Grilled Salmon with Roasted Veggies

On days when you want flavor, variety, not spend too much time cooking and with all that you want a dish that everyone in your family enjoys. This is a dish when you serve your kids a super healthy meal without compromising on taste.

Salmon is our family favorite. Any day, any time, school day, home day, dinner, Lunch, friends, Salmon is my go to dish. I believe once I knew how to make it correctly, there was no looking elsewhere. Its amazing how kids just grasp so many flavors from you and you just know if you like something, they would like it too. When the grilled/pan fried Salmon makes it to my kids lunchboxes, it just doesn’t excite them, but their school friends too. I always have their friends requesting for certain dishes on play dates and Salmon happens to be one of them.

Jokes apart, we are a family who love seafood and a lot of that comes from my Father in law [May his soul rest in peace]. Mr. Parveez gets his seafood freshness checking skills from his father. He tells me stories of how his Abba would take him along to the fish market and teach him how to find if the fish is fresh or old. So, using those awesome skills he always makes sure we get the fresh catch and as much as I always tell people that frozen fish can be used, there is nothing better than fresh ones. You will know once you try it.

So, this day when we planned on having grilled Salmon, the option of making tortillas at home along with Rice and beans is always better than getting store bought Tortillas. Though usually tortillas and Rice make you very full, but it wasn’t one of those days where we wanted to fill up. One look to my veggies in the pantry, the carrots, sweet potato and bell peppers, all just looked to good to say no to. I might sound funny to you while you read this, but the fact is some days veggies seem like the best option with your protein and its actually a very good one too, and you feel lucky to have your kids gobble down those veggies.

So, if you are a mom like me, who has those days where 30 minutes is all your gang gives and you want to make something flavorful, healthy and filling, this is it!! Enjoy!!!

Grilled Tilapia

Tilapia is one of the most wonderful seafood I have tasted. I am someone who loves Fish, but I do not like seafood options that are too fishy in taste. So, for people like me, Tilapia is a great option.

This fish is flaky, tastes mild and goes along great as a side dish, or a light lunch/dinner. This recipe is a quick marination and once its grilled, its just a perfect go to dish.

We loved the whole grilled Tilapia. I did realize that it tastes much better if you buy fresh live fish. Frozen options would be nice too, but there can be nothing better than getting your fish fresh.

Though I always have Mr. Parveez grill the fish for me, but I have given details of grilling the fish in the oven too.

Nutella Danish

Our favorite Bakery/ Breakfast Restaurant in Manhattan serves these amazing baked goodies. From Muffins to croissants, cakes to cupcakes, pies to sandwiches and of course Danish. Pineapple, cranberry and Nutella.

Now, if you are a chocolate lover, you will love the hazelnut chocolate spread Nutella. I am not running an advt for Nutella. In spite of all the words I hear about the high sugar, I still do not like using any other chocolate spread besides Nutella, when I need to. One thing I did do is get my little one off it. My little one could just never have enough of Nutella Sandwiches and with time, I felt using Nutella once in a while was fine, but feeding it daily to kids wasn’t a very good idea.

These Danish were shaped like a heart, following the demands of my boys. These Danish are crunchy from the outside and sweet chocolaty from the inside. This yummy crunchies are easy to make and super easy to please. They are a super good addition to surprise breakfast or play dates and even for guests, who fail to inform before ringing the door bell. The Nutella can easily be substituted for a fruit based spread. If you need more details, Please feel free to ask.

New York Style Crumb Cake

We are big fans of cakes, along with a million other things. Basically, we are foodies and love everything that’s edible for us and delicious. New York style crumb cake tops the list. The bad part is that now that we moved from being 10 minutes away from NYC to being an hour away from NYC. That makes us kind of deprived of eating our favorite cake as much as we would like to.

Therefore, the lady, that is me decided to give it a try. It came out fabulous and very close to what we like. Easy and not too time consuming either. The best part that I like about crumb cake is that it requires no icing, so you save all that extra time and tastes great.

It’s best for evening snack & tea parties . It also tastes fabulous on those special Sunday breakfasts or holiday breakfasts, when you feel like cooking the one dish and serve it with hot milk and coffee. I find this cake a better alternative to creme cupcakes and Donuts, at least for mornings, that need to be sweet and less guilty, if not guilt free.

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies, the name makes my mouth water. My undying love for chocolate chip cookies never goes away and there is no time when I don’t crave them. Warm cookies straight out of the oven and a hot cup of coffee is enough to rejuvenate anyone from their super tired day.

Have you ever noticed all the cookies in the cookie aisle at your favorite supermarket. Its a huge variety. Sometimes, when you think of trying something new, a picture on a pack or the beautiful explanation of the scrumptious cookies or a popular brand name or company introducing something new, by modifying a little something in their older version is enough to lure you into trying something. I never paid attention to the details of the ingredients until my older one started developing a taste for them. That’s when I realized that I was feeding my son things that I not only did not know, but found them had to pronounce. Ingredients that sounded better in a chemistry lab than on food.

This is when I decided that I should try and bake my own cookies, I mean how hard can it be…LOLzzz. But, let me tell you, its tough. Baking, not so much, but baking in the right temperature, making sure the heat is just right, is difficult. Plus, the proportion of ingredients has to be proper. A little more butter than required won’t make the cookies softer, but break them apart. A little more sugar won’t make them sweeter, but too sweet for your taste buds. Therefore, the first rule, measure everything.

This recipe is chocolate chip cookies with a hint of cinnamon, which taste a little spiced up and slightly different from your regular cookies. The website has a recipe for regular cookies too, but please do try these ones as well. The slight taste of cinnamon balances the flavor of sweetness and chocolate chips, enhancing the taste, making them taste a little more rich.

Carrot Walnut Cake

There was a popular supermarket near our apartment. Mr. Parveez and I would buy our regular grocery from that supermarket. During the winter season, a baker in their bakery made carrot cake, with walnuts/ without walnuts, sometimes with raisins. Every winter, also known as “holiday season” in USA, we would look forward to the carrot cake. We even served it to our guests, took it for friends.

And one day the baker left the store. We only found during winter when the carrot cake was being sold but something changed. On trying to figure out, we questioned the Manager and found that the baker was from another country and has left for good. Even the manager agreed that the though he left the cake recipe, it just didn’t come out the same. Eventually, the store stopped keeping carrot cake.

But, we looked everywhere with our taste buds craving the same flavor. 10 years of search and over 100 stores and supermarkets, different towns, different bakeries but it was just not the same. One day I came across a recipe for Thanksgiving carrot pudding and reading that I felt, it wouldn’t be that tough trying it out. I also realized with times that there was some spice that was missing in the normal carrot cake. That spice was nutmeg. Isn’t it funny, that a pinch of a spice can change the complete taste.

I first tried the basic cake without frosting and once I perfected the basic cake, I tried the frosting and both together make a super excellent Carrot Walnut Cake. Its exactly like the cake we liked, probably a little better. This will bring you loads of praises on your parties and get together.

Braided Cheese Spicy Rolls

These delightful braided rolls are a great accompaniment to any meal, specially the brunch or lazy lunch days. The coarse chili flakes isn’t overpowering. I could have used this dough to even make burgers.

Its lovely to experiment with breads at home. The trick I learnt with time is that if your yeast doesn’t rise, redo it. A yeast that does not rise won’t make your dough airy and won’t make the dough rise. Generally, when people add the yeast directly to the flour, its advisable that you use instant yeast.

Besides the yeast, before you get pro at baking breads, always make sure you read the recipe and all the instructions properly before you start. Don’t believe anyone when they tell you how difficult it is to make a great bread or pizza crust or rolls, because trust me, it isn’t as difficult as it seems. Making good bread is an art, but it can be easily be learnt.

Mango Smoothie

Have you ever had problems feeding your kids enough fruits? Well, I do. I love the fruit and vegetable servings designed by the food pyramid. If you pay attention to the food pyramid, you might realize that your kids aren’t consuming enough.

We do make loads of shakes at home, but most of the shakes would have sugar, milk and fruit and there wouldn’t be anything too fancy. Most of the shakes were just Mango . Then one day, we ventured out the world of smoothies that became a huge trend in early 2000. I felt it was an excellent way to serve your kids everything they wouldn’t consume if they saw…LOLzzz.

With all this came in my reasons to start making my own smoothies. The boys love it since its the best thing they can have on the go. Smoothie makes an easy, fast, filling and super healthy breakfast.

My boys love Mango and every Mango season, we get tons of mangoes and a lot of times with busy schedules and summer outings, we go without eating. The problem also is that Mangoes go bad really quickly. So, making smoothies is a great way of incorporating them to your meals.

Mix in your choice of flax seeds and hemp seeds and it would not just make it more delicious but also a super healthy breakfast. For a great smoothie, you have to make sure the milk is chilled. You can always put the milk in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, and it would make your  smoothie much better than normal.

 

Mango Banana Smoothie

Have you ever had problems feeding your kids enough fruits? Well, I do. I love the fruit and vegetable servings designed by the food pyramid. If you pay attention to the food pyramid, you might realize that your kids aren’t consuming enough.

We do make loads of shakes at home, but most of the shakes would have sugar, milk and fruit and there wouldn’t be anything too fancy. Most of the shakes were just Mango or banana. Then one day, we ventured out the world of smoothies that became a huge trend in early 2000. I felt it was an excellent way to serve your kids everything they wouldn’t consume if they saw…LOLzzz.

With all this came in my reasons to start making my own smoothies. The boys love it since its the best thing they can have on the go. Smoothie makes an easy, fast, filling and super healthy breakfast.

Mix in your choice of flax seeds and hemp seeds and it would not just make it more delicious but also a super healthy breakfast. For a great smoothie, you have to make sure the milk is chilled. You can always put the milk in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, and it would make your  smoothie much better than normal.

 

Mango Cream

Like most Marwaris, I also grew up eating Fruit cream as a fast and go to dessert. As much as its an easy and impressive dessert to impress your guests and loved ones, its not everyone who can make it the authentic way. Now, every time I use the word authentic for “Fruit cream”, people usually give me a very confused look. But what they fail to understand is its not just mixing in fruits, sugar and cream.

A fruit cream is best when the cream is whipped with sugar making those stiff peaks and making it fluffy at the same time. Your fruits should always be fresh and the additional sugar should be based on the fruits you are using and how sweet they are. Small little things and make big changes to your dish.

But here, we aren’t making fruit cream, I am making Mango cream and that too with a little twist. My first time trying to make Mango cream was whipping the cream and mixing in a few mango pieces. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t nice but it was definitely not satisfying as a chef.  Instead of making the whole serving with just mango flavor, I divided into half vanilla and half Mango.

The recipe below might remind you of Mango Panacotta, though similar but its very different. Panacotta requires a little more effort and cooking time where as this is you to go recipe and can easily be made in a rush with almost no prep time.