Pasta Soup

Lately, I have become a big fan of one pot meals. NO extra time spend in cooking and cleaning... this dish fits my bill as you build it up as you chop.. and you can use all the leftover veggies you have on hand...once it goes in the pot evrything tastes divine...My son goes for the summer camp in his daycare center and they have a cooking class where kids are introduced to cooking and feeding themselves..like making  a simple PB & J sandwich or making omelet.. this is a keepsake rec... he got from the camp and he loves it..and I love it 2.. as he eats something  which has squash and pumpkin....hushhhhhhhh!!!!!! no one tell him plzzzzzzzz...

I took a big pot and heated some Olive oil.. to this added one clove garlic, one onion finely chopped, one celery stick finely chopped and one diced carrot .. saute it for 2 mins till onions changes colour.. then add one cup squash, one cup pumpkin, one cup broccolili, one can black beans, one can of tomato puree, 2 cups veggie stock, 2 cups water, one bay leaf, one teaspoon grill seasoning and one tspn dry basil...and one cup of whole grain pasta.. I had rottini and penne on hand so used both.. add salt and pepper and boil for some time.. then simmer on low till all veggies/pasta get cooked.

Am waiting for some snowy and rainy days again to make this pastasoup.. IF you have slow cooker, try this.. will surely be  a pleasure to return home to....Ultimate comfort food calling!!!!!

Love Ash.

Very true indeed!!!

The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice
and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master

calls a butterfly.

Vangyache kaap/Eggplant Crips..

Eggplant crispies or Vangyache kaap is a comfort food for ppl like me...My mom was typical Mumbai working woman and had very little time to cook a full course meal evryday. yet she cooked fresh food twice every day.. She did not have the comfort of driving her own car to work.. she travelled by the trains and used all modes of public transport but never ever complainedd of the stress and fatigue, just remembering her in those days brings me.. She rolled out hot phulkas for us each night even at 9 pm...boy do I admire her for that..
In days of not so favourite vegetable on dinner table and grumpy faces and whining kids, she made these kaap... They along with varan(dal) and bhat(rice) are a feast on its own...Simple yet tasty...they give you the joy of eating junk hiding in good old veggie....Eggplant is very friendly as it adopts the taste of what you give it to...U take Japanese Eggplants which are slim and long...cut them into discs and coat with salt,sugar, red chili powder, cumin and coriander powder and keep aside....Heat oil in a fry pan...on a dish take some rice flour and rava(Sooji) mixture.. mix the eggplant crisps with all the coatings .. it will give out water and get wet....then coat the crisps with the flour and sooji mix and shallow fry it.. enjoy it hot on a rainy/snowy day....

Love Ash.

Home Made Whole Wheat Bread

I have been following Rhonda Of Down to Earth blog.. She is an amazing person, although I don't know her, I got attracted to her Simple life and easy living.. in her blog she describes her life working on the farm, doing voluntary work and house work with equal passion...I cannot do as much as hers, but to get started with Simple living, I did try baking a bread at home...I have never ever baked  a bread at home.. so the idea did not go well with my hubby, who thought if you can get a loaf in the supermarketet, whats the point in putting in so much efforts...But ever sincee I read her Bread rec, I had to had try it. and believe it or not the whole exercise took me less than 10 mins hard work....I do not have bread maker at home so I use Gods Little helpers....My Hands to knead the dough...Folowed her rec to the "T" and Bingo.. I got it.. My family just hogged on the bread and Warm bread out of the oven with dollop's of Butter.. I was in heaven!!!!!!!!!!!

The Rec is at;

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2009/02/baking-bread.html

Only changes I did were, I did not have Gluten so skipped that and also did not have Milk Powder so skipped that too....Basically I used only three Things, 2.5 cups Whole wheat Flour, 0.5 cup All purpose flour and 2Tbspn Yeast activated in warm water with sugar and salt...

So do give it a try.. I used Cumin seeds on the top of the loaf just to try it.. next time will use oats or sesame seeds depending on how I shape the bread....So long till I bake again!!!!!

Love Ash.

Part 3 Tiered Cake

Part 3 of the Wilton cake classes brought us to working with Fondant. The Fondant is basically sugar and water cooked till it forms a dough which can be used to cover the cake or make lovely roses.

More About Fondant;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fondant

I basically don't like the taste of the Fondant, but it is amazing if you want to add craft on the cakes.. like make baby bottles for a baby shower cake or any such things...My instructor said that there are only two ways about Fondant covered cakes... either it looks good or tastes good.. nothing much than that.. so coming back to the coursework... Part 3 advanced our skills in working with Royal icicng and making more flowers.. Lilies are all that I could really master in them .. so as you can see my Cake looks like  a flower shop gone wild....I had to take 2 cakes either frosted with Butter cream icing or covered with Fondant.. I had already promised my kids that they could take this cake for Teachers appreciation week in school, I stuck to what his teachers liked.. So Buttercream was way to go........I had Fondant roses made in the class, so used those as well.. My instructor was a strict teacher when it came to learning.. but she allowed us all the freedom to work on our cakes...so here was my  cake for Part 3 of the Wilton classes.. am so sad that I could not take the Fondant and Gum Paste class.. but nevertheless there will be a time and date when I can make it to that class as well.,....so long farewell...am I to say Goodbye... U bet.. I will never say Good bye.........

Run behind your dreams and try to fulfill your passions for life is so short... best wishes and love to u all!!!!!!

Date Cake

This is very nice and keepsake rec for a very simple cake. I was searching for some eggless cake rec. when Google search took me to this rec on aayi's Blog...I did try this with the Baking Powder version, but guess it did not work for me.. so I substituted it with ENO-Fruit Salt.. which can be found in any Indian Grocery store...It's basic use to relive from Gas Trouble but ppl like me use it for Baking too...I used to use ENO for Dhokhla, (will update the rec in the coming months)...but that gave me an idea.. so now its  a sure hit...I did not wnat to use a lott of frosting and kill the taste of this cake.. The dates give it a nice velvet taste which is not very strong to stand on its own...so I used the simple fork and spoon and dusting powdered sugar technique...The cake is  asure hit in evry home and sweet memories for you and your family...

The rec is at;

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2008/02/21/spreading-cake-fever/

With dates of Love

Ash.