Pumpkin caramalised onion soup

A rustic pumpkin caramelized onion soup is anytime comfort food during a cold winter evening.

You can also feed your baby the same soup just try skipping the spicy pepper.
2 large onions
1 tablespoon sugar
1 star anise
20 grams butter
Ground pepper and dried herbs
Half of a pumpkin deseeded, skinned and chopped into cubes
1 cup vegetable stock

Combine the onions, sugar, star anise and butter in a saucepan  with one glass of water and bring to boil on medium fame.
Ensure that the onions cook slowly and do not burn.
Cook for 15 minutes and then turn the flame off and cool the mixture
In a pressure cooker add the chopped pumpkin with half glass of vegetable stock.
Steam for 5 minutes and turn the flame off.
Let the mixture cool.

In a blender whiz the caramelized onions and cooked pumpkin together in a thick puree.
Pour in a saucepan and garnish with pepper and other mixed herbs as per your taste..
You can change the consistency of the soup by adding water or cream.
You are ready to serve.

Handmade denim satchel bag with glitter glue design

Here is a handmade bag out of denim scraps.
Few scraps of good old denim fabric were lying around in my stash and I didn't want to see them discarded so easily.

Here is a closer look at the flowery design made by applying glitter glue. It won't come off so easily. I have washed it several times.

It has been used several times. Its so handy when you can just keep in few diapers a sippy cup and other few items which makes it easy to hang cross shoulders.

Baby Biscuits

As your baby starts teething you can give some of these biscuits to gum on.

As you can see in the above image they are quite porous and easy to dissolve in the mouth, its quite comforting for babies to eat them.
Ingredients:
one cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
One small egg
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon- If your baby is allergic to it then you can skip this spice
2tsp milk

Beat egg and sugar together till it thickens.
Sift in all the dry ingredients together and knead for few minutes. Let the dough rest for around 15 minutes.

Roll the dough till its half inch thick in height. Use a cutter or just a knife to shape into any size you prefer.

Bake for 12 minutes and then let it cool.
Store in an air tight jar.
Once your baby grows a bit older you can add many variations to this raw dough. For example dates, walnuts, banana, apples and more fruits.

Nifty crafty

What to expect when you are expecting? Besides craving for orange juice I ended up getting nifty with crafty things.

Below is an embroidered 'Tree of Life' on a scrap denim fabric. I've added gold thread on to the bark of the tree just for extra effects.


crochet flower brooch
               Flowers painted with water colors







A handbag made from scrap denim fabric with embroidery work.




Denim baby booties

Cracked wheat, spinach and broccoli -baby food recipe

Another healthy tasty recipe suitable for babies above 8 months old. When your baby graduates to stage 2 level of foods you can introduce lumpy well cooked veggies.

2 tbsp cracked wheat aka bulgur

Handful of well washed spinach leaves 

Few tiny broccoli florets 

2 tbsp chicken stock

Soak the cracked wheat in a little water for around two hours. This will reduce cooking time on flame or you can use a pressure cooker if you do not wish to soak.

Add all of the above ingredients with half glass water and let it simmer for around 20 minutes. 

If you use a pressure cooker just take one whistle and switch off the flame after five minutes. 

Veggie muffins

Here is another recipe suitable for kids and adults. Healthy and delicious.

  

I strongly recommend to whisk with your hand, rather than electric blender for this recipe. Muffins turn much better made by hand :)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

43 tbsp butter

1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

Handful of spinach

finely chopped 1/4 of a carrot

3 button mushrooms

4 walnuts

4 broccoli florets

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Beat the eggs, add the melted butter and milk keep beating till its all combined nicely.

Sift all the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. Mix and beat well. A normal fork should do the work.

Add all finely chopped veggies and pour the liquid mixture into muffin tray. You can grease the tray lightly if you do not wish to use the butter paper liners.

After 25 minutes take the tray off and let them cool on a rack.

And then you are ready to go.. 

Eat it happily.

Let me know how the recipe turned for you.

Thanks

Rice with Spinach

In this recipe you can learn how to prepare and store dried rice cereal for future use. You can later cook the ground cereal with any other variations you prefer. Besides, your baby is going to need all those carbs to work out on learning to walk around.

Take half a cup of rice grains. (It can be of any brand basmati or normal rice, fine grain rice would be more preferable)

Just whiz it in your dry grinder mixer nearly 3 or 4 times.

Ensure you do not make it into a powder. Once your baby is above 8 months old you would prefer him/her to learn to chew food, so its better to have smaller grains rather than just powdered rice.

2 tablespoon fine ground rice

Handful of fresh spinach leaves 

3 tablespoon of chicken stock

1-/4 cup water

1/4 of a ripe de-seeded tomato

I use the pressure cooker a lot. It saves time and energy.

Mix all the above ingredients in a pressure cooker, crank up the heat to high, just take a whistle and switch the flame off after 5 minutes.

When the pressure is down from the cooker open the lid and let the food cool down. 

Its ready to serve.

Fish and Couscus

1 tbsp couscus
quarter cup water
quarter cup chicken stock
small fillet of poached salmon fish

Heat the chicken stock and water together in a small pan. Add couscus when hot and switch the flame off after 10 minutes. Strain the excess liquid if needed.
mash the pre cooked poached fish and serve along with the couscus.

Baby Food Recipes

Note- All recipes mentioned here in this post are just titles for below twelve months babies do not include sugar and salt. Recipes will be posted in detail in separate posts.

In case your baby is allergic to certain foods that you are aware of due to any family history then, its better to avoid those food items.

As my doctor suggested its advisable to offer a fully proper cooked egg around twelve months of age before that its risky for the baby to get affected by salmonella.

Try introducing your baby to drink water after six months of age. It will help wash out the mouth of any food particles stuck in the baby's mouth and help cleanse the palette.


The recipes are classified into two monthly stage. This is the method I followed by introducing new textures and tastes after two months.

Around Six months

Carrot puree


Apple Puree


Six to eight months
Feel free to cook the earlier recipes starting from six months onward.

Sweet potato

Pumpkin Puree

Mashed Avocado

Mashed Banana

Mashed rice porridge

Soup-carrot, spinach and tomato

Eight to ten months
Feel free to cook the earlier recipes starting from six to eight months onward

Bulgur (dalia aka cracked wheat) in chicken stock


Sweet potato and chicken puree

Pumpkin and carrot puree

Mashed rice, Pushkin, chicken and carrots

Semolina in chicken stock

Rice in yellow lentils

Soup - rice,pumpkin and carrot in chicken broth

Ten to twelve months
Feel free to cook the earlier recipes starting from six to ten months onward

Finger foods- Small pieces of very ripe fruits or cooked veggies like carrot sticks, broccoli florets and other soft textured food.


Above twelve months

Feel free to cook the earlier recipes starting from six to twelve months onward

Feeding your baby

Feeding your baby can be a fun process. Be prepared for the mess.

Get a large bib and keep a small cloth napkin ready as well to wipe off food that sticks on to the face.

You can choose ro get a high chair or if you feel your baby wont run around, get a mess mat and sit down with your baby.

Be careful while serving hot food directly to your baby, its better to test it yourself first and then serve it to the baby cause, at times the spoon could be too hot for the baby. Choose a soft rubbery plastic spoon if possible without BPA. I had this wonderful spoon by Mee Mee where it changes color according to the food temperature. If the food was too hot the orange color would fade away meaning that the food was too hot for the baby's mouth and when it cooled down the color of the spoon returned to its original orange colour just like magic!

You can use a bowl with a lid to feed the baby. I used a tiny ceramic bow with a lid which kept the food warm while i fed the baby. Babies can take their sweet own time to eat, but when they get fussy over eating do not spend more than half an hour forcing them to eat. When they feel full they will eventually turn away from food.

The Weaning Process

Weaning is a slow and steady process, the good thing is that she has been breastfeeding and she  does not at all accept bottlefeeds right from the start, so I did not have to bother about training her to break the habit to outgrow from the milk bottle to a sippy cup stage.

Whether you choose to bottlefeed or breastfeed, weaning should start around six months for an infant. This helps the baby to explore and accept new tastes and texture of food more easily.

The key in weaning a baby successfully is to be patient. Go at your baby's pace and dont be in a hurry. Each baby is different and each of them have their own pace. Even with siblings in a family each of them will have their own likes and dislikes.

The more harsh or strict you get with your baby the more difficult will it be to wean off your baby. Besides, you will end up making mealtimes more stressful for both of you. 

Tips to Cook and store baby food

The recipes given here are the exact ones that I successfully weaned my daughter to adapt to new tastes and textures. Of course! Keep in mind you will have particular days where your litle one will throw tantrums and not accept the food at times. Each day will be a different process and with time you will understand what are your baby likes and dislikes.

Baby food can be cooked and stored by freezing in the refrigerator I have usually frozen the foods for maximum three days. Storing food for a longer period could only lead to loss of vitamins. As babies have small tummies they tend to eat very little food hence, make sure to feed them with quality and not quantity food.

You can cook, puree and store the food in ice cube trays or small plastic containers. When you need to reheat them remove an hour early from the freezer before heating it piping hot.

Easy Weaning with Healthy baby food Recipes

My little daughter Gina has been growing up so fast, and I am just wondering how quickly time has passed by since she was born.

Growing up from a just new born baby to an infant heading to a toddler stage, precious time  has just whizzed by. On the other hand I consider myself lucky as Gina has not been fussy when it came to eating and accepting new foods. She has also been a good night sleeper without waking up cranky in the middle of the night for  feeds.

Sleep Patterns

Babies need to sleep and it is essential for their growth. A new born baby sleeps a lot more than bigger children and as they grow, the number of hours keep reducing. If a baby has not slept well then you can expect to have a cranky irritable baby.

It is advisable to feed your baby well before sleep times in order to curb nightime wake ups for feeds thought its advisble to try this process around four month old babies. New borns need small feeds which is milk and hence being a liquid diet they tend to pee a lot leaving their tummy empty and hungry for more feeds. You can keep a track of preparing a journal of feeds and sleep logs for your new born baby. This will help you understand better as to what routine your baby follows, which helps you in advance to mentally and physical cope with the demanding sleep and feed timings.


I will be posting some home made recipes that are healthy and helpful to wean your baby.

Tips on Building Your Professional Image

 

The corporate world has a changed a lot over the period of years in terms of working environment and so have its work force. It has become almost essential for each person to have an identity within an organization in order to move ahead the corporate ladder.


With the onset of stress induced work lifestyle employers need to keep their employees motivated to avoid their human resource from reaching a saturation point at work.

When a person joins a new company the obvious reason would be for a better job pay package, but one has to remember that high packages would also mean that you need to put an extra effort to be at par with the salary and bonuses that you will receive.


Recession did take its toll on several sectors which led to many job layoffs, salary cuts, demotions, impending promotions, amalgamations and dissolutions in many companies. Scores of people feel insecure and look for solace in a better job security. That phase is slowly moving out as the market is picking up at a gentle pace in terms of hiring new employees.


Companies would hire people but they would definitely not want to lose employees who are assets to an organization by retaining old staff and keeping them motivated.

Some corporates love to maintain an informal environment where as other strictly follow a formal decorum. People have different personalities and it would take a more time for such individuals to adjust in such environments. As the world has already become a global village it will not be of any surprise where multicultural people work together under the same roof.


Below are few tips on how to build your image in a professional environment:

 Addressing colleagues-

No matter whether your office follows a formal or informal working environment, it is very important for you to put professionalism before friendliness.

Some organizations would prefer colleagues to address to each other with their first names whereas in other sectors for example in a university colleagues could address each other with their designations like 'Professor' or 'Doctor'.

Office gossips-

Avoid gossips related to office matters as it can usually harm an employee's image. Gossips travel like grapevine and sometimes people in the higher management would love to rely on such means of gaining information as it seems to be one of the most reliable methods to extract information from people and competitors.

 Be an asset-

Always try to prove yourself to be an asset and not a liability to your company. If everyone from your team has been allocated a responsibility for a common project and if you have been left out idle at your workplace it clearly shows a negative image on your skills. The best you could do is assist and volunteer to be a part of that project.

 Personality-

Your mannerisms and attitude is a crucial factor in determining your capabilities not only to adjust with colleagues but also to adapt to the nature of your work process. Due to stress and demanding nature of various jobs people tend to lose their cool and tempers flare causing rifts. It is advisable to refrain from throwing tantrums or acting without thinking on consequences.

No matter where the employee might be in the line of hierarchy colleagues must learn to earn and not demand respect.

Build relations-

Building trust and confidence with your coworkers helps in the long run as it will affect your evaluation when it comes to acquiring indirect feedback from colleagues. Even after you have left the organization and moved ahead in life try to make sure that you leave pleasant and lasting impressions in your organization.

Office attire-

Lastly your attire says all about you. With the first glance anyone can say whether you are tired or happy from your dressing sense. It is suggestible to dress in formal attire or 'smart casuals' which seems to be the new trend in many offices. Avoid revealing outfits and keep your hair clean and combed.

Punctuality-

Being on time to work creates an impression of your image of how you are in your personal life. Being late to work on certain occasions might be excused but frequent late arrivals will have its obvious consequences. While taking breaks avoid extended breaks and make sure to be on time at your desk. Try to complete your given tasks within your working hours which can help you avoid late sittings. You can judge by yourself which is your most productive time of the day be it morning, afternoon or early evening. Accordingly get you tasks completed on time in an efficient way.

Hope these few tips will help you get some ideas to create a good image within your organization.

Tips on how to write an Agenda and Minutes of a Meeting

 

Scheduling an office meeting can be a simple or complex task depending on the way you organize things prior to the meeting. One of the most important things to do before the meeting is to give all attendees a brief idea about the topic for discussion during the meeting in order to have themselves prepared for productive discussions at the meeting. Be prepared with the necessary paper works or documents that would be required to be circulated as handouts for discussion. Carry files and notes as back up that could be required at any point of time for reference to topics for discussion.

Exchange of emails and phone calls are one of the causes for reduction of face to face meetings. Meetings are usually held to brainstorm and discuss on a set agenda items. A meeting can be short or long but at times there are chances to deviate from the main topic of discussion which leads to loss of time.

It is always best to have productive meetings and conducting an interactive session or else people could tend to go on a mental holiday in spite of being physically present in the meeting.
 
Meeting invite:

In order to schedule a meeting an invite needs to be formally sent out via email calendar in MS Outlook stating the date, time, venue and agenda for discussion.  It is advisable to send invites much ahead prior to the day of meeting; this will give all attendees sufficient time to be prepared for discussion.

Any documents or handouts that are to be discussed at the meeting need to be circulated prior to the meeting.  If the meeting is official one which might require important decisions to be made, in such cases it is advisable to ensure that the meeting room is set up with proper lighting, seating arrangement, refreshments or projector for better view of documents to be discussed. 

 There are few tips to keep in mind before you schedule a formal meeting.

Meeting Agenda:

Agenda is a key feature to conducting a meeting. A meeting without agenda will lead to nowhere and aimless discussions. Agenda is a key factor in controlling timed debates and discussions at the meeting. The person who calls for a meeting has to first ensure that the attendees need to come prepared for discussion. Many a times people attend meetings with blank faces and are not prepared for meetings. If there are certain documents or points that need to be discussed during the meeting, it would be advisable to circulate these handouts or documents a day or two before a brainstorming session so that the members can arrive at the meeting prepared with points of discussion leading to a productive conversation. An Agenda should consist of basic components as stated below:
1.       Date-

The date of the scheduled meeting has to be clearly stated at the top of an agenda

2.       Time-

The time scheduled for conducting the meeting is essential to avoid any conflicts with schedules of attendees

3.       Venue-

The location of the meeting has to be specified whether it would be an internal meeting or external meeting held in a selected location

4 4.       Attendees-

It would be helpful if the names of the members who are invited to attend the meeting are listed down.

5 5.       Agenda Topics-

The main reason for conducting a meeting is to discuss a set number of points. By stating the intended topics for discussion one can control the time spent on discussing a particular topic. For example if there are 6 agenda topics and you have 30 minutes to start and finish a meeting then 5 minutes can be dedicated to discuss each item to ensure productive usage of time in an efficient manner.
6.       Notes-

If you need to add any extra notes other than the main agenda items. It can be specified.

Minutes of the Meeting:

Minutes are supposed to be recordings of final decisions and action planned during the course of the meeting. It is supposed to be a summary in a detailed and crisp. Make sure to use formal close ended sentences without punctuation. Below are the basic components that should be included in the minutes of a meeting.

1.       Date, Time and Venue-

This should relate to the agenda in which the date, time and venue was mentioned earlier prior to the meeting unless there were any last minute changes to any of the above schedule.

2.       List of Attendees-

At times it is very important to note the list of attendees. People who did not attend the meeting can be listed as a separate category termed as ‘apologies’. Attendees have to sometime vote for certain decisions discussed during the meeting an in case of their absence their vote might not be counted hence it helps to mention their names in the minutes as absentees.

 3.       Proceedings of the meeting-

This is the body of the minutes which contains a detailed summary of the discussion or debates during the meeting. It comprises the final action plan that has to be carried out which acts as an evidence for future references.

 4.       Conclusion-

The conclusion of the minutes should be brief stating if the meeting was adjourned or rescheduled to lack of time or concluded with a consensus of all members in agreement to the above points discussed.

Avoid making an error of noting each and every dialogue or suggestions made during the meeting. Focus on the summarized decisions taken for action to be met before a particular deadline.

The minutes of the meeting has to be circulated to all attendees including the members who were invited but did not attend due to any obvious reasons. If another meeting is held to discuss always remember to carry a copy of the minutes of the previous meeting related to the agenda matter for references.