Dates and Grapes Covered With Cheese (Cheese Balls)

This is a simple snack for the evening, of course if you like cheese... You can use any cheese of your liking.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil – ¼ tsp Seedless grapes Ground black pepper Medjool dates, pitted Goat cheese – 2 ounces Salted pistachios, roasted and chopped – 2 ounces Method:

• Pour olive oil onto a plate. Add grapes and roll to coat.
• Grind pepper onto grapes.
• Slice open dates, flatten between hands and set aside.
• Divide goat cheese into 4 pieces. Place each piece in your hand and flatten with the heel of your hand.
• To assemble, place each grape on a flattened date and set in the center of the flattened goat cheese.
• Form the cheese around the date-grape, covering completely.
• Roll in chopped pistachios

This is my contribution to the Click Event -Cheese/Tofu hosted by BEE & JAI of Jugalbandhi.

I would like to thank Vidhas, Trupti for passing on the "Super - Duper Chef " award. I am very humbled to receive it.

I would also like to thank Archy for including me in her "Circle of Friends". Thank you Archy..Very glad to be one of your friend. Cute award..

PS: You can use any cheese of your choice. I had Goat cheese, so used that..It is little bland for this..You can use any shape cheese with little spice in it.

You can use any filling inside the cheese.

You can also use any nuts like walnut, pecans, peanuts etc..Instead of nuts you can also roll on fresh herbs of your choice.

You can also make savory cheese balls.

Green Papaya Subzi (Palya)

This is a simple subzi made from Green Papaya. Other than eating the ripe papaya, I did not know that you can do variety of dishes using the unripe green papaya. I came to know about this thru my hubby's friend. He used to cook everything possible from dosas, varieties of chutneys, desserts etc..This is one of the dishes..When I got this recipe, I immediately tried this subzi and the taste was amazing...It is very simple and healthy too. I served this with instant dosa.

Ingredients: Green Papaya - 1 Urad Dhal - 1 tsp Mustard Seeds – ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp Red Chilies – 2 Curry Leaves Chili Powder – 1 tsp Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp Jaggery - 1 tsp Coriander Leaves – 1 Tb spoon Oil – 1 – 2 Tb spoon Salt Method:

• Remove the outer skin and cut papaya into small squares.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, jeera. When it splutters, add urad dhal, split red chilies and curry leaves.
• When urad dhal has turned brown, add papaya pieces.
• Add red chili powder, turmeric, jaggery and salt to it.
• Mix well, cover and allow it to cook on low flame without adding water.
• Cook until done.

• Serve hot with Chapati or as a side with hot rice and dhal.

I would like to send my Green Papaya Subzi to FIC - Orange hosted by Aparna started by Harini.

PS: People who are trying to conceive or who are in their first tri-semesters, please avoid eating papaya, as they say it heats your body and plays a big hand in abortion. Avoid both raw and ripe papaya.

Awards

Thank You Adlak for passing on this wonderful award..I will always wear it and cook :-)..Very thrilled and humbled to have it.

Thank You Adlak, Malar and Trupti for thinking of me and passing this sweet award..Humbled and honoured to receive this sweet award..

Thank You Trupti for this cute Chat Blog award..Exited and humbled to have this award from a sweet Chat friend..

All these awards goes to all my fellow bloggers. You guys are the best I could ever wish for .. extraordinary friends, my big supporters, who always are there..

This is the world within the world, friends without faces, but certainly not without hearts. It is the beauty of your hearts, that is shining here above all. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Rava Omlet / Dosa with Chutney And a Sweet Award

Almost every Sunday, bread omelet used to be our breakfast most of the times in our house. My mom is a pure vegetarian, she does not take egg or cake or biscuits which has egg. But poor thing she used to prepare bread omelets for us almost every Sunday. She used to make this dosa with rava or carrot sandwich for herself. She used to add different flours every time and make this dosa and she used to call this as omelet and the dish got its name as Rava omelet :-). We used to like this more than the bread omelet. I remembered this on Sunday and made this for breakfast.

I would also like to thank Yasmeen of Health Nut for adding me in her list and giving this sweet award which is created by her. I am very humbled and honoured to receive this. Thanks a lot Yasmeen. You too are a sweet heart..

Ingredients: Fine Rava / Semolina – 2 cups Rice flour – ¼ cup Maida / All purpose flour – ¼ cup Curds – ½ cup Onion (chopped finely) – 1 big Chilies – 6-7 (chopped finely) Cilantro /Coriander leaves (chopped finely) – ¼ cup Curry leaves (chopped finely) – 1 Tb spoon Ginger grated / paste – ½ tsp Cumin – 1 tsp Soda – ¼ tsp Salt Tomato (chopped finely) – 1 big Carrot (grated) – 1 Spring onion (chopped finely) – 1/4 cup Method:

• Mix rava, rice flour and maida with curds and keep aside for 30 minutes.
• Then add all the ingredients except tomato, carrot and spring onions.
• Mix them all by adding water to form a batter with a consistency of not too thick or not too watery.
• In a bowl mix tomato, carrot and spring onion and keep aside.
• On a hot tawa pour one big spoon of batter and spread like any other dosa, then add tomato, carrot and spring onion on top.

Apply oil and cook till brown on both sides. CHUTNEY Ingredients:

Coconut – ½ cup Groundnut – ¼ cup Green chilies – 4 -5 Coriander leaves – ¼ cup (chopped finely) Curry leaves – 4-5 leaves Garlic – 1 piece Ginger – ½ inch Salt Lemon juice – 1Tb spoon For Tampering: Oil / ghee – 1 tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Urad dhal – ½ tsp Curry leaves – 3-4 leaves (tear them to pieces in hands) Red chilies – 2-3 Method:

• First fry the groundnuts until brown.
• Then add all the above ingredients and grind them in a mixer till it forms a smooth paste.
• Then heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds.
• When it splutters, add urad dhal, red chillies, and curry leaves.
• When urad dhal becomes brown, mix this mixture with the prepared chutney.
• Serve with hot rava omelet / dosa.

PS : You can mix tomato + carrot + spring onions to the batter itself. If you leave the batter mix for 1 or hours then you will get nice colour . You can also make this as rotti by making it dough instead of batter. For the chutney you can add tamarind instead of lemon juice. You can omit the addition of garlic if you do not like the taste of it.

Five Minute Nutty Fudge

“Come ..Fall in Love”…it is so true..I am talking about most watched and my all time favorite movie DDLJ( Brave – Hearted Will Take the Bride). I really fell in love with that movie... I don’t remember how many times I must have seen this movie…still, I will watch it as if I am seeing it for the first time. All the dialogues are so heart touching…my fav is “Hum to Apne Desh ko Hamare Dil Mai Rakthe Hai” and I also love this line…"Aise Bade Bade Deshome Aisi Choti Choti Bathe Hothi Rehthi Hai"… I have seen it so many times that I remember every dialogue and scenes by heart. Oh God.. My daughter is a very big fan of SRK like mom. She watched this movie too with us without blinking her eye. At the end, when she saw SRK being slapped, she din’t want to see that part and asked us to fast forward it. So cute... Nice way to start a Valentine weekend. Valentine's Day without a sweet(chocolate) ..no way. Thought of making this simple fudge, which is chocolaty, nutty and a little kick to it for my two Valentines in the house:-). I have added few pinches of chili powder for just a kick when you swallow. Ya, as mentioned it only takes five minutes to make this but you have to refrigerate for 2 hours.

Ingredients:

Semi – sweet chocolate – 1 bar Condensed milk – 1 can Vanilla Extract – 2 spoons / 2 tsp Chili Powder – 2- 3 pinches (optional) Pecans & Walnuts (chopped) – 1 handful each (1/2 cup combined)

Method:

• In a bowl, put chocolate pieces and one can of condensed milk.

• Microwave it for 2- 3 minutes on high heat.
• When the chocolate has melted, add vanilla extract, chili powder, nuts and combine together.
• Cover a foil over a 9 inch square pan, so that it will be easy to remove the fudge from.
• Pour the fudge mixture in it and refrigerate for 2 hours or more or until it becomes solid.

• Then remove the foil and cut the fudge to required shape and size.

My Nutty five minute Fudge goes to "Lets Go Nuts" hosted by Aquadaze with my choice of both Walnuts and Pecans.

It is also off to Recipes for the rest of us - Dessert hosted by Varsha and also Ramki of One Page Cookbook.

It is also off to EFM - Microwave Oven Series hosted by Srilekha.

It also goes to' Just For You ' Event hosted by Alka.

Brinjal - Zucchini Subzi with Dill Chapathi

I was wondering whether it is a Brinjal /Eggplant week or is there something about eggplant or may be just a coincidence that everybody thought of making eggplant this week...as I am seeing so many brinjal varieties ..

Seeing all brinjal yummy dishes, I too made brinjal subzi but included zucchini to it and made dill chapati for the subzi.

Ingredients:

Brinjal / Eggplant (cut to medium cubes) – 1 big Zucchini – 1 medium Onion (chopped) – 1 big Tomato (chopped) – 1 medium Ginger paste – 1 ½ tsp Garlic paste – 1 ½ tsp Garam masala - ½ tsp Chili powder – 1 tsp Dhaniya powder – ½ tsp Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Cumin seeds – ½ tsp Coriander leaves – 2 Tb spoon Oil – 2 Tb spoon Lemon juice(optional) – 1 Tb spoon Salt Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add cumin.
• Then add onions and fry till golden brown.
• Add chopped tomato along with ginger and garlic paste. Fry till oil leaves.
• Add all the powders (adjust them according to your spice level) and fry for few minutes.
• Then add chopped brinjal and zucchini, add salt, give it a stir, cover and allow it to cook on low flame for few minutes.
• Do not add water, as it will leave water on their own.
• When it is cooked sprinkle coriander leaves on top along with some lemon juice and serve with chapati or rice or Nan.

I have served mine with Dill Chapati. As I had freshly bought dill and had this recipe in mind for a while..so gave it a try with few additions to it. The original recipe is from Maya of Konkan World. You can find the original recipe here. I have made a few variations to the original recipe.

Dill Chapati

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 2 cups Soya flour – 2 Tb spoon Dill (chopped finely) – 1 cup Ajwain – 1 Tb spoon Turmeric – ¼ tsp Milk – ¼ cup Salt Oil

Method:

• Mix all the above ingredients except oil, add water and knead to form smooth dough.
• I have just chopped Dill and added it without and frying or boiling.
• Keep aside for 30 minutes.
• Then make chapatis.

• Serve hot with subzi and salad.

My Brinjal/Eggplant - Zucchini Subzi with Dill Chapati goes to 'Made For Each Other' event hosted by Asvadha .

PS:

• For the subzi, you can make only brinjal without the zucchini.
• Yellow squash and also Calabaza could be added to it.
• You can add vangibath powder to it instead of garam masala and chili powder.
• I have added milk, more ajwain,turmeric and soya flour to make chapati.
• Soya flour makes the chapati soft and is healthy too.

Eggless Pecan Cookies - Sweet and Savory

Seeing all the egg less cookies, drove to bake some cookies too. I came across this egg less cookie with less sugar and pecans. I had to give it a try...

Pecans has got so many nutritional values such as adding just a handful of pecans to your diet each day may help inhibit unwanted oxidation of blood lipids, thus helping prevent coronary heart disease. It also plays a role in lowering cholesterol, aids in weight loss and maintenance. The review cited studies indicating that nut consumption may increase metabolic rates and enhance satiety Nearly 60 percent of the fats in pecans are monounsaturated and another 30 percent are polyunsaturated, leaving very little saturated fat in pecans. In addition, pecans contain no trans fat. Pecans contain more than 19 vitamins and minerals – including vitamin A, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, several B vitamins and zinc.

Ingredients:

Softened Butter – 1 cup Sugar – ½ - ¾ cup Vanilla Extract – 1tsp All Purpose flour – 2 cups Pecans (Finely chopped) – 1 cup Confectionery sugar Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
• Gradually add flour and then stir in pecans.
• Shape rounded teaspoonful of dough into 2 ½ inch logs and shape into crescents.
• Place one inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

• Bake at 325 deg for 20 – 25 minutes or until set and bottoms are lightly browned.

• Let stand for 2-3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
• Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving

Savory Pecan Cookies:

When I baked the sweet cookies, my husband started pestering me to make something savory to munch..So, in the evening, I made this cookie and added the nutrient pecans too to it. This recipe is something similar to the khara biscuits (Savory) you get in the bakery in India.

Ingredients:

Softened Butter – ¼ cup All Purpose flour – 1 cup Pecans (Finely chopped) – ¼ cup Onion (Finely chopped) – 1 medium Chilies (Chopped) – 5 – 6 Cumin / Jeera / - 2 tsp Chilli powder (optional) – 1/2 tsp (according to your spice) Salt Soda (optional) – 2 pinch Coriander leaves - 2 Tb spoon(finely chopped)

Method:

• Fry chopped onions till light brown.
• Mix all the above ingredients till it forms nice smooth dough.
• If it is too dry, add a little water while mixing.
• Shape rounded teaspoonful of dough into 2 ½ inch log and shape into crescents.
• Place one inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

• Bake at 325 deg for 20 – 25 minutes or until brown in color.
• Let it cool on a wire rack.

My Eggless Pecan Cookies - Sweet and Savory goes to Aqua Daze of "Served with Love" blog's event "Let's go Nuts: Walnuts or Pecans" with my choice of Pecans.

PS:

• You can use also use walnuts to it.
• You can increase the sugar quantity for the sweet cookies according to your taste buds.
• If you cant make the crescent shape, you can make your own shape.
• You can store both in an air tight container.
• For the savory cookies, you can add chillies according to your taste. You can use either only chillies or chilli powder or both according to your spice.
• You can adjust the butter to according to your taste.

Bruschetta

Ingredients: Red seedless grapes – 1 cup Green seedless grapes – 1 cup Cinnamon – ¼ tsp Nutmeg – 1/8 tsp Dash of ground cloves Almond extract – 1/8 tsp (optional) Part – skim Ricotta cheese – 1 cup Candied ginger (minced) – 1 Tb spoon Walnuts (chopped) – 1 Tb spoon Baguette – 1 (cut into 16 slices) Fresh mint leaves for garnish Method:

• Pulse grapes in a food processor 3- 4 times, just until chopped. Drain thoroughly.
• Transfer grapes to a bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and almond extract.
• Stir to blend.
• Place ricotta, ginger and walnuts in another bowl and stir to blend.
• Toast bread slices.
• Spread 1 Tb spoon of the ricotta mixture on each bread slices. Top with a spoonful of the grape mixture.
• Garnish with mint or halved grapes, if desired. This makes 4- 6 servings.

PS:

• Thin – slices biscotti, toasted mini bagels or English muffins can be substituted for the baguette.
• If you like the flavour of cinnamon with cheese , then this is a perfect snack.
• This can be served as breakfast or as a snack in the evening.
• Original recipe is from Amy Muzyka - dietition/certified culinary professional.

Refreshing Vegetable Salad

Ah! yet another warm day today. The temperature is around 70 degrees today and happy to have warm weather instead of the cold freezing weather. It has been a pretty warm all this week. So, for a change made this colourful and crisp medely of summer veggies, bursting with flavor. Between impromptu games of tag and catch, everyone can help lay out the refreshing salad. Enjoy!!

Ingredients: Zucchini – 2 medium (chopped) Asparagus – 10 Red bell pepper – 1 (chopped) Yellow bell pepper – 1(chopped) Orange bell pepper – 1 (chopped) Green bell pepper – 1 (chopped) Red onion – 1 medium (chopped to bite size pieces) Tomato – 1 big (chopped to small pieces) Corn – ½ cup Blue cheese – 2 Tb spoon (optional) Dressing: Red wine vinegar – 2 Tb spoon Olive oil – 1 Tb spoon Salt Pepper

Garlic -2 (finely grated) Cilantro – 2 Tb spoon Basil leaves – 1 Tb spoon

Method:

• Heat a pan and add chopped zucchini and fry for few seconds on high heat.
• Fry asparagus too and then cut them to one inch pieces.
• Fry corn too in a similar manner.
• Mix all the veggies in a bowl.
• In a bowl, mix red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, cilantro and basil leaves together.
• Add the dressing to the veggie bowl.
• Give a stir and serve at room temperature with a little cheese on top.

This simple salad on its way to SWC- Salad under 15 minutes at Cooking Station hosted by Lakshmi . PS: Another way of trying this salad:

• Chop zucchini to very small pieces.
• Add all chopped veggies to it and mix the dressing.
• Keep it refrigerated for 1 -2 hours and serve chilled with cheese on top.

I have not added the green pepper and cheese as I dint have them. I don’t like the raw taste of zucchini, so I have fried them. You can add any vegetables you like. When you are frying the veggies you can add salt and pepper to them individually. Do not over fry the veggies and make them mushy and soft. Just fry for few seconds on high heat so that they are still crunchy.