Life is hectic with two young kids around and a hubby who would choose to eat at home skipping even the finest of the food served at the five stars ...! Yes he does this...initially whenever he used to announce he has some seminar or presentation combined with dinner I would have lots of silent plans taking forms about the dinner I would be preparing...! Actually I like Sponge gourds, lauki/ bottle gourd and Besan ke gatte ( being a marwari I am...;)) as he just could never develop taste for these delicacies until recently ...! But then gradually I learnt and realized that he got so used to food prepared by me that he would rather skip the dinner at these places and would choose to have it at home. So these plans of making my fav sabzis or vegetables were now on hold for the lunch times when he was not carrying the lunch along.
When my first born child, my son , was just one year old... I used to pack colorful and assorted seasonal fruits for my hubby along with his regular lunch box that till date he gets nostalgic about it...! Yeah its now a memory for him as after my second child's birth life changed in many ways.
Well its due to the busy schedule of running around with two kids and sometimes some unexpected guests , I learnt my own ways of being prepared before hand for all these emergencies. So some of the basic tips of being prepared beforehand are :
1) Onion paste : The most favorite time saver preparation of mine is to grate or make a fine paste of raw onions and then do regular tadka of hing jeera and saute it till it turns golden brown. You can add green Chilli slit/chopped, some laung (cloves) and black peppers crushed to it and ginger garlic paste is optional. Let it cool and store it in any container...I choose to store it in glass containers as it lasts longer than any other container ( yes even Tupperware) And believe me I have some over 100 Tupperware containers of all sizes with me...! But over the period i have understood nothing matches the glass containers.
2) Tomato puree : What i do is i chop big chunks of 1 kg of the tomatoes, microwave it for say 4-5 mins (stirring once in between), and then let it cool and then blend it with hand blender. Then I saute it in a non stick frying pan with 2 tbsp of oil till it leaves its sides. It comes handy for making any puree based dish and also comes handy when I have to make Pizza and Pastas...! I do make my own Tomato Cancasse and it tastes yummy... ! My family loves the pastas prepared by me at home. Will soon post its recipe here.
3) Spinach puree....its again a time saver...chop the clean spinach and boil it and then blend it in a smooth paste. Store it in a glass container for future use.
4) Boiled potatoes and green bananas...Yes instead of using all potatoes in any cutlets or pattice preparation or even for Aloo paratha this is my own way of making aloo parathas ...add some boiled and mashed green bananas to potatoes (say if you are using 4 medium sized potatoes remove 2 potatoes and add one large green banana to it ). And we can pressure cook both together.
5) Corn Kernels : Always have some frozen corn kernels in the freezer...its again a time saver...can make instant corn cheese sandwiches and also rolls. If have some spinach then corn spinach dish...!
6) Grated radish : store in an airtight container in the freezer, just remember to grate it and squeeze the water out before storing.
I think you might find these tips useful and would surely update you more on other such useful tips... Have a nice day !
When my first born child, my son , was just one year old... I used to pack colorful and assorted seasonal fruits for my hubby along with his regular lunch box that till date he gets nostalgic about it...! Yeah its now a memory for him as after my second child's birth life changed in many ways.
Well its due to the busy schedule of running around with two kids and sometimes some unexpected guests , I learnt my own ways of being prepared before hand for all these emergencies. So some of the basic tips of being prepared beforehand are :
1) Onion paste : The most favorite time saver preparation of mine is to grate or make a fine paste of raw onions and then do regular tadka of hing jeera and saute it till it turns golden brown. You can add green Chilli slit/chopped, some laung (cloves) and black peppers crushed to it and ginger garlic paste is optional. Let it cool and store it in any container...I choose to store it in glass containers as it lasts longer than any other container ( yes even Tupperware) And believe me I have some over 100 Tupperware containers of all sizes with me...! But over the period i have understood nothing matches the glass containers.
2) Tomato puree : What i do is i chop big chunks of 1 kg of the tomatoes, microwave it for say 4-5 mins (stirring once in between), and then let it cool and then blend it with hand blender. Then I saute it in a non stick frying pan with 2 tbsp of oil till it leaves its sides. It comes handy for making any puree based dish and also comes handy when I have to make Pizza and Pastas...! I do make my own Tomato Cancasse and it tastes yummy... ! My family loves the pastas prepared by me at home. Will soon post its recipe here.
3) Spinach puree....its again a time saver...chop the clean spinach and boil it and then blend it in a smooth paste. Store it in a glass container for future use.
4) Boiled potatoes and green bananas...Yes instead of using all potatoes in any cutlets or pattice preparation or even for Aloo paratha this is my own way of making aloo parathas ...add some boiled and mashed green bananas to potatoes (say if you are using 4 medium sized potatoes remove 2 potatoes and add one large green banana to it ). And we can pressure cook both together.
5) Corn Kernels : Always have some frozen corn kernels in the freezer...its again a time saver...can make instant corn cheese sandwiches and also rolls. If have some spinach then corn spinach dish...!
6) Grated radish : store in an airtight container in the freezer, just remember to grate it and squeeze the water out before storing.
I think you might find these tips useful and would surely update you more on other such useful tips... Have a nice day !
