Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

June 9, 2017June 9, 2017 Pooja C Mittal1 Comment

We are ready and gearing up for the summer! I am hoping that the kids get a lot of time outside and at least some time being bored. We are trying to figure out a plan for the summer so they don’t lose some of their skills (the summer backslide I think it is called). I don’t want them to spend the time doing workbooks and so we are working together to come up with some things they can learn that will be inspiring and fun.

These are some of the things we have come up with so far:

This list of the 100 books everyone should read. We are going to pick some that are appropriate for their ages. Esha wants to read A Wrinkle in Time and Little Women. Diya is going to start with To Kill a Mockingbird: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/100-books-everyone-should-read
This list of Ted talks: https://www.ted.com/playlists/163/7_talks_to_make_you_love_scien
Khan academy has videos on world history and religion, timely in light of what is going on in the world: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history
Hindi classes – taught at home, by me, once a week. Hardest to stick to in terms of schedule – but worthwhile.
Out-loud math: Esha is going to practice counting forward and backward by 4, 6, 7, 8 etc.

Let me know if you have other ideas!

This week I made cookies. They were pretty delicious. I heard about them from Lindsay of Pinch of Yum and they are from the LoveRealFood cookbook (link: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Real-Food-Feel-Good-Vegetarian/dp/1623367417/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1496280551&sr=8-1&keywords=love+real+food&linkCode=sl1&tag=recipepost-20&linkId=b94d95f58ca4a66d3ab1e36c2f07e4cf), They were super simple and definitely the best PB cookies I have had. Give them a try, you won’t be disappointed!

I did start craving chocolate and peanut butter while I was making them so I made a quick snack to get me through. Trader Joe’s dark chocolate with a swipe of PB:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

16 ounces peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup brown sugar (I reduced this from the originally suggested 1.5 cups)

Instructions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Mix sugar and eggs until smooth in a medium bowl using a sturdy spoon.

2. Add in vanilla and salt. Stir.

3. Add in peanut butter and mix until well incorporated.

4. Add in chocolate chips and stir well.

5. Chill the dough for at least 15 minutes (I chilled for 30 minutes).

6. Use a cookie scoop (I am not that fancy, I used two spoons) to scoop out dough onto a silpat baking mat on a cookie sheet (can also use parchment paper on a cookie sheet).

7. Bake for 10-11 min until the edges are golden brown. Let sit on the baking sheet for two-three minutes at room temperature, then you can transfer them to a cooling rack.

8. Enjoy! Diya certainly did! Can you tell that she was celebrating ‘architectural hair day’ at school?

Rhubarb Blueberry Buckle

May 17, 2017 Pooja C MittalLeave a comment

It has been a long time since we last talked. I have been busy tending to my kiddos and their busy lives. I took on a new position at work but the transition has me doing two jobs (because i’m a team player!) at the same time. I have some things to share, not the least of which is this delicious buckle that we made last weekend.

I read a really good book lately, thanks to my book club. It is “A Man Called Ove” and although it took me a bit to get into it, I ended up loving it. I heard that the movie is lovely as well. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Man-Called-Ove-Novel-ebook/dp/B00GEEB730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495049436&sr=8-1&keywords=a+man+called+ove

I threw my husband a surprise party and he was actually surprised! The best part though was these four hanging out together:

Special shout out to Silvi of The Poetry Store for writing so many memorable poems for us and our guests.

And I wrote a short story about being a physician and a mother. It’s called the Middle of the Night. I am sharing it with you here:

The middle of the night is for when I am worrying about a patient, like Olevia, who’s oldest son was shot and killed at the age of 23. He left behind his baby mama and his two baby girls. Olevia didn’t have enough money for his funeral expenses – so she had to promise to pay in installments over the course of the next two years. A reminder of his death every month in the form of a bill. The middle of the night is also for when I am worrying about one of my own babies, the 7 year old who has croup even at this age. I go back and forth – should I go check on her? She’s probably ok. I don’t want to disturb her. But what if she’s not ok. What if there is something else going on? I remember when I saw a little girl with croup who became hypoxic and her parents were in the same room with her so they noticed and brought her in. What if that happens? My husband knows that I won’t be able to sleep until I see for myself. So, I get out of bed and tiptoe into her room and listen to her breathe for a few moments, watching her chest rise and fall. And I go back to bed, placated, but still thinking about Olevia and her grandbabies. Now I start my 4-7-8 breathing (just like I tell my patients!) and focus on my husband’s heavy arm on my chest, and eventually fall asleep.

Last but not least, I got some rhubarb in my CSA and I really didn’t know what to do with it. I started some googling and found this recipe from amazing food blogger Bojon Gourmet. We followed the recipe except we added some blueberries to the batter along with the rhubarb. I was nervous that it might be too tart but it was perfect. We took the buckle with us (double the recipe for two different friends) and almost all of it was finished. All we had left was what you see above. It was definitely more work than I thought it would be – but oh so worth it. I am linking the recipe below…let me know if you try it!

http://bojongourmet.com/2012/04/rhubarb-buckle/

I wish I had taken pictures but it slipped my mind. It was gorgeous with the bright red rhubarb and the deep indigo blueberries.

Love,

Pooja

Greek Yogurt Lemon Bread

April 11, 2017 Pooja C Mittal1 Comment

Dear Readers,

I cooked up a storm the other day and will hopefully be sharing some of the recipes with you over the next couple of days. I made some of our family’s staples (broccoli cheese soup and granola) and then decided to try this recipe because, well, I had a lot of lemons in my fridge! And, I am always looking for good breakfasts for the kids.

I don’t usually bake quick breads that require a glaze and often skip it. In this case, however, the lemon glaze is super-important in both preventing the bread from being too dry and for imparting the right amount of lemon flavor. I imagine that you could swap out the lemon for any other winter citrus – just would have to adjust the amount of sugar in the glaze if you use a sweeter fruit. And with the greek yogurt and the wheat flour, it’s a treat you can feel good about eating.

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

Love,

Pooja

P.S. the kids loved it -but the baby would not touch it – she looked at me like I was trying to poison her every time I offered her a bite!

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, hemp seed, or chia seed (or combination of all)

Wet ingredients:

1 cup plain greek yogurt (full fat preferred)

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

Zest of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup olive oil, melted

Lemon Icing:

Zest of one lemon

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (to taste)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Combine the wet ingredients in a medium mixing bowl (or just dump them on top of the dry ingredients – it works out fine)
Mix well – taking care not to overmix.
Pour into a buttered loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or so, until a knife inserted comes out clean.
While the bread is baking, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze.
Once the bread is done, let cool for a few minutes and then remove and put onto a plate.
Pour the glaze over the loaf, taking care to get the top and side edges covered – it will soak into the bread.
Slice and serve warm or cool!

Enjoy!

NYC!

April 4, 2017April 4, 2017 Pooja C Mittal1 Comment

Dear Readers,

I had the opportunity to go to New York City with Diya and Esha this past weekend. We had the BEST time. Here is our itinerary in case you want to plan a trip:

We started off at Alice’s Tea Cup, Chapter II, yummy, but pricey!

We then went straight to the Metropolitan Museum which was incredible! And the exhibits made me feel better about pulling the girls out of school for the day: Diya got to see the Byzantine art that she has been studying and Esha got to learn about how the Ancient Egyptians lived and worked. Here are some of the pics:

We met with Zameer Kassam, jeweler extraordinaire, to pick up a ring my husband had given me. Zameer sat down to talk through what my amazing husband had told him about “our story” and our lives together to allow him to design it especially for me. Zameer reviewed all of his drawings and notes with us. The things that Vivek had said about me made my heart melt. I am indeed the luckiest girl. And Zameer, a true romantic, is incredible! Check him out: http://www.zameerkassam.com

We ended our day at this yummy place called Jams:

We were super tired but had such a lovely first day.

Day 2, we started off at the Rockefeller Center:

We met my friend Moira there and had a delicious pastry-filled breakfast at Bouchon.

We then went to have brunch with Vivek’s cousin, her husband and their beautiful little girl:

The next stop was Dylan’s Candy Bar – which is a total paradise for candy-lovers. And even though it’s a little bit cheesy, it’s a super fun stop. We got a couple of souvenirs from here and the girls each got to pick out a small bag of candy for their afternoon fuel:

We then did a bit of window shopping around Fifth Ave. We saw some really cool window displays:

And we also got to see the Apple Cube. This was especially cool for us since a guest speaker at the girls’ school had designed it:

At the end of these two superbusy days, we went back to our hotel to get some rest and save up energy for the MWP conference.

On Sunday, we went to the MWP conference all day and it was incredibly inspiring!

The keynote speaker was Rokhaya Diallo, a French-Senegalese journalist, writer, award-winning filmmaker and activist, for racial, gender and religious equality. She talked about confronting racism in a way that is inclusive and positive. Her TED talk is here in case you are interested:

We even got a picture!

It was such an incredible trip – mostly because we got to spend some time together. I got to hold their hands, talk to them about life and we got the chance slow down and just “be” together. I was so grateful to have this special time with them.

Here they are on the way home (with a selfie of course!):

We got home very late on sunday night and we were very happy to see these other two – we had missed them tons:

And the girls were very happy to be together again:

Thank you for coming along on our adventure!

Love,

Pooja

You Win Some and You Lose Some

March 28, 2017 Pooja C Mittal5 Comments

Dear Readers,

I hope that you are all having a lovely day. I had a pretty intense conversation with my middle daughter this weekend. She told me that a girl in her class told her that she (Esha) would be much prettier if she was White. I was a bit taken aback and had to take a minute to process. Before I could ask her how she felt, she followed with: “But, I wasn’t upset about it because I know she is wrong, I am beautiful just the way I am.” Wow, this kid. But, she then said, “but I used to think that she was right, especially when I was only one of two girls with darker skin in my class. But I don’t feel that way now.” We did some more reflecting and realized that with the move to her new school, which is a bit more diverse than her old (also really wonderful) school, she had a pretty big shift in perspective. And that gave her the confidence to feel much more comfortable in her own skin.

I was really proud of her insight and her courage. But, this situation did also show me how this bias can be so insidious. It reminded me that I need to continue to always build up my girls – and not only because they are brown. I believe that as mothers with daughters, we are always combatting someone judging them based on their looks – whether that is skin color, height, the fact that they wear glasses, the clothes that they wear, etc. Adiche, a Nigerian writer, has a beautiful way of thinking about this issue – the Danger of the Single Story. She did a TED talk on this that I think is really wonderful – we watched it as a family some time ago. It is about what happens when complex human beings and situations are reduced to a single narrative. I think that this is a perspective that we need to continue to encourage in our children: they are not “just” brown or girls or short or a million other things, they are full, multi-dimensional human beings. And I hope from this, they will continue to always build on their confidence and self-worth.

Watch the TED talk here if you are interested: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

So, overall, I think that conversation was a “win” for Esha.

The “lose” that I am referring to, is the attempt at making Caramel Tapioca Pudding. I will share some of the beautiful pics below – but will spare you the recipe, since it did not taste anywhere near as good as it looked. And, my husband said that it looked like poo in the pics. Stay tuned for another “real dessert” recipe – the girls have been complaining that there is only “real food” on here!

Love to you all,

Pooja

Zucchini Kofta

March 14, 2017March 17, 2017 Pooja C MittalLeave a comment

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is another beautiful sunny day – much needed after all of the rain. The East Coast is not as lucky as us – right now they are being pummeled by winter storm Stella.

The warm weather prompted me to look at this link and I saw some lovely things. The dresses inspired my daydreaming about vacation….

http://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/news/g4502/best-summer-dresses-2017/?src=nl&mag=mar&list=nl_mhb_news&date=031417

Along with this weather comes a heap of summer squash. Every time that I get a bunch of it (from our local CSA – Imperfect Produce – if you haven’t checked it out, seriously, you need to! Saves the produce that farmers would not typically be able to sell so prevent food waste. And, I get my organic fruits and veggies at much less than the farmer’s market price)…I make this dish.

This is basically an Indian, vegetarian, meatball and gravy dish. I serve it over basmati rice. The kids love it – and they don’t typically eat zucchini squash in other forms. It does take a bit of prep, but it’s worth it in the end, I promise!

Zucchini Kofta

Ingredients:

4-5 medium summer squash (green or yellow will work)

1-2 1/2 cups chickpea flour

Tomatoes (2-3 fresh, or one can of tomatoes)

1 clove garlic

1 medium onion

Ginger powder (or fresh if desired)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp cumin

Salt, to taste

Cream or milk (plant milk also ok) – if desired for the gravy

2 cups water

Oil – for shallow frying

Instructions:

Prepare the zucchini balls first: grate the zucchini using a box grater. Squeeze out excess moisture with cheesecloth if desired. Add salt to taste (approx 3/4 teaspoon), cumin, and chickpea flour. Incorporate well using your hands – the mixture should be able to hold shape into patties – add more of the flour until the desired consistency in achieved. I didn’t squeeze out the extra moisture, so I needed about 3 cups of the flour.

2. Heat oil about 1 inch deep in a frying pan and, once hot, place the patties into the oil. Let them cook until golden, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Flip, and cook through on the other side.

3. Place on paper towels on a cookie sheet to drain the excess oil.

4. Now, make your gravy. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium sized pot. When hot, add chopped garlic, chopped ginger (if using) or ginger powder. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30-60 seconds. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 3-5 minutes, constantly stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn. Then add the tomatoes (chopped) or the sauce. Cook until the oil starts to separate out from the mixture, 7-10 minutes. Add additional oil as needed to prevent sticking.

5. Once the oil starts to separate, turn off the heat and blend the mixture to form a smooth past – add water as needed. You can do this using a bullet or a hand blender or a food processor. Put the paste back into the pot, add the garam masala, turmeric and 2 cups water and mix well.

6. Simmer on low for 10 minutes to incorporate all of the flavors. Add a splash or cream or milk, if desired.

7. Turn off the heat and place the balls into the gravy, let soak for minimum 30 minutes before serving.

8. Enjoy!

Love,

Pooja

End Of Winter Crisp

February 28, 2017March 14, 2017 Pooja C Mittal5 Comments

Hello Dear Readers, I hope that you are having a good start to your week. The last few days have been anxiety-provoking as the powers-that-be continue to remain silent about all of the hate that has arisen in the last few months. I saw this video last night and it gave me hope, I encourage you to watch it if you need a dose of that right now too: http://valariekaur.com/2017/01/6348/

On a sweeter note, I made this crisp the other day because it is getting to the end of the winter fruit season and I am getting tired of eating apples and pears. I can’t wait for peaches and nectarines and berries! The nice thing about this crisp is that it is gluten free, comes together quickly and it can be made with whatever you have on hand: apples, pears, or a mix of both. I eat this in the morning for breakfast with a dollop of greek yogurt, but it can be enjoyed as a snack or dessert with ice cream too.

End of Winter Crisp

Ingredients:

4-6 pears or apples, cored and chopped into bite size pieces

2-3 Tablespoons sugar (to taste)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon corn starch

1 and 1/2 cups oats

1 cup almond meal

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 Teaspoons salt

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a medium bowl, toss together the fruit, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, mix the oats, almond meal, sugar and salt. Add in the oil and mix thoroughly.

Butter a 2-quart baking dish, spread in the filling and spread the topping on top. Cut the butter into small chunks and scatter over the top of the crisp, evenly distributed. This adds a nice pop of deliciousness to the crisp. Bake for 35-50 min, depending on your oven and how firm your fruit is. You want the top to brown evenly and you want to see the fruit bubbling underneath. I usually cover mine for the first 30 minutes and then uncover for the top to brown – but that is because my oven gets very hot.

Enjoy with yogurt or ice cream – best served warm. Baby loves it for breakfast too!

Thank you for visiting – until the next time we meet!

Love,

Pooja

Starting Somewhere.

Welcome to my new cooking and baking blog. I hope that you find something you like to eat here!

February 2, 2017March 14, 2017 Pooja C MittalLeave a comment

Happy Friday everyone! This is my first post for this blog that I have been thinking about starting for a long time. My name is Pooja and I am a mother (to three amazing girls), a family doctor and a wife. I enjoy cooking and experimenting with making meals that are healthy, yummy and don’t take too much time or use too many ingredients. Our family is primarily vegetarian and so the dishes here will be meat-free. I also love to bake and have some lovely people in my life who are gluten free so I experiment with that as well.

My blog support team will consist of: my daughter Diya (10) who is the photographer, my daughter Esha (8) who is the sous chef, and my daughter Nisa (1) who is the taste tester.

I have been sitting on the idea of this blog for ages. What finally inspired me to get started was Lindsay (from PinchofYum.com) and her story about her baby Afton. She has been one of my favorite bloggers for a long time and she continues to write, in the face of the loss of her baby son. And she writes in a way that continues to be inspiring and uplifting, a way that celebrates the beauty of that short life. So, I dedicate this first post to Lindsay, Bjork and Afton.

Today, I am writing about this simple, but lovely lunch I had a couple of weeks ago. It took almost no hands-on time and still shone with rich flavors.

Butternut Squash with Dukkah and Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, halved and the seeds scooped out

Dukkah spice mix (a Middle Eastern spice mix, available in most grocery stores, or make your own: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/dukkah-2/19f316ec-0fec-4221-aa26-d5f7c676ced3)

Greek Yogurt (Full Fat best, but any ok)

Olive oil

Salt, Pepper

How to:

Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan and place butternut squash, cut (flesh) side down. Bake at 375 degrees until slightly cartelized and soft all the way through (about 30 minutes).
Once the squash is done, let cool slightly and then peel off the skin on the outside.
Cut squash, put on plate. Dollop some greek yogurt on the side and sprinkle with dukkah to taste.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
Enjoy!