LETZ COOK/CRAFT/MAKE

Happy Mother's Day This recipe is my mom's and is dedicated to my mom. Bitter gourd is one of her favorites. My mom is a worrier. She worried when I was a baby as most new mom's would. She worried when I was a school kid about my education. She worried when I was in college doing my bachelors about my safety, as I had to go a long way (about 1.5 hrs one way). She worried when I was working because I had to work late nights. She worried when I had to leave the country and go far far away to pursue my masters. She worried when I decided to stay back in that country and make a life for myself there. She worried when I had my first kid and worried some more when I had my second. She still worries about my health, safety, well being every single day. She worries about my cooking skills and parenting skills. We in fact have lots of arguments and fights about it. But, it is such a blessing having someone that worries about you. Her worrying makes her care for her kids at...

After seeing a lot of posts on kulfi's, I decided to jump onto the bandwagon too. Kulfi is a rich and thick ice cream, usually made by simmering whole fat milk on the stove for a long time to make it rich and thick. The sugar and flavoring are added towards the end. This recipe is a easy shortcut method and turns out yummy every time. Since it is a no cook recipe even kids can put it together. There are many varieties of kulfi like mango, kesar, badam, pista, malai etc. Mango kulfi is my favorite. Ingredients: Whipping cream - 1 cup Condensed milk - 1 cup Mango puree (store bought or freshly made) - 2 cups Elaichi / Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (optional) Method: Add all ingredients to a bowl. I omitted elaichi powder as I wanted to relish the mango flavor all by itself. Whisk with a handheld wire whisk or a fork just till it all comes together. Pour into popsicle molds, squeezable pop molds or disposable cups. I used tape (with a slit in ...

Ever since the stay at home order was issued my life has changed, just like a lot of other families. I have to help my elementary aged kids complete and turn in their school work. I need to come up with a constant supply of snacks and food choices. I need to help them with art and craft activities. I need to remember all their crazy meeting/online class schedules. I need to clean and clean some more. I have to tend to more dirty dishes and laundry (2 girls means more dress changes even while staying home) everyday.  I need to multitask times two. But, I am so loving this time we are getting to spend together. The countless hugs and kisses that I've been getting, compensates for all the mess my little munchkins leave around. We as a family are getting to know and understand each other better. We are learning to resolve conflicts peacefully and work together with limited resources. We are appreciating each others strengths and motivating each other to do better. Every day, I a...

This is a recipe that I learnt from a friend. Very easy to make and quite colorful. If you like hash browns you will love this. It is a great breakfast or snack option. The best part is the variations to the basic recipe. You can add different kinds of cooked beans (kidney beans, black beans, pinto or northern) and veggies (shredded carrots, shredded beets, bell pepper, shredded zucchini, onion, finely steamed and chopped broccoli or chopped greens). The spice level can be easily adjusted too. Ingredients: Hash browns (thawed) - 11/2 cup Black beans (cooked) - 1/2 cup (I used canned black beans after rinsing thoroughly in running cold water) Bell pepper - 1/2 cup Onion (chopped) - 1/3 cup Salt - 1 tsp Rice flour - 1/4 cup Turmeric - 1/4 tsp Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Water - 2 tbsp Oil - as needed Method: If you are like me and forget to thaw the hash browns ahead of time, do not worry. You can microwave it for a min and its good to go. Add all the ingredients except...

Dal is very nutritious (high in protein) and a very important part of Indian cuisine. I make different kinds of recipes (sambar, spinach dal, pitlai, kootu, etc) with different kinds of dals/lentils (toor, masoor, channa, urad and moong). This is my go to recipe when I am running short of time. It takes about 15 mins from start to finish and can be served with rice, papad and pickle on the side. It can also be served as soup on wintry cold days. Ingredients: Toor dal - 1/2 cup Tomato (chopped) - 1 big or 2 small Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Hing (asafoetida) - 1/4 tsp Water - 2 cups Salt - 1 to 2 tsp (as per your taste) Cilantro (coriander leaves) - few To Season: Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp Dried red chillies - 2 Curry leaves - few Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1/4 tsp Hing (asafoetida) - 1/4 tsp Chilli powder - 1 tsp Dhania powder - 1/4 tsp Amchur powder - 1/4  tsp Oil - 3 tbsp Method: Add washed toor dal, chopp...

The first week of lock down was more like a much needed vacation from school life. But then, it got serious and I started looking into things to do with my kids (both educational and fun). Since then, we have been doing a lot of fun indoor and outdoor activities, a lot of cooking, crafts and experiments. We also managed to learn a few new skills in the process. The most promising one is I taught my 10 yr old to sew and cook. I think they are both important life skills. Our first project was to make washable fabric masks. I looked online and found various patterns and DIY tutorials. Some of them were a little difficult to understand or required previous sewing knowledge. My tutorial below should be easy enough for a beginner skill level. My 10 yr old is able to make these masks without any help. It took me a while to trust her with the iron and the sewing machine, but she seems to be a very responsible and careful child. We started making masks for our family and then we made...