Wholewheat Ragi Pancakes

Hola people!

Life has been busy. My little squirrel is growing up too fast and has started playschool (big milestone right? Phew!). The settling period is on and most days she sails through the time managing a few wails towards the end. My heart feels so heavy but I do realize that it is all part of a process.  

Soooo, with her playschool I had to introduce some lifestyle changes in my routine too. I wake up early now, prepare breakfast (duty calls) and then wake her up followed by bathing, feeding and dressing her up (oh dear mothers, you know the grind!). Anyway so my stories are really pancaked these days. I have been preparing pancakes for adira for breakfast before she goes to school. Ofcourse I feed her different things on different days but only the pancakes make it to my stories (who want to see besan ka sheera on the story board right?). A lot of you messaged me asking for the wholewheat-ragi pancake recipe.

Now I have two versions of it; with egg and eggless. I will share the recipe of both. Though there is just a minor change. I haven’t clicked a decent picture of the pancakes so a screenshot of the boomerang from my insta story will have to suffice for the moment.

How to get your child to eat fruit?

not the best picure...but it works for the moment

As parents a lot of us struggle with feeding our children three basic meals leave alone those extra portions of fruits as mid meal snacks. Really! The food fight seems eternal for some mothers I know. 

There have been innumerable instances when I have met friends complaining their kids don’t touch a fruit. 

For me a day without fruit is counted a day incomplete. I need to have a portion if not portions of fruits everyday. It is just a habit that I have inculcated in my lifestyle and also into adira’s now. Whether it be a vacation or a staycation or just a routine day at home, fruits are a must. 

So here are a few suggestions that might help you with feeding your child some fruitilicious goodness.

START EARLY: Most babies can start eating a fruit at 5 months. So you start with the mushy ones like banana and chiku. The sooner they develop a taste for fruits the better.

Egg Muffins

Just yesterday, when I had posted a story about egg muffins, I got flooded with messages for its recipe. Well this just gave the lazy writer in me a nudge to switch on the laptop and fill in another page of my little diary.

Egg muffins generally occupy the breakfast menu but because I tried these for my little one and there is no set menu for toddlers, I served it to her for dinner. My husband suggested that it will make a filling snack for his evening hunger pangs. It is unbelievably easy to make and is very healthy.

Homemade Cough Syrup

Uhuu uhuuu! 

No, I am not referring to the well pretended cough from the cult movie 'hum aapke hain kaun'. I am referring to the cough that is ubiquitous these days.

 Everywhere I go I hear every third person coughing or using that already crushed tissue to stop a running nose. Blame the changing season or the dryness in the air or the viral that is supposedly omnipresent and ready to hack your system. 

Two days back I noticed my daughter coughing. And it wasn’t really bad coughing. Just occasional uhu-uhus during the day. I didn’t want to give her a medicine for a cough that was occurring a few times only. So, I opted to give her the good old kada, the recipe of which I got from my inlaws. It’s a saviour for minor coughing. Even for major coughing one can take it along with the normal medication. It is absolutely natural and my little one enjoys it a lot. 

Valentine's Special

Hola folks!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Don’t worry I am not going to bore you with the history behind this day since the news channels are doing that job pretty well already.

As I was humming the song ‘dil diyan gallan’ that was playing on the radio this morning, I pondered on the concept of love.  I got quite philosophical. We have grown up watching movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that preached the idea of one love in a lifetime.  Remember the famous dialogue “Hum ek baar jeete hai, ek baar marte hai, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai ... aur pyar ek baar hi hota hai”?

i am back

As I sit I front of my gleaming laptop screen, I am wondering what took me so long to feel this light on my face. If you have read my previous posts you know I have always had excuses (reasons for me though) for being temporarily inactive with my blog posts. I say temporarily because I always come back to writing and I always will.

Healthy Cheese Quesadillas for Toddlers

Hi! 

I am not sure how many of you have given up on my blog since I have been so lousy and lazy, not posting anything for ages now. I am in true sense playing the role of a seasonal blogger. But the fact is that motherhood is keeping me insanely busy.

I want to keep the nest organised looking spic and span the whole time and that comes at the price of posting lesser on the blog.

However, just the other day I cooked something for adira and she loved it! I thought it will be a crime if I do not share it with all the mothers struggling with their picky toddlers. Your spouse will love it too!

It’s easy, nutritious and delicious! 

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough

1 cup bathua ( washed and cut)

2 cups Wholewheat flour /atta 

Water as per requirement

Salt as per taste

For the Quesadilla 

2 tbsp ghee

A slice of cheese

Few leaves of spinach ( boiled)

2 tbsp crushed cottage cheese

Salt as per taste

1/2 tsp pepper

Pinch of oregano

RECIPE

For the Dough

Pour water in a pan. Bring it to a boil. 

Add bathua leaves to it. 

Cover the pan with a plate and let it cook till the leaves become soft and wilted

Take it off the stove and blend the bathua to form a purée.

Add this purée to atta, add salt and some water and knead it to firm a soft dough.

For the Quesadilla 

Put a griddle on flame and let it become hot. 

Meanwhile, taks some dough and form two small balls.

Roll theme into two thin rotis.

Put a roti on the hot griddle and cook it from both sides without using any oil or ghee. 

Repeat the same with the other roti.

Now place one roti on a plate, add a slice of cheese on top, add crushed cottage cheese to it.

Sprinkle some salt, pepper and oregano.

Top this with a layer of boiled spinach leaves and finally with the second roti. 

Put ghee on the griddle and place the entire thing on the pan. Let it become brown and crisp.

Brush some ghee on the other side, flip it and let cook. 

Press the top a little so the cheese gets melted.

Take it off the griddle and cut it into triangles.

Serve it hot to adults. Let them cool down and then serve the toddlers. 

NOTE:

• You can make this dish with plain dough or spinach dough.
• You can add grated broccoli, capsicum and other veggies. Use your  imagination.

Hope you and your family enjoy relishing this as much as we did ! 

Happy Cooking!