I Love Brussel Sprouts

Remember my recipe of 'Roasted Brussel sprouts with apple'. It's been a while since I made it, so last evening, I went for it.

While the sprouts were in the oven, the kids had their dinner; they brushed their teeth and basically got ready for bed.

My little lady comes to the kitchen, point to my casserole and asks: 'What is that'

G: 'Its Brussel Sprouts honey'

LL: I want to eat it

(In my mind, yeah right, you see anything green, you run away from it unless its Green M&M)

I scooped out some in a dish and showed her

G: 'There you go; do you want to try it?

LL: Yes

(In my mind, yeah right, this is yet another excuse to not go to sleep)

To my surprise: 'Little Lady' sat, finished the bowl, asked for seconds!!!

I know you won't believe it, so here is a video of her enjoying and saying: 'I Love Brussel Sprouts!'

Quick Food Fix: Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry

It's so surprising that i have not written any new recipes here in a while now. There was a phase that I was only writing recipes and no updates and now its all about 'This and That'

So to break this barrier, here is the recipe of our 'Go to Meal' nowadays. First and foremost, the speed, its definitely a Quick Food Fix: From start to finish, it is about 15-20 minutes.

It's flavorful, high protein content and the kids love it. We love our 'Vegetable Tofu Fry' also because of its repeatability. Sumit has managed fixing this meal up quiet frequently on days I am running late, too tired or he is just in 'Pampering me mode'

Ingredients:

Organic Tofu: 1 packet: Chopped

Chopped Vegetables: 1/4 th cup each:

Onion, Celery, Pepper, Cabbage, Carrots, Kale, Spinach, Tomato, Bean Sprouts (if available)

Other Alternates: 1/2 cup frozen corn & Peas

Optional: 1 clove of garlic finely chopped

For Sauce/ Seasoning:

Soy Sauce: 3 tsp

Chili Oil- 1 tsp (Optional- we like our food spicy)

Ready Made Asian Sauce: Example: Iron Man Sesame/ Vegetable Stir Fry etc. Bottom line, any Asian flavor you may like

Salt: Per taste

For Garnishing:

Scallion -1/4 cup

Toasted Sesame Seed- 1 tsp

Process

1. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil

2. Add the garlic and all vegetables and Sautee them with half the soy sauce (Just remember, whatever vegetables you have at home work wonders!)

3. When tender remove from flame and cool'

4. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil

5. Add the tofu on low flame and the seasoning/ sauce and let it simmer

6. Now, if you like it crunchy, keep the flame high and make sure you turn the tofu over so it does not burn

 If you like it soft and tender, just keep turning it over and cook evenly.

7. Either way, the 'cooking of tofu' takes 5-10 minutes

8. When cooked, add all the prepared vegetables

9. Garnish, serve and enjoy!

10. Feel free to add lemon juice per your taste- Sumit like it a lot, me not so much

Voila.... Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry

The season for festivities....

 Diwali comes around and it's my favorite time of the year!

I get in a completely festive mood. What XMAS is to kids is what Diwali is to me! I reminisce about my Diwali celebrations back home in India. Highlights were buying new clothes, cleaning out closets, re-arranging books, decorating the house, helping mum with her sarees, buying new clothes etc. Like any other Indian Festival, The food was the highlight. My mom would slave for hours preparing our favorite dishes and the traditional food that goes with Diwali.

Firecrackers was definitely not my thing at all. Partly due to the environmental and noise pollution philosophies our schools imbibed in us and partly because papa said, whatever you spend on firecrackers we could use for something else. Which my enterprising brother would invest and well me, I would buy more clothes.

Fast forward to now, my kids are growing up here in US, in this melting pot of cultures. We celebrate Indian festivals, American Festivals, Hallmark festivals, basically anything and everything which makes it fun for the kids and involves sugary treats. But Diwali, I go above and beyond.

It's our annual tradition, we call it our 'Diwali Dhamaka' We have all our friends over, its one massive gathering with lots of food, lots of Indian finery, lots of pictures and pooja. Lighting up 'PhoolJhari's/ sparklers', Kids painting diya's and rangoli's and our new highlight: The kids practicing and performing a Diwali Dance with all our friends cheering along!

I love how My Chatterbox has been thinking of songs that she and her friends could dance to. I love how she is thinking of new ways to decorate the house, the clothes she would wear, the excitement of the days itself. I am seeing the wonder in my little lady's eyes as she sees this chaos around. I think she is just excited about the 'mithai'  and the 'dressing up'. I do hope that with time, they really do remember the festivities and the joys of this big gathering of friends and family.

Wishing you a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year.

I am feeling all better!

That's the mantra of my Little Lady, my almost 3 year old bundle of utter joy.

Chronicling a little of this little cute cheeks and her stories that enthrall her, make us laugh and forget of the world around us even for that little minute.

Story 1:
Any time her older sister, Miss Chatterbox V, has an ouchie or gets a band-aid. She needs one. Surprisingly Little Lady 'Pretends' to get hurt at the exact same place. She will do all the drama and ensure we give her bad-aid and it's quickly followed by 'I am feeling all better!'

It is adorable.

Story 2:
Halloween came and went and she was old enough to truly enjoy the same this year. Considering she is in a Montessori school, the whole make believe is not their philosophy aka, no Halloween in School.

So we made sure she enjoyed. My shy in public child went to every house, said 'Trick or Treat, her Thank You's and growled like a Tigger' I was so proud of her. Of course my sweet tooth would do anything for candy! I kid you not!

Story 3:
Little Lady goes back and forth for her favoritism with me and Sumit. Sometimes she is all about papa, and then for a small phase she will be 'Mummy do this and that'.
Current flavor of the season: Papa.
At pick up time she ran to Sumit instead of me and it broke my heart in a million pieces

Story 4:
Cake & Sweet Tooth.
I cant stress enough at how much my little one likes her sweets, it can be anything, candy, chocolates even sugar.
It was Sumit's birthday recently, and we pampered him. Sang Happy Birthday at every possible place, hugged him a lot and generally made him smile.
So every time we sang the 'Birthday Song' she asked us: Where is the cake?

It was adorable to see how association works for little minds. Birthday Song= Cake and yeah may be a hug!

My almost 3 year old bundle of joy, stay as sweet, melodious and unique as you are!
You make us smile and want to hug you all the time. You and your older sister make any worries go away with the adorable Good Morning's and I miss you Mummy :-)