Its holiday season and everyone must be busy planning or may be even executing on their holidays plans, well we just got back home from one. A proper vacation ; which was a very enjoyable and a memorable one we had in a long time. After my little Adya's arrival we never planned on a long vacation within US other than our India visits and short visit to places near by. We were a group of 3 family friends all having kids of the same age and born on following  near by months , so it was triple the fun with 3 kids all hyper at the same time.

We planned on a sudden vacation to Hawaii, and it was even better escaping from the cold winter weather here, and enjoying our India kind of climate over there.The kids enjoyed to their hearts content , playing and enjoying in the lovely beaches every single time possible. We grown ups were all excited about water activities and much like enjoying Home away from Home; relaxing in a different kind of world. So, now we people just miss our vacation, but still its always great be get back home and cuddle up in your ever favorite couch on a winter day sipping on your Hot Coffee.

Well, just after getting back home we were all set to celebrate little Adya's Pre- school Christmas Celebrations , and as parents were allowed to bring in snack i along side with my friend was all set to make some yummy snacks. I was so longing to make some gingerbread cookies and it came out so well, the whole house was filled with a great aroma, these are the ones i made for Adya's School Christmas Celebration.

Eggless GingerBread Man with Vegan Royal Icing
Recipe courtsey : Prema's Culinary

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tbsp Dry Ginger Powder
1/2 tbsp Cinnamon Powder
1 tsp Cloves Powder
1/2 tsp Nutmeg Powder

1/2 cup Butter / 1 stick Butter ( at room temp )
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Milk ( warm)

Method:
Mix Flour + Baking pwdr + Baking soda + spice pwdrs, together in a bowl and set aside.
In a bowl beat together Butter + Brown Sugar + Honey until creamy.
Add in the sifted flour little by little and beat, also add milk in between as needed.
Knead the dough together with your hands to form a soft dough ball, cover it with a clingfilm wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Pre heat oven to 350F , and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out little of the dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured work surface, cut out shapes using your cookie cutter and lay them on the baking tray and bake for 10 mins,
Once done cool it for 2 mins and transfer them on to a wire racks , cool completely and store.

Vegan Royal Icing

Ingredients:
1 cup Icing Sugar / Confectioners Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Corn Starch
1 tsp Lemon Juice
2 - 3 tsp Milk
Food colours - green & red

Method:

Sift together Sugar + Cornstarch, beat well with other ingredients.
Scrap down the sides , add sugar if the icing is too watery.
Divide into 3 portions, adding green colour to one and red to another one, leaving one white.
Mix the colours well, add in the piping bags or ziploc covers.
Pipe on the cookies and let it dry , once dried store in air tight containers.

    Its very good to include different healthy food in your menu, right? Well i was so interested and also very much excited learning about Quinoa from friends and about its health benefits. I was all excited when i bought Quinoa all set to include it in our regular diet. Least did i know that it would taste so plain, and i just didn't like that it was so flavorless on its own. But i did give it a try to include in our menu by making different varieties possible.

Once i got to test try a sample food from the shop Traders Joe which had Red Quinoa in it and i loved the taste. It was just amazing and i came back home buying a small pack of Red Quinoa. I tried out making this Cutlet in my own way and i am so happy that it turned out to be a success. We loved it, but i still need to make it more healthy, make be ill bake it next time instead of deep frying it..

Red Quinoa and Mushroom Cutlets

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Red Quinoa
4-5 Mushrooms ( chopped )
3 Potatoes ( boiled , peeled and smashed)
1 Onion ( chopped )
2 Green Chilies chopped
1" Ginger chopped
4-5 Garlic chopped

1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder

1 -2 cups Bread Crumbs
1-2 Egg whites beaten
Salt to taste
Curry leaves ( chopped )

Method:

Cook Quinoa in 1 cup water until water all evaporated,or refer package instructions, do not over cook.
Heat oil in a pan and add Ginger + Garlic + Green Chili + Onions + Curry leaves and saute for a min.
Add in the Spice powders + Mushrooms and saute in high for 1 - 2 mins, take off from heat.
Add in quinoa + potatoes sprinkle salt as needed, and mix while still hot.
Once cooled mix with hand and divide it into small balls and flatten it.
Dip in egg and then coat in bread crumbs, deep fry it in oil, until golden brown in colour.
Serve hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

    Thai food can be a lot related to Indian Food i guess , may be a lot more to Kerala Cuisine for using Coconut milk in almost all the Curries they prepare and yeah having rice too . Its not so recent that we have visited a Thai Restaurant in any time near. But we are so crazy about Thai food, that every time we want to dine out Thai would be the first preference for sure. Well this Soup can or cannot be mentioned Thai , but it is so similar to the Thai Soup and it tasted almost the same, because i haven't used anything authentic Thai.

As i have earlier mentioned in my previous posts we enjoy most of our winter dinners having hot steaming soup. When i was starting to make soup on this particular " Soup Day " i was sure to add in Rice Noodles to it, i had very little Rice Noodles with me which was not enough to make some Spicy Noodles which i was actually planning to make and made way to end up here. I did keep Thai Soup in mind while making this, and i am actually very happy with the out come.
Our little one was just searching for carrots and noodles in her soup , but after a while she was seen happily asking for more :)


Fried Tofu Noodle Soup


Ingredients:
2 cups Firm Tofu ( cut in squares )
2 cups Cooked Rice Noodles ( refer notes )
1- 1 1/2 cups Thick Coconut milk ( i used canned )
1 Carrot sliced
6 - 7 Green Beans
1/2 Green Bell Pepper Sliced ( any color )
1 -2 Tender Bamboo Shoot Sliced ( opt , i didn't use this )
1 - 2  Bok Choy ( chopped )
8 -9 Spinach Leaves
8 -9 Basil Leaves

3 Shallots ( sliced )
3 Green Chilies
2 tbsp Garlic chopped
2 tbsp Ginger chopped

1/2 cube Knorr Chicken Boullion
1/2 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Paprika / Kashmiri Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin / Jeera Powder
1 - 1 1/2 tsp Red Chili Flakes
Water
Salt as needed

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry tofu until golden brown on all sides. Drain on paper towel and set aside.
Heat oil in a pot add Garlic + Ginger + Shallots + Green Chilies and saute.
Add in the Vegetables (expect the leaves) +  Chicken Cube + the Spice pwdrs and saute for 1 min .
Pour in 2 1/2 cups of water and let the water boil check for salt, add in the leaves and Mushroom .
Lower the heat and let the water to a simmer and pour the coconut milk, sprinkle red chili flakes let it simmer again for a few mins.
Add in Tofu , Noodles and Basil leaves. Serve hot.

Notes: I used Rice Noodles here, i just over cooked mine, you may cook by the package directions. If you want you can add Chicken before sauteing the veggies and rest all the same and make it into a Non - Veg Version. You can use Veg / Chicken Stock instead of Water.

   Its not so hard to try out certain food at home, i am a great fan of Mexican food, i just love the food from the Fast Food chain Taco Bell. Sometimes i get lazy to make a dinner or so, and the Taco Bell near our home was my savior for long. It was just more than a savior, i loved the food over there well, i loved it so much that i was so ready to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary lunch by dining at Taco Bell, hehehe!!!
Saying this, i just remember that its been ages that i have visited my fav place.

After my little girls arrival i haven't visited my fav place so often, well writing this post is really making me drool for some good stuffs from there.   This is a   Super easy snack , this can be included in any category an appetizer, lunch or dinner. This is loved by we all, and i just devour it to the core.
By adding a pinch of Red Chili Flakes , i have given it my own personal touch.

Quesadilla - a Crunchy Treat

Ingredients:
5 -6 Tortillas
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
Red hili Flakes

For the salsa:
1 small Onion ( chopped )
1 Tomato de-seeded ( chopped )
4 -5 Coriander sprigs
1/2 - 1 Lemon squeezed
Salt to taste

Method:
 In a bowl mix everything for the salsa , and keep it aside for 15 - 20 mins.
Heat your panini maker and lay one tortilla layer about 2 tbsp of salsa on half  of the tortilla.
Spread 2  tbsp of cheese on top, sprinkle 1/2 tsp of chili flakes and fold it in half and press the panini maker and cook until crispy and all cheese melted.
If using your Tawa,  heat tawa on Medium - High and layer tortilla, salsa , cheese and chili flakes as said above, then fold the tortilla and press the tortilla using your spatula for 2 -3 sec , carefully flip on the other side and press again, until crispy and cheese all melted. The tawa / pan should be very hot, and be careful not to burn your tortillas.
Cut in wedges and serve hot with Guacamole or Ketchup.

    November is a month of happenings at home. By the 1st week of November we celebrate our Little Girl's Birthday, so we will be busy planning for her Birthday Bash ; and mean time i will be busy deciding on what the Cakes should be for her Birthday Bash as well as her Actual Birthday Day which we celebrate within just the three of us. Then by the end of the month we will be ready to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary as well as planning for Thanks Giving. Even this year wasn't much different, most of the times we celebrate our Wedding Anniversary On or a day before or after Thanks Giving.. And this time we went shopping all night and our Little one was such a darling she co- operated well and slept all night giving me a great chance to shop.

So coming back to the Wedding Anniversary we celebrated our lovely journey of  6 years. I have been wanting to bake the Rose Cake from I am a Baker for long, and tried out this time. I baked the same Chocolate cake i have baked for Adya's B'day and frosted it with Butter cream. This is the ever Perfect Chocolate Cake Recipe and is a keeper; an adaptation from Hersheys , and the Butter Cream recipe from here. I am sure to do a post exclusively on this Perfect Moist Chocolate Cake.




Chocolate Rose Cake 

 Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
2 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Cocoa powder
2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Buttermilk ( refer notes )
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
2 Eggs ( at room temperature )
2 tsp Vanilla extract 
1 cup Black coffee (I used Nescafe)

Preheat oven to 350 F, and line two 9" round cake tins with parchment paper.

Whisk together dry ingredients into a bowl.

In a bowl mix wet ingredients together and beat adding the flour mix little by little until all combined
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 mins, until a tester comes out clean.

Frosting:

2 sticks Butter ( softened at room temp )

3 cups Powdered Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

4 tbsp Milk / Heavy Cream

Pink Food Colour / 

Beat butter until creamy, add in sugar little by little until well combined.

Add vanilla , salt,  pink colour and beat well until all mixed, add milk checking on the consistency.

Layer frosting on one cake and and place another cake on top; give a good crumb coating.

Pipe roses using Wilton 1M tip.

For Chocolate Roses, i used 1 stick butter + 2 cups Powdered Sugar + 1/2 cup Cocoa powder + salt + vanilla extract + milk, mix as mentioned above and pipe roses.

Notes : I didn't have any Buttermilk with me so substituted it with 3/4 cup of Curd + 1/4 cup Milk and mix well, keep it for 5 mins and then use it, the cake was just perfect with the substitution.
 I used three 6" pans, i didn't want a big cake, i used two cakes and refrigerated the 3rd one.