WHAT DO I MAKE...

Bell pepper Fajitas and guacamole Guacamole : Mash 2 avocados with a fork. Then squeeze the juice of 1 lemon on it. Then add finely chopped onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro. Add salt and a little bit of jeera pwd. Bell pepper mix for fajitas : In some olive oil , add onions that have been chopped lengthwise and some chopped garlic Then add half each of red, orange and yellow bell pepper. Cook nicely and then add store bought fajita mix powder. Garnish with cilanto and serve with tortillas and other fixins!

A big thank you to our next guest contributor - Shilpa Sarang - from Denver, Colorado. Poondu Kozhambu Ingredients: 10-12 cloves of whole peeled garlic Medium sized onion (preferably red) chopped lengthwise Juice extracted from a ping pong ball sized tamarind  curry leaves Mustard 1 tsp jeera 1tsp Salt chilli pwd (as per taste) haldi pwd 1/2 tsp dhania pwd 1/2 tsp Method: In some gingelly oil, splutter the mustard and jeera seeds. Then add curry leaves, onions and garlic. Fry for a bit till onions are tender and garlic has browned. Then add the tamarind extract, salt and haldi powder and boil till the raw smell of the tamarind goes and the liquid has reduced to half its quantity. Finally add the chilli pwd and dhania pwd and let it boil for a couple more minutes. Then its ready to serve.

A quick thank you to all our guests that sent us their contributions. I have been down with the flu and Niti has been busy with some sudden changes at work. So, sorry if you don't see your post(s) here, we promise to put them up along with a  Round Up very soon. Stay tuned!

Whole Wheat Pesto Pizza Trader Joe's 100% Whole Wheat pizza dough - 1/2 the quantity i.e. 8oz Fresh asparagus - about 10, I used the top 4" Frozen broccoli - about 10 florets, thawed Sun dried tomatoes - 3 T Basil pesto - 4 T Cheese - 1/4 C or less of any low-fat variety. I might try nutritional   yeast flakes as a substitute next time! Suggestions for other substitutes are welcome :) Preheat the oven at 350 F. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle some cornmeal over, this helps easy removal of the pizza post baking. Place the dough on the sheet and roll it out, use some flour if required. If you are using your "clean" hand/fingers, rub some EVOO before you start. I rolled it out to about 6-7" but for next time, I might try close to 9-10" because when you bake, it rises/puffs up really well. Once you've rolled your dough out, brush some EVOO all over including the ends. I used about 1T of the oil from the sun dried tomatoe...

Another guest baker - Maha Ramani - shares her V-day baking adventure. Maha lives in Baltimore, MD and here are some of the pictures of her valentine cake! Thank you, Maha.

Here's another post from Hema. Dal Makhani is a crowd pleaser yet there are so many varieties of this Indian delicacy. I wanted to  surprise my hubby with something different today and remembered having urad dal (black lentils) in my  pantry, so that was a start. I managed to keep it heart healthy by cutting down on the usage of butter  and cream, but making sure the taste was intact. As always Google came to my rescue and I have tried so many versions.  To name a few: Adding “dals" (lentils) to a onion + tomato + ginger gravy Slow cook the lentils in onion and tomato and let it turn into a gravy But this particular recipe claimed to be from the chefs at Oberoi and I thought that should be great! So  here we go with my version. I call it  made easy  since it’s a simple 3 step process Cook the dals Cook the gravy Mix the 2 A few tips before you start: The dals soaking calls for overnight or at least 6 hours. I made it simple by letting th...

This one was fun making, it's always fun to use up leftover vegetables and clear the refrigerator! Also, this dish is packed with the goodness of fresh vegetables and couscous, considered to be one of the healthiest grains-based products. Ingredients: Top coat: Potatoes - 4, medium Butter - 1-2 T Hot milk - 1/4-1/2 T Bring a pot of water to boil. Cut the potatoes in half and add them to the boiling water and cook till soft. Drain, remove the peel and put the potatoes back in the pot. On medium heat, mash the potatoes well. Add the butter and milk and continue to mash till all lumps are gone! Add some salt, pepper and some dried basil. I also added a pinch of turmeric powder for some color. You could also add some spring onion greens and chives. Filling: Onions - 1/4 of a big onion, finely chopped Tomato - 1/2 of a medium, finely chopped (you can be generous here, I am using leftover veggies remember!) Vegetables - I used a mixture of cabbage, turnip, scallions, broccol...