A Peek into my Life

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. Being on a weekday, we decided to celebrate on the weekend by going on a bike trip for old times sake. We used to go on regular bike trips when we were in Bangalore during the initial years of our marriage. Revdanda beach, Alibaug We decided on Revdanda beach which is around 120 kms from Thane. We planned to start early on Sunday morning. The grandparents came to pick up the daughter on Saturday night. She stayed at their place for 24 hours until they dropped her off again on Sunday night. We are lucky to have such helpful grandparents who live close by. bike parked at revdanda beach We left home around 6:30 am. After we crossed Panvel and were out on the highway, it got so cold. We were freezing on the bike due to the bike induced wind chill factor. We stopped around 8:30 am for breakfast at Amantran hotel about 15 kms after Karnala bird sanctuary. 'Roti Shoti Chai Nashta' just before Karnala bird sanctuary is also a good ...

I used to buy bottles of ketchup and nutella but then I observed that the daughter was consuming large quantities of both of these condiments :). I switched to Heinz ketchup because they claim to be preservative-free but then I thought that it is so easy to make ketchup at home. Why am I not doing it myself? That's how I started on my DIY condiment making routine. Once ketchup was handled, I started making nutella. I am always worried about giving the kid any packaged products. Since she is not into eating our regular Indian food so much, these condiments are a way to get her to eat something healthy, like a vegetable paratha. Homemade Tomato Ketchup This is a very easy recipe with a handful of ingredients. Ingredients: 1 kg red,juicy tomatoes 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar* 1/2 tsp ginger powder 1/2 tsp pepper powder 1 to 1.5 tsp rock salt* Method Chop the tomatoes into large pieces and pressure cook them without water for 3 whistles on medium flame.* ...

This week was a leftovers kind of week. There was undhiyo and the rest of the items leftover from the family dinner on Sunday. My MIL had also brought over her signature aloo-gobhi, chole, boondi raita and gajar ka halwa for us. We had all of these for 3 days. roti, rice, dhokla, kadhi, undhiyo, jalebi roti, rice, jalebi, boondi raita, chole, aloo gobhi methi roti, rice, kadhi, boondi raita, aloo gobhi The daughter took methi paratha one day, potato sabji the next day, and pizza roti, featuring multi-grain roti and homemade pizza sauce after that. sandwich, nuts,jalebi, ketchup, methi paratha, salad bread and egg, til gul ladoo, roti, potato bhaji, nuts and salad multigrain pizza roti, salad, sandwich, nuts 15th January was Makar Sankranti. I had made tilgul vadis a few days ago. But the daughter wanted til gul ladoos. I find it impossible to eat store-bought til ladoos if they are hard. Our local store had run out of these ladoos by evening. So I ma...

The last weekend ended with pav bhaji. That was also the starting point of this week. Monday, 07/01 The daughter took pav-bhaji sandwiches for lunch while we had it for breakfast. sheera, pav-bhaji sandwich, salad, and nuts for school pav-bhaji sandwich For lunch, I made masoor amti with rotis. I boil the whole masoor which was soaked overnight in a pressure cooker. I use a good amount of garlic in the tadka with other regular tadka ingredients like mustard seeds, jeera, hing, and turmeric. Add it to the cooked dal, along with kokam, tiny bit of jaggery, salt and goda masala. Finally, coriander and coconut to garnish. Masoor amti with roti Tuesday, 08/01 The daughter had a roti spread with the last of the homemade nutella for her breakfast box and cheese stuffed dosa with salad for lunch box. For us, it was red amaranth (laal bhaji) made with lots of garlic and onion, finished with fresh coconut. roti roll with homemade nutella, cheese stuffed dosa...

Pizza sauce is another sauce where I like to load up on vegetables without compromising on taste. Like the cheesy vegetable sauce , I store this pizza sauce in the freezer too. I obviously use it to make pizzas in no time, but more often, I use it to make multigrain pizza roti for the daughter's lunchbox. Healthy pizza sauce pizza on a homemade base multigrain roti pizza Ingredients: 1 onion 5 cloves garlic half of a small beetroot 1 carrot 10 french beans quarter of a bottlegourd/lauki 7 tomatoes 1 small capsicum/bellpepper 1 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp mixed herbs 1 tbsp olive oil Method Heat the olive oil in a pressure cooker. Add the chopped vegetables in order (onion, garlic,beetroot,carrot, french beans, bottlegourd, and tomatoes), sauteeing briefly after each vegetable. Once all the vegetables are well sauteed on medium-high heat, add enough water to barely cover the vegetables and cook for 3-...