prakritiverma-blog

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NOT JUST AN AVERAGE SNOW DAY POST by Prakriti Verma I studied into the night, prepping for my test. Then decided to take a nap, and save for later the rest. But as most people know, when I sleep I don't budge. My test prep was incomplete what would I do?--fudge. Little did I know that as I was asleep the clouds were hard at work covering up the street The blizzard blew into town bringing lots and lots of snow And all the children smiled because do we have school now? NO! :D :D :D :D

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Apple Squares

These are probably one of the best, most-yummy-tasting baked goods I've made successfully.  It's the perfect taste of warm apples and cinnamon, and when combined with a nice, cold glass of milk, it's magically transfigured into a delicious square of gooey goodness!

So, without further ado, here is the recipe!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped apple (this is about 1/2 of a medium apple or one small apple)

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

and for the sprinkle on top: 2 tbsp white sugar, 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

Method

Basic prep stuff: preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x9 inch pan. Sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, the 1/4 tsp of cinnamon) then set it aside.

In another large bowl, mix the melted butter with the brown sugar and the 1/2 cup of white sugar until it's smooth.  Then add the egg and vanilla extract, mix it together, then blend with the flour mixture.

Once it's just sorta combined, add the chopped apples and walnuts. Stir it up a little, then spread it evenly in the greased pan.

Mix together 2 tbsp of white sugar and 2 tbsp ground cinnamon for a cinnamon-sugar topping and sprinkle it over top the bars.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. You'll know they're done with the standard toothpick test, or they should spring back slightly when lightly touched.

Let it cool a little in the pan, then cut into squares and then DIG IN!

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I love fonts. They can be sooooo beautiful. I wish more people understood :(

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chicken biryani. nuff said.

Actually, enough wasn’t said, here’s the rest LOL.

Oh boy, this was one of the mostttt delicious meals of the break. And I think, at this point, I’ve tried my best to make this a holiday classic…it’s taking a while to catch on though…OH WELL. seems like we’ll just have to eat it again and again (and again and again) to make it oneee!!

Alright. so for those of you who don’t know what chicken biryani is….it’s chicken and rice…but with an Indian spin (as is everything I do lol), and this is what it looks like:

I know, looks super-duper delicious, right?

So, what’s the solution to not drooling on your keyboard?? That’s right. I’m gonna teach you how to make itttttt. Mhmm, you’re welcome.

Alright, first things first.  What INGREDIENTS do you need?

2 lbs. chicken thighs

the normal spices: haldi (turmeric), salt, jeera (cumin), dhaniya (coriander powder)

2 cups of rice

the other spices: whole peppercorn, cloves, cinnamon, whole red chili

2 tbsp ginger/garlic paste

A biryani masala mix (for this one, we used a masala mix of the company Kadhaai)

2 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp corn starch

2 tomatoes

2 tbsp half & half (or some cream like thing)

and some fried paneer (optional, only if you want it to taste super-duper delicious, instead of normal delicious)

Now for the METHOD of it…

(I’ll add some pictures to complement the steps so you kinda get the idea of what it should look like!)

Marinate the chicken thighs in haldi (turmeric), namak (salt, to taste), jeera (cumin), and dhaniya (coriander)…about 1 tsp of turmeric, 2 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of cumin and coriander. And let it marinate overnight!  (If you want to marinate for less time—like an hour or something—then add lemon juice to the marinade.)  

Heat oil (or ghee, if you know what that is) in a pan, and add in small slices of onions and whole cumin.

Then, add whole peppercorn, cloves, whole cinnamon, and whole red chillies.  

Then, wash 2 cups of rice and let it soak in water for a little bit.

Add 2 tbsp of ginger/garlic paste, 2 spoons of sour cream, and 1 tbsp of corn starch and the biryani masala mix. ProTip: When you add the corn starch, either dissolve the clumps previously in a little bit of water or just add it on top of the sour cream before mixing.  

Mix together well, then add the marinated chicken into the spice pot. Let it simmer for a few minutes.  

In a different pot, boil the rice about halfway.  And, when you do put the 4 cups of water in it and what not, add a pinch of salt and sugar.  This should take about 9 minutes and look like this when it’s done.

Add the tomatoes and cover it, let it cook for about 15 minutes.

Add the half-cooked rice to the pot of chicken when the chicken is very tender (as in, breakable with your spatula), and the tomatoes are deliciously pulpy.

Now put it on low and add about 2 tbsp of half & half.

Simmer on low for 5 minutes.

If you wantttt, you can add fried paneer in at the very end for some variation.

Then add dhuniya pata (cilantro leaves) and green chillies to taste, for garnish…and TA-DAAAA! it should now look like *scroll up* :)

Oh, also this tastes good with raita, which is a tasty Indian yogurt-like side dish, and it’s super easy to make!

You add like 2 spoons of sour cream to about 1.5 cups of dahi (the plain Indian yogurt), to thicken it up a little bit. [I’ve never tried this, but I suspect using greek yogurt would have a similar effect.]

Then add some salt, a pinch of sugar, BJP (Bhuna hua Jeera Powder…substitute-able with cumin powder), and a little mirchi powder (aka chilli powder), if you want.  Grate a cucumber, squeeze out the water a bit, and add it to the yogurt and MIX. Yummy :)

And another tip: if you are vegetarian, and don’t eat chicken….seriously, just do this without the chicken.  Keep the paneer, chop up some veggies, throw it in the mix. It still tastes SO good.

Also, congrats! you’ve made a delicious meal AND managed to learn some Hindi! You go, Glen Coco!

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This is a beautiful song from Talaash (not mine, released by T-Series, by Ram Sampath, Javed Akhtar...idk lots of people).

BUT...this is definitely my favorite song from the movie and and and a good song from this break :)

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"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."

Mark Twain

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Quick & Tasty Snack: CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS

Ingredients

1.5 cups of Bisquick

0.5 cups of milk

3 handfuls of cheese

2 tbsp butter

oregano

garlic powder

Method

Mix the Bisquick, milk, and cheese together to make a clumpy-ish batter.

Make little biscuit-shaped things (just take an ice cream scoop or a spoon) and put them on a cookie sheet. I used a cupcake pan…

Put it in the oven (preheated at 400° F) for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and mix in the oregano and garlic powder. (Oh, I wanted the add crushed red pepper too, but didn’t get the chance…however, you totally should try it if you like spicy stuff!)

After the 10 minutes, brush each biscuit with the butter-y mix and put back in the over for 7 minutes at 350° F.

And 7 minutes later….ta-daaaa!

Begrudgingly may have to credit the initial idea of this to Brendan.