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Winter Soup

Pooja C Mittal3 Comments

Hello,

It is starting to feel like winter! Whenever it is gray and cold outside, I feel like making (and eating!) soup. I wanted to make a coconut curry soup this week but ran out of coconut milk and didn’t feel like running out to get some. I put this together with the stuff I had in my fridge/pantry and I think that it is versatile enough that you can use whatever you have on hand. We ate the soup with crunchy garbanzo croutons and pesto grilled cheese sandwiches (recipe for the garbanzos below as well!). I hope that it hits the spot for you like it did for us!

Winter Soup

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower

2 large or 4 small carrots (about 2 cups chopped)

1 small onion

vegetable bullion (2 cubes)

water

1 clove of garlic, 1 knob of ginger

Assorted spices: cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, curry powder or curry paste, thyme, etc..

ghee or butter

splash of milk (almond milk or non-dairy milk will work, as will coconut, or cream if you want to use that)

garbanzo croutons (see below)

Instructions:

  1. Salute the chopped onion, garlic and ginger in 2 tablespoons of the butter or ghee.
  2. Add in spices: salt and pepper, cumin, curry paste etc. Stir and cook for about a minute until the spices are fragrant.
  3. Add in the chopped vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes until they start to soften.
  4. Add in 3 cups of water and stir, scraping the bits of the bottom. Put in the bullion cubes. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
  5. Using a hand blender (or a regular blender in batches), puree until smooth.
  6. Stir in 1 cup of “cream” (milk or coconut milk work well)
  7. Top with toasted pepitas, chopped herbs and garbanzo croutons.

Garbanzo Croutons

Ingredients:

One can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

salt,  cumin

olive oil

Instructions: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Toss the garbanzo beans with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp cumin
  3. spread out on a baking sheet and toast for 30 minutes until crispy, stirring once 15 minutes into the cooking time.
  4. Serve!

Determination

Pooja C Mittal5 Comments

I am writing this post in reflection on all that I have learned from my middle daughter, Esha.

Esha has had a lot of health challenges over her lifetime. When she was 3, we found out that she wasn’t breathing well when she slept. She had her tonsils taken out and she started growing again – 3 inches in a summer! However, she continued to have issues with her growth and we ended up finding out that she has severe reflux (heartburn).  This effects her ability to get enough calories to grow. It has been very hard to watch her struggle and I have struggled along with her. As a parent, there is nothing harder than watching your child suffer. As a mother and a physician, I have been angry/disappointed in myself that I have not been able to “fix” what is wrong. For a long time, I couldn’t move past these feelings.

Then, one day, I was telling this story to a good friend of mine. I expressed my heartache. When I got to the end of the story, she reflected that what stood out to her was not the pain, but the resilience in Esha. In spite of going through so much, Esha remained a positive force for everyone around her. That started the re-framing of my daughter’s experience for me.

Then, Esha had an incredible kindergarten teacher, Jess, who taught her a word that she could use to describe herself: determined. Five-year-old Esha would come home and tell me that she was determined. When I asked her what that meant, she would say “it means I can do anything I want to do, and if I can’t do it the first time, I just have to keep trying”. And she was determined. She decided that she would learn to ________________ (fill in the blank: snap her fingers, read chapter books, learn about her reflux, write an adventure story), and she persisted until she could do it. And Esha is a force to be reckoned with, she has a fierce positivity and sees beauty in everything around her. She pauses to appreciate the sunrise in the morning and revels in learning history. She loves freely. And she is determined.

Today is Esha’s ninth birthday and I celebrate her not only for who she is, but also for all that she has taught me. Happy birthday, my warrior goddess.

 

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Pumpkin Lentil Falafel

Pooja C Mittal5 Comments

Happy Wednesday everyone!

It’s been a whirlwind the last week! We just celebrated Diwali (a Hindu festival which celebrates the triumph of good over evil or light over dark). It’s one of my favorite holidays of the year and we were so happy this year to celebrate with my nephew as well. I am always the happiest when the kids are together.IMG_2082

 

This year, after celebrating with so many who are dear to me, I reflected on how we have been blessed to develop a diverse community/village. #lifegoals

I am going to tell you about these delicious and relatively quick fall falafel patties I made. But first some link love!

A couple of books that I am reading:

  1. A recommendation from the girls’ head of school called “Wait, What?”  It’s a quick read and super interesting.

 

2. I know I am late to the game, but my sister just gave me her copy of Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey and it’s pretty incredible. One of my favorite poems here:

Image result for rupi kaur if you were born with the weakness

 

Other fun stuff:

1. Ten of the best photos from the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photos contest. Cheers me up every time:

https://www.boredpanda.com/national-geographic-travel-nature-photographer-of-the-year-contest-2017/

2. My friend Nadya sent out this awesome video for the International Day of the Girl:

 

 

3. On my list to make:

https://cookieandkate.com/2017/mini-peanut-butter-cups-recipe/

and

http://www.acozykitchen.com/burnt-butter-pear-apple-crumble/

Now, on to the recipe. I saw this a couple of weeks ago on Ashley’s blog Blissful Basil and bookmarked it to make. I love the idea of incorporating pumpkin into these to make them good for the fall! And since it uses such little pumpkin, there is pumpkin puree left over to make a fall dessert. These patties are also gluten-free and vegan. I ate mine with tahini sauce (i’ll give you the quick recipe below) and some greek yogurt on the side. They would also be good like more traditional falafels – wrapped in pita. I did make a few tweaks to the recipe, so if you want the original, you can go to Ashley’s site.

Pumpkin Lentil Falafel

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dried split red lentils
  • 2 cups water
  • 3/4 cup mix of raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin purée
  • 3/4 cup oat flour (make your own by blending oats in a food processor)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, stemmed
  • 1/2 medium red onion, roughly diced (about 1 cup)
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or to taste

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F and generously oil 2 baking sheets.

  2. In a medium saucepan, combine the lentils and water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but not yet mushy. Strain off excess water and set aside.

  3. Add the seeds to a food processor and process for one minute, or until ground into a coarse flour.

  4. Then, add the cooked lentils, pumpkin purée, and all remaining ingredients to the food processor. Pulse 10 to 15 times to coarsely chop and mix. Be careful not to over-process.

  5. Using a large tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of the batter on to the baking sheets, flatten slightly using the back of the spoon.

  6. Bake for 10 minutes on each side, longer if you like them crispier (but be aware, that if you overtake them, they will dry out)

  7. Let the patties cool on the pan slightly before moving or serving.

    8. Serve with tahini sauce!

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    Quick Tahini Sauce

    In a small blender (or can be mixed by hand) combine a few scoops of sesame tahini, a splash of olive oil, a splash of water, juice of one lemon, and salt/pepper to taste. Blend until it becomes a smooth paste. Serve with the falafel!

     

    Love,

Pooja

 

Cilantro Pesto Pasta, S’mores Brownies and a new home

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The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster, but we finally settled into our new (to us) place last week. There have been some nice surprises (beautiful sunsets, tons of girls in the neighborhood who are so wonderful at including our girls) and also some challenges (cooking on a camping stove until we get a proper one and fixing a little bit of almost everything). Overall, the transition has been a smooth one and we are settling in nicely.

The last day of cooking on the camping stove, I was feeling tired and uninspired. I opened up the fridge and found a bunch of cilantro and from there came this meal. It turned out to be pretty delicious and we will be making it again.

Cilantro Pesto Pasta with Roasted Zucchini

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Ingredients:

1 pound of rotini pasta (I usually use Barilla Plus – healthier than the average pasta and tastes great)

1 bunch of cilantro

Big handful of pumpkin seeds (toasted in a toaster oven or on the stove)

1 clove (or more to taste) or garlic

1 lemon

Olive oil

1/2 – 1 cup parmesan grated

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can chickpeas, drained

4-5 zucchini or any summer squash

Instructions:

  1. Prepare the pasta according to the directions.
  2. Slice the zucchini lengthwise or in coins to 1/4 inch thick. Coat a baking sheet liberally with olive oil and lay out the zucchini in a single layer. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-15 min until cooked through, flip them over and cook until brown and crisp at the edges. Repeat until all of the zucchini are cooked.
  3. In a large food processor, combine cilantro, garlic, 2-3 glugs of olive oil, parmesan cheese, pumpkin seeds, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Process and add some of the pasta water to thin it out as needed.

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3. Once the pasta is ready, combine with the pesto and drained chickpeas. Mix in some of the roasted zucchini. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper if you like a little kick. Enjoy!

S’mores Brownies

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When we moved in, I wanted to bake something to “break in” the new house. We chose these s’mores brownies from Joy the Baker, they were easy and didn’t require too many different types of prep. We ended up omitting the graham crackers because we didn’t have any and they still turned out amazing. We also didn’t have unsweetened chocolate so we used semisweet and decreased the sugar by half – they were a little less sweet than regular brownies but the marshmallows balanced it out and made them perfect.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://joythebaker.com/2009/04/smores-brownies/

Have a happy Wednesday everyone and to those who celebrate, Happy Diwali!

Love,

Pooja

The Little Things

Pooja C Mittal1 Comment

Sometimes it’s the little things. We have so many big things going on right now: school, moving to temporary digs until our house is ready for us to move into (2 weeks!), saying goodbye to our beautiful old house. But, you know, I was ready for all of this. I prepared. I have my super-strong husband by my side and we are having an adventure doing all of this. The kids are rolling with it. Even the baby is not too worried about any of it – just perplexed that “everything” is gone from the house and is living in a truck somewhere.

I was even getting confident: all of this is going fine, we are all doing fine, it’s only a couple of weeks. Then, we got to karate last night and Diya’s glasses got lost. Now, we are usually somewhat prepared for these unforeseen disasters, but this time, we were woefully unprepared. She needs them to see. We don’t have a backup pair. Her contacts are packed (in the truck remember?). She and I panicked. Turns out somehow another boy ended up with them in his bag – the whole thing was pretty strange. She had a hunch he had them, but he would not look in his bag or let her look. As we were about to give up (20 minutes after searching everywhere in the studio), his father pulled up and the boy got out and gave me the glasses. Now, I can say that although I was relieved, I was also upset. We ended up exchanging some words, with his father thinking me ungrateful and me thinking them inconsiderate to have put us through that in the first place. I am not proud of that interaction. Today, I will reach out and apologize for my part in that.

But, the thing is, I didn’t have anything left. I couldn’t take ONE MORE THING. So, what did I learn? That I should let go of my guilt over this incident and just apologize. That being prepared also means taking care of myself (which clearly I was not doing). That we all make mistakes – and I need to forgive that dad and forgive myself.

So, after all this craziness, I re-centered. I listened to Nisa singing “work work Angelica, work work Eliza” (I mean, what is cuter than a baby singing Hamilton?). I shared in Diya’s monumental relief that her glasses were found. I listened to Esha tell me about the math game that they played at school. I appreciated my husband saying, “I understand, I am sorry to you had to go through that.” Time to start anew.

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The last thing I baked in our house was a gluten-free, orange ginger dark chocolate bread. It was  delicious, and a good transition into early fall flavors – the ginger offset the orange and chocolate flavors beautifully.

The picture is from the Emma, the author of the recipe. The recipe is here: http://www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com/2017/08/flourless-dark-chocolate-orange-ginger-muffins.html

The original recipe made muffins – but to be simpler, I made it into a loaf. I do think that this required a longer baking time. Please let me know if you make it. I am sorry no pictures, but to be honest, it’s not very pretty! But is is delicious.

Love,

Pooja

Monday Inspirations

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Happy Monday everyone!

I don’t have a recipe to share today, but I do have something better! Inspiration! I saw some cool stuff over the weekend and wanted to share.

  1. National Geographic’s Travel Photo of the Year Contest. SO incredible: http://mymodernmet.com/national-geographic-travel-photographer-of-the-year-2017/
  2. These Church Photographs by Mark Brunetti are stunning: http://www.bjp-online.com/2016/04/markus-brunettis-monumental-church-facades/
  3. An awesome and entertaining TED talk about unconscious bias, “What Does my Headscarf Mean to You? “: https://www.ted.com/talks/yassmin_abdel_magied_what_does_my_headscarf_mean_to_you
  4. This awesome list of a girl power reading list for middle schoolers: https://girlsleadership.org/blog/mediamondaytip-a-girl-power-reading-list-for-middle-schoolers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=5%20min%20read&utm_campaign=0817-icymi-hq-tr
  5. Maybe I just really needed to hear this right now! : https://mmlafleur.com/mdash/tiffany-dufu-drop-the-ball

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Pooja

Chocolate Cake

Pooja C MittalLeave a comment

Hello everyone,

I have spent all morning trying to process everything that is going on around us right now and I am not being very successful. So, I am going to focus on some of the responses that spoke to me.

President Obama with his tweet: http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/politics/obamas-charlottesville-tweet/index.html

Esther Choo hitting on something that is very close to my heart as a doctor. She comes back to the most important thing, compassion: https://twitter.com/choo_ek/status/896850427408293888

Chelsea Clinton “There is no compromise with bigotry”: http://thehill.com/homenews/news/346730-chelsea-clinton-theres-no-compromise-with-bigotry

And to those of you needing ways to talk to your kids about this, some resources that I found helpful:

  1. LA Times How to talk to your kids about the violence in Charlotte: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-charlottesville-talking-to-kids-20170812-htmlstory.html
  2. Buzzfeed: Raising Race Conscious Children: https://www.buzzfeed.com/erinwinkler/tips-for-talking-to-children-about-race-and-racism?bffbparentsvid&utm_term=.pnNYKQJW4#.hpdzxp4QN

Please share anything that you found helpful as well.

For me, focusing on the baking process is a type of meditation. And, in times like these, chocolate cake is the right thing. We made the cake that Adriana Made on A Cozy Kitchen and the link is here: http://www.acozykitchen.com/one-bowl-sheet-chocolate-cake/

The cake was perfect. It totally hit the spot and was fairly easy to make. The sprinkles definitely make it cheery! Try it if you need some chocolate sweetness in your day.

Onwards with love,

Pooja

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Quick Biscuits

Pooja C Mittal1 Comment

Good morning everyone!

I made a caprese salad yesterday (love those summer tomatoes!) and Diya said, “I wish we had some bread to go with this!” So, of course, I told her that she should make some. She decided that she wanted to make something quick and easy, and settled on making biscuits.

These were easy, quick and super-delicious! They were especially good straight out of the oven with some melted butter. Yum! Diya adapted a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that originally included blue cheese and scallions (which she omitted because she decided she wanted plain and simple biscuits).

Quick Biscuits

Ingredients: 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick or 3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Some tips/tricks:

Buttermilk: make your own with 1 tablespoon white vinegar and 1 cup milk, let sit until curdled – about 10 min

Butter: I like to do this best by freezing the butter and then grating it into the dry ingredients – helps keep the flakiness and makes it easier to incorporate. When the butter is distributed throughout all of the flour – that gives the best flakiness

Do not overmix this dough – otherwise your biscuits will be tough and not light and fluffy

Methods: 

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees
  2. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt)
  3. Add in the butter and use your hands or a pastry blender to incorporate well into the flour until it looks like sand that clumps together when squeezed.
  4. Add in the buttermilk and mix with a spoon until just combined.
  5. Place on a buttered baking sheet, leaving two inches between the biscuits. Ours were too big initially so had to be broken in half to cook through.
  6. Bake until golden – 16 to 20 minutes.
  7. Eat warm with butter!

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Summer Vegetable Pasta

Pooja C Mittal1 Comment

Hello everyone!

I hope that you are enjoying the sun as much as I am! There is a lot of unexpected change in the air for us – we are considering moving to a different house so are in the process of putting our beloved house on the market. We are not sure what the outcome will be so I won’t say too much more about it right now – but I know that whatever happens, things will work out for the best.

I can be really resistant to change when it comes to big things. I am lucky to have a life partner who is strong but is still flexible enough to keep moving us towards “better” all the time. That being said, when he finds a good thing, he sticks with it (like me!).

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I have not written a post in a long time – between the house and my time away last week I didn’t get the chance. I had the opportunity to go and work at a wellness spa last week. I took one of my best friends and we spent a lot of quality girl time together. It was so rejuvenating and most of all, fun! We took a hula hoop class and a boxing class and also did various arts classes. I made necklaces and bracelets for the girls and got to try some sculpting. Pics of some of the “art” below:

 

When I got back, I made this summer pasta with a bunch of stuff I had in my fridge. The beauty of this recipe is that it is infinitely adaptable – I make variations on this throughout the year and this one definitely focused on the summer bounty from my CSA.

Ingredients: 

1 pound of pasta in any smallish shape (I use Barilla plus because it has a lot of protein and seems like a complete meal in and of itself)

Assorted vegetables (approximately 3-4 cups): I used leeks, shiitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and zucchini

Thinly sliced garlic (1-2 cloves per your preference)

Heavy whipping cream (optional)

Parmesan cheese

2 Tablespoons of butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions: 

  1. Bring well-salted water to a boil for pasta – boil past according to the directions on the box.
  2. Melt the butter in a pan – when the foaming subsides, add the vegetables. I start with the leeks and mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste. When they are cooked through (about 3-4 minutes), add the cherry tomatoes. Add a bit more salt. Let this cook on low heat until they are nicely withered and some of the water has evaporated. Then add the zucchini, I slice it into fourths and then chop thin. At the very end, add the garlic and cook through. I like adding it at the end so it doesn’t burn. Also, hand the butter to the baby who is demanding it so she can eat it like a candy bar:

 

3. Drain the pasta and set aside some of the water in case you need it for the sauce.

4. Put the pasta back into the pot and add the cooked vegetables and toss. Drizzle in the cream and continue tossing until well coated (I used about 1/2 cup of cream for the whole dish).

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5. Add more pepper and salt if needed. Add a little pasta water if it is too dry. Grate some parmesan on top and toss well.

6. Enjoy!

Love,

Pooja

 

 

 

 

Plum Squares with Marzipan Crumble

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Hello beautiful people, yesterday was my mom’s birthday and so our yummy recipe that we made was fruit-heavy and had strong almond flavor because that is what she likes.

My mom my came to visit to take care of the kids so that we could take a short trip to Boston for a work party. I am so blessed to have her in my life – not a day goes by without talking to her and then feel so thankful that she is there to listen to me (whine, talk about the baby and the kids, share in my happiness and wallow with me when I am sad).

She is always there for my and for my kids – she loves them unconditionally, plays with them, makes them things and is always thinking about them. But, there is much more to her. Maya Angelou said, “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” This is my mom.

She came to this country as an immigrant, did her residency and then we moved to California. She had three kids, worked worked a million hours a week (seriously most weeks she worked 60+ hours a week), cooked and cleaned, made crochet bedspreads from scratch, and dealt with our massive sibling fighting. But, that is only half of the story. She started working in addiction medicine when it was not mainstream to do so and helped countless addicts in that role. She rose in her Community Health Center where she cared for migrant farmworkers and eventually became CMO, expanding their services and improving care for so many people. She did this while raising us, planning our weddings, and flying out to help me when my kids were born. When Amy Chua said ““Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery”, I am pretty sure she was talking about my mom.

Well, for this amazing lady, the least we can do is make a delicious birthday treat! Diya (who doesn’t like to bake) made sure that I was clear that SHE MADE THIS and she insisted on being in the pictures so that I didn’t take the credit. We found this recipe on smitten kitchen and it was perfect for us (we have TONS of plums on our tree so we are always looking for ways to use them). It was a hit. We ate it with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Happy birthday Mumma! We love you!

Recipe link: https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/09/plum-squares-with-marzipan-crumble/

Pictures below:

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The finished product! Look at that bubbly plum filling! Yum!

Love,

Pooja