Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies for T & T

When Curry Leaf announced Tasty Palettes for Zlamushka's T &T, I knew what to make, since her vegan lemon poppy seed cookies is in my bookmarked recipes for a long time. As soon as I saw the event announcement, I immediately noted the recipe and baked it.

Here is the recipe

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Poppy seeds - 1 1/2 tblspn

Arrow root powder - 1 1/2 tblspn

Nutmeg powder - A big pinch

Salt - a big pinch

Butter - 5 tblspn

Sugar - 1/3 cup

Lemon 1 tblspn

Lemon Zest - 1 tspn

Vanilla essence - 1 tspn

Water - 3 tblspn

I have used white poppy seeds and arrow root powder in place of cornflour. Suganya had made it vegan by using margarine and I used butter.

Method

Mix flour, poppy seeds, arrow root powder, nutmeg and salt.Cream together, butter, sugar, lemon juice, zest and vanilla essence. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Add water little by little to form the dough. Don't add 3 tblspn of water at one go.Pinch off a tablespoon of dough and shape in to a ball and slightly flatten it.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 25 minutes or till the sides starts browning. The original
recipe said 18-20 minutes, mine took extra 5 minutes. The timings may vary according to your
oven settings. Suganya's has got a nice brown color. Mine remained mostly yellow except the sides which were slightly brown. Don't know if it has anything to do with the use of butter in place of margarine. It was definitely tasty.

The cookies were melt in the mouth kind with a tangy flavor. It gives a nice feeling to bite into the poppy seeds. Thanks Suganya, for a keeper recipe.

Whole Wheat Quick Bread

I was searching for some quick bread recipe and the quick brown bread at Alanna's Kitchen Parade caught my attention. There wasn't much of preparation work. Just mixing the ingredients and it was egg less too. She has already given a healthy version. So there wasn't any substitution needed from my part, which I often try to do.

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Baking soda - 2 tspn

Salt - 1 tspn

Brown Sugar -1/3 cup

Honey- 1/4 cup

Buttermilk - 2 cup

Tutty fruity- 1/2 cup

Mix dry ingredients - whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking soda,brown sugar and salt.
Stir in rest of the ingredients. Mix until just combined. The batter is of not pouring consistency. Its more like a loos chapati dough. Transfer the batter to a greased loaf pan. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon.Bake in a preheated oven at 190 C for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

This slightly denser, mildly sweet, honey flavored, quick bread is good for breakfast with butter or jam.

This goes to

1) BBD#18-Quick Breads, guest hosted by Manasi, an event started by Zorra.

2) JFI-Wheat, hosted by Roma

"Joe the Plumber" vs. "Dan the Plumber"

It’s a “Battle Royale”!
It’s going to be a real knock-down-drag-out!

Who is the better plumber (for Southern California)?

- “Dan the Plumber” has never been on TV.
- “Joe the Plumber” has never fixed a leaky faucet in Aliso Viejo, or cleared a clogged drain in Rancho Santa Margarita!

- “Dan the Plumber” has never been featured prominently in a presidential campaign.
- “Joe the Plumber” doesn’t have a website, advertising his services, for customers all over Orange County, CA!

- “Dan the Plumber” has never been interviewed by a newscaster.
- “Joe the Plumber” is not a licensed plumbing contractor in California (License # 877283)!

Since this is an amateur bout, folks, it only goes three rounds, but I think the decision is obvious!

If you are a Southern California business or home owner, in need of standard or emergency plumbing repairs, “Dan the Plumber” wins all three rounds!

* Does your home in Mission Viejo need a new water heater?
* Does your Irvine business have a clogged toilet?
* Would you like a softener installed in your Laguna Beach home?
* Does your Costa Mesa business need to have the sewers jetted?
* Would you like to have a Reverse Osmosis system installed in your Tustin home?

Only “Dan the Plumber” can do all of these things and much more; “Joe the Plumber” isn’t allowed! (And his response time would be terrible since he lives in Ohio, or Indiana, or something.)

By the way… Who is “Joe the Plumber”, anyway? Does anyone really know? I mean, we have heard him mentioned in a presidential campaign, and then there was the guy on the news, but, is that the REAL “Joe the Plumber”?

“Dan the Plumber”, on the other hand, is a REAL person! He owns AB&R Plumbing (a full-service, 24-hour plumbing company, serving all of Orange County), as well as New Technology Plumbing (A commercial new construction and tenant improvement plumbing company). Some might say he is The Greatest Plumber in the World, but “Dan the Plumber” wouldn’t, he is just too modest.