxes.

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Buttermilk Brownies

A delicious fudgy brownie made more interesting with the addition of buttermilk! Over the years of baking, I have come to realize that adding buttermilk to your baked goodies makes it extra moist and soft. I have a lot of chocolate cake recipes that uses buttermilk. And when I came across a recipe that uses buttermilk, I had to try it out! Needless to say, this was another super tasty and fudgy brownie!

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Quail Fried Eggs

Did you know Quail eggs are more nutritious and healthy than the regular chicken eggs we get in the market? These little quail eggs have more protein, vitamins and iron compared to the chicken eggs. They also fight allergies, stomach ulcers, promotes memory power and many more! With all the bad things people say about the chicken eggs, quail eggs are a wonderful option to consider.

These quail eggs are very tiny compared to the chicken eggs. To make one normal sized fried eggs, you will have to use atleast 4-5 quail eggs.

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Green Peas Poriyal

Green peas are a wonderful source of nutrition. They are rich in protein and vitamins and that's why it is also one of the first foods given to babies. Apparently, 1/2 cup of cooked green peas has 4 times more protein than carrots! So green peas are a wonderful source of protein for vegetarians. They have a low glycemic index and green peas are rich in fiber too. There are many ways to cook the green peas, this kind of poriyal is a South Indian speciality and it goes very well with sambar or rasam rice.

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Mango Tender Coconut Milkshake | Mango Elaneer Milkshake

Mango and Tender coconut milkshake is the perfect combination for summers! When I first came across this recipe I wasn't sure how it would taste but having made it, I can't wait to try many different variations! The deep intense flavor of the mango and the light tender coconut tasted so delicious! 

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Jelly Boats

I don't make jellies at home as kids are not too fond of it but someone gave me 2 packs of jellies and I did not want to waste it and I made these cute little boats. I have seen these pictures in pinterest and wanted to try them out. Sure enough, seeing the little boats my kids were pretty excited to try them! You can make these for birthday parties and I'm sure it will be a huge hit among the kids!

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Aloo Gobi Dry Curry

Aloo gobi is an easy and simple Indian side dish made with potatoes and cauliflower. In South India, this is had with a simple rasam or sambar rice and in North India, this is enjoyed with roti. Which ever way you choose to have it, this is a healthy tasty dish! You can make it dry like how I have made here or make it like a gravy too. I made it dry as the dry version goes well with rice.

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Chocolate Basil Seed Pudding

These tiny little sweet basil seeds are a powerhouse of nutrient dense food that you can find in the supermarket. They help in weight loss, reduce body heat, relieves constipation, controls blood sugar levels, treats acidity, improves skin condition and many more!

There are many different ways to include sabja seeds in our diet, the simplest being adding a tbsp of these seeds to a litre of water and then drinking this water. But if you don't like drinking water with sabja seeds then you make different desserts with it. This pudding is an easy way to enjoy a dessert and have these healthy seeds.

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Egg Chapathi | Egg Chapathi Roll

My kids like to take chapathi to school but they want to eat the chapathi only with curd. They don't like eating it with any veggies. This recipe is an easy way to make their lunch more healthy. The addition of eggs makes it protein rich and it makes the chapathi tasty too. You can add some vegetable stuffing in the middle and roll it up too. But my kids don't like it that way so I simply cut this up and pack it with curd.

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Keerai Thandu Poriyal

Keerai thandu poriyal is a stirfry made with only the stems of the keerai. I make a lot of keerai poriyal and my kids don't like eating the stems of the greens. So my maid suggested this recipe where you can cook the stems separately and make a poriyal out of it. The stems are already so tender so it cooks pretty well. I put it in the pressure cooker to make sure it was well cooked so that my kids will not fuss about it! 

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Papaya Mousse

Papaya mousse is a creamy dessert made with ripe papaya, cream and sugar. I love papaya but my kids are not too fond of it so I make this easy mousse to make them eat it. This is similar to jackfruit mousse which I posted earlier.

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Mango Raita

Mango Raita is a classic combination of mango with yogurt. Chopped mangoes added to thick curd is my most favorite raita! My daughter also loves this raita so I make this quite often. When you add the mangoes to the curd and keep mixing it, the flavor of the mango goes into the curd making it a beautiful yellow color and it tastes absolutely delicious!!

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Keerai Kootu

Keerai kootu is a delicious combination of moong dal and any keerai variety! This recipe is a staple in our home and I make it at least once every week. My husband loves this keerai kootu. I make this kootu with moong dal but you can make it with toor dal as well. 

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Brownie Ice Cream

Two of my favorite simple desserts are brownies and ice cream! Put that together and you have a match made in heaven! Off late, I have been making ice creams with cakes, I made a chocolate cake ice cream and a plum cake ice cream. Both tasted absolutely delicious so this time I made with some brownies and this too was a total hit!
It is common practice to serve brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I know the taste of that and I knew this combination will work very well too! Do try it out, you will not be disappointed!

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Watermelon Juice

Watermelon juice is the easiest and most tastiest summer drinks of all! Although there are plenty of summer drinks that I make, this is my most favorite as it can be made quickly and it can quench your thirst so well!

If you're like me and you love watermelon juice then there are plenty of variations that you can do with this watermelon juice. Check it out below.

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Mango Shrikhand | Amrakhand Recipe

Mango Shrikhand is a traditional Indian dessert that is made in almost all Indian homes during the summer season. It is easy to make and tastes better than the store bought ones. If you make this with good hung curd and tasty ripe mangoes then this shrikhand will defintely taste better than the store bought ones. If you love eating curd then you will absolutely love eating this mango shrikhand.

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Mushroom Rice

This mushroom rice is a quick and easy lunch box recipe that I make for my kids. I mostly make this mushroom biryani or this mushroom fried rice that they like but if I'm short of time then I make this simple mushroom rice which is equally good and gets done quickly.

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Mochai Kottai Dry Gravy

I love mochai kottai, it is one of my favorites and my mum ususally makes this mochai kottai kuzhambu with it. There are so many dishes that can be made with mochai kottai and this is one of the gravy I make. This can be had with roti or dosa and it tastes great!
Mochai is also called as field beans in English and it belongs to the legume family.

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Two Toned Frosting

Two toned frosting is one of the beautiful ways to frost a cake or a cupcake. If you want to combine two colors for a theme then this technique works perfectly. Like for instance, if you want to make cupcakes for a sports team which has two colors then this kind of frosting will make your cake or cupcake look beautiful! This is a simple method to combine two colors, you can do the same with three colors too.

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Poosanikai Poriyal | White Pumpkin Stir Fry

I love this white pumpkin and I usaually make a sambar with it but this time I made a poriyal and I still loved it! Poosanikai poriyal is a simple and quick side dish that you can make. It goes very well with sambar or rasam rice.

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Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

I made this delicious melt in the mouth mousse cake for my husband's birthday this year and we totally loved it! The dark chocolate and milk chocolate combination balances very well to give the perfect flavor and taste to this cake. The mistake I made with this cake is that, I added a layer of melted chocolate on top which set hard and made it extremely difficult to cut the cake. Outside of that, this cake was perfectly divine! 

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Banana Ice Cream

Another ice cream for the summer! So far this summer season, I have made jackfruit ice cream, mango ice cream, vanilla ice cream and this banana ice cream for my nieces. I was not planning to make banana ice cream but then so many bananas were going waste so I decided to add it to my ice cream and it tasted too good! If you love bananas or if you want to make your kids eat bananas, then you can make this ice cream!

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How to make a Castle Cake

For my daughter's 7th birthday, she wanted a castle cake, she told me well in advance that she wanted a castle cake so I had plenty of time to think how to build this cake. I don't work with fondant so I had to make a castle without any fondant accents. I went through many images on google and worked out an image that worked well for me. I drew out a simple castle cake design, one that will be easy to make and simple to build.

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Oats Omelette

Oats omelette is a healthy breakfast filled with fibre and protein, the addition of vegetables only makes it more healthy and filling. I sometimes make this oats omelette instead of the regular omelette for our breakfast. 

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Chocolate Banana Mousse

Very often I make a banana mousse whenever we have 1 or 2 extremely ripe bananas that no one wants to eat. Sometimes I add some melted chocolate or cocoa powder to it to make this chocolate banana mousse. This makes for an easy and simple dessert for the family.

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Kuthiraivali Idli

Millets are a storehouse of health and nutrients. All the different varieties of millets are packed with goodness. Kuthiraivali also called as Barnyard millet is a rich source of iron and fibre, low in calories and has a low glycemic index making it suitable for diabetic patients.

I sometimes add some millets to my idli batter, this time I decided to make an full millet idli/dosa. My previous experience of millet idli is not good. I used to get hard idlis which was not palatable. This time I got some nice soft idlis for the first two days after grinding the batter and then I switched to making dosa. Although the idlis were not as soft and fluffy as my usual idlis made with rice, this idli was quite good and above my expectation. Do follow the steps to make a good idli batter.

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Homemade Hing Powder

My parents always wrinkled their nose when they see me use the store bought perungaya powder, if you read the label carefully, there are a lot more additives in it other than the perungayam. My parents use the katti perungayam or the asafoetida block which they say is the purest form but I find it to be be so cumbersome to use it. Until one day I thought of this method and it works really well! It's easy and simple to make and you have clean and pure hing powder to use!

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Watermelon Mousse

Summer is synonymous with watermelons and mangoes! We always prefer eating watermelon as it is or I make watermelon juice which we all enjoy. On one particular day I was left with a large quantity of watermelon that needed to be used up quickly. I am a person who loves to includes fruits in desserts and I'm always looking for ways to include fruits or vegetables in my desserts. So I went searching for a good watermelon mousse recipe and I landed on this recipe, which looked good and I tried it immediately!

This watermelon mousse is soft smooth delicious dessert! For a mousse, the consistency is important and this one is so soft that it melts in the mouth! And ofcourse, I simply love this shade of pink!! 

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Jackfruit Ice Cream

Summer is upon us and everybody wants to eat ice creams! I made many different ice creams when my niece came to visit us and one of it is this jackfruit ice cream. I love these fruit based ice creams as you get the goodness of fruits along with the tasty ice cream.

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Chocolate Sandwich

If you love chocolates then you will love this chocolate sandwich! When my niece came home for a few days, I made this chocolate sandwich for all the kids at home (including me!!) and everyone enjoyed it so much!
Sometimes I find if I run out of chocolate spread to put on the sandwich then you can do this chocolate sandwich and it works very well!
I used only 3 tbsp of chocolate chips as I did not want the chocolate to be dripping out! You can add more if you prefer.

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