15 Marbles

Of carrot cakes and truth about frostings… Day 5

December 5, 2012

Ms.Aadya was going to the zoo today and its sort of a tradition in this house that Mumma has to bake her something special for such occasions.I asked her what she wanted and she said,”Carrot Cake”..So,that’s what I baked. I have to tell you,it was quite an experience,cracking eggs,when I had my own cheer-leading team of midget sized people! With every egg that I cracked,the girls cheered..I whisked and they sang and danced..:) I had only just creamed the oil and sugar and Aadi wanted a taste.Nanhi didn’t like the look of the creamed brown sugar,but she threw a tantrum because only didi got to taste it!! Oh! the joys of sibling rivalry!
So,the recipe-this one calls for oil instead of butter.My mom was forever looking for ways to replace butter with low-cal options,so you can imagine her joy when a friend told her that she could replace butter with vegetable oil.Since then all the cakes in our house were made using vegetable oil.And every now and again,I play around with the basic recipe to add flavors.
Without further ado,I present :

Ingredients :

Yields 1 Glad BBQ pan (29cm X 19cms X 5cms)

3 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup chilled water
2.5 cup self raising flour
2.5 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped nuts(almonds,walnuts,cashews and pistachios)
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp cinammon powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder

Method:

Pre-heat the oven at 180 degs (160 fan forced). Grease and sprinkle some flour on the cake pan.

Cream the oil and Sugar together,making sure that all the lumps are broken.Add one egg at a time.Add the flour,walnuts,carrots,salt,spices and the baking soda.Mix it together gently,adding little water at a time.

Pour the batter in the baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes,till the fork comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let it cool..

Once cool,you can frost the cake and garnish it.I used Philadelphia Frosting It was divine and for garnish I used chopped nuts(walnuts,almonds,cashews,pistachios)

If you want to make your frosting from scratch,I totally recommend this recipe from Taste.com

60 gm cream cheese
30 gm butter,softened
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup icing sugar.

Place cheese, butter and vanilla in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until pale. Gradually add icing sugar mixture, beating until combined.
So quick and it turns out so nice and fluffy..ohh yumm!

I still remember the first time I tasted a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting at starbucks in a Borders Book store in Delaware and my first reaction was..umm why cheese? But with every mouthful,I liked it a little better..and now I can’t think of any other frosting that will compliment a carrot cake as the Cream cheese.
That being said,I know my daughter and though Aadya insisted on the CC frosting,I knew it that she wouldn’t like it.I let her taste it,before I frosted the cake..she did and when I asked,she said..hmm not bad…I frosted the cake,she waited patiently and then worked her way through her piece slowly..very slowly..and then,she said,looking extremely shattered..’OK Mumma..I need to tell you the truth about the frosting..I don’t quite like it’
SD and I couldn’t stop laughing..I removed the frosting and she gobbled the cake up.
But she is like me.. she is warming up to the cream cheese.. every now and again,she wants to take a little lick of the frosting…
I heart this cake..because its so light and moist and not very sweet.Its just perfect to school snack or after-school snack or even great with the afternoon cuppa.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do..If you try the recipe,please leave me a comment tell me how you liked it:) and also send me pictures,so I can add them to my reader’s pictures page!
Joy of Gifting -Day 4!

December 4, 2012

Its that time of the year..In the last two years our list of gift-giving has grown and the most important people on that list are Aadya’s teachers and why not,after all they spend so much time with her,nurturing her.Last year’s teachers were even more special,because they watched out for her,even more,specially since I had a new baby and they were my support system for her.So,I wanted to give them something special,something with a personal touch.After a lot of thinking,I came up with these goodies baskets for her Kinder teachers-

They contained-Christmas tree cookies(that Aadi helped make),Rocky Road Fudge,Chocolate Candy CookiesOhhh! so yumm!,Chocolate brownies,some Hershey Kisses and hand-painted candles and a card that Aadya made. They were so happy to recieve these. I also made smaller goodie boxes using noodle boxes,filled with Rocky Road and Cookies. Those were for her activities instructors.
Here’s a pic of my little Princess and the finished gifts..She was so proud of her mumma,she made it a point to tell all her teachers that her mummy made all the things all by HERSELF!

I thought I should spread some Christmas joy and what better way,than with some chocolate.

Here’s my recipe for Rocky Road fudge:

Ingredients:

500 gms of semisweet cooking chocolate( chopped )
200 gms of mini marshmallows
1/2 cup unsalted roasted almonds-chopped
2 tsp butter.

Method:

Grease and line a 9″ square cake tin.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler,taking care not to burn it.Add the marshmallows and roasted nuts,mix well and immediately transfer it to the baking dish.
Allow it to cool either at room temperature,till its firm or cool it in the refrigerator.
Once firm,cut it into squares and store in an air-tight container.

Tip : For Roasting Almonds: Line a cookie sheet with some baking paper and spread the almonds in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 160 degs.Keep checking the nuts,as soon as you get the beautiful nutty smell,remove it from the oven to prevent it from burning.I love roasting my own almonds only for this reason..the aroma lingers on for a long time.

Hope you enjoy this Fudge as much as we did 🙂
Day 3- A big cookout &10,000 visitors on the blog!

December 3, 2012

Every week,we start eating healthy/clean.But by the time its Friday evening,all good intentions fly out the window.Weekend mood kicks in and that’s it..who really wants to cook then. And then starts my downward spin :Eat-out on Friday night,followed by eat-out on saturday afternoon,may be cook something or else,eat out on Saturday night.Sunday morning starts out good-I cook a big breakfast and then we go for swimming at 2..But by the time we finish,everyone is starving and the first stop before home is fast-food!!There I have said it all now!
I work so hard to lose weight during the week- I workout,I walk,eat healthy..and then I go and ruin it all in the the 2.5 days,that is the weekend.This weekend,I was feeling horrible and told SD that something needs to change.
Hence the cookout today.
For my cookout menu today,I am making-

A big batch of chapati dough-ready,
Chicken curry-chicken is getting marinated,
sprouts curry – ready and
Cabbage-mixed vegetable stir-fry- Cabbage is chopped.

While I cooked the Sprouts curry,I did my 25 squats for the day.I had a big workout this morning,one that involved a lot of punching on a punching bag..I am sore all over and I have to tell you the squats hurt like H.E.L.L!!! SD was sitting right there,as I grunted my way through them..Oh!Dear God! The man has seen me in every form now!!LOL!

I leave you with a recipe for the sprouts curry:

Ingredients:

3 cups of mixed sprouts(mung,chickpeas,peas,lentils)
1 medium onion( fined chopped in the chopper)- Very fine,but not just puree’ed yet!
1 small tomato (fine chopped in the chopper)
1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste.
salt ( to taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp garam masala/curry powder
3 cups water.
oil( 2 tsp)
1 tsp cumin seeds
Fresh Coriander& grated fresh coconut(optional) for garnish

Heat oil in a pan and and add cumin seeds.When they start to splatter,add the chopped onions and fry till they turn translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry for one minute,and add the tomatoes,fry well till all the water from the tomatoes has dried up.
Add the sprouts and add the spice powders and the salt and toss it all together,gently.
And lastly add the water.Bring it to a boil and then cover and let it cook on a low flame till the beans are soft.If the water is drying up and the beans are still not stop,add a little more water.But you don’t want the curry to be too watery.

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and grated coconut.Serve hot with Chapati or steamed rice.

This dish tastes good even with plain bread slices to dunk in.At least that’s how it was served in our college canteen.It was the most sold item and so wholesome,specially for those days,when you were slogging in a chemistry lab from 7:30 am to 11:00 am and only had an hour or so before the lectures began.I can tell you,I had wolfed down food that fast,before or after those wonder years!

Oh and I am so excited!! My blog just crossed the 10,000 visitors.I am especially thrilled because its been a year since I bought this domain,but I actually migrated all my blogs here and started blogging regularly only since August.So,A big Thank you to all of you,who didn’t give up on me through all those url-changes..and A big thank you to ALL of you,who take the time to visit,read and comment.
Thank you!thank you!thank you!!!
And if you are just a lurker,why not leave me a comment ..Go on..don’t be shy 🙂
Oh Christmas Tree!Oh Christmas Tree!

December 2, 2012

Our Christmas tree is up,tinseled,decorated and lit up :)We all love looking it at it:) Ms.Aadya was the chief decorator this time and I had to literally sit on top of my OCD-side to re-arrange the colors..:D But this year,she was so excited,I didn’t want to play spoilsports.She didn’t stop chattering all the time.She put all the decorations in a box and carried it around,as she hung the ornaments on the tree.
Ms.Ananya took a fancy to the glittery baubles.And no she didn’t just look at them,she wanted to taste them..and she even tasted the smooth ones,but didn’t particularly like those.Her favorite job was trying to stick ornaments on the tree..but she didn’t quite get it why didi’s stayed on and hers didn’t.That frustrated her a lot and there was a moment of mini-destruction,where she lashed out at the lowest branches! But she got distracted soon enough and left the tree alone.
When we were decorating the tree,we played some Christmas songs on you-tube and were generally talking,laughing..I loveeeee that atmosphere…when we laughed,Nanhi laughed along!!Aadi wanted to know if she kept running away with the baubles too and we told her that we had decorated the tree while she was sleeping..But this time,I really wanted Nanhi to be a part of this family tradition too. But keeping Aadi away from the tree was so easy..Read here,if you don’t believe me..and she was only 2 months older than Nanhi is now!But Nanhi..OMG!She couldn’t care less..she does what she wants..she listens,when it suits her and seeing her sister move the decorations around,makes her believe like she has the licence for doing the same..:)
In other news,we were going to have a long day today.And I didn’t want to skip on my xmas25squat challenge,so I did my squats,while brewing our morning cuppa.. 🙂
2 days of Marathon Blogging and 2 days of squats done and dusted…!
Have a good week!