Applesauce

I just don't know how some of you mothers out there do it. Juggle baby(babies),work, housework and life in general. I've been struggling the past few weeks to keep my sanity.

Let me start by saying how thankful and truly blessed I am to live the life I live, maybe just sitting down to write this will clear my mind and remind me how good I do have it... But the past few nights have been a struggle for both of us, maybe more so for Issac since he is the one cutting the top tooth, but I don't remember his bottom teeth giving him as much trouble as this top tooth has. :(

I can see the faint outline of his tooth ready to burst out into the surface. Just wish it would hurry up and come out soon and put us both out of our misery.

OK! I'm done with my rant about teething. On a happier note, he has pulled himself up to stand and completely let go and still stood by himself for a few moments, so I’m thinking walking time is fast approaching. He is also trying to talk more and he just seems to understand more and I feel our communication is clicking with him more and more every day. Its just so rewarding to see him growing up into this happy little chap every passing day. :)

Now, onto today's recipe. Since Issac's teething and is not really interested in eating, applesauce seemed to be a good idea as it was sweet and also it's really soothing when served cold.

Full of vitamin C and fibre, you can make sauce from almost any kind of apple you can find, although Fuji's and Gala apples are especially sweet and delicious.

I add a touch of cinnamon just to give it a little zip, but you could easily leave it out. Why spend more money buying jarred when you can make this in minutes?!

Applesauce

6 medium Royal Gala apples (or any other naturally sweet varieties)

A pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon

Water

Wash, peel, quarter, and core the apples. Place in a steamer basket over a pot of water.
Cover the pot tightly and steam for 10 minutes or until apples are tender, adding more water if needed. The apples should pierce easily with a knife when ready.
Cool, then strain in a food processor or blender, adding 1 tablespoon of the cooking liquid per apple to the puree.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg and serve warm or - as a soothing treat for teething babies - nice and cold.

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Kerala Style Rice and Fish Soup

Issac's almost about to turn one in a couple of months and I think I may be freaking out a bit here: I’m expected to keep a small child alive on adult human food? I feel so unprepared! Why don’t they cover this in parenting classes? Because, realistically, that first few months is so easy food-wise: just gimme the milk and nobody gets hurt.

And so begins the next “phase” of our lives: the one in which I try to feed a tiny human real food, with sustenance. Then I decided : Soup will be the answer. Seasonal, delicious, chock-fulla-good-stuff soup! You can make soup out of just about anything, and by golly, I would. Make a big batch over the weekend and you’re set for the week. Brilliant!!!

I got this recipe from a Jamie Oliver's recipe book I recently got my hands on and what better way to Introduce Issac to our 'nadan' flavors than a beautifully spiced soup??

What's fantastic about it is that it's so easy to make. It only takes about 30 minutes, and the other great thing is that the ingredients are not particularly expensive, so it's economical.Use any selection of fish that you fancy. The soup is just as good with frozen prawns or flaky white fish. I used frozen prawns in mine to give Issac a bit of texture to chew on. And there's something about having rice in a soup that makes it really scrumptious.

I think all the individual flavors kinda confused Issac initially and wasn't too keen on the soup at first. But on the second and third go he managed to finish the serving I had given him,so that's a good start as any! Hope your little ones like this more than he did.

Kerala Style Rice and Fish Soup
Recipe Source : Jamie's Dinners

2½ tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
a pinch of mustard seeds
a handful of fresh curry leaves, picked off their stalks
½ teaspoons cumin seeds
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoons turmeric
1 large thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 handful of basmati rice
300ml water
200g frozen prawns
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
optional: pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat up your oil, then add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, cumin seeds, garam masala and turmeric.
Cook for a few minutes and you'll get the most amazing smells filling the room from all these spices. Then add the ginger, the garlic and the onions.
Continue cooking slowly until the garlic and onions are soft.
Then add the rice and the water.
Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Add your fish and the coconut milk with a pinch of salt.
Put the lid on the pan and simmer for a further 10 minutes, then stir well to break up the pieces of fish. Taste and correct the seasoning with salt and pepper, if using.
Ready to serve!

Pics coming soon...

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Apple Kesari & a Goodbye...

One of the very important people in my life is moving away. She is a friend and she and her husband are moving to another place soon.

My husband is my best friend but that doesn’t mean that Her moving away doesn’t feel like a seismic shift tossing me off balance. Because it does feel that way. It feels like a little earthquake.

What's especially sad is that we never got together as much as we should have,until recently. We were both super busy, and when someone's around all the time, it's easy to think that you'll always get to see them.

Then life happens and suddenly, the friend that you always assume you'll see next week, is packing her bags.

We haven't been friends for very long but it sure seems that way. Has she changed the way I think about the universe, about life, about love?? No, not really. Has she changed me in a way words can never express? Nope.

But without doing any of those things, she's managed to make a mark on my life and I know that even though we didn't do so much stuff together, when I say goodbye to her, a piece of me will go with her.

And  I know Issac's going to miss them too. He absolutely adores the both of them as much as he does us.

Yes, I know there is Skype, Facebook, G+ and the phone...but it's just not the same. I just hope she knows what she means to me and that she will be missed!!

Just reminds me how important it is that we find time for friends even though it seems absolutely impossible. There are so many special women in my life that I've met along the way and have stuck with me :) Ladies, you now who you are and I just hope you know that I love you and miss you even if I don't say it often or keep in touch as often as I should!!

OK, now for today's recipe.Today's recipe is something sweet. A bit of a treat for the babies. Issac hasn't got his appetite back yet after his bout of illness and so I made this coz he loves sweet stuff and hoped that he would take more than a couple of mouthfuls.

He did like it and did eat a wee bit more than usual. Its just a very easy Indian dish you can treat your baby to once in a while. And its great for parents too!!

Apple Kesari

Recipe Source : http://thecuisine.blogspot.com

2 medium sized Apples

1 cup Semolina (Rava)

1 cup Sugar 

3 cups Water

1/2 cup Ghee

1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder

Raisins (optional) (refer Notes)

Roast the semolina in a table spoon of ghee until light golden color and keep it aside.
Wash, peel and grate the apples and set aside.
Bring 3 cups of water to boil and add the roasted semolina and grated apple to it.
Cover with a lid and let it cook completely. When the water evaporates, add the sugar, cardamom powder and ghee.
Mix well and cook for a few minutes. When it thickens switch off the heat.
Garnish with fried raisins and serve.


Notes
You can adjust the amount of ghee to your liking. I haven't used the whole amount as in the recipe.
Omit the raisins and cashews if your baby can't manage chewing big pieces or optionally cook the raisins along with the semolina and apple until soft.

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A Winter Warmer - Chicken Risotto

Winter's finally here in our part of the world.  I have to say, this has to be my least favorite season of the year. I've never really been a cold person. I like cool stuff, like some cool fresh juice on a hot summery day and ice cubes in my drink. But I draw the line at that. That's the coldest I can bear.


I'll let you in on a secret. I usually microwave my ice cream for 5 seconds before I eat it. That's how much I dislike anything really cold. OK, OK, you can stop making those weird faces at me now. Everyone has their secret little quirks, and this is mine!!! Why, you ask? Well, the truth be told, I don't know. Its not like I have sensitive teeth or anything. Its just that I like my ice cream to be a little less colder so I can actually enjoy its flavor rather than have my mouth go numb with the cold.

So, like I was saying winter is here in Christchurch and we have had our very first snow(and hopefully last!!!) of the season. With the cold, comes the so very unwelcome flu season and Issac and I have been battling the worst flu for over a week now. Issac got it first and after a tiring week of hospital stays, antibiotics, ear infections, coughs and colds,tears and tantrums he is finally getting better. But I managed to get it from him and have been feeling lousy for days.

And so, yesterday I was trying to figure out what I could make easily that both Issac and I could eat, saving me from having to cook two dishes. I wanted something that would warm me right down to my soul as even at 12 pm yesterday afternoon it was minus 3 degrees Celsius outside!

As I searched my pantry for potential ingredients, I found some Arborio Rice we recently bought. So I decided on Risotto as its a great dish for both adults and kids alike. Its a comfort food that it so simple to make and tastes delicious! Issac hasn't really got his appetite back after his fever and so I was giddy with joy when he wolfed down the risotto. This dish definitely gets an A++ from us.

Just before I get into the recipe, here are a couple of great photos an extremely talented  young friend of mine, Shawn, took of winter and fall here in Christchurch, NZ.

Shawn recently won the Indian Film Festival 2012 Short Film Competition. Way to go Shawn!!! Man of many talents, I must say J

Photo Courtesy : Shawn Thomas

Now onto today's recipe.This is a great meal that can be made earlier and frozen for later use. A nice introduction to meats this dish can be, add in other veggies for more variation such as broccoli and pumpkin!

Chicken Risotto

1 small finely chopped onion

1 clove of garlic

3 chicken tenderloins (or 1 large skinless breast)

Olive oil

1 diced carrot (about a cup)

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup of risotto rice (Arborio rice)

3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

Heat olive oil in a large pot.

Sautee onion and garlic slowly until translucent.

Add the diced carrot and cook for around 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Then add the chicken and continue cooking until it is cooked through.

Stir in the peas and cover for about 2 – 4 minutes.

Add the rice and stir constantly for around 1 minute (you may need to add more oil at this point if the rice looks too dry).

Then add sufficient stock to cover the whole mixture and leave to cook uncovered.

Basically from here you just need to stir every now and then and keep adding more stock each time so there is always liquid in the pot.

Continue until the rice is tender and creamy (this will take about half an hour give or take).

Yummy Risotto is ready to serve! 

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Finger Foods - Sweet Corn Mini Fritters

It’s funny that I almost don’t know what to do with myself when I’m not looking after Issac. Looking back at my pre Issac days of being bored or tired, I didn’t know the meaning of tired until now and there’s no time for boredom but all jokes aside, I love being a mother.  It’s hard at times but incredibly satisfying to watch this little lovely being grow into a happy little boy.

Issac’s 9.5 months now and he has been pulling himself up to stand (everywhere) and I may have to get him a baby helmet because he keeps falling down and hitting his head.  But most of the time he goes plonk on his butt. Thank God for nappies!! J He is so much more talkative and expressive.  It’s so funny to watch some of the faces he comes up with.

The Plunket nurse suggested it was high time I got him started on finger foods and left me with a list of stuff,complied by Watties, I could get him started on. I thought I’d share this with you to give you an idea:

• Cooked Broccoli 

• Cooked Carrot 

• Cheese slices

• Small Sandwiches with Peanut Butter or Marmite

• Biscuits

• Crackers

• Slices of sausage luncheon

• Dried Apricot

• Fruits like peach, pear, apple, banana (all sliced or diced into bit sized pieces)

• Grated Cheese

• Cooked Pasta

• Raisins

• Cooked Peas

Keep an eye out for more Finger Food recipes. These would be great for kids all ages!

Every kid loves sweet corn and so does Issac! Today’s recipe is a great way to sneak in cheese and other veges along with the sweet corn. They are a source of protein to fill up little tummies, as they’re made with an egg. An all-round winner in my book!

You can add some seasonings and voila you have a great tea time snack for the parents too.

Sweet Corn Mini Fritters

Recipe Source : Freddie's Food

1/2 cup self-rising flour

1 egg

1 cup frozen sweet corn

1/2 cup grated cheese

1/2 grated carrot (refer Notes)

Blend sweet corn until just less than finely pureed. 

Add egg and blend again and keep aside.
Mix flour, cheese and grated carrot and combine well.
Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Spoon batter into the hot oil, each fritter is about a heaped tablespoon, and cook for a couple of minutes until the surface starts to bubble. Flip and cook until golden. The trick is not to get it too hot so they turn a lovely golden color and are still soft.

Notes

You can use either frozen or canned or fresh sweet corn for this.

Play around with the recipe by adding different veges like courgette, tomatoes, cucumbers, potato or anyting else your child likes.

For older kids you can even add in some bacon or ham to add some pizzaz to the mix!
You can make the batter in advance while your little one is asleep (it will keep in the fridge for 24 hours) and the fritters freeze well for those days when you run out of time to cook something fresh.

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