celebrations

mother’s day and grilled veggie lasagna

May 10, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

We had our mammas over for Mother’s Day dinner this year. We went totally simple this year with bbq’d burgers and fries. With a wedding coming up in the family in just under 3 months, we grilled up some veggies for those family members who felt like being healthy. Most went with the beef though so we had loads of roasted eggplant, zucchini, onions and red peppers left over.

What better way to use up those extra veggies than make veggie lasagna. I added the red peppers and onions to the sauce which was layered between the eggplant and zucchini and loads of cheese. It was filling and a great way to get in our day full of veggies. Q even finished off his plate which is always a good sign.

Mother’s Day dinner ended with nutella ice cream and sticky toffee pudding. My sticky toffee pudding is a recipe of my friends, who makes the best I’ve ever tasted. I promised I wouldn’t share the recipe though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Hope all the mothers were spoiled!

carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing: happy birthday dad!

March 22, 2011 By Fareen 1 Comment

Today is my dad’s birthday. There are many words to describe this amazing man – wonderful, giving, selfless, loving.

When Q turned one and I went back to work, I was lucky to have my dad take care of my son. While many had to worry about who was taking care of their children, I had reassurance that Q was in good hands. Not many grandfathers would take on the task of looking after a toddler, let alone changing diapers! Even now that I am home trying to start up a business, my dad takes care of Q for a few hours a day. I am so grateful to my dad, I don’t know what I would do without him. His day definitely needs to be celebrated.

Since we had lots of chocolate cake on the weekend, I called my aunt for her amazing carrot cake recipe. This was a really easy cake to make, with everything blended in a food processor. Nuts are optional but I chose to add walnuts which added the perfect crunch to the moist cakes.

Carrot Cake

2 cups carrots, grated
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Grate the carrots in a food processor. Add oil and eggs and blitz until combined. Add sugar and blitz again. Add the dry ingredients and blitz until combined. Gently stir in the nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 block cream cheese
1 stick butter
3/4 cup icing sugar

Beat until combined.

celebrating baby’s upcoming arrival with cookies

January 10, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

We are so thrilled that our dear friends will be having their first baby in a few weeks. We celebrated Baby L’s upcoming arrival with a small dinner out with close friends. Even though we weren’t really doing a shower, I wanted to do something to make the night out special. Of course, the idea that came to mind had to do with food! I had purchased a gingerbread man cookie cutter a month ago and never did get a chance to use it over Christmas. Using a sugar cookie recipe and the cookie cutter, the sugar ‘baby’ was created.

Roll-out Cookies
Adapted from Wilton

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture 1 cup at at a time, mixing after each addition. Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle, approximately 1/8 inches thick and cut out cookies in the shape that you want. Bake cookies on an ungreased sheet for 7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Q turns 2!

November 10, 2010 By Fareen Leave a Comment

This past weekend, my little man turned 2! Seems like just yesterday he was born. We celebrated with a few friends and family with a Sesame Street themed music party.

I think I shocked the people who knew me by not making a single thing! Well, I did make chocolate chip cookies for the kids to take home with a crazy straw for milk but besides that, nothing!

We ordered pizza from down the street and snacked on veggies and chips and assorted flavours of crackers from the goldfish bar.

My mom, who makes the most delicious cakes, baked Q’s cake and we got the local bakery to decorate it with the Sesame Street theme.

My sister-in-law led the kids in song so they were able to play with their tamborines, xylophones and maracas which they were able to take home with them. All in all, it was a fun day!