Sprouts Cutlet/Tikki

Sprouts Cutlet/Tikki

Just the other day I made Indian Quesadilla where I used moong sprouts as the filling. I had some sprouts leftover which gave rise to my today's recipe. I was in mood to eat something spicy and crispy. So I decided to give my sprouts a makeover!
These are shallow fried so you need not feel guilty eating them. Its packed with proteins, high in fiber and low in calories. Thus making it a must have in a vegetarian's meal. Not to forget they are good to taste as well. They can even be eaten raw in a salad.

Hummus made from Almond Pulp

Hummus made from Almond Pulp

I am still gorging on this delicious Homemade Organic Almond Milk that I made yesterday. I mean really, look at this..who can resist this? It's mildly flavored and nutritious. It is a very good alternative for those who have an allergy for dairy or soy products.

Indian Quesadilla

Indian Quesadilla 

Since the time I came to US, apart from enjoying occasional Chinese food takeouts, I have really loved Mexican food. I feel these two cuisines come close to Indian style because of the spices and flavors used in the recipes. I love Italian food as well, however only if its loaded with pepper flakes! I am a sucker for spicy food you see. :)
Anyways coming back to Mexican cuisine, Obviously the ones you get in the restaurants are loaded with calories and unhealthy. I have made whole wheat Quesadilla in the past and they have turned out good. It is always an achievement when you can replicate a restaurant dish at home minus all the fats and calories.

Mildly flavored Homemade Organic Almond Milk

Mildly flavored Homemade Organic 

Almond Milk

Recently while talking to a friend in Sydney, she mentioned that they have given up diary products completely. She told me that they now only consume store bought Almond milk. She has done some research on this and told me to only buy Carrageenan free brands, which also has fewer additives and sugar. Intrigued, we began doing our own research on Almond Milk. There were some brands here in the US which met the purpose, but still it was not completely free of sugar, additives and preservatives. Lot of articles that I read online had only one thing to say by the end - If you not happy with the ones you get in the stores, make them at home yourself.
Making it at home is the easiest and simplest way to obtain nutritious and delicious milk!

Sunrise to Sunset Drink

Sunrise to Sunset - Strawberry Orange Juice

Quick and easy to make juice which can be served any season. Have surprise guests over or need some mid meal snacking option? Whatever is your excuse, you will enjoy this drink anytime of the day!
I have used freshly squeezed orange juice with fresh strawberries. Just having one glass of this juice refreshes me and I feel energetic.

Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup

Roasted Cauliflower & Broccoli Soup

There is something about grilled vegetables! They taste so good. So this time in continuation with my new found soup obsession, I decided to grill the veggies first before cooking them for my soup. I picked similar looking vegetables - Cauliflower and Broccoli. They both are extremely nutritious loaded with vitamins and minerals and are highly recommended in a diet. The grilled effect just enhances the flavor even more. It is a rich and creamy soup.

Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

As part of my Soup week, yesterday I had made Edamame and Spinach Soup  . Today I wanted to make something in red. Hence I chose to use tomatoes as my main ingredient. However there are many regular tomato soup recipes available, so I wanted to give it my touch and try something different. While grocery shopping last week, I had picked up some Red Peppers/Capsicum to make noodles. So I thought of tossing them along with some tomatoes to make my red themed soup.

Rose flavored Blueberry Popsicle

Rose flavored Blueberry Popsicle

Yes, I have been bitten by the Popsicle bug. From the time, my friend sent me these moulds from India, I have been addicted to them. I have tried Kaju Katli Kulfi and Watermelon Popsicle so far. I now wanted to try another using a different fruit.
With just 4 ingredients one can create these bright colored Popsicle! It definitely doesn't get any more exciting and easier than this. It is a perfect summer treat for your kids, suitable for sleepovers, pool parties or just after a lazy Sunday brunch.

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Edamame and Spinach Soup

Edamame and Spinach Soup

I have always been intrigued by those who can cook up some amazing soups which are not just nutritious but tasty as well. So I decided to give it a try myself. Very bravely I decided to have a Soup week on my blog. Honestly, I was not very confident when I began. I had never even tasted this soup before, so I had no reference point either. When I shared my doubt with KR, he assured me that it will be all good and that I need not worry. He sounded more confident in me than I was. This boosted me up. :)
I love colors, so I wanted to play with them in my food as well. Today was green theme so I chose to make Edamame and Spinach Soup.
Edamame are rich in carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber, omega - 3 fatty acids and micro-nutrients, particularly folic acid, manganese and vitamin K. When mixed with baby spinach, they surely make a healthy combo.

Naan Pizza made with Italian Red Sauce

Naan Pizza made with Italian Red Sauce

All my life I have had naan only with regular sabzi. Never had it occurred to me that we could do this with naan. Now why didn't I think of this earlier? This makes pizza making so much simpler and gives it a very desi touch to it. This is why I loved this pizza even more. In order to stay honest with my diet, I chose to use wheat naan instead of the regular one and of course used fat free mozzarella cheese :)
Pizzas in general are very calorie dense because of the base, toppings, sauce and cheese. It has become a popular dish across the world. So it is interesting to see if we can come up with healthier options to make it. Specially if you have a pizza loving husband or child at home like me!
So go ahead and try this out. After all, cooking is all about innovation.. :)

Mug Cake - A Power Breakfast made with Whole Wheat & Bournvita

Mug Cake - A Power Breakfast made with Whole Wheat & Bournvita

Want an alternate breakfast idea? Bored of the regular cornflakes, omelette or a smoothie? Why don't you try having a mug cake instead! It is not just healthy because of the ingredients in it but also yummy for the tummy. :) Also it is very easy to make and takes just few minutes to be ready. It is surely a welcome change to the breakfast routine for us.
I cam across this recipe on one of the food pages I follow on Facebook. That lady had made it with coffee powder. I  wanted to tweak it a bit by adding a chocolate flavored drink powder instead thus reducing the quantity of sugar in the bargain. It worked! KR ( I fondly refer to my husband as KR) and me were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. This is surely going to stay in my weekly menu from now on. Try it to believe it! ;)

Beetroot chilla stuffed with cottage cheese smeared in lettuce sauce

Beetroot chilla stuffed with cottage cheese smeared in lettuce sauce

I guess, most of us have had moong dal chillas at some point in our lives. It is one of the recipes for healthy yet tasty breakfast. However I wanted to experiment with the traditional recipe. Since beetroots blend in everywhere, I chose to add its puree to the chilla batter. Thus increasing the nutritional value of this recipe.

Since this was to be my lunch, I wanted to make it more filling. So I decided to stuff the chillas with some veggies available at home. Cottage cheese/Paneer make an excellent stuffing and contain good amount of protein in them. Since I had some paneer, green peas and corn, it formed my stuffing. I purposely avoided using potatoes as I wanted to keep this healthy and nutritious. :) This was even more special because I used our home grown green chillies

Lettuce Sauce/Chutney

Lettuce Sauce/Chutney

I was making Beetroot Chillas and I wanted to smear some green chutney/sauce over it when I do the filling. However just to my luck I had ran out of cilantro. As I was rummaging my fridge, I found a box of left over lettuce which I had got for my Eggplant burger recipe. ( The link to that is here by the way - http://priyalaksh.blogspot.com/2015/07/veggie-burger-with-chickpea-and.html ) The cilantro lime hummus I had along with the burger was over as well, else I would have used it instead. However looking at the lettuce, an idea struck me. Why not make a chutney put of lettuce this time!
It feels nice to try different chutneys/sauces so that we are not always limited to using cilantro. Since lettuce has no distinct flavor, I thought of giving it a desi chutney twist to it. :)
Hope you try this out sometime and let me know how it was!

Veggie Burger with Chickpea and Eggplant patties and Cilantro-Lime-Hummus sauce

Veggie Burger with Chickpea and Eggplant patties and Cilantro-Lime-Hummus sauce

Disclaimer - This may seem to be a long post, but it is totally worth it by the end!

I had purchased some eggplants to make Baingan Bharta the other day. However I landed up using all but one. So that one eggplant in my fridge was bothering me. I wanted to make something using it but it would not do justice quantity wise. I had initially thought of making an eggplant dip out of it but then I happened to see a picture of a burger on one of the food pages I follow on Facebook. That is when like a lightning an idea occurred to me! Yes, you got it too :) I thought why not make burger patties with eggplant in it. I know it doesn't sound very appealing but I wanted to give it a shot. But me not being a fan of eggplant, I decided to combine it with some other core ingredient to keep the balance in taste. Chickpeas came to my rescue!
This recipe is my creation where I am challenging my limits (not being an eggplant fan), using my creativity to come up with a new recipe which is vegetarian and healthy.

Moong Dal snack - Microwave recipe

Moong Dal snack - Microwave recipe

One of my favorite snack to munch on while watching TV or on a picnic is Haldiram's Fried Moong Dal. I just love the taste of it. One can easily say that I am addicted o them and it is one of my comfort food. :)
Whenever we go on a trip, KR (my better half) makes it a point to add this to our snack list. He knows me too well. They act as my 'between meal fillers'. I am not very particular about the brand though. It never really occurred to me that I could actually make this at home until I saw a lady (Sandhya Ramakrishnan)post this recipe on her blog - My Cooking journey. I immediately bookmarked it to try for later. So today on the occasion of crossing 200 likes on my Facebook page, I decided to treat myself with some fried moong dal! It is a fairly simple and easy to follow recipe with very few ingredients. This is made in the microwave. After having this home made snack, I am never going to pick up this Haldiram snack from the store ever!!

Chutney wale Cauliflower

Chutney wale Cauliflower

I love experimenting with leftovers. I feel they always bring out the true chef in you. It is in such scenarios where new dishes are invented. This is one easy recipe using leftover chutneys. After making Mysore Masala Dosa the other day, I had these two chutneys left over. I was thinking of a way to use them in my cooking. That is when I stumbled upon my idol - Tarla Dalal's recipe where she had made cauliflower sabzi using mint chutney. I loved the idea and decided to experiment as well. The sabzi gets a very strong flavor because of the green chutney. It is also very refreshing as it has mint and coriander leaves. The red chutney brings out the curry flavor in the dish. So thankfully this combo turned out good. I am positive that you can substitute cauliflower with any other vegetable. Do try this minty vegetable and not worry about leftovers anymore!

Mysore Masala Dosa

Mysore Masala Dosa

Dosas are my weakness. I think only this connects me to being a South Indian apart from craving for rice in terms of food. Dosas can be healthy too if made in non stick pans using no oil, adding oats, flax seed powder and brown rice to make the batter while you enjoy them with coriander chutney. Its perfect diet food. I prefer softer dosa than the crispier one. This time as well, we had friends and their visiting family over for dinner. Since they too love South Indian food, I decided to try Mysore Masala dosa for all. The process may seem little complicated, however it is very quick and worth the effort.
I have split the process in different steps so that is is easy to follow.