LETZ COOK/CRAFT/MAKE

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...