Shredded chicken my style

This is again one of my innovation of mix and match ..Try this at home , you will not be disappointed I am sure :) Again no special ingredients, no special technique etc.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast: 100 gms
Soya sauce: 1 tbsp
Corn flour: 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Crushed Garlic : 2 tbsp.
Vinegar: 1tsp
Black pepper powder: 1tsp
Oil for shallow fry
Spring onion for garnishing

Method:

Cut the chicken breast into shreds and wash properly. Marinate this chicken with the soya sauce, 1 tbsp garlic, corn flour, salt, pepper powder, vinegar and keep in the refrigerator for about at least 1 hour.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Take out  the marinated shredded chicken and shallow fry them in the oil and cook . It should not take more than 10-15 minutes to get cooked . Toss and stir fry them continuously. Add the remaining one tbsp crushed garlic into this before the chicken gets cooked completely and mix well for that extra taste and flavour of garlic.

Once the chicken is cooked add the chopped green portion of  the spring onion. Transfer them to a bowl and serve hot as snack/starter/appetiser or with main course as well .

Mix this shredded chicken into your kids' sandwich stuffing of vegetables and serve them as snack or pack in their lunch boxes. My little girls loves to have this in her sandwiches with mayo.

Do write your feedback !



 

Pasta in white sauce

Whenever we go to any Italian restaurant, we normally like to order pasta in white sauce . Somehow we are not very fond of the tanginess of red sauces with pasta. So I make pasta at home mostly in white sauce. Sharing this simple recipe with you all today, I am sure your kids and you will love this recipe as the ingredients used here will give the taste and flavour not less than that of a restaurant. Just try once and please give your feedback.

Ingredients:

Spaghetti pasta: 200 gms
Milk: 2 cups
White flour/Maida: 1 1/2 tbsp.
Cream: 3 tspn
Oregano: 1 tspn
Butter: 2 tbsp.
Crushed garlic: 1 tbsp.
Crushed black pepper: 1 tsp
Chilly flakes: 1tsp
Salt to taste
Cheese: 2 tbsp. grated (you can use more if you want)
Red & yellow capsicum cut into julienne (1/2 cup approx)
Cherry tomato: 4-5 numbers
Few fresh Basil Leaves
Oil to cook (I use olive oil in pasta, you can also use any other cooking veg oil)

Method:

Cook the pasta in water and salt in a saucepan. Do not overcook the pasta, else the crunchiness while biting wont be there. Once it is cooked , remove from the gas and strain the water and keep under running cold tape water to stop the process of further cooking of the pasta.

In a non-stick pan, melt butter and add the crushed garlic. Saute it and add the maida . Keep stirring continuously in low flame, keeping in  mind that the maida/flour should not change its colour at all. Once you see the flour is cooking, add the milk and mix it nicely and keeping in  mind that this wont form any lumps. Flame to keep in low. After cooking for 1-2 minutes, add the cream into this mixture. Stir properly and you will see the mixture taking a thin creamy texture. Now add the oregano, chilly flakes, crushed pepper and salt and give it a nice mix. Put the gas off then. Remember one thing that this sauce should not be very very thick. It should reach only a running consistency.
 Your white sauce is now ready. Keep this aside.

Take another pan , heat  small amount of oil. Saute the pieces of red & yellow capsicum and the cherry tomatoes. We do not have to cook them completely. We only need to saute them. After 2-3 minutes, put the gas off.

Now back to the white sauce. Put it on to the gas again. Add the cooked Spaghetti, capsicums & cherry tomatoes and mix them all very nicely. Now sprinkle the grated cheese on the top of this pasta.


Present this pasta in white sauce in a beautiful plate and garnish with some fresh roughly chopped basil leaves and serve hot.

 

Perfect porridge of oatmeal & apple

Oatmeal is something that I have been feeding my little girl from the time she started having solid food. She prefers it only as porridge , no salted oatmeal at all. The other day I was thinking of what to make for her to eat after her sports activity class in the evening to make her tummy full with some healthy twist at the same time. Then I saw one of my container half full of oats and in the refrigerator there was one single apple lying in the fruit basket. And milk as usual is always available in the house. So I made this apple oatmeal porridge. Both the daddy and the girl loved it so much that a small portion of it only left for me :P

Ingredients:

Oats : 1 cup (that was my measurement according to my requirement. You can adjust as per your serving requirement)
Milk: 2 cups
One whole apple
Honey: 3 tablespoon
one pinch of ilaichi powder for that extra flavour


Method:

Boil the milk in a deep bottom pan. Once the milk started getting boiling add a pinch of ilaichi powder. Now add the oats and stir well. Cook the oats for some time. Grate the apple (keep one whole portion for garnishing). Now add these grated apple into the oat milk mixture and stir continuously. Slowly the grated apple will start dissolving . Now pour in the honey into it and again stir well. You can use sugar instead of honey. Soon You will see the mixture getting a thick creamy texture and now the porridge is ready to serve.

Transfer to a bowl and garnish with few apple wedges.. Simple oats porridge is anyways healthy but the twist was ,the addition of apple made it more healthier .




 

Healthy & tasty soft drink for our kidz

This one particular drink is like a regular one at home once the little girl is back from school tired and exhausted. This works like an energy booster for her after a day's hard work at school :)
No special ingredient no use of mixer grinder juicer here. Very simple to prepare, as most of my dishes .

Ingredients:
Orange flavoured Glucon D: 4-5 tablespoon
Juice of 2 1/2 lemons
Honey: 1 tablespoon
Jeera powder: 1/2 tsp
Pinch of salt
Fresh mints leaves: 5-6
Water : 2 cups


Method:

Take a big jar. Take the lemon juices in the jar, add glucon -D and water and stir with a big spoon and mix them well till the glucon -D gets dissolved properly. Now add the honey (you can use sugar also instead of honey), Jeera powder , salt and  crushed mint leaves . Mix them all nicely. Do taste it while mixing in case you would want to add some more sweetness to it. You can add ice cubes to this drink while serving. I prefer to give this to my girl without ice and with natural sweetener honey.

Serve this drink in nice beautiful glasses to your kids when they are back from school to boost up their energy level. Keep the remaining drink in a bottle in refrigerator and consume as and when you require :-)

Pasta Salad no oil no butter - tried & tested

We all love to eat pasta no doubt about it! But this particular pasta recipe was not what I exactly wanted to make. Last year Diwali, we had invited friends over dinner and there when I invented this recipe. Actually I wanted to bake the pasta after mixing all ingredients for our guests' two little girls and mine too. And then at the end of all the other preparations , I was running short of time even to put the pasta into the oven. Then I thought of serving it this way only with some mix and match tricks.. Yes I tested it before serving and it was just so good  to eat. Most importantly the guests liked it & their little girls as well.
Its a simple pasta salad which you can feed your kids as evening snack or you can pack this in their lunch boxes to school. My little girl likes to carry pasta in her tiffin.

 

 

Ingredients:

Farfalle Pasta : 2 cups (You can use any type of pasta)
Red, yellow & Green Bell peppers : 3/4 cup
Corn: 2 tbsp.
Tomato sauce: 1 tbsp.
Mayonnaise: 1 1/2 tbsp.
Mustard sauce: 1 tbsp.
Grated Cheese (processed cheddar cheese): 2 tbsp. or u can always use cheese cubes in this
Roughly chopped some basil leaves
Pinch of salt

Method:

Boil the pasta in a deep pan with a pinch of salt. Put the gas off as soon as the pasta gets cooked. Do not allow to over cook the pasta, it should have little crunchiness in it when you eat. Strain the water in a strainer and keep under running tape water to stop further cooking process of the pasta.

Chop all the bell peppers into small cubes. In a mixing bowl add the bell peppers, corns (you can use boiled corns if your kid doesn't like it raw) and mix well. In case if you want to use cheese cubes , you can add now. Add the tomato sauce, mayonnaise, mustard sauce into this and mix properly. Add the boiled pasta into the mixture, add the roughly chopped basil leaves and give a nice mix. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and spread the grated cheese on the mixture and mix. Now the salad is ready to serve.

To make a variety of this salad and if your kid is fond of eating chicken, you can add boiled shredded chicken pieces with this or diced cooked mushrooms also...

Try this at home for your kids and for yourself as well and enjoy.



 

Our very common Pan Cake

Lets begin this kids special week with our very own Pan Cake. I know and am sure you all must have tried making pancake at home for your kids several times. It is one common breakfast meal for your little ones and for the elder ones as well. It is healthy as it has egg & milk. Lets make it more healthier with some hide and seek tricks !!

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 cup
Sugar : 2 tbsp.
Eggs : 2 eggs
Milk : 1/2 cup
Baking powder : 1/2 tsp
Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp
One small ripe banana
oil to shallow fry the pan cake
Few chopped cherries
Honey for garnish


Method:

In a large mixing bowl, sieve the maida (flour), Baking powder well. In another bowl, mix the eggs and milk until it gets smooth. Add the vanilla essence, sugar and beat them well to get a smooth fluffy texture. Now in the maida and baking powder mixture, add one ripe nicely mashed banana and mix well. Pour in the milk and egg mixture now to the maida,banana, baking powder mixture and beat them well again till we reach a smooth texture.
Now  in a non-stick pan, heat small quantity of vegetable oil . With the help of a round big spoon, pour the mixture into the pan. Size of the pan cake depends upon your choice and the spoon size as well. I normally like to make large round pancakes and give them different shapes with the help of different cookie cutters available these days in market. After pouring the batter into the pan, sprinkle the chopped cherries on to  the upper side. Cook it till the lower side is golden brown. Once it changes its colour, flip  upside down. Cook the same till the other side too is golden brown.



Transfer the ready pancake now to a dish. Make the rest of the pancakes as well ..Did you notice how we used the cherries in the pancake . This is going to give the regular pancake a nice colour on the top and a little crunchiness while eating the pancake. You can use other fresh/canned fruits like blue berries/apricots/black berries . Also like I used banana to add a health factor and flavour to this pancake , you can use par boiled mashed apples, pears etc. according to your kid's choice of fruit.

Serve these hot pancakes with honey/chocolate syrup/strawberry syrup/Jam etc in their breakfast or their lunch box to school. I give my little girl pancakes with honey with icing sugar dusting on it, as you can see in the picture, again to make it more healthier.



Enjoy !!

Kidz week

So I know most of my friends out there are moms now and I am sure you would always want to try and feed your little ones something new and healthy at the same time , right !(including mine too).... Keeping that in mind and few of my friends' request, I am dedicating this coming 2-3 weeks to all our lovely kids. Of course I am not going to do any kind of rocket science with their food but yes will try to make regular dishes interesting with addition of some tricks and magic for our bachcha party. Do follow my posts moms!!

Are you all set ?!