Honey Banana Bread

Seriously, sitting at home is no fun!!! Having continuously worked for some years now, with the only breaks being the annual vacations, which are normally at break neck speed, packed with events, I am not used to this kind of rest. Everybody keeps telling that it will be like a good break, but seriously I don't seem to enjoy it. No cooking, no testing, no doing anything - all I do is sit with my legs stretched, occasionally browsing FB, which I am finding boring these days (thank God!!!), reading books, pondering the Quran, dealing with the heavy punches that I keep getting from Azza, etc. Azza is the most excited that I am at home. As I type this post, she's trying her hand at pulling out some of side portion of my laptop. I guess by the time I am done, I should conveniently lose the side cover of my laptop!!!

Today, I am sharing with you a loaf that I had baked some time ago to cover up some night cravings. One thing I am not able to do as of now, is if I really want to bake something, I have to think twice, thanks to my umma!!! She is of the strong opinion that all that baking does is to add on calories and sugar and therefore it is a big no-no. How much ever I convince that all baking is not calorie laden, I have failed miserably till date. For instance, this bread... All the ingredients are pretty available in the pantry, nothing much complicated, and what more, it uses wholewheat as the main ingredients! I baked it at night, and served it for breakfast the next day morning. We had it just like that, but I am sure it would taste too good with a spoonful of butter or jam or even more, Nutella!!!

Honey Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Recipe courtesy: VLCC

Chicken Chukka

In my previous post, I was so excited that I had no plans for the weekend, and I could "twist and tweek" as I would want it to. And "twist and tweek", it did - literally!!! On Thursday, while excitedly walking towards my car and chatting to my umma, suddenly I don't know what happened, I twisted my right leg so badly that  I lost my balance and held onto mom, hurling Azza who was holding my left hand away. Alhamdulillah, nothing happened to her but I was in total pain. Come Friday, and I had a nice big swelling on that leg with some pain, which is normal for any sprain, right??? I was at home for the whole day, resting my leg and bearing my howling kids, as my HD said, "No going out today, better rest!" Weekend gone...

On Saturday, still it was paining with the swelling. I insisted we go see an ortho. Consultation and an X-ray later, the doc declared that I had a little scratch on my bone and a torn ligament, which is not that serious, but if I don't put a cast now, each time I sprain my right leg, I will suffer for a week. We looked at each other's face, and then he confirmed to the doctor for the cast. Boy, what a cast!!! They wrapped up my complete leg, making me feel that I had broken a bone rather than just scratched it! So there, I have "twisted and tweeked" my right leg, taken medical leave from office for a week, and this cast makes me feel seriously handicapped - I can't drive, what more should I ask for??? :( :(

Today, I am sharing another of my umma's oft repeated recipe. Her chicken chukka was one menu that featured on our tables every second Tuesday. I have already mentioned before how she had a fixed timetable and therefore we could predict what was going to be served every day!!! :) I always thought that this was just chicken fry in onion masala, when I discovered that this is what is called Chukka in restaurants!!! Hehe... off to the recipe now...

Chicken Chukka

Serves 4 - 5

Recipe courtesy: My umma :)

"Tried and Tasted" May 19 to June 15,2013 - *Maayeka*

I am pleased to inform you that I am hosting the “Tried and Tasted” event for this month, the brain child of Zlamushka, which was taken over by Lakshmi from Kitchen Chronicles. We all bookmark on a daily basis a lot of interesting recipes from many fantastic food blogs across the www and this event encourages us to prepare from such blogs and give credit back to the source. 

This month, the food blog for all of us to try and taste is Maayeka. I don't think that this fantastic vegetarian blog by a versatile blogger, Mrs. Anjana Chaturvedi, needs any introduction. The fact that she was featured as the blogger of the month in the March 2013 issue of BBC Good Food Middle East edition is more enough fodder to show how popular her blog is. I am glad to know that she is based in the part of the world where I live in. So choosing her blog came as a natural choice. 

Be My Guest - Spicy Chicken Tomato Sauce and Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Time for another guest post!!! Till date, whatever guest posts have featured were those who I had invited over to feature in my blog. I am so glad to inform that now I am getting emails from fellow bloggers asking whether they could be accommodated for this series. Hey, why not? I strongly believe that we are into this to help each other, learn from each other and encourage each other. I really believe in the saying of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), "None of you will truly believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself." (Sahih Bukhari). Amazing words, indeed...

The main reason why I started this series was to see if bloggers that I adore would be kind enough to accommodate my requests, which they have done. That is so well evident in the excellent guest posts that I have received from all my lovely blogger friends. So when I received an email from Shazzy who blogs at Seasoned with Shazzy on whether she could do a guest post, I went back in affirmative. She has a little blog with some mouthwatering recipes and when I heard that she runs her own little business making treats in her own kitchen, I really respected this lady. Not only that, she went ahead and sent me two recipes!!! I was first confused if I should pick just one or both, but then I just went ahead and took in both of them... :)

Let's move on to see what she has to say...

Eggless Garlic Zaatar (Thyme) Rolls

It's already Thursday today!!! I cannot believe myself. I feel that this week has flown by skipping a couple of days in between!! This weekend is devoid of any plans, which is good. I guess then I can twist and tweek it the way I want, InShaAllah... :)

I have just noticed that for the past few posts, I've been only posting desserts or snacks rather than some hard core meals!!! I guess it's time to break that trend at-least for some time. So after today's post, hopefully I will post some meals... These garlic rolls are too good... I have taken this recipe from Suhaina's My Singapore Kitchen, just like how I had done for the Mini Sausage Rolls I posted sometime back. Actually speaking, I lost my fear of working with yeast, once I had made these two recipes from her page. This is also one no-fail good recipe, which I have made a couple of times and have turned out well each time...

Eggless Garlic Zaatar (Thyme) Rolls

Makes 8

Recipe from here