What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger….stand a little taller…

Yesterday was one of those days when I wish I could be a kid again. Life was full of hope and dreams and filled with all kinds of opportunities.

It was simpler.

It was uncomplicated.

The only real problems being homework and exams. And the occasional peeing in your bed.

I am a strong believer of whatever happens, happens for good and that has kept me sane through the past few years, but sometimes the wait gets to you and you end up writing a depressing post like this.

Now, I have written my share of optimistic posts (don’t believe me? check this out and this) and not that I don’t believe in all that I say in those posts, I do. But for today lets just give the silver lining a rest, can we?

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18 Comments

by Shumaila on March 29, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Desserts, Drinks, Ice Cream

Tagged cake shake, cupcake, cupcake for two, ice cream, ice cream cake shake, one of those days, recipe for cupcakes for two, shake, two cupcake recipe, two serving cupcake

Posted by Shumaila on March 29, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger-stand-a-little-taller/

March Daring Bakers’: Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

May the odds be ever in your favor!

So, I finally got to see The Hunger Games Movie. After waiting out the weekend for my gang of girls to get back from their spring break vacation so that we could all watch it together, we finally went for the movie yesterday.

And well, I am not sure how I want to react to the movie. I liked it. But, as much as the book? No way.

I do understand that fitting 384 pages in a two hour twenty two minutes movie is a task and while Gary Ross has done a good job bringing Suzanne Collins’ book to the big screen, I somehow feel, had I not read the books I would be a little lost during the movie. Knowing the entire back story was a definite advantage. There were lot of instances, where had I not read the book, I would have been totally confused as to what just happened. Also, I remember rooting for Peeta and Katniss’ love story, but in the movie the chemistry between them left me indifferent to the idea of the two together. If only left to the movie, I would have been on Team Gale for sure.

Since the people I went with had read the books, we knew the back story well, but I would really like to know what the people who haven’t read the book thought about the movie. Do feel free to comment here.

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by Shumaila on March 27, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Baking, Bread, Daring Bakers'

Tagged baking, blog, bread, brunch, crackle bread, Daring Bakers', dinner, dutch crunch bread, dutch crunch loaf, dutch crunch roll, food, loaf, lunch, recipe, roll, sandwich, tiger bread, tijgerbrood

Posted by Shumaila on March 27, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/march-daring-bakers-lions-tigers-and-bears-oh-my/

Chocolate Ice Cream Philadelphia Style

Off lately I haven’t been too blog social.

Besides writing the occasional blog post, I haven’t been spending too much time online, (except for prying on other people’s lives on Facebook, but that doesn’t count, does it?)

Anyway, I haven’t been able to visit the lovely blogs on blogosphere and telling the oh-so-many talented bloggers out there how much I love their recipes and posts. I am sorry. I truly am. I also have been very lazy with replying to the lovely people who have been leaving comments on my blog. I know its the rudest thing possible, but please know each and every comment you leave makes my day.

I am just bad at all this.

That’s one of the biggest reasons why I don’t have a facebook fan page (besides the obvious- the fear of not having anyone to like my fan page!). I know fan pages require constant updates and interactions. And even though I would like to be interactive, I am very lazy with such things.

That’s also why I have no twitter account. Keeping up with my own personal facebook page can be a task, I don’t think I would be able to manage twitter as well.

Maybe I should have a ghost writer too! Maybe that way NY times would talk about me too!

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by Shumaila on March 25, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Ice Cream

Tagged awards, blog, chocolate ice cream, cuisinart ice cream maker, david lebovitz, food, homemade chocolate ice cream, homemade ice cream, ice cream, ice cream maker, making ice cream at home, philadelphia style ice cream, recipe

Posted by Shumaila on March 25, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/chocolate-ice-cream-philadelphia-style/

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Even before you are in front of a Cinnabon outlet in a mall, you know its near you with the cinnamon aroma hovering all around it. When that cinnamon air hits you, there is no looking back. You are already opening your wallet, taking your credit card or cash out, and in a trance, walking towards the origin of the smell of cinnamon mixed with yeasty goodness.

Now, Cinnabon did not come to India till a little over two years back. Had it not been for my friend the Pious Hippie from college I would not have been introduced to Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls for a long time. I would have for long still been unaware of their ooey, gooey, incredible cinnamon buns with the most addictive smothering of frosting.

Once I was hooked, there was no return. Since there was no place in India then, where we could get cinnabon style cinnamon rolls, I took to making them at home. This was more than 4 years back. I think I found a recipe on allrecipes.com. Not sure though, because I just noted down the recipe in my diary; back then The Novice Housewife did not exist, it was just a diary with recipes scribbled in it.

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by Shumaila on March 22, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Baking, Bread, Breakfast

Tagged baking, blog, blog recipe for cinnabon rolls, bread, breakfast, cinnabon, cinnabon cinnamon rolls, cinnamon, cinnamon buns, cinnamon rolls, copycat cinnabon rolls, food, recipe

Posted by Shumaila on March 22, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/cinnamon-rolls-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

Garam Masala Tuesdays: Punj Rattani Dal

Dals are an integral part of Indian meals. In some form or the other, they are eaten daily in almost every Indian home.

Dals- lentils or pulses- are varieties of dried beans and peas. They are the main source of proteins for the average vegetarian Indian. Although dal generally refers to split pulses, in actuality there are two types of dal. Whole pulses are known as sabūt dal and split pulses as dhuli dal. The hulling of a pulse is intended to improve digestibility and palatability, but as with milling of whole grains into refined grains, this affects the nutrition provided by the dish, reducing dietary fiber content

Each state in India cooks its dal in different ways. In south, dal is mostly eaten in the form of sambhar. People of Uttar Pradesh swear by toovar dal which is tempered with asafoetida, cumin seeds and sometimes garlic. Punjabis love their dal whole and unhulled, in the form of the delicious dal makhani, or rajma to accompany their rice or chole with their bhaturas.

When I have to describe dal to people in America who haven’t eaten it, the easiest way is to give them a picture of a lentil soup, although dal is a far cry from just a simple soup. The dal that we have is not as watery as soup, generally being creamier (without necessarily adding cream). A well cooked dal is generally quite thick, but sometimes just to keep it light, people thin it down a bit, such being the case for some of the dals that are cooked in southern India.

The tadka or the tempering is what gives a dal its distinct flavor, and is probably what distinguishes it from soups.

Tempering involves heating oil/ ghee in a small pan, to which whole spices are added, which in turn is poured over the cooked dal. Tempering can be simple with a little asafoetida and cumin seeds being tempered in some ghee/or oil, and then mixed in with the cooked dal. Or it can be elaborate by tempering some onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes in ghee/oil, before adding to the cooked dal.

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by Shumaila on March 20, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Garam Masala Tuesdays, Healthier Options, Indian

Posted by Shumaila on March 20, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/garam-masala-tuesdays-punj-rattani-dal/

Sky High Cake Only for Two

Last week, we were in tank tops, complaining that its already getting so hot.

Today, it’s snowing!

Today is also our wedding anniversary!

Two years back, this day V and I entered into the “joys” of holy matrimony! We both took a leap of faith two years back, today.And then again tomorrow. (If you are confused, this post might help to clear your confusion)

I will be honest, things were not easy initially. An arranged marriage, completely new place, and thousands of miles away from my friends and family- people are right when they say the first year of marriage is always the toughest. It was tough for me and I am sure even for V. But we stuck through and today are celebrating our second year of togetherness! Hopefully there will be many more to come!

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by Shumaila on March 19, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Baking, Cakes

Tagged anniversary cake, baking, birthday cake, blog, cake, cake with carrots, carrot, carrot cake, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, celebration cake, food, layer cake, layer cake for two, recipe, sky high cake, sky high cake for two, three four inch layer

Posted by Shumaila on March 19, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/sky-high-cake-only-for-two/

Home Alone making paranthas, salad & pizza and thinking of all things sweet & scary!

So I am home alone for three nights.

V had to go for some office stuff to Texas, and I am left home alone.

This is the first time I am staying alone in our house. And I was very nervous about it. Our town is quite safe. So I was not scared of somebody breaking in (although, I made sure all my windows were closed and do not laugh, but I also put a chair/stool in front of the front and back doors. Just in case someone does decide to break in, I will be warned by the noise. Too much of CSI does that to you!)

Like I mentioned, I am not scared of someone breaking in (you are rolling your eyes, aren’t ya?), but all the horror movies I have seen have made me a little scared of the paranormal- ghosts to be more precise. So that you are sure, yes, I am an adult. But I have an overactive imagination. A very overactive imagination.

I remember after watching the movie The Ring , I slept with my lights on for a month, imagining the girl ghost in the movie standing next to my bed every time I switched off the lights off and then even when the image of the ghost left after a month, I continued sleeping with the lights on, thinking the ghost would get pissed off that I wasn’t sacred anymore, and would be tempted to scare me off.

Yes. Overactive. Imagination. Mine is.

So, how I always do when I am alone, the first night I slept with the lights in my room on. And with the TV on. And the bathroom lights on. And the hallway light on. And the living room light on. With the phone in my hand every time. I felt really bad that I was wasting so much electricity, but honestly I could not help it. This is how I slept last night as well. Today though, my protector, my husband, will be back home, and I should live in a world less scared of the evils it possesses. (I repeat- do not roll your eyes! or laugh! Please?)

Besides being scared at night, the other thing that was bothering me about being home alone for three days was the food situation. With V gone, I knew I would not feel like cooking for one. I knew I would be cooking Maggi noodles for lunch, dinner, and well, even breakfast. But, I did not want that. So, instead, as soon as V left I made it a point to pre-make things. I made the tomato feta pasta salad. I made the topping for the artichoke spinach pizza and also had the necessary leftovers for the chicken paranthas I had packed for V before he left. The maggi packets are left to be eaten some other week.

This post has no recipes. It has links to some of my previous recipes though. And all of them are good. Some are quite old, some not so much.

Chicken Paranthas

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by Shumaila on March 16, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Baking, Bread, Brownies, Cakes, Healthier Options, Here & There, Pizza, Salads

Posted by Shumaila on March 16, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/home-alone-making-paranthas-salad-pizza-and-thinking-of-all-things-sweet-scary/

Garam Masala Tuesdays: Baingan ka Bharta

Marriage changes you. It influences your personality, and your responsibilities and priorities change. Your partner’s personality rubs off on you a little and vice versa. I have definitely become more calm, and patient after marriage. Things that would bother me earlier, still do bother me, but to a lesser extent. I would not attribute all the changes to V, although his role is undeniable, but marriage brought with it certain changes which have changed me, for the better. So, yes marriage changed me.

Marriage also changes your eating habits. I have seen a change in what V eats. He has started accepting mushrooms in his diet- he is still not crazy about them but has made his peace with mushrooms. All for me.

I too have adjusted my taste buds to his. From someone who wouldn’t touch bharta with a ten-foot pole, here I am writing about it on GMT.

That’s Change.

That’s Growth.

Baingan bharta is a dish made from roasted eggplants cooked with onions, tomatoes, chillies, ginger and garlic. Some people also add peas and other various vegetables to it.

Baingan (pronounced bane-gun) is what Indians call eggplant in hindi. And bharta (pronounced bhharta with the first “a” in bharta pronounced the same way you pronounce “u” in mud. Pardon me, but phonetic symbols are not my strongest point!), is the hindi word for roughly mashed/pureed vegetables.

This dish can be prepared two ways with roasted eggplant – one with accompanying raw ingredients which typically includes mustard oil and the other with cooked ingredients. The recipe below uses the latter method.

Honestly Baingan ka bharta was my least favorite dish growing up. It was hardly made at home, and when made, I never ate it. I wanted to like it, because eggplants are good for you, but I just found it too slimy to look at.

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by Shumaila on March 13, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Garam Masala Tuesdays, Indian

Posted by Shumaila on March 13, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/garam-masala-tuesdays-baingan-ka-bharta/

Garam Masala Tuesdays: Shahi Paneer

When I was in India this time, the cook at my parents’ place made this amazing shahi paneer dish at a party that my parents hosted. Now, I have made shahi paneer in the past from a recipe my mother uses. The results have been good, always good. But, both my mom and I liked this recipe. And when I found out it was so easy, I had to try it out for myself.

“Shahi” means royal in Urdu and “paneer” is the name given to Indian cottage cheese. Indian cottage cheese is much firmer than the cottage cheese that we get here in the US. Unlike most cheeses in the world, the making of paneer does not involve rennet as the coagulation agent, thus making it completely lacto-vegetarian and providing one of the sources of protein for vegetarians in India. It is generally unsalted.

Shahi Paneer is the slightly richer version of Paneer Makhani or Butter Paneer (the vegetarian counterpart of the famous Butter chicken). A major difference in the nomenclature comes from the use of nuts and raisins- the former includes them in the recipe, the latter doesn’t.

As how all recipes go, there are various versions of shahi paneer out there in the cyber space, in Indian kitchens and in cookbooks. My mom’s recipe uses dried fenugreek recipes (which I have seen other recipes also mention). But this doesn’t. Yes, there are different versions online, but I like this recipe for its straight forwardness.

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by Shumaila on March 6, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Garam Masala Tuesdays, Indian

Posted by Shumaila on March 6, 2012

http://thenovicehousewife.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/garam-masala-tuesdays-shahi-paneer/

March SRC: Spinach Artichoke Whole Wheat Pizza

My SRC assignment for the month of March was to make something from the site Baking & Boys.

Baking and Boys is a blog managed by the talented Katrina. Katrina has been blogging since Feb, 2008- that means she has been blogging for more than 4 years now. This is how Katrina describes why she started this blog and how it turned out to be what it is today.

I started my blog just thinking I was going to keep my family and friends up-to-date with the boys. I’ve said it before, I just put some cake pictures of Sam’s first birthday party on here and then for some reason my favorite cinnamon rolls. Next thing I knew, this whole wonderful world of food blogging opened up before my eyes. I often say that baking and sharing and blogging are my sanity—which with this house full of boys I often find necessary! Keeps them fed and me sane. Sounds like a good combination. And here I am, four years later with just noticing yesterday that I now have 400 followers on my blog and 200 “likers” on Facebook.