Meal in a box

Tags

cheese, Friday Feast, kiddie delight, kids eats, main course, pasta, recipe, veggies

Ojas is a very picky eater, very choosy about what he eats and even if he likes something he eats it very less… but one thing that works mostly with him is Pasta (a big kala tikka and touchwood here)

So I try and make pasta very often and also try and make it as healthy as possible… this one is one of my own creations that comes out very very yummy and is highly nutritious

Ingredients

For the sauce

Part 1 ingredients

• 1/2 cup yellow moong dal
• 10 ripe and red tomatoes
• 1/2 capsicum chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 bunch spinach

Part 2 ingredients

• 1 large onion chopped finely
• 1/2 capsicum chopped finely
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1/4 corn
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1/2 – 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tsp oregano or any other dried spice
• Salt to taste

• 200 gm whole wheat boiled pasta (any shape but ojas loves fusilli or penne… I use Fab India pasta and its really fab)

Method

• Wash and boil the moong dal in a cooker well. Mash it a bit
• Blanch the tomatoes for 2-3 minutes in boiling water
• Remove the skin and keep aside
• Par-boil rest of the Part 1 vegetables and then grind all the part 1 ingredients to make a smooth paste
• Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom pan and then add onions to it
• Fry for 4-5 minutes till they start changing color
• Add the carrots, capsicum, peas and corn and stir fry for 5 minutes or so (U can also choose to parboil these veggies)
• Add salt, pepper and oregano (U can also add some chilli flakes if u want it spicy)
• Add the sauce prepared above and let it cook in medium flame for about 10 mins
• Add the shredded cheese and boiled pasta to it…. Mix well and serve hot

Apricot Orange Cookies

Tags

apricot, baking, cookies, Friday Feast, kids eats, recipe, whole wheat

These days Ojas is in love with anything which is baking… how much ever fussy eater he be if something has come out of the oven he eats it 😀 and hence I am constantly on the look out for healthy baking recipes. After I made the Oat Bran Muffins, I tried Apricot Orange cookies this time

I had seen this recipe in Tarla Dalal’s Growing Kids cook book (which BTW has great recipes) and made some minor changes to the recipe while making it. There were about 20 medium size cookies which came out and were over in a day 🙂

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used atta)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp soda-bi-carb (I skipped this and put more baking powder)
• 2 tbsp dried chopped apricots (the recipe asks for 1.5 tbsp and also used kummani… I used the orange apricots and increased the quantity a little)
• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped nuts (the original recipe asks for only cashwenuts but I used a mix of cashew, walnuts and almonds)
• 2 tbsp orange flavored drink mix (I used Kissan sqaush)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp butter for greasing

Method

• Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to get a soft dough
• Mould into medium sized balls, flatten and make a cross sign on the top with a knifefri
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 C for 20 minutes or till the cookies are golden brown in colour
• Enjoy warm or eat after cooling
• Can be stored for a long time only if they last 😀

I read about Cakes and Cookies Event at HomeCooked’s blog and that inspired me to send this post to the same event… This will be probably one of the first time I am sending a recipe to an event and ofcourse I am nervous 😉