Life 'n' Such

Frozen or fresh, if you are eating a pie by Marie Callender, then you are in for a treat! I first ate a fresh apple pie in California, from one of the stores of Marie Calendar. Rudaba aunty got it for moi !

Well, last night, Zaghals were visiting us, so we got this frozen Banana cream pie by Marie C, from the frozen desserts in our grocery store!!

In case you are wondering, if the frozen one tastes good… yes yes…it did! It was creamy, and tasted like the fresh pies! Not bad at all.

Also, fyi, it is Kosher! So anyone can eat them. So next time, you are in a crunch, drive to your grocery store, buy a box of Marie Callender’s famous pies!

This is their website for more information: http://www.mcpies.com/
Note: Since it is frozen, read the instructions for thawing on the box. It takes at least 5 hours to thaw at room temperature.

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We are so lucky to have Mrs. Jean Vanard as our neighbor. She is the best! Ask anyone on our street, and they will say the same thing about her. Plus, she makes the nicest desserts. And lucky me, she shares them with me. Remember, I have not one sweet tooth, but sweet teeth.

Recently she made this cheese cake, and got it over. Oooo it is so creamy.

Ingredients:

Cream cheese mixture:
3 – 8 oz cream cheese
4 eggs,
1 cup sugar,
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint sour cream

For the base:
18 graham cracker squares,
1/4 cup sugar,
1/2 cup melted butter

You need: 2 pie pans or 1 – 9X13 inch tray

Method:

Beat the ingredients listed under cream cheese mixture, except sour cream. Then stir in the sour cream.

Mix together the crushed crackers, sugar and melted butter. Pat it down firmly in the pie pans or tray. Bake for 5-8 minutes at 375 deg F.

When it cools a bit, pour in the cream cheese mixture and bake for 30 minutes at 350 deg F. To test, if done, use a toothpick.

Pretty simple recipe, huh?

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Is there any song written on Niagara? If not, there should be! We went there with Ikram, Fadia and their parents, and Mummy and Papa. I have been there many times before, but every single time, I love it all over again! It is that special!

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Congratulations to Dr. Sezgin, Dr. Dolu, Dr. Gurer, and Adnan(no small accomplishment, he got a Masters in Computer Science, thats big!)

Well, most importantly to their families, who technically deserve at least a half-PhD, now don’t you think that is fair?

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Interesting or an eye-opener…? Truth or Fictional data?
http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

Tehsin my dear friend, sent me this link. I was impressed at first, then I got scared, looking at all the stats! Aye, scary scary figures!

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Told you, wait sometime, I will be putting up kashmiri recipes. See I kept my promise; another fantastic recipe from my mother in law (we call her mummy), and may I add, easy for making a very very important appetizer in Kashmir, and its popular in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Its called seekh kebabs. Its basically, minced meat, mixed with some seasoning and spices, and put on skewers or as its called in indian language, seekh (like a thin stick).

This is an excellent appetizer, or a snack. We made these for a barbecue, with our kashmiri friends and relatives.

Ingredients:

Minced meat 3/4 kg (beef, lamb, goat, chicken)
less than a tsp salt,
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
1 tsp garam masala, (my turkish friends could use their spice that they use for making dolma/saarma)
2 eggs
garlic paste, about 1 1/2 tsp

Method:

Mix all the ingredients listed above, and mash it for sometime. Then dipping your hand in water, make a ball of the mixture in your palm, and keeping the skewer in the other hand, pierce the mixture through the middle with the skewer.

Then curl your fingers and palm of your hand around the skewer, (dip your hand in water frequently) pat the mixture around the skewer, spreading it evenly on it.

Thats it.

We made a lot of these, kept them on a baking tray (they were hanging, not laying on the baking tray). We baked at 375 deg F for about 10 minutes.

(If you do not have an oven, then you could hold it on fire for a few minutes, frequently turning, so all sides get cooked.)

You could do this and keep it in refrigerator, or freeze them.

When its time to eat, then either pull them off the skewers and shallow fry in oil, or as we did, we barbecued them, for a smoked flavor! Yummmm

Now then, for your next barbecue, make seekh kebabs, and let me know how it turns out! Ok, good bye for now, and have as many barbecues as you can now, as its almost time for fall!

No Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Indian, Kashmiri, Recipes | | #