Meatball Carrot Feta Tortilla Wraps

Fresh Corn Ravioli with Herb Cream Sauce

Spirulina Spaghetti with Chicken Tikka

Vermicilli Biryani with Tahini- International Noodles Incident

Its that time of the month, that calls for another International Incident. I so enjoy these incidents for the fresh excitement and challenge that they bring along. Its fun to stretch the creativity and post at the same time across the globe. This times theme being "noodles" here's an Indian biryani of the Italian vermicilli with the Mediteranean Tahini. Howzzat for International?

Healthy Wholemeal Spiced Veg Pizza- International Pizza Pie Incident

After the huge success of the International Gnocchi party, its time for the International Pizza party. Though I was a first-timer at gnocchi, this time I wasnt willing to risk that since it came to matters of the yeast, and its also our host's Birthday.

Gnocchi Chicken Tikka- Gnocchi Party

Talk about virtual interaction! Penny from Jeroxie anounced a virtual Gnocchi Party. I was eager to join in, the flavour was supposed to be Umami. I had no clue what I was in for! I had never made Gnocchi in my life nor heard of Umami flavour. Many times I wanted to chicken out (pun intended), but Divina and Penny were very encouraging and provided me links to make it easire for me. Having finally joined them I must say it was fun! A big thank you to both of you, else I dont know when I would have tried Gnocchi or explored Umami. I have stuck to the traditional Potato Gnocchi since it was my first time, will explore in future. I would also like to explore healthier versions of Gnocchi. But what am I doing here. I am off to the party.... Join me there when you finish... At the party you will find..

• Penny- Jeroxie
• Divina – Sense & Serendipity
• Christine – Christine’s Recipes
• Mardi – Eat, Live, Travel, Write
• Trix – Tasty Trix
• Mellie – Tummy Rumbles
• Conor – Hold the Beef
• Natasha – Five Star Foodie
• Agnes Hon- Off the Spork
• Ozoz- Kitchen Butterfly

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients 2 potatoes 1egg yolk white flour as required nutmeg pepper Preparation-

• Boil the potatoes and..
• I had no potato ricer as the recipe requires. I had this...

and heres what I got... Good enough?

• Areate the riced potatoes.

• Mix with flour, nutmeg and pepper powder.

• Break the yolk into it and mix.

• Knead the dough till it does not stick to your fingers adding flour all as required.

• Let it stand for 10 minutes
• Then cut into finger long strips and then finger sized squares.
• Roll it over a fork and mould them.

• Your gnocchi is done!
• To cook drop in boiling water till they float.

Now for the Umami flavour! Well I decided to go Indian. So we have Gnocchi Chicken Tikka! For the Chicken Tikka click here.

Children's Day(India)-Special Guest Post- The Garden of Love

The 14th of November is celebrated as Children's Day in India.

All of this month we have special events, competitions and shows for kids all over the country.

I have a very special guest; my very first guest,- on this occassion. - Mary Moh from Keep Learning Keep Smiling. Though I've known Mary only for a short while, her love for kids and wisdom in parenting issues are noteworthy. She always has a kind an encouraging word for all her fellow bloggers and her blogging story is an inspiration to me.

Do visit her blog and you will find many recipes that are healthy and fun for kids. Some of her recipes that I have on my wish list are Sweet Potato Doughnuts, Lemon Bars, and 9Layered Coffee Rice Pudding and the Thai soups to name a few. I am sure you will enjoy this lovely post so aptly named " The Garden of Love" prepared by Mary in her unique style-She has a way of making the toughest looking recipe so simple.and desirable. With the food she also presents the "food for thought".

Children’s Day Love, Fun And Special (India)

The Garden Of Love

Today is Children’s Day in India. It’s a day to remind us to LOVE children, have FUN with them and tell them they are VERY SPECIAL!

Children Are Very Special

The thought of children always warms my heart. They are very SPECIAL indeed. When I was requested by Shirley to be her guest blogger, I thought it was heaven on earth. That was such an honour and just what clicks in my heart immediately. It brought back lots of sweet memories of my wonderful time with my own children while they were young and also with other children that I taught in church and in school. They have all been such a blessing to me.

The Wonder Of Children

There’s so much beauty in children. Their hearts are so simple. They have great potentials to achieve. They are able to achieve more than what we think or ever imagine. Children have always surprised me by what they think and do. I marvel their humility, sincerity, innocence and intelligence. Adults, especially parents play a vital role in discovering and developing these potentials through consistent nurturing, training and teaching, topped with lots of encouragement and motivation.

Red radishes represent LOVE

The Garden Of Love

One of the best ways to love children is to serve them healthy food. In this post, I want to share a beautiful, healthy recipe to celebrate Children’s Day today. I named this special dish, ‘The Garden of Love’. The life of a child is like a garden that needs to be tended and cared for. Left neglected and weeds soon grow and worms start to eat away the plants. If we don’t make time to invest and make sacrifices for our kids, it’s just a matter of time that they will most likely become a real pain in the neck. But if we spend quality time with them to teach, train and nurture, they will do us very proud one day.

It would be a lot of fun to get children involved in this recipe. The easiest to teach children is when you play and have fun with them. That’s what I did all the time when my children were small. Talk to them about how to have a beautiful life. You can tell them the first step is to obey mommy and daddy.

Here’s ‘The Garden Of Love’ recipe to share:

Ingredients A

250g chicken breast meat (diced small)
2T water
3/4t chicken stock granules
1T corn flour
1 small sweet potato (peeled, cut and steamed)
Peels of 2 red radishes (for garnishing)
Green vegetables (washed and cooked)

Peeled radishes
Peel 2 small, red radishes. Cut the peel into short thin strips for use as decoration.

Minced meat rounds

Put chicken meat, water, chicken stock granules and corn flour into a processor and process until fine. Remove and make into 12 rounds. Flatten them and arrange them on a steaming plate.

Patties with garnishing

Arrange the radish peels on top and steam with high heat for about 6 minutes. Remove and arrange on a plate with the sweet potato rounds in the centre. Arrange green vegetables on the outer edge. I used a very tender, green leafy vegetables called ‘bo chai’ which is a Chinese term. It’s quite like spinach leaves. You can use broccoli too.

Chinese ‘bo chai’

Ingredients B
1/2C water
1/2t chicken stock granules
1t corn flour
dash of turmeric powder

Mix everything together and pour into a small pot. Let it come to a boil. Pour over the patties and serve.

Note: Each step you assemble this lovely dish, you can relate it to life, how you need to take time to build up your life to become a beautiful life.


Do you love food decoration? Do you love cooking or baking with children? What are the common topics that you share with children? Please share, add and comment in the comment box below.

Quote of the day……
“You have to love your children unselfishly. That is hard. But it is the only way.”
Barbara Bush, former U.S. First Lady

Spinach Rice

Spinach Rice another delicious and nutritious way to get your kids to eat their spinach. I have used Enriched Spinach Puree again for this dish. I served the rice with poppadams. If your kids are like mine, the poppadams will be over long before they've even started on the rice!!!

Ingredients-

1 cup rice
2-3 tbs Enriched spinach puree
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup shelled peas
1 chopped onion chopped
2 tsps ghee/clarified butter
1tbs grated cheddar cheese
5 cloves of garlic chopped
2 small cinnamon sticks
6-8 whole peppercorns
3 cardamoms
salt to taste
1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation-

• Cook the rice and keep aside.
• In a heavy bottomed dish heat 1tsp ghee, add the chopped onions and garlic and whole spices and saute till you begin to get the aroma of the spices.
• Add the peas, and grated carrot and cover and cook.
• After the veggies are cooked add the cooked rice, and Enriched Spinach Puree, and salt and mix.
• Switch off the heat and add the lemon juice.
• Top with grated cheese or ghee and serve hot with poppadams.

You can also check

Pasta in Spinach Cream Sauce

Pasta In Spinach Cream Sauce

As I had promised in my previous post here's a way to use your Enriched Spinach Puree for pasta. Pasta in spinach cream sauce as the name suggests is rich in spinach and cream.
I have used elbow macaroni, do use your child's favourite pasta to make it fun for him/her.

After I had finished preparing it and tasting it, I was quite happy with myself. Now I had to face my jury's verdict. Jury- my 4year old son and 19 months daughter. Joel tasted some and rolled his eyes (while I waited with bated breath) and pronounced "I don't like it". Then came Judith- she winced, but politely gave it a second shot and no more! I thought to myself "Now what do I do?" That's when I remembered tomato sauce! Having added some, I requested Joel to give it one more shot promising not to force him if he didnt like it. To my relief he loved it and complained no more, instead finished the meal quickly. Judith followed suit. Actually I also liked it better with the tomato sauce.

Have you cooked pasta with spinach? Do share.

Ingredients-
1tbs olive oil
1 cup elbow macaroni
5 tbs fresh cream
2 tbs enriched spinach puree
1 small onion finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1tsp oregano
salt to taste

Preparation-

• Boil water, drop in the macaroni when the water is boiling and cook al dente. Drain the pasta, wash in cold water and keep aside. Reserve the water.
• Chop the garlic and onion fine.
• Heat oil in a pan add the garlic and onion and saute.
• Add the fresh cream; stirring till it thickens.
• Pour in the enriched spinach puree and stir. If you would like the sauce a little lighter add the reserve.
• Add the salt and oregano seasoning.
• Finally add the boiled pasta and mix into the spinach cream sauce.
• Serve with or without tomato sauce according to your family's taste buds.

Mac and Cheese (Macaroni and Cheese)

Macaroni, macaroni, mac and cheese..... My son keeps singing this song from Barney and friends. A very common dish with many variations. I have prepared mine keeping in mind the fussy eater who needs to be placated with a variety of tastes. I have used elbow mac, do use any shape that your kid loves.

A little about the Cheddar cheese used in this preparation-

Cheddar cheese is firm and made from cow's milk. It is a good source of vitamin B12. A slice (40 g) contains about 0.5 µg of vitamin B12 (required daily intake for an adult is 2.4 µg). It is usually pale yellow(off white) in colour with a sharp, salty, pungent flavour.

Ingredients-

2 cups elbow macaroni
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
3 flakes garlic crushed
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper

Cheddar Cheese sauce-

1 1/2 tbs butter
1 1/2 tbs flour
1 cup milk
1tsp freshly ground pepper
1 cup grated Cheddar
salt to taste
To prepare macaroni-

• Boil macaroni in water and strain. Add cold water and strain again.
• In a pan heat oil, and saute garlic and onions.
• Add tomatoes and cook till juices blend.
• Add the macaroni and mix well. Take it off the fire.

To prepare Cheddar cheese sauce-

• Melt the butterand remove from heat.
• Stir in flour and seasonings.
• Gradually add milk, stirring until well mixed.
• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth.
• Cook for 5 minutes longer; add cheese. Stir until its smooth.

For Baking-

• In a baking tray, spread a layer of the macaroni mixture and over it a layer of the sauce.
• Keep adding layers alternatively making sure the last layer is of the sauce.
• Layer some grated cheese and freshly ground pepper on the top.
• Bake at 200 C for 10 minutes.
• Leave to stand for 5 minutes and serve hot.