Have A Nutty Day! :)

Okaaaaay, so winter is at its full bloom at our side of the world...7 degrees to 14 degrees ahem ahem I know lot of you have snow and all but for me anything less than 20 degrees is coooold...and winters seriously make most of us really lazy especially when you have a little monkey at home hehehe... waking up at 7am is so NOT cool in winters, that's the time when the cosy bed and the warm blankets are most comfortable... BUT... we busy moms HAVE to get up pick and drop the kids, make breakfast, lunch & dinner blah blah blaaaaah! :P

But....Winters are also the time to enjoy a hot cuppa on a perfect morning, a bowl of filling chicken soup while it drizzles outside, warm milk & cookies...ahhhhh! and NUTS - unless you are allergic or hate nuts I'm sure most of us enjoy a good nutty break I make a ntut mix which we all enjoy during winters yummmO, a handful of almonds, cashews, raisins, walnuts etc

So just mix 'em all up all your favourite nuts make a trail mix but dont have them too much! ;)

Have a good cooold weekend! :)

Name Change Guys!

Hello hello! so I was just working on a few photos, facebook page too and was told by few friends that the previous name was a bit hard to remember lol so I have changed the blog name from myjellybeanieworld to Food-Shop-Travel sounds more appropriate I guess and easy to remember too :) thanks for the appreciation guys! Keep the love coming! :)

Now you can stay updated for latest blog updates on facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-Shop-Travel/308507502507634#!/pages/Food-Shop-Travel/308507502507634

Have a great day! :)

My Latest Beauty-full Purchase :)

Okay so while I was visiting Bahrain I went to the mall (ofcourse!) and slipped into Sephora which is one of my favourite places at the mall, by the way! and I made few yummy purchases, one of which I would like to share & review today.

Too Faced Cosmetics Natural Eye Kit

This trendy and very handy, easy to carry, travel friendly Eye Kit has Nine eyeshadow colours with instruction cards and a dual-ended applicator inside the mini box. There are three card-written instructions on how to create “day”, “classic” and “fashion”. I simply love the colors which are light, glittery, smokey all in the same box!

They also have variety of more shades & colours to choose from:

Smokey Eye Shadow Collection
Matte Eye Shadow Collection
Romantic Eye Classic Beauty
Naked Eye Soft & Sexy Eye Shadow Collection

The price is $73 at Sephora stores and I got it for 20.7 BD from Bahrain. Available in Riyadh, KSA for 207 SR, AED 193 in Dubai. So all you eyeshadow lovers get your hands on it now! ;)

Weekend in Bahrain

So I was off (again-MASHA ALLAH!) for a short holiday in the desert only, a short drive and 3 days later we are back! :) The highlights of the trip are ofcourse Maya, back to back movies (lovedddd cat in boots 3D), Nirvana at Ritz, shopping & a new place we tried Nu Asia! All in all a short & fun trip! :)

Few clicks from the trip...enjoy! See ya guys soon with another yummy blog update! :)

Ritz Carlton

The yummy gulab jamuns at NIRVANA (Ritz Carlton)



Live instrumental music at Nirvana





yummy Maya


Yummy sorbets

Heavenly Chocolate Soufflé

A soufflé. French: [su.fle]is a light baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means "to blow up" or more loosely "puff up" (Reference Wikipedia)

Im back to routine & all unpacked after a tiring but fun vacation, am very tired, Rayyan's school started right after we were back and I had to start with the same routine...but was also sick of eating restaraunt food for the past two weeks, there's nothing like a home cooked meal. DH and I are big fans of home cooked food apart from being a big time foodie, I also love to cook and try new recipes all the time and as the saying goes ;)



Was making dinner, opened the fridge & chocolate chips caught my eye...now I had two options, I could just eat a little of those yummy morsels or nibble a carrot :P any guesses on which I chose? I decided to make a Soufflé....yup! that's me and my sweet tooth :) Dont really remember where I got this recipe from over the internet or some tv channel completely fogotten. Had it noted down in my diary ready to be tried :)

I took pictures at every step so it's easier for you guys to make and see what the steps actually look like! So here is the step by step on making the yummy little thing just for the two of you or if you would like to eat both all by yourself...upto you ;)

Ingredients: (for two people)

1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp cocoa
1 large egg (yolk & white separated)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp sugar
sugar for sprinkle and spray can (baking)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 400F/200C.

Spray two 6 ounce ramekins or custard cups (oven proof) with spray & coat lightly with sugar.

Heat chocolate chips, butter & cocoa in a pan (very low heat, takecare not to to burn/overheat).


When chocolate is fully melted, Stir in the-egg yolk & vanilla. Keep on flame for 5-10 seconds. Stir slowly.

Beat Egg whites (it will be frothy & foamy at first). Add 2 tbsp sugar and keep whisking till soft peaks form.



Stir 1/4 egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining gently but thoroughly.




Spoon in ramekins, filling 3/4th cup.




Bake on centre oven rack for 15-20 minutes or until puffed. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm.





----End notes----

Soufflé is supposed to be puffy and as soon as it's out of the oven it deflates and goes a little down. Dont panic if that happens :) it's normal. It will be soft and gooey inside but not runny. You can now enjoy your Heavenly Soufflé right in the mug or turn it upside down on a plate and serve with fruit/icecream/whipped cream. Enjoy!




I hope you & your family try it and enjoy this easy but delicious recipe! Any questions or comments are most welcome, your lovely comments make my day! Spread the Love by sharing this Blog and the posts you like :)

Ciao <3

What's For Breakfast Mummy?!?

Pancakes!! Breakfast of the day is Pancakes. We love 'em! Just a little twist for my son who is a very choosy & picky eater (like most kids these days). But he loves it when I make faces, shapes out of food, it fascinates him. Give it a try :) it really works with kids. Boys loves cars and animals- whether its car shaped nuggets or a cat face sandwich, it attracts them to food.

Easy Pancake Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, egg and oil. Mix until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the pan, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Twists to the basic recipe:

Now comes the fun part ;) You can make a number of changes with basic recipe, you can add bananas (chopped) & nuts, or chopped apples & cinnamon or whatever your kid likes.

I just add a small banana, make the face with Nutella, the hair with Peanut butter and drizzle it with honey! :) thats how you get the yummy Happy face! :)

Give it to kids with a glass of warm milk or orange juice, healthy breakfast for the weekends or just before school.

Stuff I'm Lovin Right Now

Dont we all have those few things, things we like, things we always pack when we travel, things we cant live without, yes yes we all have 'those' few things in our homes that we love.

So here goes, I will will be also blogging about my top fave stuff stashed in my kitchen or my bedroom drawer, it can be just anything that I'm loving at the moment.

For now I raided my kitchen and came up with few things which have made things easier & definitely tastier ;)


Jell-O



Who can say No to Jell-O!?! Best for quick fixes, the jellies and the pudding mixes. We have quite a few flavours available here in Riyadh including plain cheescake but my personal favourite is the Oreo cookies & creme, its very easy to make with 1-2-3 steps. You can eat it as is or pour it in pie crust or tart shells, its delicious any way ;)

Peanut Butter and Nutella



Need I say more? ;)


Nando's



They dont call it 'bottled passion' for no reason ;) I get my dose of nando's peri peri whn i visit my home or from Dubai. Delicious with almost anything: fries, rice, noodles, sandwiches, chip dips etc etc. Splash into pasta sauces and stir fries for more flavour and fire! they have Extra Hot, Hot, Medium, Garlic and Lemon & Herb.


Baker's Joy



The name says it all :) It is truly a Baker's Joy! Perfect for baking, available in all big hypermarkets especially Danube/Tamimi in 'imported' products section.


Last but not the least Cup'a'Soup



I'm lovin' it, its easy, its yummy and has lots of flavours:chicken, lentil, noodle, mushroom, tomato....ahhhh needless to say am havin it right now! ;)

And We're Back...!! :D

Phew! Finally after 2 weeks & 5 cities, the sun, the sand and ofcourse the tan :P we are back - home sweet home...it is true no matter where you go there's nothing like your own bed no place like your own room, no matter how luxurious the hotel is...no place is like home :)

So, this time around we covered Thailand- my first trip to the amazing country, though DH has worked and stayed thr many times before & then we were off to China - my 4th trip to the fascinating land.

Will b updating about stuff I love there, where to stay, when to go, what to do and ofcourse where to EAT if you're planning to visit either countries anytime soon :)

Next blog will be about the travel tales, for now Iam jet lagged, bags to unpack along with a cranky toddler who wants 2 go back to the Beach and to ride elephants :P

see y'all soon stay tuned :)

****EID MUBARAK****

Dear Readers,

We have Eid holidays in KSA & we're leaving for vacation tonight, insha Allah! will be back sooooon! Will start blogging as soon as Iam back. planning on a travel tale blog too :)




Also wishing all Muslims, Eid Mubarak (have a Happy Eid)...!

Snack Of The Day

Well....what is a snack? For some it might be an apple or a piece of fruit, for others a bar of chocolate ;) so yes its all in the perspective.

So what do You consider a Snack..?? :)

In this blog will be sharing my favourite snack for now and also will be covering another eatery in Riyadh, which I like to go to after shopping for a bite. It is a nice & cosy joint, with a good sitting area right infront of Debenhams at Riyadh Gallery called "Tomn Lounge"

The first thing that attracted me to that place was...ofcourse the food! lol but also the purple, flowery couches & chairs. The menu is also nice including breakfast, sandwiches (hot & cold), drinks (hot & cold) and ofcourse the desserts (tarts, muffins, cheescakes etc), they also have 'light' sandwiches.

What I tried this time was the Oriental Chicken Sandwich...it has strips of chicken, mayo, mustard, lettuce & tomato, you can choose your own bread (they have variety of breads) .... Ofcourse it happens only in KSA where you order a 'LIGHT' Sandwich and they give you a packet of 'french cheese or salted' LAYS chips along with it ;) hahaha!