Lemons & Rinds

Around 10 years ago, my dad and I bought a Samsung Convention Microwave oven for casual baking and roasting. I personally did try making a few pizzas and roasting chicken, but never a cake or cookie. The enthusiasm slowly died down. Than, my mum used it only for warming food (of course that too made her life easy, but that's it). I am talking about finding baking ingredients in Mumbai (India) 10 years ago. In fact, buying a whole cake was much cheaper than the resources to bake one, including electricity. However, that's not the case anymore. With a spurt of multinationals and supermarkets, its easy to find baking powder even at the local grocery store. We surely can afford melting cheese at 500 deg F too. The last time I heard, my mum had a guest who baked some delicious brownies in the same oven. Voila!!! I am appalled with the passion at which people are building designer kitchens especially those that hardly cook or bake anything in their own kitchens (oops, those that co

Its hard to digest when parents say their kids do not like vegetables or whole grain items. Something so delicious like fresh and seasonal produce is so satisfying to the palate, especially during warm days. Its simply a matter of how they are served. Each produce has its own unique taste and there are herbs to enhance its flavor.  Its spring time and our farmer's market is full of seasonal vegetables and fruits. We grabbed a bundle of tender asparagus stalks over the weekend and our little one is eager to find out what mum's going to do with it. So the first thing this morning, he got the asparagus out, and since than I have been wondering what to make. I browsed for a curry for dinner, and while chopping that, I made a quick pasta for lunch with asparagus and grape tomatoes. How convenient and healthy can that be! So here's what I did for the pasta: 1 cup whole wheat pasta few cut into half grape tomatoes 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste 1/2 cup of diced a

I usually do not let out any opportunity to sneek in veggies in my toddlers meals. Here is another example. I

More than cooking for grown-ups I enjoy cooking for kids. As it is they are a challenge in them-self and their taste buds added to that. When my toddler was around 1 1/2 years old, it was a huge test to cook a meal for him. He was very picky (or I was amateur about infant food) that many times I wouldn't know what to cook and all the more what to do with the leftovers. I would try different combinations, different textures, sometimes a bit of salt and sugar, sometimes completely bland relying on the natural taste of the fruit or the vegetable. Anyways, today I can say that those days have swiftly passed by, with some bitter sweet moments. Here is one such breakfast item that I have gone from lots of misses to a final hit. I have tried different textures of oatmeal, checked out end number of You Tube videos, and finally,found a Sanjeev Kapoor video on baby food. I have taken some inspiration from there and created my own version to suit my son's taste (finally, the taste i