It's Friday again :)

Thank you so much for the hugs, and words of support on my post last week.

This week has been SO much better. The morning routine has been struggle and stress free...and a day that starts well is a blessing in many ways!

I've finally nailed down the recipe for poached eggs. The husband and I don't eat eggs, but the daughter loves them. I didn't know how to cook them, so the only way I've recently learnt to cook eggs is to poach them. Very British, thanks to my friend A who taught me. She can eat as many as you give her, but I limit to 1 at a time. She loves fruits, and veggies, so here is what her breakfast looked like this week:

Another reason for this week going great is that soccer practices got cancelled due to high heat. 108F expected later today. It left our weekday evenings wide open, and the kids enjoyed play dates, or running errands, or simply playing at home. I've resolved to keep at least 2 evenings free for "play". Although they enjoy the activities and never complain about them, it does take a toll at the end of the week. Right now, all we have is soccer...and only after soccer ends, I'll think about restarting Taekwondo.

I've also been able to cook healthy meals all week. I love soaking a bunch of dals with rice for multigrain dosa batter, which I can use for a couple of days. I vary the ingredients each time, and this is what I soaked this week. I added quinoa to kick up the protein content. And I used the high temps to get the batter to ferment well :).

The long weekend was so relaxing and fun. We checked out three new parks, ate yummy homemade meals, met friends, and had a family beach day. Even though the beach was crowded due to near perfect weather on a long weekend, it's the beach - always welcoming, always has enough sand+waves for everyone, and never fails to relax you with its atmosphere. The Pacific waters were surprisingly warm as well.

And last but not the least, I spent time prepping for my little man's birthday tomorrow! He is celebrating it in school today, will celebrate with grandparents tomorrow, and will have a big party (along with this sister) next weekend! I love him to the moon and back - and I am SO very grateful for his presence in our lives! Happy birthday my one and only, Rusliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Have a good weekend everyone! 

Day 3: The Thakkar Kitchen (part 2)

Continuing from the previous post...

This is what I cooked for dinner tonite....

Methi Kaaju Matar Malai (served with Paratha) - even though the name says malai, I used 2% milk and reduced it to make the gravy. This is a healthy dish and very flavorful too!

For Diwali, I tried making two new sweets. I loosely followed the recipes from the internet, and they turned out good. 

Peda - entirely cooked in microwave....

Kalakand - this one was a hit. It reminded me of "doodh no maavo" from Ahmedabad.

Mum made some awesome snacks - chakri, kachori, kela ni wafer.....

During a recent visit to a local temple, we tried a very good alternative to a typical vegetable cooked in Gujarat - they made "zucchini tuver" instead of "ringna (eggplant) tuver" - Dad and I (and my sister) are somewhat allergic to eggplant and we mostly avoid it. So this variation has become a hit in our house now. We all love zucchinis a lot (even the daughter).

Zucchini Tuver - with Bhakri, homemade pickle, ghee/gol....

When mum makes dinner, it's traditional dishes like this one below, which is our family recipe.

Vaalor Dhokli - a variety of vegetables (instead of Vaalor) can be used with dhokli...yum yum yum!

And on my birthday, mum/sis/I made this for everyone....

Undhiyu - I love all the colorful veggies.....Mum made those awesome muthiyas.....it takes a while to prep for it but cooking is sooper fast. We always have leftovers and enjoy them for a couple of days.

I had a picture of the finished dish but I can't find it on my laptop....

As mentioned in the previous post, if you need recipes, please leave a comment!

Day 2: The Thakkar Kitchen

With mum and dad around, fresh healthy meals prepared daily are a norm. Mum takes care of lunch, and usually, I prepare dinner. My dad is very fond of my cooking, and he has this curious look on his face when he asks me what's on the menu for dinner. He gets excited when I tell him I'm trying something new...especially if its something non-traditional.

My sister is an equally good cook as mum and I. She loves to bake, and her cakes are to die for! So the Thakkar Kitchen, as we like to call it, is always an aromatic inviting place!

One of the things I love to do is taking new ingredients (that are not typically used in Indian cooking) and making Indian dishes out of them. I was on a cooking spree in November - we tried out so many new dishes. I used to upload an Instagram picture to FB whenever I made something new, and so many friends have asked me for recipes. I usually google for recipes, but always modify them to suit our taste. Sometimes, I combine two or three recipes together. Whatever I do, the result is always great...which gives me the confidence to keep trying!

Here's some of the stuff I cooked recently:

Dabeli - Ahmedabad street food. A healthier version with no butter and also without onion/garlic to suit my parents' preferences.

Aloo Tikki Chaat - mimicking the famous "Bhalla" from Agra. We made this on Thanksgiving day and it was delish!

Chunky Guac - with black beans, roasted sweet corn, lemon zest, cilantro, black pepper and salt - served with some kind of healthy chips - we do quinoa/black bean, or gluten free multi-grain with flax seeds.

Lettuce wrap filling - Another favorite in our house, mimicking the veggie lettuce wraps from P.F.Changs!

Couscous Upma - I don't like traditional upma much, but I absolutely dig this one!

Chaat Baskets - I can never get enough of chaat. This one is my tried and tested recipe of all the ingredients that I love in my chaat. My mom loves it so much, she always makes me prepare more so we can have it for 2 days straight!

Paneer Tikka Masala Pizza - I don't like Pizza at all....and living in the US, I'm sometimes forced to have it (parties, group lunches, etc). I have never tried making pizza at home until now....so I took whole wheat pizza dough, and made a paneer tikka masala gravy to go on top, along with Amul cheese and Cilantro - and this is one pizza I could eat anyday! My dad said this is the best pizza he's ever had :)!

Spicy Masala Baby Potatoes - These were so so yummy!

If you need recipes for any of these dishes, please leave a comment and I will email it to you!