Vanilla Ice Cream

Ice creams are my first love. I love ice creams so much that I can wake up at 2 AM for this awesomely delicious frozen treat. Never imagined as a kid that one day I would making my own and loving them so much. When I started making bread at home, Mr. Parveez couldn’t bear to see his dear wife struggle with the dough to make it perfect for the bread and got me a Kitchen aid dough maker. Now I am so lazy that even if I have make chapati dough, I use my Kitchen Aid.

My better half, Mr. Parveez loves shopping for his wife. I know, I am really fortunate. So, he love shopping for add ons too. Like when he buys me a dress, he would look around to see if there is a jewelry piece that might look great or a pair of shoes. He kind of does something similar with Kitchen gadgets as well. The appliance was originally bought for mixing, whisking and kneading. The add ons brought in attachments for salad chopping, meat grinder and an ice cream maker.

Mr. Parveez and I loved having the frozen desert every night. I don’t remember a single night not enjoying the yummy treat while I was pregnant. In fact, I ate my hubby’s share too and the poor guy never complained. And, then came the kids loving the treat as much as us.  The boys were always branching out to whatever new flavor was at the our favorite ice cream store. So when I got my first ice cream maker, I knew I could push my frozen treat boundaries even further and experiment my heart out. To start with, Vanilla had to be the base. I just had to make sure that I knew the basics correctly.

My first try with the vanilla Ice cream was something with eggs. Now, I am not too sure ho many people enjoy vanilla ice cream with eggs, but being from India and eating ice creams that are basically vegetarian, and I could smell the eggs in my ice cream and I wasn’t too happy with experiment.

I then started out with a simpler vanilla ice cream recipe, egg less. Its made with heavy cream and sugar. You can substitute the Heavy cream with milk if you are calorie conscious, but I recommend going all out, after all its a dessert.

Empanada Dough

I am from a small town in India, living in a big town in USA. Married to a man who shares the same passion for travelling and food as me. That kind of makes me believe that marriages are made in heaven and yes, I make sure I remind that to Mr. Parveez at least a hundred times during the day…LOLzzz. Jokes apart, where I love the cozy and cold destinations, he loves the sun, and our boys have taken completely after him, not just their faces and habits, but also their choices match his more than mine.

On our 5th and 11th anniversary, we have traveled to Mexico and Puerto Rico. Not only were the beaches clean and beautiful, the water was shallow enough for us to let the kids play. Besides the beautiful views, what also attracted us was the food. We loved the food, specially guacamole, Empanadas and Mufungo. Out of all the foods we tried, Empanadas became my favorite. I feel that might be their faint resemblance to samosas and the fast that they are baked [Empanadas have baked and fried option] gives you the liberty of over eating.

Being Muslims, we couldn’t try the pork or chicken and beef empanadas, but the shrimp and veggie options helped me get a faint idea of how I’d like my chicken stuffing to be. I baked them instead of frying and the taste was fantabulous. It is a family favorite and perfect for tea/coffee get togethers or play dates.

Chicken’s versatility has earned it a place on the table at least three times on our dinner table in a week. And while a fried chicken and golden fried samosas will always be a classic favorite, making these hearty chicken Empanadas come in second being a very close favorite. To avoid a dry filling, it’s best to seek out ground chicken made from dark meat. In most cases this means you’ll need to get it from boneless thighs and leg meat. This recipe will leave you with some leftover filling, which freezes beautifully for future Empanada endeavors. Baked Empanadas can be cooled, covered in plastic wrap, and frozen for up to 2 months; you can thaw and reheat them in the oven until warmed through.