WHAT DO I MAKE...

This idea was a desperate attempt to use up some leftovers in the freezer. I had these plain chocolate100 calorie bars. I thought it was too plain to be a dessert of its own but I din't want to trash it either. I wanted to jazz it up a bit so I racked my brains (and my husband's) and we came up with these sandwiches ... the joys of teamwork!!! Chocolate bars - I used the Klondike Slim-a-Bear bars, you could use any plain ice cream! Graham crackers - I used the Honey Maid Grahams Honey Cool Whip -  1 8oz container Toblerone bar Remove the chocolate bars and cool whip out of the freezer about 20 minutes prior to assembling the dessert. You don't want the chocolate bars to melt, the consistency needs to be like that of spreadable butter or cream cheese.In a flat, freezer-safe dish, lay out the crackers and then spread a thick 1" layer of the chocolate ice cream. Top that with another layer of the crackers, press lightly to make sure it's even all over. Now spr...

This deepavali we decided to try our hand at making snacks from scratch, all by ourselves, instead of buying. It was one helluva adventure - 1.5 days of cooking, correcting, brainstorming, cooking again, yapping, tasting and cleaning ... great fun ... our little attempt at creating a deepavali atmosphere away from "home"!!! I must say,we exceeded our own expectations, all the dishes looked and tasted great. Thanks for the pictures Anusha.  the spread :)    BOONDI LADDU   KAJU KATLI and RAVA CAKE RIBBON PAKODA  MIXTURE   

Ingredients For the stuffing and gravy Group - 1 Coriander seeds (dhaniya) – 1 ½ tsp Chana dal (Kadalai parupu) – 1 ½ tsp Red Chillies (Sigapu neela milagai) – 5 (add more according to taste) Cloves (Krambu) – 5 Urad dal (Ulutham parupu) – ½ tsp Coconut (thengai)– dry or fresh – 2 tsp Curry leaves (karuvepiali)- little Group - 2 Til (Ellu) – 1 tsp Peanut (ver kadalai) – 2 tsp (dry roast- remove skin) (optional – skip if you don't like the flavor) Group - 3 Onion (vengayam) – Half an onion sliced Tomato (Thakkali) – 2 – cubed Garlic (Poondu) – 1 (big size) Ginger (Inji) – a small piece (Make it little big if you like its flavor) Others Turmeric powder (manjal podi) – ½ tsp Salt (uppu)– suit to taste Sugar (chakkarai) ½ tsp (optional) Small to medium sized violet Brinjals (Kathrikai) – 6 Ingredients For the stuffing and gravy Heat Kadai and add the til to it and dry roast it till you get nice aroma Remove from stove and let it cool. Do the same with peanut. Heat a tsp of oil in mediu...

Here's another yummy recipe from Anusha. A good alternative to regular adai . It takes a little longer to prepare and make these but definitely worth the effort. Thanks Anusha. Ingredients Idli rice / par-boiled rice - 1 cup Tuvar dal - 1/2 cup Black urad dal - 1/2 cup Red chillies - 5 or 6 (can substitute with green chillies too) Coriander Optional ingredient Onions - finely chopped - 1/2 cup Soak rice for 6-8 hours. Soak the dals separately for 4 hours. (If using red chillies soak with the dals; if using green chillies add while grinding) Grind them together to a smooth paste. Allow to ferment for about 6-8 hrs. Add chopped onions, salt and corainder leaves. Mix well and dilute if necessary (it should be little runny and easy to spread). Heat tawa and pour batter; spread thin and cook well on both sides. The adai gets crispy very quickly and does not fill you up (unlike regular all-dal adai ). Enjoy with molaga-podi or aviyal! Note: I used finely chopped cabbage (1/2 cup) inst...

Here's an easy-to-make vegetarian burger inspired by this POST , if you have some readymade soup, this makes for a perfect quick-fix dinner! Ingredients Garbanzos/Chick peas - 1 can Medium potato - 1 cooked and peeled Fresh basil - 20 leaves, finely chopped Bread crumbs - 1 tbsp for the mix and 1/4 cup for coating the pattie Salt to taste Fresh crused pepper Optional - 2 tsp of any masala powder like garam masala or red chili powder Drain the water out of the canned garbanzos and add them to a dish. To this, add the boiled potato and mash them up well (make sure it's not a complete paste, keep it coarse). Stir in 1 tbsp of crumbs and all other ingredients and mix well. In the mean time heat a flat griddle and spray some oil. Scoop up a handful of the potato mix, flatten them like a pattie, coat it on both sides with the bread crumbs and place them on the griddle. Flip over and spray a little more oil as required till both sides are browned and well done.

This venture has Halloween written all over it - red velvet, orange icing and some themed toppers - I absolutely enjoyed making this one! This was my second attempt at a recipe I found on Food Gawker . It didn't quite work the first time but "second time was the charm"!!! The original recipe is vegan, I just kept it eggless. Oh! I have to thank Anusha and Archana for all the help and moral support ... thanks for being my guinea pigs chicas! Eggless Red Velvet Cupcakes Adapted from Whisk Kid by Kaitlin Serving Size: 12 cupcakes Ingredients Milk - 1 cup ( see notes) All-purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups Sugar - 1 cup Cocoa - 2 tbsp Baking powder - 1/2 tsp Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Canola oil - 1/2 cup ( see notes) Liquid RED food coloring - (according to your color preference) Vanilla extract - 2 tsp In a large bowl, add the milk and whisk in oil, food color and mix well. In a another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and ...