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Angel in our home!

We are blessed with a little angel in our home. A wonderful gift from God, so perfect and sweet. She is the joy of our hearts, her cute little smile gives us the message that heaven has smiled down on us with her arrival.
Iam thankful to Almighty Allah who Has bestowed upon me the joy of motherhood through our little princess.Bringing my daughter into this world wasn't an easy task and I very well understood the meaning of the saying "Heaven lies beneath a mother's feet". The sight of my little daughter was enough for me to forget about all the pains which I bore to bring her in this world. Its all God's Grace bundled up in a cute little face.
Enjoying the bliss of motherhood, I think I would be taking off from blogging for a short period of time.

Awards and Meme

It was a very pleasant morning for me today as when I browsed my blog I could see a"shower" of awards to me from my blogger friends.There was a time when I used to complain to my husband that I do not have a single award on my blog,but now I have a collage of awards on my blog.Its so encouraging and fun to receive awards for your blog.I once again like to thank Yasmeen and Lubna for making me feel honoured by sharing their awards with me.!


Great buddy Award:
Hard working food Blogger!

Kreative blogger award!


Yum Yum Blog award.!
Foodie 360 award

Banana Nut Bread

Today finally I was able to post banana nut bread recipe from my favorite book (which I got atleast a month ago.)
Though its an easy recipe to try I was too lazy to post it and I owe my laziness to the "little bun in my oven" which is quite ready to come but is enjoying its stay inside by keeping both mom & dad waiting and tasting some delicious delicacies cooked by my husband.I hardly cook anything these days, thanks to my husband who is always ready to cook anything which the baby wants and the mom demands :)
here is the recipe of banana nut bread from " essentials of baking'
Iam sure my little angel must have enjoyed while I ate my slice of bread.

Ingredients:
2 large ripe bananas
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 large eggs
3/4 firmly packed brown sugar
6 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
1/2 cup whole milk
Bananas and orange zest

Method:
Step 1 :
Using a fork mash bananas and keep it aside.Bananas should be 1and 3/4 when mashed.In another bowl mix together all purpose flour , whole wheat flour , baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg ,orange zest and nuts.

Step 2 In a large bowl beat eggs,sugar milk and butter.Add the dry ingredients and the mashed bananas alternatively and mix with a spatula until the batter is moistened.

Step 3
Transfer the contents into a buttered pan and bake on 350 degrees for 55 - 60 mins. Insert a fork to check if its done.

let it cool for sometime and then serve ..

Classic Dark chocolate Brownies

Classic Dark chocolate Brownies
I was happy to get my second award from Yasmeen of health nut -"I'm a Chocoholic" It was so sweet of her to pass this award to me. Thanks again Yasmeen:) Being an ardent sweet lover chocolate always tops my list of sweets. I remember the first thing I baked after coming here was chocolate cake and was amazed to find out how easy was making cakes here, since then I regularly bought cakes n brownie mix and baked them.
Putting a scoop of vanilla ice cream on hot brownie and again topping it with chocolate sauce..is one of my favorite.
Just a week back I got this beautiful book on baking from the library, Williams- Sonoma's "Essentials of baking".Its an amazing book with beautiful illustrations, I coudn't stop drooling after gazing at those pictures, I might have turned the pages of this book-a hundred times and was in a BIG dilemma as what to bake first! as I found every recipe to be equally tempting.
But after I got the Chocoholic award I finally made up my mind to bake a chocolate brownie and this time from the original recipe and not from the ready to make mix.
It came out perfect, I enjoyed it with a scoop of vanilla on top of it.
here goes the recipe!
6 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate,
6 oz unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1 and 3/4 cup of sugar.
1/4 salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz all purpose flour
Melt chocolate and butter in the top of double boiler . Check out here for the exact procedure.
I melted the chocolate in microwave.
In a large bowl beat together eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla extract ,slowly transfer the chocolate mixture and mix well until blended . Add the flour (in small portions ) and mix slowly until its properly blended.
Pour the batter into the greased baking pan( grease the pan with butter).Bake it on 350 degrees for about 35 minutes .
Use a knife or fork to check if its properly done.
Cut into small squares and serve.


Brownies served with Chocolate! I dedicate this post of brownie to my sweet blogger friend- Yasmeen!

Pizza

I have always loved eating pizzas.Its one of my of favorite,so I decided to give it a try today, believe me I enjoyed making pizza,its fun to make pizza.I was so excited to see the dough rise, it was more than double its size.
Making pizza is an easy process but not a quick one. You need to knead the flour and let it rise for about 2 hrs.Kneading is an important process too.
The good part is that the Pizza dough can be kept in the refrigerator for several days and frozen pizza dough can be kept for several months; would be of great help in emergencies.

Ingredients for basic pizza dough:( make sure you take exact measurements).

1 and 1/2 tsp Active dry yeast.
1/2 cup water(warm).
1/2 cup cold water.
1 and 1/2 tbsp olive oil.
1 and2/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt.

Toppings:( which I prefer)
Jalepenos,
Tomatoes
Olives
Onions
Mushrooms
Green / yellow / red peppers( makes your pizza look colorful)
Pizza Sauce
And the most important of all CHEESE!

Method:
In a cup mix yeast and warm water and keep it for 5 mins till its foamy in its texture.
Take a big bowl to knead the flour add salt,olive oil,cold water knead it for some time add the yeast mixed water and knead it well.Knead the dough until you have a smooth ball.
Cover it with a cloth and keep it in a warm place for about 2 hrs ,enjoy seeing your dough rise:)
put the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and stretch it with your hands,use a rolling pin to make pizza of appropriate thickness.
Lavishly spread pizza sauce and your favorite toppings on it. Finally spread shredded cheese and bake it by placing it on pizza stone on 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Your delicious pizza would be ready to be served , though its not as easy as placing an order for pizza on phone but Iam sure its gonna make you proud of your achievement.

Sheer Korma ! ( Vermicilli pudding)

Sheer Korma is a sweet dish prepared in India on the day of Eid. Eid marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.Its the day of celebrations for us. I prepared sheer korma on the day of Eid. My recipe of Sheer korma is quite easy and it goes like this.

Ingredients:
Seviyan roasted 2 cups(got from Indian store)
Whole milk 1/2 gallon
Sugar 2 cups or less if u prefer less sweetness in your dessert.
Ghee/ clarified butter 3 tbsp
Dry fruits:
Almonds: 1/4 cup
Pistachios : 1/4 cup
Chirongi : 1/4 cup
Pitted Dates : 1/2 cup

Method:
step:1
Blanch the dry fruits and peel the skin of almonds, chirongi and pistachios.
Cut almonds into thin slices.

Step 2:
In a big pan heat ghee and fry all the dry fruits till slightly brown and keep it aside.



Step 3:
Boil milk for nearly 30 to 40 mins on medium flame.

Step 3
Finely break/ crush seviyan and fry in ghee till golden brown and then add sugar and stir it well.
Add this fried seviyan with sugar to the boiling milk. and cook again for 10 - 15 mins.



Step 4 :
Garnish the sheer korma with fried dry fruits and and serve hot.