Toddler Lunch 27

Back by popular demand   :)

Today's Daycare Lunch Bag:

Snack # 1  Blueberries and cut up Apriplum ( sweet hybrid fruit of Apricot & Plum ...check fruit aisle in Publix)

Snack # 2: Babybel mini cheese and Annie's cheddar bunnies (yummy !!!!)

Lunch: Cilantro and carrot appe with ketchup

Appe are bite size shallow fried spherical vadas that are eaten with coconut chutney or ketchup. Perfect for breakfast or snack. You can make different variations using  vegetables or totally skip vegetables and add chopped green chillies for the bigger kids. You will need an appe patra which is available in few Atlanta Indian stores. This little gadget can be used to make koftas and vadas for dahi vada.

The batter is made of 1 cup of urad and 1 cup of rice. Soaked for 4 hours. Grind and ferment it overnight.

 Next morning, add chopped cilantro, cumin, salt, dash of sugar and ginger. This is an easy way to sneak in any chopped vegetables such as carrots and broccoli in the batter. Place the appe patra on the stove top. Pour little oil in the wells and then pour the batter. Shallow fry golden on each side.  

Bloom Time

Spring is here and my plants are starting to peek out. Exciting !!!!

Past winter was particularly harsh in Atlanta. We had snow that lasted for a whole week which is very unusual. I was quite sure that my peonies, Jasmine, french lavender and tulips were dead by now. But nature is kind and its amazing to see all my plants happy and ready for the summer display.


Last weekend we installed a drip irrigation system for my vegetable patch and containers. Our existing in-ground sprinkler system did not cover the vegetable garden which meant watering the patch EVERYDAY. Not fun. Back to the drip irrigation, this is a great DIY project which is good for the plants and also saves gallons of water. Here is the online store from where I ordered the kit.


Pictures from my garden:

Azalea bursting with color

First batch of annuals ready to go in the ground

Shrimp plant

Celeste Fig- Ready to be repotted- atleast for few years 

Tulips

Lilly of the valley- Fragrant perennial

Bowl of Cream peony-perennial 

Meyer Lemon blossoms- Potted will bring in house in winter

Creeping Phlox- perennial dash of color

Evergreen Fragrant Spirea

Toddler Lunch 26

Today's Daycare Lunch bag:

Snack # 1 Juicy pear spears and blueberries.

Snack # 2 Dried raspberries and vegetable thins.

Lunch: Store bought humus, mozzarella and spinach on Italian multi grain bread. I drizzled some honey since Y does not like sour taste.

Happy Memories

Its amazing what vacation can do to your soul. I came back from a relaxing vacation to India, all refreshed and ready to take on the world. Needless to say, I also ate and ate and ate some more......

While we were in Mumbai most of the time, we took 'vacation mein vacation' ( this is for all of you who have seen the infamous Parag saree ad.... 'saree mein saree') spent few days in the gorgeous state of Goa.

We have been to Goa a number of times. But this trip was special since four generations were vacationing together. I managed to click a picture of my toddler with his great-grandfather, watching the sun set over the Arabian sea...priceless !

Here are some beautiful memories of my trip.

Toddler Lunch 25

Today's Daycare Lunch bag:

Snack #1: Cut up juicy nectarine and blueberries

Snack #2: Raisins, whole wheat crackers with flax seed ( from Whole Foods),  cranberries & chocolate cookie (Cookies were made by Locks see her blog The Rich Vegetarian)

Lunch: Artichoke hearts, spinach and cream cheese triangles made with Pillsbury crescents. I also added some ranch dressing and dash of Italian seasoning to the mixture. Tomato ketchup to dip and enjoy.

Toddler Lunch 24

Today's Daycare Lunch bag:

Snack # 1: Blackberries and strawberries.

Snack # 2: Wheat thin crackers in garden veggie flavor along with freeze fried sour cherries from Whole Foods.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta shells, onions and peas in sun dried tomato cream sauce. My dear friend SG made this yummy pasta and Y loved it. To make this pasta, I sauteed one clove of garlic, chopped onions, peas, sun dried tomatoes and a dash of Italian seasoning in olive oil for couple minutes. Add cooked pasta and some heavy whipping cream. Top with shredded mozzarella.

For adults, try adding more robust flavored cheese such as smoked Gouda, capers and a heavy pinch of fresh ground pepper.

Toddler Lunch 23

Today's Daycare Lunch bag:

Snack #1: Blueberries and clementines.

Snack #2: Madeleines ( costco), raisins and freeze dried mango chunks from Whole Foods

Lunch: Savory ricotta pancakes with ketchup.

Mix rice flour, ricotta, egg and milk to form a pancake-like batter. Add whole cumin, salt, garam masala and fresh chopped cilantro. Pour a laddleful of batter on greased griddle to make thick pancakes. Sprinkle little chat masala on the pancakes. You can skip the egg, if you do so, increase the flour quantity in the batter.

Eggless Linzer Cookies

With a sick child and crazy work deadlines, it seemed ages before I could upload a new post. Not to worry, I am back and this time I have a sweet recipe to share. This Christmas I baked some Linzer cookies to share at my office.

The original cookie recipe that came along with the cookie cutter set included an egg in the mixture. Since we have few people at work with allergies, I made my cookies without any eggs and they turned out great.

A Linzer cookie cutter set looks like this. But you can  use couple small bowls/lids in different diameters to cut out the shapes.

Linzer Cookie:

2 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unblanched almonds, finely ground
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 sticks of softened butter (unsalted)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp cardamon powder
pinch of salt

parchment/wax paper

To decorate the cookies:

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1 cup seedless raspberry jam.

Method:
1) Cream butter and sugar for 5 minutes with an electric beater.
2) Add flour, almond flour, cinnamon, cardamon and salt to the butter mixture to form a dough ball.

3) Divide the dough into four equal parts. Sandwich the dough between two parchment/wax paper sheets. Roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. You will end up with four rolled dough sheets.Refrigerate for an hour.

4) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

5) Peel away top layer of the parchment paper. Using a  cookie cutter, cut out small rounds for the bottom part of the cookie. For the top part of the cookie, cut out round cookies with center shapes cut out i.e dainty hearts, stars or little teddy bears. Make sure you have even number of  bottom cookie and top cookie with a cut out to form a sandwich.

6) Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Cool

To assemble the cookies:

1) Dust the top part of the cookie with powdered sugar.

2) Put a dollop of jam on the bottom part of the cookie and now placed the sugar-dusted top part of the cookie to form a perfect sandwich.

Enjoy !

Toddler Lunch 22

Today's Daycare Lunch bag:

 

 

 

Snack#1: Cut up grapes and figs.

 

 

 

 

Snack # 2: Vanilla wafers ( not one of the healthiest option..but oh well!)  and dried cranberries

 

 
 
 

Lunch : Parsnip and potato tikki with ranch dressing. Boil and mash potatoes and parsnip together. Mix in rice flour, shredded cheese, cilantro, ginger paste, salt and garam masala to form a dough. Shape into flat tikkis. Shallow fry for couple minutes.

 

 Note: Parsnip is a root vegetable that is closely related to carrots. The nutritional content  and flavor of parsnip is much better than carrots.Some of the larger parsnips had bitter core, so I trimmed out the core before boiling.

Coconut Water-Nariyal paani

Being from Mumbai, where you get fresh coconut water at every corner, I miss this delicious drink in the land of sodas. Somehow sugary frizzy soda products just cannot satisfy thirst like sipping on cool coconut water on a warm sunny day. Not to mention the guilt of flooding your body with heaps of sugar and caffeine is unbearable.

There is a certain fascination to watch Nariyalwalah ( Coconut seller) expertly slash off  tough coconut skin with a rusty looking knife to make a tinsy hole at the top for a straw. As if the coconut water is not enough, the malai ( cream inside the coconut) is another wonder in itself. In Mumbai, coconut sellers  make a spoon from discarded coconut skin to scoop out the malai. Every bite is creamy, sweet and oh so delish!

Back to my hankering for coconut water, it is impossible to get fresh coconut water in Atlanta. So packaged coconut water is my next best bet. When you think of packaged products , preservatives are inevitable. Not true. At Costco, I tasted VitaCoco. 100% pure coconut water with no preservatives. Sounds too good to be true. So I researched their website to find out more.  The only ingredients in each pack is coconut water ( Not from concentrate) and Vitamin C.  Per the website, young green coconuts harvested in Brazil are used in VitaCoco. So whats the verdict on the taste, you ask? Very very close to a  fresh coconut sans the malai. No fat, no cholesterol, five essential electrolytes, more potassium than two bananas..and super hydration. No wonder coconut water is the new Hollywood fancy diet. Starlets like Demi Moore are seen sipping this natures wonder for fab bod. Packaging of this product is super convenient too. No aluminium cans. 12 individual paper cans with all the natural goodness inside. Perfect to grab on the go. At Costco, price for a pack of 12 cans is around $15.

Post a comment if you have tried this product.

Toddler Lunch 21

Today's Daycare Lunch bag:

Snack #1: Cut up figs and cantaloupe

Snack #2: Shankarpali ( Thanks to grandma) cheese stick and raisins

Lunch: Ragi and rice flour dosa with chopped onions, cilantro and garam masala.

 I raved about ragi or Nachani here.The dosa is not great to look  but tastes really good. My son looked at the dosa and said ' I don't like it'. So here we were, me & M, running after a toddler at 7:00 in the morning asking him to try a piece of the dosa before I packed his lunch. Finally, Y took a bite and said 'Yummy in the tummy' ........phew!!!

Toddler Lunch 20

Today's Daycare Lunch Bag:

Snack# 1: Cut up strawberries and pear

Snack#2: Whole wheat crackers with sea salt, dried cranberries and prunes.

Lunch:
Mini Uthapams with green peppers and tomatoes. Ketchup as dipping sauce ( my son loves anything with ketchup..!)
Batter is bought from an Indian store.

Toddler Lunch 19

Today's Daycare Lunch Bag:

Snack #1: Cut up strawberries and grapes.

Snack # 2: Multi grain crackers with rosemary and olive oil. Dried cranberries and cheese stick

Lunch:  Upama made with cubed carrots, peas, green beans, corn and tomatoes.

Restaurant Review-Rathbun's

I went out with my usual group of Foodies to Rathbun's. While navigating  through empty warehouses and dilapidated structures I was almost thinking of heading back home. Driving to this restaurant was SCARY !!. Until, I entered the restaurant and it was all good. We were told that the dining room is a one-hundred year old renovated wine cellar. The exposed wall and the tasteful decor is very chic. Word of caution: DO NOT sit in the center of the dining room. You'll have to shout across the table. Not fun.

Moving to the food, we got two sets of menus. One is the usual fare and the other is handwritten daily specials. How neat !
My litmus test for any good restaurant is the bread. If the bread is good, chances are that the food will make me happy. When the bread came out it was moist and very flavorful. Good start for the evening.
For the main course, I ordered three of the small plates just because I wanted to sample more than one dish.  It was a smart strategy. My first small plate was this super thin cracker like flat bread with prosciutto, cipollini onions and pink peppercorn honey. One bite and the angels were singing. Beautiful flavors yet very light and not too sweet. For my second plate, I was waiting for the smoked salmon toastada. Perfectly tasty. My third small plate was crab cake tart. The sauce was divine, the tart shell was super buttery and the crab cake filing was yum.

It was time for the desserts. Like always, we ordered almost the entire dessert menu. By far, rice pudding was the best one of the lot. Others were kinda forgettable.

Overall, food was fabulous but the desserts were strictly OK.

Rathbun's Restaurant

112 Krog Street, Ste R

Atlanta, Georgia 30307

404.524.8280

Enjoy the pictures!