Merry Christmas,

Wishing all my friends , family and readers a  Blessed Happy Christmas,

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Viki

Updated :

Christmas wreath I made for front entrance door

Christmas wreath I made for  indoor decor.

Our Christmas tree

Christmas village and nativity scene for Christmas

Birthday cake  I made for Baby Jesus, our cute little Christmas cake.

Offering cake to Holy family as soon as I finished baking the first fruit cake (Dec 16)

Offering vadai and kesari for Holy family in nativity scene, on Christmas day early morning, a Christmas tradition in our family.

I got a lot of gifts from Santa. Finding my favorite gifts under the Christmas tree on Christmas mornings excites me very much:)

My friends Emelda and Elizabeth brought us these yummy Christmas goodies.

My friends Emelda and Elizabeth together made these yummy Christmas snacks. They worked together long hours and days to make these delicious murukku, mixture, fruit cake, milk peda, bathusha, coconut mittai.....and packed them artistically.  I admire their enthusiasm and Christmas cheer very much. Thank you friends!

Christmas goodies from my friend Esther

My friend Esther has brought us Fruit cake, ladoo, nuts sweet, spicy murukku, murukku, chandrakala and rose cake (achimurukku) on Christmas. Even before clicking, we started finishing those yummy rose cakes and now I think I should have clicked that whole platter first :) Thanks Esther !

Gifts from my sweet cousin Madhu: A pretty handmade greetings and a cute ornament.

Last year we enjoyed our Christmas with Madhu , my cousin and I love the way she cherish arts, vintage collections, making handmade greetings , brightening up the whole situation with her kindness ....lot to learn from that hard working , intelligent ,cute little girl (she is always a little girl in my eyes) :)

My neighbor aunty presented me many pretty Christmas  ornament birds.

I got many pretty birds from my neighbor aunty on Christmas eve and we put them all on our tree and village. I hosted a small party for both of our families on Christmas eve. I made it as almost vegetarian as per her choice and it was easy too. As soon as we came back from Christmas mass in church I prepared Vegetable briyani, egg curry, raitha and semiya kheer. She brought us the papad chaat items and assembled them as starter. The party went on even after midnight:)

Christmas goodies I prepared : Christmas fruit cake, murukku, ginger bread cookies

This is the Christmas goodies I made for our us all: Christmas fruit cake, murukku and ginger bread cookies. I started baking by 16 th Dec and sent that cake for hubby's  office Christmas party. Then baked all other cakes by Dec 19, made murukku on 23 rd Dec as a surprise gift to hubby (his most favorite) and cookies on 23 rd night and 24 th morning. In between we enjoyed sight seeing, meeting friends, watched my favorite movies , enjoyed the new release an animation movie ...... Totally we all enjoyed this Christmas very much and want to do like this every year. Cheers !

Cheesy vegetables with pasta

Recently I made this baked pasta with loads of green vegetables and we liked it very much. I didn't follow any basic recipe for this , as my only motto was to use all those vegetables when they were still fresh.  Just saute whatever green vegetables we have in hand like beans, kale leaf, brussel sprout, green bell pepper, Asparagus..... mix with cooked pasta , milk sauce and bake with cheese. I am sure this will make a yummy dinner or lunch pack.

Baked pasta with green vegetables

Ingredients:
Brussel sprout - 1 lb
broccoli - 2 cups
kale leaf - 2 cups
green bell pepper - 1/2
Penne pasta - a handful for each serving
shredded cheese (any variety) - 1 cup
olive oil - 2 tbsp
butter - 2 tbsp
all purpose flour - 3 tbsp
salt, pepper - as per need
dried Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
milk - 2 cups

Method:
Rinse all the vegetables.
Chop the kale leaves coarsely, bell pepper into 1 inch squares, broccoli into small florets and halve the Brussels sprouts.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan. Saute all the vegetables till tender crisp (2 - 3 minutes) and keep aside. Add required salt, pepper.
Cook the pasta as per directions (cook with little salt and lot of water till firmly cooked and drain water). Mix the pasta with vegetables and put them all in a baking pan.
Easy Milk sauce : In a pan heat 2 tbsp butter and add 3 tbsp all purpose flour (maida) and fry till raw smell goes (but not red). Add 2 cups of milk, dried Italian seasoning and bring to a boil.
Pour this over the pasta and mix .
Put cheese over this and bake at 350 F for 5 minutes or till cheese turns bubbly. (If using pyrex glass bakeware, bake below 325 F till cheese turns bubbly).

Serving suggestion:
Serve as main course meal.