Gajar (carrot) halwa

I wanted to make some sweet for prasad on Ganesh Chaturthi so I started digging in the fridge and pantry to see what ingredients I’d on hand. Since we get a lot of carrots in the northwest my fridge was abundant in the little red sticks. Gajar halwa is the first thing that came to my mind because it’s DH’s favorite! Now the traditional ways of making gajar halwa are very time taking and I didn’t have too much time on me. Then I remembered that my mom had made the most delicious gajar halwa using microwave. So I dig up her recipe (here). I tell you – that halwa was such a hit! Everybody just loved it and it’s so easy to make! I followed the recipe to the T, except I did microwave 5 extra minutes towards the end because the halwa was a little wet. I think the timing towards the end would differ a little bit (~ 5 minutes) depending on the kind of khoya you get. This time we got something which was softer than usual and seemed to have more liquid content. Mostly we get the Nanak khoya which is more solid.

Here are the ingredients in oz. for my friends on this side of the earth. The quantity was sufficient for around 6 “good” servings.

• 16.5 oz carrots
• 7 oz  khoya
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 cup milk
• 7 oz sugar (yes I upped it a little because the sugar here is less sweet than the one in India)
• 2 tbsp chopped nuts (I used cashews and almonds)

If you’ve the food processor, don’t forget to use it for grating the carrots! It’s such a breeze!

Oats and peanut butter balls

                

I saw these on Pinterest and it sounded like a good combination to me! So I gave them a try and they're so easy-to-make, tasty and healthy! I think there are very few food items that can boast of all three qualities!

The original recipe is here - I just omitted the chocolate chips to make it healthier and the good thing is - I don't miss them!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes - I'd the sweetened coconut flakes and lightly dry roasted them on the stove
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 1/3 cup honey

Method:

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like.  I store them in the refrigerator and it's a great snack to have on hand!

Lotion/Masage bars

I read about making lotion bars at home here and it seemed pretty do-able. I had already collected all the ingredients when I made the body butter. That I didn't have to buy any ingredients to make these made me all the more excited to try out the bars!

Before you embark off to try your own let me tell you that unless you're using the exact same ingredients, don't be surprised if you've to do them again and again to get the right texture! The recipe on the link above didn't work for me maybe because of the butters and oils I chose.

Also, start small - I can't stress it enough. I didn't realize this till I'd to re-do them and then all I could do was add more to the quantity. I started with 6 oz all together and then I realized I needed to add more butter and oil and soon I'd lotion bars for my whole neighborhood!

The good thing is if you find that the bars are too hard/soft for you, you can melt them and add the relevant ingredients. Then solidify it. That's exactly what I did. My batch one was too hard to use. So I melted it and added some oil. Batch two was good enough but I figured a little butter would make it better. Melted it and added some butter. Batch three was perfect.

Enough of my teachings! Onto the recipe. Oh before I do that I want to thank my phone - you see it was thanks to my phone I could take photos of all these different steps. I would be too lazy with a camera!

Ingredients:

2 oz beeswax

4 oz Sweet Almond oil

4 oz unrefined shea butter

~ 1.5 tsp essential oil (I used 1 tsp lemongrass and 0.5 tsp sweet orange) - unrefined shea butter has a strong aroma which I wanted to suppress. If you're using refined shea butter or any other butter that doesn't have a strong aroma you could use less.

Method:

1. Setup a double boiler. All that means is, fill a pan half or one-thirds with water and put another pan on top it. Put this apparatus on heat. The heat from the boiling water heats the upper pan and melts the butters. Direct heat is too much for the butters and will burn them.

2. Add the beeswax to the upper pan. Once it's almost done, add shea butter. Shea butter melts much faster than beeswax that's why we add it later. Once everything's melted add the almond oil to the mix. Then add the essential oils.

3. If you have some molds then feel free to use them. I didn't have any so I used my muffin pan! I lined it with cupcake liners and then filled them each.

4. Put it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes or as long as it takes to set. This is how it looks once it sets.

5. Yummy lotion bars are ready! Seriously don't then look delicious?!?!

Project cost: 

• Beeswax: $1.875 for 2oz
• Sweet Almond Oil: $2.5 for 4 oz
• Shea butter: $4.50 for 4oz
• Essential oils: ~$2
• Total: $11 for 10 oz of lotion bars (compare to $10 for 2.5 oz at Lush) 
• The joy of making your own lotion bar - priceless!

Note:

• Beeswax is what adds the hardness. So if your bar is too soft you would want to add more beeswax.
• If your bar is too hard, you need more oil for sure. You can add more butter too - like I did.
• I would encourage you to buy Fair Trade shea butter if possible. I've linked above my source of fair trade shea butter.
• I do *not* get any commision for any of the linked products. Just wanted to share my sources.
• I found a local store, VitaminLife (could be a chain, I don't know), which has all the oils (carrier oils and essential oils) at a very reasonable price.

Tomatoes

Banana ice cream

It appears that PNW is going to have a real summer this year so I’m trying to put my ice cream maker to some good use. I saw this recipe at the Chiquita website and loved the fact that there were so few ingredients involved. I apologize for the blurry picture – I too it with my phone just before the traces of the ice cream were about to disappear. Needless to say DH and I loved the ice cream!

Ingredients:

1. 2 bananas
2. 1 cup Heavy cream
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 1/2-1 tsp lemon juice
5. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (forgot to add this)

Method:

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender to a smooth consistency.
2. Make ice cream using your ice cream maker – per the manufacturer’s instructions.
3. I then froze it. When freezing cover your container with plastic wrap before putting the lid on. This will prevent the ice crystals from forming on the ice cream.

Can you keep a secret?

That’s a novel by Sophie Kinsella . I read it recently and thoroughly enjoyed myself!

It revolves around what Emma does when she loses her engagement ring –which is supposed to be a family heirloom and her discoveries and adventures on the way.

Yes that’s all I can tell you about it without revealing too much . When I was reading the book I thought to myself – if I were to summarize this book I would do so in just one sentence and yet I was reading this book which had hundreds of pages. It’s not just the theme of the book, it’s the way Sophie Kinsella writes. You almost feel as if you’re having a dialog with her. Her style is so easy going. Oh and then I simply loved Emma’s character! There’s something about her which makes her adorable. She’s friendly, unassuming and insouciant. Her attitude to take life a day at a time appealed to me a lot! All of this makes the book very engaging. Left to myself I would’ve read this book in one sitting!

If you’re looking for some light reading then this is the book for you! I highly recommend it!

Bay View State Park

We recently rented a cabin at the Bay View State Park and liked it so much that I thought I would post a review and some photos. There are 6 cabins totally and Cabin #5 and #6 have attached shower/restroom. Most of the state parks we’ve been to, the nearest house was a few miles away but here we’d houses next to the park. Surprisingly that didn’t affect the serenity of the park in anyway. Our cabin had an ocean/bay view – we were in cabin #4. I believe all cabins have ocean view and the park has a beach access. The cabin closest to the beach access is cabin #5 but others aren’t far either. The park was quite populated with cabin-ers, RV-ers and campers – in a good way; even though it was a rainy weekend.

The restrooms are close to the cabins and there’s a shower too. If you want to have a shower don’t forget your quarters! The cabins have designated parking. Each cabin has a picnic table, a porch swing (yes!) and a fire pit.

I would highly recommend a stay here if you’re looking for an idyllic vacation! Here are a few more photos: