“Try the dual flavor vanilla & chocolate cereal or this new variety of cereal in the shape of Planet & stars…and this one….” Phew..shopping for children’ food could be  so distracting than compelling due to endless choices in the same. These myriad choices do make life easy for busy moms with almost no cooking, quick & fuss free breakfast options in the market. But in the bargain I feel we loose on the natural and healthier foods and food products which were available a few years back.

Cereal was certainly not our bowl of breakfast in the growing years during late 60s and early 70’s. And then when plain cornflakes was first introduced in India it became a fashion statement and was welcomed with open hearts in many homes.

Pasta, noodles, pies, pizzas…no, these are not the food that I could relate my childhood memories with. I was introduced to these food quite late in life. It was when I started to work, living independently and cooking on my own that I craved for eating out during weekends. And these carbohydrate and calorie loaded food were quite a stress buster and a good remedy to homesickness.

That was a phase I suppose, as now when we are in our forties both me and hubby prefer eating simple and light Indian food. But wait…this was only till our children grew and joined us on the dinner table! Now the menu in my kitchen often drifts from Indian to global on weekends as I surrender more often to the demands of my children who love these carb food. Times change or rather we change for the sake of our children. Now that both mom & dad don’t mind an occasional binge and dig into Pastas or have a bite or two of that cheesy Pizza just to be one with their kids

Think of a dessert and fresh fruits top my list hands down. A bowl of sliced juicy strawberries, apples and grapes sprinkled with castor sugar or with fresh yogurt is what I and my hubby crave for. There is always a difference of opinion at home, my children love to settle for a  chocolate bar if there is just plain fruits for dessert. But they look pretty cool of late, now that they know their food blogger mama  needs to update her blog with a recipe every week

Millet – these tiny pearls of wholegrain reminds me of the colorful Love birds we used to keep at home. I and my brother were assigned the job of  feeding the birds with a handful of Bajra (a millet variety) before leaving to school. The same Bajra was also hulled in a stone mortal and pestle by mom to remove the husks and use the grains for making Khichdi and other recipes.

But I am sure mom did not know that these tiny grains are a powerhouse of nutrients and one of the best gluten free foods. I wish she could read all the info regarding Millets and feel proud of introducing millets in our diet at such early stage, thanks mom

Time flies when you are having fun! If year 2010 was more about me and my recipes on Lite Bite, 2011 opened new vistas in terms of my blogging career, personal growth and to treasure some lovely foodie friends across the globe.

The endeavor which started just to keep myself busy while the kids were in school has now taken me completely in its stride. What with hours of browsing ‘how to topics’ on writing, photography, web design, SEO and the likes, apart from trying out  recipes which are lite and just right for good health. And yes, this non techie mom who was even scared to look at the HTML and PHP codes some time back does a little bit of editing on her own now

A sugar free Date Brownie…at the time when you wish no one talked about diet and all that you need is to indulge & make merry! Oh yes, even I am gearing up for my festive baking, eagerly waiting to share my goodies with friends. This recipe  was there in my mind for long and I just thought of sharing it for the year before I take a plunge with you into my sinful indulgences

Sometimes a simple and easy recipe with a tongue twisting name can make you a winner. And when I was confused as to what to take for my weekend pot luck party, this scrumptious & cheesy Quesadilla did it for me. I used the normal cornflour (very fine variety) for the recipe here and am able to bring the taste and texture of an authentic Quesadilla to a certain extent.

If you have never used cornmeal or cornflour before I suggest you make the Tortillas with wheat flour first, as there is no gluten in cornflour which makes it difficult to handle and roll out into thin circles.. Keep reducing the quantity of wheat flour and increasing the cornflour in the recipe as you get more confident dealing with the not so friendly cornflour dough

“Pumpkin..what..don’t tell me it has pumpkin in it?” I baked this wholewheat pumpkin coconut bread for the 14th wedding anniversary of my friend and did not reveal the ingredients till the last piece was left. It was a delightful surprise for my anti-pumpkin friend, who never cooked this humble veggie in her kitchen and believes that a pumpkin is no good than scaring crows and keeping the evil at bay

In most of pumpkin bakes the veggie is first cooked or baked to get pumpkin puree and then added to the batter but I avoided that step…lazy…Hmm..sort of.

“No Pancakes, no Parathas, no Upma and no Sandwiches please…we want something different for breakfast tomorrow” my son made a demand last night. “We are ready to wait for a little extra time mom, so no excuses” my daughter informed with a blink. First half of the night was spent turning from one side of bed to other, thinking about that ‘something different’. Why not take one ingredient each from all the breakfast recipes and …Yes I got it, now sleep tight Zzzzz…

Wholewheat from parathas, semolina from Upma, yogurt from pancakes and veggies from sandwiches and here I am with this healthy yet ‘something different‘ on a lazy Sunday morning breakfast table…Tada! Big smile on their faces and I know that the effort of baking this delightful savory cake is really worth taking

The last few months in a year are my favorite, for the festivity it brings along with and for giving a reason to indulge in good food. The only grudge it leaves is the piles of sweet boxes from friends, work place & relatives, most of which are over sweet, artificially colored, and are loaded with Transfat.

Last week hubby got a huge box of colorful exotic Indian sweets from his work place. After disposing off most of the goodies to my maid I was left with half a kilo of this fresh creamy and scrumptious milk sweet (sweet Khoya in Hindi or Paal gova in Tamil) which my children liked and could not stop licking spoonfuls of it. But soon they got bored and the sweet was left struggling for space in my refrigerator. This is when I thought of baking a bread out of it, as baking requires very less fat and is a more healthier option, and am glad that I did it. I liked the very distinct taste of caramelized and slightly burnt milk in this recipe , and felt a sense of achievement when I turned a sinful Indian sweet into a healthy treat