Fruit Smoothie

6 strawberries + 10 blue berries + 1 banana + pineapple with juice + 1/2 cup fat free mik + crushed ice. Blend together.

Enjoy!

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

There is no greater pleasure for me than making fresh home made recipes in my tiny kitchen. I have begun to eat salads again for my lunch these days and I prefer my home made salad dressing to go with it. That way I am happy knowing that everything I eat is fresh, healthy and low in calories and fat.

I wouldn't say I am expert at this Balsamic Vinaigrette recipe . But it tastes pretty decent :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup - EVOO
1/4 cup aged good quality Balsamic Vinegar
Garlic  - 1 small minced
Honey - as per your taste
pepper and salt

Method:

Whisk together all these ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a container, store in refrigerator and keep this no more than a week.

Enjoy!

 

Baked Kale Chips

This is a recipe we intend to try as part of the weekly cooking experiment. Kale chips are the new potato chips for the health conscious aficionados out there. What the heck - Even Mrs Obama is a fan of these! Did you know Kale is a form of cabbage? Kale is also fat free, low in calorie and high in fiber.

Ingredients:

Kale - 1 bunch, washed and dried thoroughly
Olive oil - 1 Tbsp
Old Bay Seasoning
Salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear Kale into bite size pieces. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning. Bake till crisp.

Enjoy!

Sliced Date and Orange Salad

This is a Moroccan inspired desert (breakfast) recipe. We ate this with Fage Yogurt with Honey as a weekend brunch special at our home.


Ingredients:

Oranges (we used Naval oranges ) - 4
Medjool dates pitted and chopped - 1/2 cup
Almonds chopped and toasted - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon (optional)

Picture Courtesy: Sunset Magazine

Method:

Juice 1 orange. Peel and cut the remaining 3 into large chunks. In a large bowl, mix juice, orange pieces, dates, almonds, and cinnamon until combined. Eat with Greek Yogurt or as a simple salad.

Enjoy!

Recipe Courtesy: Sunset Magazine

Palakwali Moong Dal - Dal with Spinach

This is a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe from his book "How to Cook Indian." Check out the video of the Rachel Ray's show he was on to promote this book. We absolutely love these two chefs (uh, cooks!!).


Ingredients:

Moon Dal - 1 cup
Spinach - 2 cups chopped
Minced Garlic - 1/2 tsp
Minced Ginger - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - to taste
cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 3
green chillies - 1 big
Red onion - finely diced 1 medium


Method:  

Pressure cook Moon dal along with spinach and a cup of water. In the meantime, heat a non-stick pan with olive oil. Add cummin seeds + asafoetida. When the cummin seeds turn golden, add ginger + garlic + onions. Saute for 5 mins. Add the chillies. Add the cooked dal mixture. Add turmeric and salt. Cover and simmer for 5 mins.


Enjoy!

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes

Thanks Anjali for sharing this great recipe. Quinoa has been a popular substitute for carbohydrates like rice and whole grains in the last few years because of it's high protein and fibre content. Did you actually know that quinoa is a seed and not a grain?

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, well rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup diced red onion
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup frozen corn, defrosted, OR 1 cup of fresh corn, parboiled, drained and cooled (approximately the amount of kernels from one ear of corn)
• 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
• 5 ounces Queso fresco, Queso Panela, fresh Mozzarella or other mild farmer's cheese, cut into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, including tender stems, packed
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
•  
•  

• METHOD

  1 Put the rinsed quinoa, salt and water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer gently until the quinoa absorbs all the water, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Place into a large bowl and fluff up with a fork to help it cool more quickly.

  2 While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the rest of the salad. Soak the red onions in the lime juice and set aside. Soaking the onions in lime juice (or lemon juice or water) helps take the edge off of them. Mix the prepped black beans, corn kernels, tomatoes, cheese, jalapenos, cilantro, and oil into a large bowl.

  3 When the quinoa has cooled, mix it into the bean mixture. Add the red onion and the lime juice and add salt, more oil or lime juice to taste. Serve at room temperature.
  Yield: Serves 4-6.
  Courtesy: Pushpanjali Shenoy(recipe learnt from Simplyrecipes.com)
   

Veggie Kabobs Marinaded in Yogurt and Mint - Coriander Chutney

This is a recipe I learnt from my husband's cousin, Anjali, who is a great cook.

Ingredients:
Paneer - Indian cheese
red onions - diced
green, yellow, orange,red bell peppers - 1 each diced
roma tomatoes
zucchini - diced

Method:

Make a mint - coriander chutney as a marinade. Grind Mint + coriander + ginger+ green chillies + salt + vingear. Combine this with some yogurt and a make a mixture. Coat the vegetables in this marinade and refrigerate for 2 hours. Thread vegetables onto swekers and grill for 10 mins, basting with any remaining marinade and turning occasionally.

Enjoy! 

Chicken Sukha - A Sanjeev Kapoor Recipe

Again a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe. Whatever little cooking and recipes we know today are all thanks to him.

here a link of this Chicken Sukkha recipe from You Tube.

Method:

1/2 Chicken on bone
2 red onions - diced
1/2 ginger minced
1/2 garlic minced
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
8-9 cloves
1 big dalchini stick
10 pepper corns
5 big red chillies
1 big green bell pepper
coriander leaves 

Method:

Dry roast all the spices and chilly in a non stick pan (do not add oil). Roast till the spices impart aroma in the air. In a blender combine the onions + garlic + ginger + the roasted spice mixture.
Grind to a fine paste adding little water. Add salt. Marinade the chicken with this masala for 3 hours.

Heat oil in a non stick pan. Add a tiny piece for butter for flavor. When the oil heats up add the chicken and the remaining masala. Cover and cook on low flame for 20 mins. Add bell pepper at the very end and simmer for 5 more mins. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Enjoy!

Veggie Omelette with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

I saw this on an Indian blog called iDiva.com. This looked very appetizing and healthy. Both my husband and I love goat cheese in omelettes. You can also substitute Feta for goat cheese. The sun dried tomatoes give it a tangy flavor.

Ingredients:

4 Eggs - beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper
1 white onion - diced
1/2 red bell pepper - diced
1/2 green bell pepper - diced
1/2 cup spinach
1/4 cup -mushrooms
goat cheese - 2 tbsp
sun dried tomatoes in Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch each of salt and pepper.
2. Melt the butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring and tilting the pan, until just set, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat cheese; fold the eggs over the filling. Transfer to a plate and serve with the bread. 

Enjoy!
Recipe courtesy: realsimple.com

Salmon Boats

 This is a healthy and yummy appetizer.

1 cucumber - halved and scooped
2 tsp - canned Pink salmon
Yellow Mustard
2 tsp plain yogurt
salt and pepper

Method: Cut cucumber into half. Scoop the seeds. Fill the cucumber boats with Salmon. Spread Yogurt and mustard paste on the top. Season with salt and pepper.

Eat cold.

Enjoy!

Black Eye Peas Masala

Black eye Peas - 1 1/2 cups (add salt and pressure cook with half cup water to a whistle)
1 Big onion - chopped
1 Big tomato - chopped
1/2 tbsp - Chilly powder
1/2 Tbsp - turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp - Cummin powder
1/2 tsp - Amchur powder
1/2 tsp - Whole ummin
1/2 tsp - Mustad seeds
tamarind paste

Method:

Pressure cook black eye peas and keep aside. In a pan add olive oil, mustard and cummin seeds. When the mustad starts to splutter add onions and cook till transparent. Now add tomatoes and cook till they are done. Add the powder and mix well. Cook for another 3 mins. Now add the Black eye peas along with the water. Add tamarind paste and salt

Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Meethi and Jeera Chicken

This is a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe. We have been ardent fans of his for many many years now and the first gift that I received from my hubby was a collection of his recipe books. His recipes are so simple and easy to make, not to mention that all his recipe measurements are so accurate that one could blindly follow them.


Ingredients: 

Chicken (bone in/boneless) thighs 1/2 lb
yogurt 1 1/2 cup
cumin seeds  3/4 tbsp
coriander leaves
mint leaves
olive oil  2 tsp
turmeric powder  1/2 tsp
Serrano chilies  6
black pepper  1/2 tsp crushed
salt to taste
juice of half a lemon

Method: 


Marinade chicken pieces with salt and lemon for 30 mins in the refrigerator. Heat oil in a non stick skillet. Add cumin and turmeric. When the seeds turn golden, add the chicken, chilies, mint and coriander leaves. Saute for 10 mins. Now add yogurt and crushed pepper. Add salt if needed. Cover and cook till done. Sprinkle some lemon juice.

Eat hot with rice or naan.

Enjoy!

Asparagus with Fried Egg and Parmesan Cheese

I was feeling lazy today and decided to make a simple meal that wouldn't take me longer than 10-15 mins to make from start to finish. I remembered having book marked this recipe from Steamy Kitchen in my drafts a few days back and decided to go with it as I had asparagus sitting unused in my refrigerator for some days now. I also had some left over sticky rice from this past weekend that we had made to eat with Thai Red curry chicken. I sprinkled some Furikake mix and served it on the side. Mu hubby loves Furikake and he thought this meal was heavenly -- who said you had to slog in the Kitchen to please your man!

Ingredients: 
asparagus (boil for 5 mins in salted water)
Egg (prepare sunny side up)
parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
sticky rice
Furikake mix

Method: Boil the asparagus in salted water for 5 mins. Prepare egg sunny side up. Place this on the asparagus and sprinkle parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Prepare sticky rice as per instructions. When done sprinkle some Furikake mix.

Enjoy!

Watercress Salad Sandwich

My new favorite. I absolutely love this sandwich! This is from Glamour Magazine.

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup watercress
1/4 cup cheddar cheese (aged), grated
a few slices of kirby cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp lemon juice + some extra for drizzling
Kosher salt and pepper
1 tbsp mayo (I used the low fat version)
1/2 avocado thinly sliced

Method:

In a large bowl toss watercress, cheese, cucumber, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spread mayo on each slice of bread. Layer avocado on one slice. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle salt  and pepper. Mound the watercress salad over the avocado. Top with the remaining slice of bread.

Enjoy!

Courtesy: Glamour magazine