My baby girl was born yesterday....but now she is 9!!!

My little girl celebrated her 9th birthday a few weeks before. Let me invite you guys to a small conversation that happened a few days before her birthday…

Me----- “Hey Leah, what do you want for your birthday?”

Leah--- “I can’t believe that you forget… You promised me that I can cook all by myself on my 9th birthday”

Me-----(In my mind) Yes, that promise happened a few months back… I said those words just to avoid her disturbing me in the kitchen while I was experimenting something… But I really thought that she will forget it until someone else, possibly her pesky little brother who selectively remembers and reminds everyone of anything that shouldn't be remembered and reminded, reminds her…

“Oh… are you sure that you want to do it? I will not help… I will not come near the kitchen… you will have to do everything by yourself…” (I have to make sure that I tried my best to make her drop the decision.)

Leah--- That’s exactly what I want… I don’t want anyone in the kitchen…. I want to cook by myself.

Me----O………….k…. (does that sound as unconvincing as I was then?)

So together we decided on the recipe… It is going to be a Brownie… from ‘A Tasty Challenge’. Together we made this Brownie a number of times in the past… But still I tried to impart a bit of hesitation in her mind…, mainly because I just can’t admit that my little girl has grown so much… I just can’t… It is not fair… she was born just yesterday…. I changed her diapers and put her to bed very recently… But as the conversation proceeded she convinced me that all these things happened 9 years ago…

Me----“So there is baking involved… you have to switch on the Oven… Will you do it?”

Leah---“Yes I will… You just stay there and see whether I am doing it right. That's it”

Me----O…..k… (I am still not sure about this whole idea; but it wont cost anything after all...)

Sure or not that day came and Leah was as determined as ever… And I have to say she pulled it off quite well…

I took a print out of my Brownie recipe and showed her where all the ingredients are…; left everything to herself and checked our smoke detector for proper functioning… you know.. just in case…)

I sat on the dining table, which is next to the kitchen and listened to Leah reading each and every sentence from the print out and making her own comment on the sentence as if she is 'The Next Food Network Star'… She even fired her little brother once, when he tried to sneak into the kitchen to swipe some Chocolate chips….
She measured, she mixed... I sat there at the table browsing....listening and smiling to the commentary from the kitchen....
She used a parchment paper on the bottom….

She poured the batter….

Her pesky brother volunteered to do the 'quality control'….

But I interfered when what started as a simple 'quality control' went wild….

After baking it came out good… But I was too skeptical about taking the brownies out of that pan… So I took a photo of it in the pan itself… I went back for more browsing while Leah let the Brownie cool down a bit….

But after sometime she came with this….

Then she cut it…; shared with her brother and us….

Oh forgot to mention… during this time, news went out that Leah is baking by herself and two of our friends with their families came to taste her Brownie… (Brownie tasting ended up in dinner and a long time of unlimited chatting!!!) Oh.. by the way....that painting on the table... Leah did it... I thought at least some of you would love to know...

Even though I started writing this post to portrait my daughter’s first attempt at cooking by herself, I would love you guys to sneak into her party too…

Usually we celebrate our kid’s birthday at home with some of our good friends, their kids, some home cooked food and a homemade cake of there preference… This time was also no difference…

For the first time in her life when Leah said she don’t want a Princess or a Fairy Tale character Cake, I realized with shock that my little princess is growing up… Her choice was a ‘swimming pool’ Cake... I sighed as she made her choice... she did not ask for a ‘High-Heeled Shoe Cake’ or a ‘Louis Vuitton Hand Bag’ Cake…. At least she is not a diva yet!!!

 

 It was a Rev Velvet Cale with a Cream Cheese filling and Butter Cream frosting... As you can see, I ended up covering the cake with fondant... Birthday Girl was more than happy to see my creation... and so were the guests...

Both of us were excited with the idea of an ‘all starters’ party’, as appetizers and soups being  her favorite… And this was the menu….

Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches and Egg Tea Sandwiches… (Most of our guests were not familiar with Smoked Salmon and hence we made an alternative too…)

   

Cream of Mushroom Soup…

Alligator Samplers… (It was actually fired Alligator with Indian spices…; It was my husband’s idea to incorporate something adventurous and he simply hated when I called them ‘Alligator Samplers’… he told everyone ‘Cheenkanni Varuthathu’!!!)
Amazingly it tasted just like Chicken and a four year old girl in the party went crazy (in a good manner) over it and ate right from the bowl where I kept it in bulk. (See, I got some good foodie friends!!)

Chicken Chilly…

Pav Bhaji…. (For easy handling I substituted Pav with Bread…)

Chemmeen Kozhukatta…

Salad with Vinegar, Salt and Pepper dressing... I think this goes well with Chicken Kebab

Chicken Kebeb

Fruit Trifle

If God allows, there will be more fabulous birthdays for my daughter, but I know I will never forget her 9th Birthday… when she convinced me that she can cook all by herself…

And I hope she will never forget it either…. Love you Leah... love you a lot....

Freezing Strawberries and Strawberry Milkshake

As the Strawberry season is coming to an end, it is really good to freeze some for the coming months, especially considering the price of frozen Strawberries in the Grocery stores. So when I got my hands on some, I bought and made it into frozen ones. The procedure is very simple and can be done easily if you follow these steps. This is what I did.
Method of Preparation

1. Select Strawberries without any bruises or cuts.
2. Wash and pat them dry. Remove the leaves and stems.
3. Place them on a baking sheet without touching each other. Cover it with a foil or plastic wrap.
4. Keep it in the fridge for one hour and then transfer it into the freezer. This will give the effect of freezing Strawberries individually.
5. Once frozen, put all of them together in a zip lock bag and store it in the freezer till ready to be used.
6. These berries will stay good for a long time and can be used for making desserts, smoothies and milkshakes.
7. These frozen berries will not hold their shapes if thawed.
8. Freezing individually first is very important, otherwise  in the end the berries will stay is one huge mass.

Enjoy...

Recipe No: 66                                   

 Ingredients                                           Makes 2 Medium glasses

• Cold Milk…………………..1 ½ cups
• Frozen Strawberries…..10 medium ones
• Sugar………………………..3 tablespoons or as needed
• Strawberry Ice cream...1/2 Cup

Method of Preparation

1. Blend all the ingredients together in a blender until smooth but still thick.
2. Pour it into glasses, decorate with Strawberries and serve cold.

Make it, enjoy the deliciousness and
serve it to your family with love…

Chicken Stock

If you have a habit of buying the whole Chicken, you can use the less meaty portions like neck, Ribs, Backbone and the tip of the wings to make your own Chicken stock. The benefits… No preservatives, No MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) or other artificial ingredients, you can control the amount of salt, more economical and above all this much more delicious than store bought ones. Collect the extra parts of the Chicken and store in the freezer and when it’s adequate, make the stock. Once made, you can freeze the stock and just thaw whenever you need. What else can you ask from the pieces that are normally neglected and  simply go to the garbage!!!

Ingredients                                   Yields around 4 Cups

• Chopped Chicken bones…........3 cups or more (Use neck, end of the wings, backbones, ribs etc :-)
• Red Onion Chopped roughly…1 Small (Wash and use the skin too as it gives a nice color to the stock)
• Carrot chopped roughly……….1 medium (Don’t peel. Just wash)
• Celery chopped roughly……….1 stalk
• Beans chopped roughly…….....5-8
• Garlic large………………………..4-6 (Cut each into two)
• Crushed black pepper………...1/2 Teaspoon or as per your taste (use less if you are using powder)
• Water………………………………..4 ½ Cups
• Salt as per taste

Method of Preparation

1. Put all the ingredients together in a pressure cooker and wait till one whistle.
2. Lower the flame to medium and let it cook slowly for 1 hour.
3. Switch off the flame and let it sit for 30 minutes.
4. Open and strain through a sieve. Press the solids gently. Don’t press too hard.
5. Discard the solids and use the liquid soon or keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or keep in the freezer for at least 2 months.

Enjoy...

Canning a Preserve/ Jam/Jelly

Cans of different sizes with their lids are available in the market. If you buy these jars once , it can be used over and over. But you have to change the lids every time for good results. Extra lids are also available in most of the stores that sells food items.

Even though there are a lot of canning methods are there, this is the one I follow.

Method of Canning

1. Wash the cans and the lids in warm water. Put all these in a large pot and cover them with water. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for 5-10 minutes. 
2. Take the cans and the lids out and while hot fill them with Preserves or Jams or Jellies leaving 1 inch space on the top of the can. 
3. With a damp paper towel, wipe off the excess from rim and the outer sides of the can. 
4. Put the lids on and tighten it. 
5. Place these cans back in the boiling water, close the boiling water with a lid and let it boil for 10 minutes. 
6. Switch off the flame and let it stand in the water for 5 minutes. 
7. Take the cans out of the water and check whether they are sealed by pressing the top of the lid. If the lid is tight, it is sealed. If you can feel the lid going down, then it is not sealed. Mostly it will seal with a ‘thud’ noise within minutes. If not boil it till it is sealed.
8. Once cooled, store these in a cool dry place like a cupboard. Open when necessary and once opened it is better to store the rest in the refrigerator.

Enjoy....

Garam Masala Powder

 

Ingredients 

• Fennel Seeds…1/2 cup
•  Whole Star Anise…2
•  Whole Cardamom… 10 no
•  Whole Cloves……….1 teaspoon
•  Cinnamon……………..3 two inch pieces

Method of preparation 

1. On a dry pan on medium heat add Star Anise, Cardamom, Cloves and Cinnamon and fry till cardamom seeds swells for about 2 minutes. If the cloves start to pop, proceed to the next step.  
2. Add the fennel seeds and fry till the fennel seeds start to pop.  
3. Turn off the flame and transfer the contents to a plate and allow it to cool.  
4. Grind it in a coffee grinder till it is of powder consistency.  
5. Store it in an air tight container.