A Peek into my Life

My daughter has her birthday in October. This year she had a double whammy on her birthday with half yearly exam and Navratri. So we decided to have a birthday party after the exams and also after Navratri. The first order of business while planning any birthday party is the cake. My daughter is 100% into slime these days. This phase started almost 2 years ago and is going stronger than ever. All she thinks about is making slime, watching slime videos on youtube and playing with slime. So naturally, I thought of doing a slime themed cake. A quick search on google images led me to my inspiration image . Slime cake I made a four-layered eggless vanilla cake using this recipe. Eggless because some of the children do not eat eggs. I made 1.5 times the recipe and got 3 round cakes and a small square cake. I would have got 4 round cakes if I had filled the first batch a little less. Tastewise, the cake was good but it was not structurally strong. Almost all the cakes cracked at diffe...

When your kid does not like to touch vegetables, even with the proverbial 10 foot pole, you have to think of ways to put vegetables in their tummy. Most kids, especially mine, love pasta. She has progressed from plain buttered pasta to pasta with cheese sauce in recent years. When there is a sauce, there is always a scope for adding vegetables. Looking at that silver lining (to eating pasta with cheese sauce), I added creamy vegetables which will not take away from the texture of the cheese sauce. Cauliflower and pumpkin blend to a creamy texture with onions and garlic providing flavour. I did not forget the cheese in the cheese sauce. I put in a mix of colby and cheddar cheese. I prepare a relatively large portion of the sauce and freeze it. It freezes well for 2-3 months. This is such a big help on busy school mornings. I just boil 1/2 cup of pasta and mix 2 tablespoons of sauce, quickly defrosted in the microwave and a couple of teaspoons of the pasta water. I pack it in her l...