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Vidhya’s Vegetarian Kitchen

A vegetarian food blog with unique and interesting recipes from all over the world mainly focused on South Indian Cuisine.

Kid's

5 ways to get your kids eat more vegetables | Guest Post

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It’s guest post time. I had to skip the guest post last month due to other commitments, but I am super glad to be back on routine with the guest post and I personally thank Beth Martel for this wonderful and very valuable article. She is a mother of two, a medical professional and a humanitarian. She blogs at HealthyRecharge.com.

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Kiddo’s Imaginary Spaghetti

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We can learn a lot from kids. I love their imagination. Are we (parents) stopping or encouraging their imagination? In my case I would say 50-50. The main reason to say no some time is because of the mess he creates and the cleanup part would be on me. He will be asking some day-to-day kitchen gadgets and stuff. I am fine with spoons, plates and stuff, but no glass ware and toasters.

Last week, he kept on asking for brown and white yarn that I was using for knitting. I said no right away and we went back and forth finally decided to give him some yarn. So gave him non-soft yarn and asked him what he is going to do with that? He said, it’s going to be a surprise amma and he is what my little fella did. – Spaghetti.

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He cut the pink yarn as spaghetti, drizzled some red paint on top which is the tomato sauce and soaked the cotton balls in brown paint and of course those are the meat balls. I would have never imagined this way. I was feeling little guilty for not giving it at the first shot.

Look here, he set up the dining table for dinner with his toy vegetables and fruits but took all the bowls and cups from kitchen. I felt so bad while cleaning it up but at the same time I can’t let it stay for a long time. :-) I ended up cleaning up.

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As long as he is away from TV n iPad I am fine with this creativity but when it comes to cleaning …. Sighhhh.. God give me some more patience :-)

Between did you listen to this interview at IMC? It’s an amazing interview with Dr. Lalitha Appachu where she talks about kids behavior and education stuff.

Simple Tomato and Carrot soup

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2014-12-07 20.30.04

I think I took a long break for Thanksgiving :-) But I am back with simple soup recipe.Kiddo loves this soup. And he used to have this soup every other day when he was toddler. Still I make this soup but use this as a base for other stews. And you can add any veggies that you want in this soup. Soup is one of the best way to sneak in the vegetables for kids. :-)

This time when I made this soup, I added drumstick and masoor dhal. So here is the recipe.

Tomato and Carrot soup

  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • Masoor dhal – 1 tbsp
  • Tomatoes – 3
  • Carrot – 1
  • Drumstick – 1
  • Salt – 1 tsp
  • Pepper powder – 1 tsp
  • Butter – 2 tsps
  1. You can adjust salt, butter and pepper according to your taste.
  2. Radish, squash will go well with this soup.
  3. Dhal is optional

Method:

  • Chops the tomatoes, carrots, drumstick (any other veggies) roughly and pressure cook along with the dhal for unto 4 whistles.
  • Let it cool and if you can remove the tomato skin do at this time, if not you can grind them and strain it later.

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  • Also take out the pulp and seeds from the boiled drumstick and remove the skin.

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Drumstick pulp

 

  • Grind everything together by adding 1 cup of water.
  • Now heat the grinded mixture by adding salt, pepper and 1 tsp of butter.
  • Let it boil and thats it simple and yummy soup is ready.

Serve it hot with butter and croutons or with bread.

 

Rose Kulfi

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2014-10-07 09.26.37
Kulfi

We saw starter and then the main course and now its the time for dessert. As the other two were non-Indian, I want to do an Indian dessert. Why not kulfi? Kiddo loves pink color, so thought of making this rose kulfi. Here is a simple and delicious desert.

Rose Kulfi

  • Servings: Yields 10
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • Sweet Condensed milk – 1 can (14 oz)
  • Evaporated milk (optional, you can use milk instead) – 1 can (12oz)
  • Milk – 1.5 cups
  • Saffron – a pinch
  • Cardamom – 2 (crushed)
  • Rose syrup – 1/4 cup
  • Chopped nuts – 2 tbsps

Steps:

  • Heat the milk and evaporated milk together.
  • As they come to boil add the sweet condensed milk and let it mix completely.
  • Now add saffron, cardamom and let it boil for couple of minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and let it cook down.
  • Now add the chopped nuts and rose syrup and mix well.

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  • Pour the milk content in the moulds and freeze them for unto 5 hrs.

And thats it yummy, yummy kulfis are ready. Here is the round up of all three dishes, starter pesto rolls, baked mac n cheese for the main course and kulfi for the dessert.

 

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Submitting this post for Blogging Marathon #45 – A 3 day marathon for 4 weeks
Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Submitting this post for Kid’s delight anniversary party.

Kids_Delight1 (250 x 204)

Baked Mac n Cheese

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2014-10-06 18.23.06

The kids anniversary party started with pesto rolls as a starter. And now the main course – The traditionally baked mac and cheese. On busy morning, I usually don’t bake and also just add 1 cheese but when it comes to potluck and parties I go with the traditionally way of baking them and also add Gruyere cheese. This cheese is the key ingredient here. It adds more taste and baking adds crispiness to the pasta. Gruyere cheese is hard yellow cheese which is both sweet and salty.

Baked Mac n Cheese

  • Servings: Yields 5 serving
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • Elbow shaped pasta – 1/2 pound
  • Mild cheddar cheese – 1/3 cup
  • Gruyere cheese – 1/3 cup
  • Parmesan cheese – 2 tbsps
  • Water – for cooking pasta
  • Salt – 2 tsps
  • Pepper – 2 tsps
  • Nutmeg powder or freshly grated nutmeg – 1/2 tsp
  • Butter – 1 tbsp
  • Milk – 1 cup
  • All purpose flour – 2 tbsps
  • Bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs – 2 tbsps.

 

Preparation Work:

  • Grate all the cheese and keep them ready.
  • Boil the milk and keep it luke warm.

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Steps:

  • Cook the pasta as per the instructions and save 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
  • Now heat a casserole or vessel in which you are planning to do the pasta.
  • Add the butter and once its melts add the all purpose flour. This is the thickening agent.
  • Now add the milk and stir in slowly and let it get thickened.
  • Now add the cheddar and gruyere cheese and stir in till the cheese melts and blends in completely.

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  • Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
  • Add the cooked pasta, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix them well.
  • Let it cook for 2 minutes.
  • If you using casserole, you can bake directly or transfer it into a baking pan or glass ware. (Make sure it is greased with oil before)
  • Add the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and bake them for up to 15 mts.

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So yummy mac n cheese is ready. You can leave the mac n cheese in the oven itself in warm mode and bake it again for 5 mts before serving.

Here is the starter and the main course together

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Submitting this post for Blogging Marathon #45 – A 3 day marathon for 4 weeks
Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Submitting this post for Kid’s delight anniversary party.

Kids_Delight1 (250 x 204)

Pesto Rolls

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So this is the second week of blogging marathon and I have chosen this week’s theme to be “Kids Anniversary Party”. So basically I will be posting kid’s friendly dishes which can be made in bulk easily for any party.  Here I am starting with an starter.

Basically for kids party, apart from food you need do a lot of stuff. You need to find a way to keep them all engaged, planning activities and games etc. So I want my food to be simple and which can be made fast but not compromising the taste. Also I am all up for semi home made too like this starter pesto rolls. I am using the store bought pastry sheets and you can use home made too. Basil – Tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese is an awesome combo. Who would say no when baked as a roll?

Pesto Rolls

  • Servings: Yields 10
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • Pastry sheet – 1  (1 pastry sheet yields 10 rolls)
  • Pesto – 3 tbsps
  • Mozzarella cheese – 1 cup
  • Sun dried tomatoes – 1/4 cup (Fresh tomatoes may become too watery, so going with sun dried also it gives smoky taste to it. You can also use cherry tomatoes)
  • All purpose flour – 2 tbsps

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Preparation Work:

  • Soak the sun dried tomatoes in hot water for 20 minutes and chop them.
  • Make sure the pastry sheet is in room temperature or easy to handle with.

Steps:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.
  • Dust the board with all purpose flour before your spread the pastry sheets.
  • Use the rolling pin and make the sheet even.
  • Now apply the pesto evenly as the first layer.
  • And then spread the cheese evenly and then the tomatoes.

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  • Roll the sheets and cut the horizontally to make rolls as in the picture.

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  • Now bake them for up to 25 – 30 minutes till they turn golden brown.

And thats it yummy, pesto rolls are ready. If you notice the actually work time is very less. Its the prep time and bake time which takes longer. But meanwhile you can make your main course which I will be posting tomorrow.

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Submitting this post for Blogging Marathon #45 – A 3 day marathon for 4 weeks
Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Submitting this post for Kid’s delight anniversary party.

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Betel leaf syrup / Vethalai kashayam for kids

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In the home remedies theme, today I am going to post the betel leaf syrup for cough and congestion for kids. We regularly use this kashayam and this recipe was given by my ammama(Grandma). Betel leaf contains essential oils that has rich antiseptic properties and when combined with garlic it fights cold and flu more effectively. This kashayam can be given regularly to kids (infants from 6 months to 8-9 years) on the day of oil bath to prevent congestion and cough.

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Maalaadu – Split Roasted Chickpeas Balls with Quinoa Flour

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Happy Rakshabhandan to all :-)

Here we are at blogging marathon week 2. For this week I chose the kid’s delight / Kid’s healthy snack as my theme. Since its rakshabhandan, I wanted to do something sweet, so picked this up as my first dish.

Starting BM week2 with a sweet snack. :-)

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Maalaadu – pottukadalai urundai, roasted dalia sweet balls. My mom used to make these a lot for me during my UG hostel days. These stay for up 10 days when stored in an airtight container. Rain or shine always from Home to Hostel, maaladu will be there for sure in my luggage. This is a no stove dish.  I never made this for vaandu till we read Junior Kumbhakarna. In order to wake up Kumbhakarna, they bring mountains of delicious smelling laddus. Vaandu got hooked to that and started asking for laddus. I know making laddu is not easy task and thats when I thought why can’t I try the maaladus instead of laddus. So here comes the recipe. I just added quinoa flour to make it more healthy, but its completely optional and its healthy without quinoa flour too as roasted chickpeas has good protein too. 

Ingredients:

  • Pottukadalai/Split roasted chick peas – ¾ cups
  • Quinoa flour – ¼ cup. (If you are not using quinoa flour, take 1 cup of split roasted chick peas)
  • Sugar – 1 cup
  • Melted Ghee or Clarified butter – as required minimum ¾ cup is required as ghee is the binding agent for holding the balls.
  • Chopped nuts like almonds, pistachios – ¼ cup (optional)

Method:

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  • Grind pottukadai and sugar together and then mix the quinoa flour if using.
  • Also if you are using chopped nuts, add them and mix well.
  • Split the flour into 4 equal parts.

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  • I usually add 2 to 3 tbsps of melted ghee on portion of the flour and mix them and see if I can make urundai/ball out of it. If its not holding I add little bit more ghee and make the balls.
  • Repeat the process for remaining flour.

More the ghee, more the taste and the shape of the ball will be perfect.

Earlier cross posted here for IMC Book Week 2014.

Submitting this recipe for Kids delight event

Submitting this post for Blogging Marathon #43 – A 3 day marathon for 4 weeks
Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#43

submitting this recipe to Kids Delight Event