Vermicelli Arabiatta

Whenever I post an insta story of our version of savoury vermicelli, I always get messages from not many ( I am not popular) but yes a handful of mothers asking me the recipe. We mothers are recipe diggers and our only aim is to fill the little tummy.

I call our savoury version “Vermicelli Arabiatta” since it is inspired from the red sauce pasta all kids love eating at birthday parties. 

It is extremely simple to make and the little ones love it. 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Roasted Vermicelli 

Fistful of chopped capsicum

Some chopped broccoli 

Some chopped red bell pepper

Some chopped yellow bell pepper

Some chopped carrots 

1 tomato puréed

1 clove of garlic (purée with tomato)

1 tbsp pizza-pasta sauce 

1tbsp ketchup

Salt to taste

Pinch of pepper

1.5 cups of water 

RECIPE 

Put all the chopped veggies in a pan. 

Put quarter cup water, add salt and cover the pan and let the veggies get soft.

After two minutes, add purées tomato and cook for another one minute.

Add pasta sauce, ketchup, salt and pepper and bring it all together.

Add the roasted Vermicelli and stir for another minute.

Add water, cover the pan and let it cook on medium flame. Cook for a few minutes with the lid on.

Take the lid of and let the remaining water dry.

Tadaaa! Ready!

Notes:

If you do not have roasted Vermicelli, use the regular one and dry roast it.

The quantities of veggies are not mentioned because it is absolutely up to you.

Keep stirring the Vermicelli while the water is drying as it may stick to the pan.

I ran out of oregano, so you can add that too. 

Hope your little one relishes our version of vermicelli. 

Amateur poetry

The whistling of the leaves 

The hissing of the wind

The dancing fragile trees

The to and fro of the swing 

The fallen bougainvilleas racing with each other

The rustle of the carpet of crisp leaves 

The chirping birds flying back home 

The confused sky changing colours every now and then 

The laughter of a kid and the wails of an infant next door

The solace that comes with the music of the wind

Breathing in the beauty of nature;the beauty of life 

#100wordsstory: 0.1

Her feet were dipped in water; water that was warm. The bundle of peaks and the bubbles from a thousand breaths underneath her sole brought her peace. 

She felt calm. Just then her foot was pulled out from the solace of damp and was wrapped in fuzziness. But this soft touch didn’t last too long. The calm was ruffled turning into froth and foam. Soon after the tiny grime like balls danced up and down on her feet. It made her feel ticklish. This whole experience of damp and tickle gave her so many sensations. No wonder she was so regular with her monthly pedicures. 

Random Rumble

Once young and agile, now senile

Humans are mortal is so easily forgotten

'I AM' the Tsunami Ego brings

The calm of forgiveness is so easily forgotten

'colour, gender, race' ; puppetry of hatred

The power of love is so easily forgotten

Hypocrisy pacing so fast, seeping through so deep

The value of honesty is so easily forgotten

Sadism; surprisingly enjoyable

The emotion of selflessness so easily forgotten

Comparison leading to barren mind

The fullness of empathy is so easily forgotten

Evil so not dark anymore

The light of good is so easily forgotten

Pretence wins hearts 

The purity of immature innocence is so easily forgotten

What goes around comes around

Your karma remains with you is so easily forgotten 

Toddler Activity: III

Hi everyone!

How is your Diwali cleaning going? Have you raided homecentre and the likes already or is your Diwali shopping still due? If so, run! It’s only getting more crowded with every passing day. 

Anyway this post is not about Diwali, it is about our favourite topic these days; toddler activities. With the festive season going strong I am sure we parents do not have too much time and energy to put in, in an activity and yet we want our kids to be gadget free for as long as possible.

 So today I will share with you three activities that require no investment. The material required for these is readily available in any household.

1. Gram/bean sorting: 

What you need: three bowls and a mix of beans/grams (black and white grams, red kidney beans/small white beans)

Toddler Activity: II (Pom poms)

Hello hello hello!

The festive season is here! Do not we just love the vibe of this time of the year? The weather in the capital has got better. Diwali party invites are pouring in (even though I still have not attended one yet!). 

What remains constant is my everyday activity with the squirrel. Since my insta stories (instagram handle: my.little.diary) is getting such a good response from other mothers, it motivated me to come back to the blog this soon again. 

In this post I am going to share three activities with the same set of Pom Poms. 

Toddler Activity: I

Hi

I am writing a post probably after ages. I have been a little caught up. Anyway without further excuses I will just continue this post.

So, if you are following me on instagram you would already know that I have recently been posting a lot of toddler activities. I have been engaging adira in similar activities since she turned one. However, I have started sharing them so much only recently. 

A handful of my followers (and I only have a few followers) suggested me to write about these activities and hence this post.

I am going to share three activities today that I did with my two year old.

1. Shape Popsicles:                                          

Material needed: a cardboard box, sketch pen, coloured paper, cutter and glue.

#take a box ( I used the cap of a shoe box) and make a triangle, a square and a circle on it.                                                                            # Cut out these shapes and colour them ( I used already coloured sheets that adira had used earlier to save paper)

             # stick the shapes on the popsicle sticks.

             # make cuts on the shoe box against each shape to insert the popsicle stick.

             # let your child insert the sticks as per the shape. 

      2. Alphabet Recognition: 

Material Needed: 13 post it notes, 26 popsicle sticks, sketch pen, a cardboard box, cutter and glue.

# take a box and write alphabets A-Z on it. 

# take a post it note, fold it into half and then cut it from the centre to get two small cards. 

# write the letter on the front of the card, and draw something starting from that inside the card.

# do the same for all the letters. 

# stick these cards on the popsicle sticks.

# make a cut on top of each letter and let your child insert the letter stick against the match alphabet.

# also ask them what is drawn inside the card. 

Note: I used the same shoe box for the above two activities. For the first activity I used the cap and for the second activity I used the other part of the box.

3. Animal matching: 

          material needed: animal cut outs, post it notes, rubber/plastic/wooden toy animals.

# stick the animal cutouts with table on any table or wall.

# fill a bowl with water and put the plastic/rubber toys in it. The wooden toys can be kept in a basket.

# let the child match the toy animal with the cutouts.

You can repeat this activity with vegetables and fruits also.

I hope these activities help to keep your child busy. If the child doesn’t show interest do not give up. Keep trying! Also do not do all these activities at a single go. Introduce one new activity everyday. Besides that let your child indulge in colouring, pretend play or just freestyle play.

 

Don’t forget to show some love for this post.

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! 

Creamy Methi Paneer

Hi!

So I realise that I have been absent from my blog for sometime but if you have been following my posts since the beginning you must have got used to my erratic frequency of writing. I know I know that it is not an excuse for not posting in a while but please let me use it as one this time. 

So yesterday we had someone coming over and I was in charge of the dinner menu. I realised the refrigerator just had capsicum so I made capsicum-potatoes or Shimla mirch-aloo as we call it normally. Dal is always obvious. I was glad when my father-in-law got paneer. I knew it will make the perfect third dish. 

I had got tired of making the same old kadai paneer and butter paneer masala, so this time I thought of making a new kind of paneer dish. ( I will not lie it was also because I have recently found out that I am allergic to a few things and onions and tomatoes are among those things!). 

The idea of this dish comes from something my mom cooks for us but I have brought in my own changes to it and the result is phenomenal. 

So this creamy paneer dish is not as much work as it looks. It was loved by everyone, even my little girl! So it is definitely a win. 

If you want to make something rich looking and rich tasting but do not want to work extremely hard, this dish is your answer.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

3 tbsp oil

2 tbsp yellow butter

2 cloves of garlic (crushed or grated)

3 tbsp wholewheat flour (atta)

Handful of cashews

3/4th cup of milk

Salt as required

1 tbsp of pepper

1 tbsp of mixed herbs

2 handfuls of crushed kasoori methi

375gms paneer (cottage cheese)

Water as required.

RECIPE

Grind cashews in a mixer with some water to get a runny cashew paste. Yes runny not thick.

Pour oil in a wok and let it get warm.

Add butter cubes to the oil and let them melt.

Toss in the grated garlic and let it fry for 30 seconds.

Add the wholewheat flour to the garlic oil and cook it for a minute. 

Add half a cup of water to the flour to form a paste, followed by the runny cashew paste.

Give it all a good stir and let it simmer. Add milk to this and let it all come to a boil.

Throw in the crushed dried fenugreek (kasoori methi) and let it cook.

Keep adding a little water and a little milk if the gravy looks too thick.

Add salt, pepper and mixed herbs to the gravy and let it come to a boil.

Toss the cubed paneer into the gravy. Let it all cook for a few minutes and allow the flavours to come together.

Transfer it to your serving dish, sprinkle some pepper on top and serve hot.

Honestly I can eat this dish even without a bread. My little squirrel licked it off her plate in no time. But you can serve it with any bread of your choice. 

NOTE:

If your gravy looks too runny even after a lot of simmering make a paste of wholewheat flour, milk and water and add it to the gravy. The consistency of this paste should be the same as honey. 

I hope this dish comes to your rescue when you are uncertain about the next dinner party at your place, because believe me it is definitely a winner!

P.S: the title of this post is creamy methi paneer and not methi malai paneer because there is NO malai in it!

Wholewheat Pancakes

I just had wholewheat pancakes for breakfast yesterday. And as soon as I posted it on my Instagram page I started receiving a lot of messages asking for the recipe.

So here you go folks. Wholewheat pancakes are easy to make. You can hand these to your kids without giving a thought. They look inviting and taste even better. Believe me I have had pancakes at many places but these home cooked wholewheat ones give them all a tough competition.


This is how I ate my pancakes




This is how my sis-in-law had the pancakes.

INGREDIENTS (makes 6 mini pancakes)

2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp wholewheat flour (atta)
8 tbsp milk
A drop of vanilla essence

RECIPE

Put ghee in a bowl. Add sugar to it and whisk.

Add the egg to the mixture and whisk again.

Add 1 tbsp of flour with 2 tbsp of milk and whisk. Now add another 1 tbsp of flour and 3 tbsp of milk. Whisk again.

Finally add the remaining flour and the remaining milk and give a good whisk.

Add vanilla essence and stir. The batter now should not be to thick nor too runny.

Heat the pan. Make sure the pan is nicely hot.

Pour the batter with a ladle onto the pan. Let the pancake bubble and cook from side.

Flip the pancake and cook the other side.

Transfer them to a plate.

Serve hot.


SERVING TIPS

You can have these pancakes with peanut butter and jam like I do.

If you are a chocolate lover you can go crazy with Nutella and Hersheys topped with nuts!

And if you are serving these to kids and toddlers you can use honey or maple syrup with banana slices or a seasonal fruit like strawberry.

Healthy Homemade Cookies For Kids and Everyone

                                               

I have always loved baking. However, I have also been moody with it. For example when I got married I baked a lot for the family. I baked for my husband on every special occasion ( check out my strawberry cupcakes from one Valentine’s Day). 

With adira in our lives now I have been so busy doing the mundane chores that my other hobbies had taken a backseat. But I am glad that I am back to doing those things again. Ofcourse not at the same pace but I am definitely doing them again. 

Baking is one of those things. I don’t bake everyday anyway but I had completely left it for a while. 

Contrary to my excuse for not baking, now adira is my reason to bake. You know how kids love biscuits. Also, biscuits come to our rescue when out for dinner or in a public place to keep these toddlers occupied. No, I am not proud of handing her a biscuit every time. Rather a lot of times I carry fresh cuts of cucumber/carrot/apple/pear. But sometimes these kids just need a biscuit.

Moms of Instagram

The title of this post hints a lot about what this post is going to be about. Yes it is going to be about moms; moms of instagram. And no this is no informative post. This one is personal. 

I had already had a few friends who became mothers around the same time as I did and we shared similar stories and experiences often. It didn't really take place over social media but yes a lot over the phone.

Then one day I just stumbled upon a mother’s account on instagram who had been reasonably popular among other mothers.  This mother was an entrepreneur, a blogger and so much more. I followed her account and realised how bizarrely similar every mother’s story is yet so different with its little elements. Though this mother’s kid is a year ahead of adira I could still relate so much with her.

Anyway through her account I discovered so many more mothers all sailing in the same boat, going through the very same complex combination of emotions; emotions of tiredness, happiness, anxiety, excitement all rolled into one. Isn't this all what motherhood is about?

Postpartum Weight Loss

I have been wanting to write about post delivery weight shedding for the longest time. And I have been wanting to do that for various reasons. Firstly, because every time a new mum sees me she asks me how am I  back to my previous size. Secondly I want women to get over some notions about postpartum weight loss . Thirdly, I want women to know that just because someone has a lean structure doesn't mean weight loss comes any easier. 

Also, with this post I will share a few things you can do while you are baking that bun in your oven for easier weight loss after the bun is out.

While the average weight gain during pregnancy is between 13 and 15 kgs I had put on 17 odd kgs during my pregnancy. I am sharing this fact with you so that you know that I had REALLY put on weight. I had not restricted my diet. I was slightly worried when I touched an above average number in weight gain. My doctor had told me that it was alright to go a few kgs above. The only issue was the difficulty I would face in losing it. 

Now I have been an active person even before I got pregnant. I did not follow a certain regime or a particular activity. I did yoga or danced a bit in the bathroom (yes I do that often) or just managed a set of squats before getting into the shower. The idea has always been to remain active. And my pregnancy was no different. 

The first trimester was a bit challenging since I was bed ridden. However, the moment that phase passed and I was on my feet all free I decided to practice light yoga which included light physical movements and breathing exercises. I followed pre-natal yoga videos on you tube.

 Also, I really worked myself out after the 36th week. I was always keen on a normal delivery and my doctor suggested that if I wanted one I better be squatting enough. So, with those extra 17 kgs I used to do full squatting for ten minutes with two breaks plus brisk walks plus the yoga. Ofcourse there were days I just didn't feel like moving a finger and that felt ok! On such a day I say don't lift a finger. 

So the FIRST TIP to losing weight postpartum is to remain active during pregnancy. You can go for a walk or practice yoga like I did. A word of caution when following pre-natal you tube videos; listen to your own body. Everything you see in the video is recorded under guidance of a trainer or is performed by a trainer herself. Not all of us are trained or have been performing yoga forever. So when you are following one of these videos perform a movement that you are comfortable with. Wrong asanas or positions can cause trouble. Be as active as you can be as your due date approaches. Squat; walk; take stairs. Not only does that help you with your delivery but also escalates the weight losing process later.

Now that I have covered the pregnancy part let's talk about the post delivery part. So we all shed a couple of kilos as soon as our angels are out. I had lost a decent 7kgs right after delivering adira. Now the task was to lose the remaining 10 kgs. However, losing weight was the last thing on my mind that time. All I wanted to do was take care of my baby. I was suggested a few light exercises by the hospital staff that could be done in bed. Even an otherwise active person like me  did not do them regularly. I was just so busy looking at adira if I was not feeding her or was changing her diapers. 

So here comes TIP No. 2. Be patient. By that I do not mean that you wait forever but do not be in a rush either. The doctors generally suggest a three months period wait before indulging in a full fledged workout regime. So work out as hard as you want to after three months. Till then go for a stroll and do light exercises as suggested. 

I did not shed the remaining 10 kgs overnight. I started looking close to my previous self around 7th month after delivery. Once adira settled a little I realised that my stamina wasn't the same. I used to feel breathless while taking stairs which had never been the case earlier. So when I started working out after the fourth month, I did it with the motive of regaining my strength. The weight loss came complimentary with it.

This brings me to TIP No. 3: Focus on your overall wellness. The weight loss will follow. Focus on building on the lost strength. 

Adira is a year old now and I still do not find the time to work out everyday. I know new mums who take out an hour everyday and go to a Zumba or an aerobic class and I feel great that they are able to do so. But the ones who cannot do that don't fret. 

TIP No. 4: Don’t follow a workout routine. Make workout a part of the routine. Your children  will anyway make you workout a lot, keeping you on your toes once they start crawling. So besides all that running around just perform any form of exercise even if it is for 5 minutes. Dance on your favourite number. Take the stairs a few extra times. Do a quick cardio by doing a a few sets of jumping jacks or take the yoga way. You do one or you do all. The choice is yours. 

I used to do nearly 80 surya namaskars in a session before I conceived. Now I am not sure if that is more or less but that was my limit. When I started working out a little seriously after delivery I could manage only 10 surya namaskars in a session. But that did not stop me from going forward. I now manage 40 of them plus a few sets of crunches. (No I don't do that every day. Rather sometimes I manage to do that just once in ten days but I am active everyday). 

Coming to TIP No. 5: Concentrate on the progress. It will all come back. Start with whatever time span you are comfortable with. Slowly and steadily you will reach where you want to be. 

I won't be lying when I say that working out with a walking baby around is no piece of cake. I don't feel like working out every time she takes a nap because sometimes I too want to take a nap and the other times I want to watch something on Netflix. So my workout sessions with adira walking around mostly end up with a tornado-hit looking room and a fit of laughter. But like it is said “ laughter is the medicine”. 

I am sharing all these details and my experiences so that you know there is someone like you facing the same challenges.

The LAST but the most important tip: DO NOT COMPARE yourself with other women. We all have different body types, structures and different metabolism rates. We all have different tendencies to weight gain and loss. Keep all this in mind. Do not beat yourself up trying to achieve what another woman has achieved. Rather keep a check on your own progress. Where were you when you started the journey of pregnancy? You just have to go close to it if not the same. 

Besides all the above mentioned try to get a few sessions of body massage after delivery. It just doesn't help you feel relaxed after the hard work you have done delivering a baby but also helps firm up your body. My masseuse ditched me after 10 days so I got a few sessions at my mom's after which I used to massage my belly a bit on my own. I was not religious with the practice though. If you do not find a masseuse just massage your own belly in strokes towards the belly button. 

I haven't mentioned diet even once till now since I know how hungry new mums are. They breastfeed which only leads to wanting more food. So do not worry about your diet. Till the time your baby is latching onto those assets do not starve yourself and keep eating healthy. You can go on any diet once the baby is off your feed. No one is judging you and the ones who do let them.

I hope this post helps the pregnant women as well as the new mums who are trying to get back in shape. If you have more ideas do share to help other women sailing in the same boat. 

 I am sharing a few pictures of how my workout sessions look like with a walking toddler around. Also there is a picture of me before i conceived and of the time when i was heavily pregnant so that every woman understands that weight gain is normal. If it won't be during pregnancy then when should it ideally be? and if I can lose 17kgs so can you shed those extra kilos.

 

here i am trying to exercise in my boxers

adira chilling like a boss