Rasberry lollies with Sago

During our childhood days, we used to buy the lollies made with vermicelli / noodles or Sago from the street vendors. Instead of having the plain ice, it is nice to have these bits on top of the lolly.

Ingredients:

Sago – ¼ cup

Rasberries – 250 gms

Sugar – 2 tbsp

Sago Pearls

Method:

Soak the sago seeds for 30 minutes in 1 cup of water. Then, boil them until they turn transparent. Keep them aside and allow them to cool down.

Blend the raspberries into smoothe. Add sugar and blend again.

Rasberry smoothe

Unlike the Strawberry seeds, these rasberry seeds are larger and harder. So, make sure to strain the juice before pouring it into the moulds.

Now, take the moulds and pour the boiled sago of 1 tsp into each mould.

On top of it, pour the raspberry smoothe  and freeze it. Instead of using the normal lolly mould, I have used the ice tray. Put the sticks when they are half frozen.

Yummy yummy...

   

Straberry lollies

On a hot day, the children will enjoy nothing more than a lovely refreshing ice lolly but rather than spending a fortune on shop bought ones throughout the summer, why not make your own at home?  At least you know what's gone into them and can make sure that they are healthy.  You can buy the lolly sticks and moulds from any supermarket.

Strawberries are the special fruits with seeds exposing outside. 

Take about 250 gms of ripe strawberries, wash them and remove the stalks.

Blend the strawberries into smooth juice without any lumps. No need to remove the seeds, yet if you want, you can strain the juice before pouring it into the moulds.

To give the extra sweetness to the puree, melt the jaggery using little bit of water and blend along with the puree. This gives the extra dark colour. You can also substitute jaggery with sugar or honey.

Pour the puree into the moulds and freeze it.

i...Sssss.....

Strawberry lolly

Broccoli rice

Broccoli is considered as one of the most nutritive and delicious vegetables. It is highly recommended for vitamin C, and it is also believed that broccoli helps in preventing cancer. Why not we add this in kids diet. I have added this vegetable to the rice along with moong daal, which forms a healthy meal to the growing children. Serves 1 toddler Ingredients: Broccoli - 2 small florets Skinned moong daal - 1 tbsp Rice - 1 tbsp Broccoli, skinned moong daal and rice You can increase the proportions as per your child's capacity Method: Wash and roughly chop the broccoli into big chunks Mix and wash the rice and moong daal. Add 1/2 cup to 3/4th cup of water and cook till they are soft. Remove from the fire, add pinch of salt and mash the mixture. You can also add little bit of ghee to this. Feed the baby when it is still luke warm. ఎవరికోచ్.... ఈ ... గోరు...ముద్దా...

Strawberry Delights

                                                 Fresh Strawberries picked from the farm

We went for Strawberry picking near Oxford. It was so calm and peaceful and totally away from the busy life. One can pick the fruits and vegetables as per their choice. We found very healthy plants. There were raspberries, gooseberries, black currants, red currants, strawberries, cherries, runner beans, garden peas. Nearby farm is available with all freshly grown vegetables.

We picked few raspberries and ate them fresh. Initially we struggle a bit to choose the right ones. Tried, tested and wasted few and then, mastered the art of picking them. Raspberries are so soft and delicate with lovely ruby colours.

Raspberries

Various stages of Raspberries

 Fully ripen fruits are very sweet and juicy, where as the unripe fruits are bit sour. It is bit difficult to differentiate the ripe and unripe fruits as they differ by very slight colours. One trick I found in picking the very ripe ones is, when you hold your fingers around the fruit and give slow movements, the fruit will come into your hands, where as the unripe fruit doesn’t and literally we need to pull it.

A fully ripened raspberry

Black currants

Aren't they resembling black pearls

Millets Farm House

Fresh vegetables at Millets Farm

 Red Currants

Accidentally we found a nest with little chick. Have a look at this cute chick.

A cute little chick peeping out of the nest

Strawberry plants

Strawberry clusters

A fresh delicate strawberry

There is a big difference between the farm fruits and the superstore ones. Not only the freshness, but also the taste differs a lot. In superstores though the fruit colour tempts, the taste doesn’t. Whereas the farm ones, even the unripe fruit tastes sweet if it matured enough.

Here are some strawberry delights.

Strawberry milk shake:

Select few fully ripe fruits, so that we don’t need to add extra sweetness. Remove the stalks and blend the fruits by adding sugar. Slowly add milk to this and pulse again until the milk blends well. Serve it immediately in a glass and top it up with ice.

Strawberry Milkshake

Strawberry yogurt smoothie

1 Cup yogurt

1 Cup Strawberry puree
2 tsp Honey

Select few fully ripe fruits and make them into puree using blender. In another cup beat the yogurt along with honey into smooth paste and slowly fold the strawberry puree into it and serve it cold. This is not only a healthy recipe but also a best substitute for ice creams.

Strawberry yogurt smoothie