Tres Leches Cake

            Another cake for an item in my list of '35 before 35'. Tres Leches in Spanish, means three milks. So, this is a cake soaked in three kinds of milk. I got to make this twice, but didn't take a picture even once. Very disappointing. And I am not interested in consuming few more calories, of the same taste, just to take a picture, lol. Anyway, I want to quickly give out the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Condensed Milk
2. Evaporated Milk
3. Whole Milk ( I used 2% reduced fat milk)
4. Whipped Cream

Preparation:

1. Make a white cake using mix ( I used pineapple mix the first time)
2. Let the cake cool down
3. Poke the cake with a fork all over, when the cake is still warm
4. Mix condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk
5. Ladle the milk mixture over the cake making sure that the entire cake is covered
6. Cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour at the least or over night
7. Whisk the whipping cream for 10 minutes/ till it is soft and using a spatula apply it on the cake

Princess Cake for my little Princess

              It's been 4 months already, since my LO was born, and it feels only like yesterday. I must say, it's overwhelming to handle various things happening around in life, when no one seems to understand your exact mental or physical state. No matter what you are going through, people expect you to meet their expectations. And some people, try to intrude into your life not only by giving unasked suggestions but also judging you as a mother. This is uninvited particularly when you are going through the so called 'Baby Blues'. However, with loved ones around and especially with mom's support, I'm enjoying time with my sweetie to the best. I cannot thank my mom enough for what she has been to me. I hope I can be such a good mother.
              So, as I mentioned before, I have been working on this list '35 before 35' (though I now think I should make a '30 before 30' first). And one item is, to bake 12 cakes. With my LO completing her 4th month, I wanted to bake a princess cake for her, and here it is ( May be not perfect, but good enough for the first time, for an amateur).

Directions:

* Bake 3 Cakes of decreasing diameter

* Cut out a small circle from the center, to put the doll in

* Finish icing the 3 pieces to join them together. (I just used fruit jam here, to avoid cream :) and used toothpicks to hold the pieces in place)
* Start frosting the outer side of the cake

* Once this is done, place the doll in the center
* Start decorating the cake and Voila! The princess is here!!

Quick Recipe-Pani for Pani Puri

       A very quick recipe of Pani for Pani puri. This is for my records too :)

Ingredients:

* 7 cups water
* 1 Green Chilli
* A small piece Ginger
* 1 tsp tamarind ( or as required)
* 1/2 tsp chat masala powder
* 1/4 tsp cumin powder
* Salt - as required
* Coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation:

* Make a paste of green chilli, pudina and ginger
* Mix it in the water along with the other ingredients

Get puris, boil and mash 2 potatoes, cut some onions. And I love replacing Meeti chutney with Hot and sour maggi sauce. Stuff the puris with potatoes, onions, sauce and water. And that is it! Enjoy delicious GolGappe!!

Egg Quesadilla

Had this for breakfast this morning :)

Salsa (Serves 3):

Ingredients:
Tomatoes               - 3 Small
Onion                     - 1/4 of a big Onion or 1 Small Onion, thinly diced
Mixed Vegetables   - 3/4 Cup (Sweet Corn, Beans, Carrot cut small)
Oil                          - 1/4 Tsp
Mint Leaves           -  As required          
Cilantro                  -  As required
Salt                        -  As required
Hot Sauce              -  As required

Preparation:
1. Heat Oil
2. Let all the ingredients cook for 3-4 minutes in the Oil

Omelette (Serves 1):

Ingredients:
Egg              -  1
Milk             -  1 Tsp
Onion           -  Thinly diced
Chili Pepper  - 1 Small, thinly chopped
Salt               - As required

Preparation:
1. Break the egg into a bowl, add milk and whisk
2. Add Salt and whisk
3. Add peppers, onion and mix together
4. Heat a nonstick pan and slightly grease it
5. Pour the mixture on to the pan and make an omelette

Quesadilla Preparation:
1. Make a Tortilla ( Chapati)
2. Place the omelette on the tortilla and fold it into half
3. Cut the tortilla into triangles
4. Serve it with Salsa and Chips on the side

Cake from Scratch

              I've always wanted to bake a nice cake since I heard and ate Debbie's cakes. She was a friend's colleague, who baked very nice cakes. We had her make cakes for 4 of our birthday parties. Though I was successful in making a cake with cake mix, I could never make a cake from scratch. Not until the last month when my mom gave me a recipe she uses for sponge cake. (I do remember making a carrot cake for New Year 2012, which failed big time :( )
              With the help of mom I made the cake from scratch. DH wanted to take it for his colleagues. But I was very less confident about it's taste that I asked him not to mention my name. But turns out, they liked it a lot and they are asking for the recipe. How funny :)
              Then, for my LO's 3 months celebration, I decided to make a cake myself. I just made a classic white cake and decorated it with low-fat alternative to frosting - Jam lol. Strawberry Jam, Apples, Grapes and white chocolate chips are all.

White Cake

Ingredients:

White Sugar        - 1 Cup
Butter                 - 1/2 Cup
Eggs                   - 2
Vanilla extract     - 2 tsp
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 Cups
Baking Powder   - 1 3/4 tsp
Milk                   - 1/2 Cup

Preparation:

* Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the pan
* Cream together sugar and butter. Then beat in the eggs and stir in Vanilla.
* Mix flour and baking powder
* Mix this with the cream mixture
* Pour the milk and stir until the batter is smooth
* Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the over for 30 - 40 mins