Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas,

A beautiful Christmas greetings made by Ishaan.
Have a look inside.... Thank u Ishaan. You are adorable!
A cute handmade Christmas greetings presented by my cousin Madhu.
Love you Madhu...you are always our sweet little cousin sister. Thanks Madhu.
Thanks to Regi and RJ.Your gift is very beautiful too.
Birthday cake for Baby Jesus. I made this icing along with my cousin Madhu.
Snacks for Santa and vegetables for Reindeer...a Christmas tradition.
Rose Christmas tree...I bought from a neighbor's garage sale. I like this cute little tree also very much.
Santa and reindeer in our house....lights and decorations for Christmas.
Christmas Village
Nativity scene and Christmas Village

Nativity scene
Our Christmas tree... our happiness.

Wishing all my friends and readers a  Blessed Happy Christmas,
May all our dreams come true.
Merry Christmas! Love, Viki

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Pumpkin cupcake (Vegetarian)

Sometime ago, I made some pumpkin puree at home and stocked them up in freezer. Then one day I baked some cupcakes out of it and it was totally yummy. 
I got the recipe from this website. Thanks to the author I could bake some scrupmtious pumpkin cupcakes. That recipe is purely vegan, but I have used milk products in my recipe. This recipe can yield 12 standard cupcakes. I made my own 'homemade pumkpin puree' with the pumpkins I got. Pureeing the pumpkin is very simple. Just cut the pumpkin into half, bake it at 350 deg F for 40 min or till soft. Scoop out the baked pumpkin, let cool, puree in mixer, store in freezer. Stays good upto 3 months. I meaured the puree and noted down in every sachet for further use. (Substitute for store bought pumpkin puree - Fresh pumpkin can be boiled / pressure cooked completely and pureed).



The icing is optional. I used some of my cream cheese frosting at hand and it tasted absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup
pumpkin puree - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
vinegar / lemon juice - 1 tsp
baking powder - 1 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
brown sugar - 1/3 cup
white sugar - 1/3 cup
cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
corn / olive oil / butter - 1/2 cup
vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Arrange the cupcake paper liners in the bake-ware. Keep aside.

Mix together milk and vinegar and let it rest for 5 minutes. (we can use plain yogurt instead of this step).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda. Sift this twice to get a spongy cake.
Put this flour in a mixing bowl and add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer or another mixing bowl thoroughly mix together sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla and milk mixture.
Pour this to the sifter flour mix well using a fork / beater.
Pour this into cupcake liners upto 3/4 th height and bake for 16 - 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes clean.
Take out, cool completely before frosting. Tastes good with / without frosting.


Serving suggestion:
Makes a dessert or breakfast.

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