Pizza Sauce | Baby Friendly Pizza Sauce

Hola People! 

Its been just a few days short of a year since I penned something down here for you all! Thanks to some of my loyal readers who wrote in frequently to check on me. Means a lot.

Life has been hectic on so many aspects outside this little blog of mine and hence I was missing in action here. 

Let me quickly fill you in on what all has been happening in the last one year that I have been absconding 

• My little sonshine turned two last month. He keeps me busy all day with his curiosity and cuteness! 
• I have discovered a new found passion in early learning activities for my boy and hence have been deeply involved in creating a whole bunch of early learning activities and DIYs for the little guy. We both have been loving this and I love that I am able to give him my full time and attention during this inquisitive age. If this is something that interests you, do have a look at what we have been up to here: Sonshine Mumma! 
• By chance and beautiful turn of events, I have landed up starting a little venture that I am immensely passionate about. I create Memory Quilts with baby clothes, sarees and tees. A new found hobby, sewing has been taken to new heights and being a one person army behind this, I am still trying to cope with the demands of juggling between all these different aspects. However, am slightly proud of what I have been able to create so far in the last 6 months. Again, if any of this interests you, I would love you to have a look at my page Sew Mini Moments.

Phew! Am done, I promise.

So amidst all these various beautiful things happening in my life, food blogging sadly went down the priority scale! But now I hope to be back if not as often as before, at least maybe once a month!

To break the long silence here, I have with me a super simple pizza sauce that I tried just today and loved it so much that I decided to blog it! It is baby friendly and I used this to make tiny pizzas for my boy and has been approved by the toddler foodie! 

This is a basic sauce with minimal spice, which you can pump up the spices of, if you would like a bit more of a chilly kick. I have leftover and I am planning on making some pasta with this tomorrow! 

Sweet Potato and Banana Pancakes

The natural softness of both, sweet potato and banana makes this pancake delightfully soft and fluffy. This has no baking powder, baking soda and only natural healthy ingredients. Whip it up for your little foodie and see them devour it with joy! :)

Pumpkin and Potato Bake

Pumpkin and Potato Bake for the mini. Because tiny tums also need some fancy yums, no? :)

Note to self : Make an adult's version soon! You cannot keep stealing mini's food! 😛

Apple Wheat Pancakes

Apple Wheat Mini Pancakes with a drizzle of honey, for the mini's evening snack! 

Quick to put together and a lovely soft texture suitable for a baby! 👶

Buttery Roasted Veggie Soup

Buttery Roasted Veggie Soup for the happy foodie mini!🍵Oh wait, it was yum enough for his mum too (she may have stolen a spoon or two while feeding him! 😜) 

Baby-friendly Veg-Au-Gratin

Baby-friendly Veg Au Gratin for my 1-year-old mini foodie! From the almost polished-off dish, looks like it is approved by the tiny fellow with a big grin! 😀

Oats and Nuts Granola Bar

Now, who would not like to munch on something that is incredibly delicious, ridiculously easy to make and also truly healthy snack?! Well, I am always on the look out for such recipes. Being a nursing mum to a one-yr-old, I am always hungry! I need a snack at any hour of the day. And of course it has got to be healthy.

When I bumped into this recipe by Vikas Khanna in a cook book for kids, I simply had to try it out! It seemed to fit the description of an ideal baked snack! Granola bars are just an answer for such hunger pangs! Guilt-free, wholesome and absolutely yum!

I am fond of granola bars and have been meaning to bake my own batch for quite a while now. I am so glad I chose to bake this as my first as it is simply very easy to make. Very few ingredients and quick to put together. I was delighted at the soft yet firm, chewy texture of these bars. So satisfying and oh-so-yummy! :)

So this granola bar is a basic one with just a few add-ons like almonds, raisins and chocochips. You can get creative with your add-ons and put in anything that you fancy... toasted sesame, cranberries, pumpkin seeds... anything at all! 

Am sure you will love this recipe... go ahead, get baking! :)

Wheat and Jaggery Cookies

Baking makes me happy. I bake for occasions, for family, for friends, or just because I feel like it! 

And lately, my baking has begun to revolve around my infant son. I have been eagerly waiting to feed him homemade healthy bakes and watch the glee on his face as he enjoys them. Well, finally at just over 10-months-old, I have been able to give him tiny bits and pieces of my cakes and much to my delight, he does enjoy munching on them! :) 

While the happiness I get when I feed my baby homemade goodies is priceless, I am also conscious about the quantity that I feed him. Since our regular bakes contain refined sugar and white flour, I do not give him too much of it. Just a teeny weeny piece at a time. 

However, his appetite is ever growing and I have to keep ready healthy munchies every few hours to feed his hungry tummy. Apart from the usual baby friendly stuff, I wanted to give him variety and something ready that I can just take off the shelf and feed when hunger strikes. 

...and so begins my baking journey to create baby friendly bakes! :) 

While browsing for ideas, I found this recipe on Padhu's Kitchen and by just a quick glance at the ingredients was convinced that this was the perfect bake for my little guy. Took me all of 30 mins to put them together and keep away to bake. Once done, I gave him a tiny bit to taste and it was an instant hit! He gobbled a lion and nibbled on a giraffe on the first sitting :D  

These cookies are perfect for babies as they contain no refined sugar or flour. They are absolutely healthy. I had these adorable little cookies cutters sitting and waiting patiently to be used. I used them to shape these cookies and was ecstatic at how incredibly cute they turned out! :)

If you have a teeny tummy to feed at home, this recipe is a must try! Actually, these may just please you too... go ahead and try a small batch and see if you like these healthy bites! :) 

Happy Baking! 

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup, powdered
Butter - 100 gms, cold unsalted
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt -  a pinch
Milk - 2 tbsp

Method

• Cube the butter into small pieces and place into a mixing bowl.
• Add in the wheat flour, salt and mix the them together with your hands. The butter should blend in well and the mixture should resemble bread crumbs.
• Add jaggery and cardamom powder. Mix well.
• Now, to bring the dough together, add in just a bit of milk. Combine well to make a soft dough.
• Place this dough in the refrigerator for 15 mins.
• After 15 mins, take out the dough. Dust your work area with flour and roll out the dough using a rolling pin, into medium thickness.
• Using cookie cutters, cut out the shapes that you desire and place these on a greased baking tray.
• Gather the remaining dough and repeat the rolling out and cutting process until all the dough in used up.
• Bake the cookies at 180 for 15-20 mins or until the sides turn a light brown.
• Cool the cookies on a wire rack and store in an airtight container once completely cooled.

Snowman Pizza

It is December and Christmas is just round the corner. Not that I really celebrate it, but somehow this month brings in a lot of holiday cheer in me and makes me want to bake, bake and bake! Well, I guess its just another excuse to bake! ;)

The Christmas Fruit cake is a must-bake during Christmas and is on every body's bake list this season. I mean, how can Christmas pass by without an indulgence into a flavoursome, nutty, fruity cake right?! 

So having baked the much awaited fruit cake this year, I was in for more baking and wanted something savoury and different this time. Something cute yet festive.

That was when this little guy popped in my head. Having seen similar bakes on Pinterest, I have been long wanting to bake these cuties. Now was the right time! 

And also since I cannot make a snowman with snow, I thought I will bake a snowman with dough!! Teeheehee... thanks for bearing with me through that cheezy rhyme! :D

So this isn't a recipe post really, its more of how to shape and decorate a regular pizza into a snowman pizza. For measures on making a pizza dough, the link is in the ingredients list. For the rest, its totally up to you on how you want to decorate your little guy. I have mentioned here what I used to decorate my snowman. 

Happy Baking! :)

Eggless Orange Cake with Orange Glaze

Simple flavoursome cakes entice me more than fancy shuancy looking pastries with oodles of frosting and cream.

So on our recent trip to Pune, one of my aunts, a passionate baker, had made this delicious cake for us. I could not stop with just one piece of the goodness. I gobbled a few slices at one sitting and oh boy, was it good! It was a very simple orange flavoured eggless cake she said. I simply loved it and wanted to recreate it when I got back home.

So, when I finally did get some time off mommyhood I decided to bake this yumminess. I used my trusted Eggless Vanilla Cake recipe and tweaked it a bit to make this orange flavoured eggless cake. The citrusy flavour that the orange juice and zest imparts in this bake is simply yum!

And the best part you ask? It has a good portion of whole wheat in it and brown sugar to up the health quotient. This cake is all the more dear to me since it is the first bake of mine that my little one tasted and loved!

Wheat cakes are generally slightly more dense when compared to entirely all purpose cakes, but since this one has a good measure of orange juice to moisten the batter up, the final texture of the cake is not dense at all, in fact is very moist and soft.

The light orange glaze on top... oh, that completes the citrusy goodness of the cake :)

If you love simple cakes as much as I do, this one has surely got to be tried! Happy Baking!