Mommy Bloggers

This is an article which my hubby forced me to read.. Sharing it with all my fellow mommy bloggers..... Quite interesting

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/queens-of-the-mom-blog-kingdom/

Braided Bread

By friday, my fridge faces drought. There will be nothing in it except for some eggs and cheese! So, that makes yet another reason for omy to open and play with cold air!!!!

Thanks to the mandatory 'eat out' rule on Friday nights. 

Poor Saturday is awful with mostly no food in the kitchen and by Sunday the grocery shopping makes the inside of my fridge a food market... With all stuff pressed in to fit!

Anyways, sometime back on a friday there was nothing to snack..not even Omy's cookies! 

And then I remembered the Bookmarked 'Aipi's braided bread' recipe. I have never craved for bread, but this one made me.. so then there I was with my first baked bread.

I just stuffed some nuts and raisins.

All purpose flour ........................... 1 1/2 cups

Atta or whole wheat flour ............ 1 cup

Rapid rise Yeast ............................1/2 tbsp

Oil ...............................................   2  tbsp

Sugar ........................................... 1/2 tbsp

Salt .............................................. 3/4 tsp

Warm milk ...................................1 cup

nuts and raisins or any filling of your choice.

I had no patience to do it step by step. So i just put everything in my blender and gave a mix. After it started to become a big lump, I took the dough and started kneading with my hands.

After a good hard work on the dough, as Aipi says

"Roll it into a rectangular shape. Place the filling in the center. Leave 2 inch on each side  place the filling in the center. Leaving an inch from one side and cut sideways on either side at equal distance. The number of cuts on each side should be the same. Leave the end closest to the filling attached. "Braid" the strips up over the filling, tucking in loose ends and wrapping the final piece or two under the bread. Let it rise again, about half an hour. Meanwhile cover the bread with a wet cloth to avoid drying.  Brush the top with milk and bake in a preheated oven at 375 deg F for 17-20 minutes till the outer crust gets a light golden brown color. "

Neither did I have time to cut it open and click pictures nor I had the patience to click when Omy took the bite..He loves the 'dip and eat' rule and had enough time to dip the bread in strawberry preserve and  I  hardly had an inch of bread left when hubby came home!!! It was truly amazing... A nice warm home made bread melts in the mouth.. worth a try!

There he is with the Strawberry jam.

Non sticky Payasam

Being THE mom of my mini Tsunami..(it rhymes with Omy), I try to do everything possible to calm him off before the violent waves  crash onto shore. 

Some days the sea is so silent, I feel there is no other sweetheart like him, and the next day he becomes impulsive. His anger often leads to intense fury and rage. He picks up his toys to throw at me. I run for my life! Sometimes I overreact and yell at him. But later after all the wave effect I realize my yelling is only teaching him to do the same.  I am happy in a way that he is expressing it and not suppressing it to emerge later with double effects. So now along with the efforts to tackle his anger, I also seek ways to not ignite any spark to fire his terror engine. 

Some days back we had our friends come over for dinner. I just finished making ada payasam (Kheer with flakes of cooked rice) and couldn't resist sharing a cup with Omy. 

He loved the taste but was not able to enjoy as the drops soaked his shirt and made it sticky. My tsunami radar picked up signals fast enough that i took the cup away from him and changed his shirt in a second. Everything was back to normal. Else the stickiness would have paved a way for frustration and I would have seen payasam all over my floor. But, I agree with him, the sugar makes the milk sticky and what if it sticks to your dry skin? 

Later that day while I was arranging my kitchen cabinets I found an old pack of gelatin. Thus the idea and solution for a non sticky dessert for Omy emerged. 

I don't have a good recipe for ada payasam as I made it with 'Double horse payasam mix'. One of the best one ready in minutes. You need to add only milk and boil it for 30 minutes and you have a yummy payasam on the table.

The idea of freezing it doesn't work as it becomes so hard and by the the time we wait for it to thaw it regains the stickiness. So add Gelatin.

Mix 1 tbsp gelatin in 1/2 cup water.
Mixed it with 2 cups payasam
layer  some raisins on the bottom of mini cups and pour the payasam.

keep it in the fridge for like 2 hours(There is no need to freeze).

Later, scoop out the payasam from the cups and there you have solid, soft and non sticky payasam.

Its also a wonderful dessert presentation.
Most of the times our guest will not have space for dessert, so this one will serve as a mini yet tasty and superbly appealing dessert.


Tsunami Mode

Sweetheart Mode