Quinoa Black Bean Salad

                          

Quinoa Black Bean Salad is a quick, easy and healthy dish to prepare. This salad has a wonderful taste, nice aroma of garlic, olive oil and lime flavor. The brightness and color of the salad is best for parties. We love the quinoa salad at Costco and was eager to try this salad at home. Basically my husband is a soup and salad lover. I prefer making chickpeas cranberry pomegranate salad or black eyed pea salad or apple salad but wanted to give this a shot for a change and it worked wonders. Quinoa lovers, please refer our quinoa pulao posted earlier. Here's my version of the Costco's quinoa salad...

Ingredients 

• Quinoa - 1 cup (soak for 30 mins in water and wash well before use)
• Water - 1 1/2 cups
• Green bell pepper (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup 
• Red bell pepper (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup 
• Jalapeno (finely chopped) - 1
• Onion (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup
• Black olives - 1/3 cup 
• Black beans (I used tin) - 1/2 cup

For dressing 

• Garlic (finely chopped) - 3 cloves 
• Lime - 2
• Olive oil - 1/4 cup 
• Lime zest - 2 tsp
• Salt as needed 
• Pepper as needed 

Method 

• In a kadai, cook the quinoa with 1 1/2 cups of water. Once quinoa cooked, allow it to rest for sometime and fluff it with a fork. Keep it separately.
• Take a wide mixing bowl -  add onions, green & red bell pepper, jalapeno, black olives. 
• Drain water from black beans in the tin and wash it several times to remove the preservative smell.  
• Then add black beans to the bowl along with cooked quinoa.

                            

• Now start preparing the dressing for the salad in another bowl by adding the ingredients mentioned under " for dressing" one by one. Mix well. 
• Add the dressing to the bowl. Toss well with the quinoa.
• Quinoa black bean salad is ready to be served. 

                             

Tip 

• You can replace black bean with chickpeas or  black eye peas.
• You can add tomatoes without seeds. Its optional.
• You can add all colors of bell pepper to make it colorful.

     

Karamani/Lobia/Black Eyed Pea Salad

We take our evening snacks a little too serious at my home.  Both husband and I are not much of a breakfast person. We usually go with fruits and smoothies. But we definitely need something to munch in the evenings. As much as I would love to have an extravagant evening snack and keep the dinner simple, time is not being my best of friends these days. So I am forced to keep my snacks simple. Black eyed peas salad is one such snack that is healthy, delicious and can be prepared easily. With no further ado, here is the recipe.

The ingredients mentioned here are just the ones I used and to give you an idea. You can be creative as you want or customize it to suit your taste and availability of the ingredient.

Peach Smoothie

Peach is one of the grand total of 3 fruits that my husband likes. We got a big box of peaches from Sam's club, so we're binge eating it. We usually eat it as a dessert post dinner. Today I was in mood for some smooothayyy, so peach smoothie it is! 
Remember my avocado milkshake that I raved about? it was THAT creamy only more flavorful. 

 It is.. umm..
Creamy
Sweet
Refreshing
A tad tart
Tropical
Very filling
Yes that's what it is.. and the bonus is it's color! So pretty right? Or is it just me? o_O
Anyhoo, let me give you guys the "recipe". 

Ingredients

• Peach - 1
• Milk- 1/2 cup
• Honey- 1 tsp

Method
Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.And that's it!! Serve it with chia seeds/ peach chunks/ a drizzle of honey.

Tips

1. You can also add a banana to make it even more creamy & healthy.
2. You can also add some ice cubes.
3. You can also drink right out of blender, no one's gonna judge you.

Are you a smoothie addict too? Check out our other smoothie recipes here.

Garlic Butter Sautéed Asparagus

Have you guys tried asparagus? Only last week I tried it for the first time- I know, right?!I feel like I have been living under one big rock, how did I NOT know that asparagus was this delicious and healthy! 

Anything that's healthy AND delicious automatically becomes my favorite.. This is such a easy recipe, takes hardly 10 minutes to cook and can be served as appetizer or as a side to any rice or pasta. I wanted to serve this as a side to burnt garlic fried rice but the buttery, garlic-ey aroma wafted throughout the house, got tempted and we had it as an appetizer. It goes well with: cilantro-lime rice, tofu fried rice, spinach pasta.. It's gonna be a regular at my place but too bad I realized this at the end of its season! Try it, you guys!

Ingredients

• Asparagus spears- 5
• Butter- 1 tbsp
• Garlic- 2 cloves, minced
• Salt & Pepper- to taste

Method

1. Cut the end part of asparagus and wash them.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add butter.
3. Add garlic and saute until slightly brown.
4. Now add asparagus and sprinkle salt & pepper over it.
5. Let it cook until it gets tender.
6. Remove from heat and serve.

Apple Salad

Hey Lovelies,

Remember me? I know it's been 5ever since I blogged, not sure if anyone missed me or even noticed but I feel I'm such a bad blogger. I've been busy lately, mostly due to packing,moving, all such boring stuff  and partly due to shopping. It was a smooth move, our friends helped us with abundant supply of yummy food, moving, unpacking and what not? Totally blessed with awesome friends.

 I was not in a mood to cook elaborate meals for  a month or so I guess..hence the 'easy&quick meals' board on my Pinterest happened and found this Apple salad recipe somewhere but I din't pin it then cos I dozed off.. With whatever I remembered, I recreated this salad for brunch. AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I know I say that very often but I'm a foodie like that! The crunch of apple with the sweet-tart flavor of honey-lime dressing is just out of the world..
 Don't like apple? Try this!
 Big fan of apple?*hi5* Try this now, like right now!!
 Okay Okay off to the recipe now.. 

Ingredients

• Apple- 1 (chopped into chunks)
• Spinach- handful 
• Walnuts(optional)- 1/2 cup(lightly crushed)
• Salt- to taste
• Pepper- to taste

For dressing 

• Honey- 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
• Canola Oil- 1 tsp
• Sugar- a pinch

Method

• Mix all the ingredients under 'dressing' and shake well.
• Combine all the ingredients and pour the dressing over and shake well.
• Enjoy!

Beetroot Hummus

I'm a foodie and I'm proud of it! For me,every meal should be treat to my eyes and a party in my mouth. I watch a lot of food/cooking related TV shows and nod and sometimes even talk back to the TV.. I tend to have a great relationship with food.When I say food, it's only the food that I like.So the deal-breaker is mostly the veggies; egg plant, beets, bitter-gourd, Cabbage, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower are good examples. 
I shriek at my hubby whenever he picks these veggies at grocery store.It brings me such horrible memories of my parents torturing me to eat them. I'm in my late 20's now guys, it's time I start including them in my diet. Let's do it, one veggie at a time!

I came across a beet dip recipe in Pinterest, I wasn't sure if I would like the dip since it's made of ONLY beets. So I thought I'll roast them up and make hummus out of it. It was indeed treat to my eyes and party in mouth you guys! I just couldn't taste the beet at all!! It's just like the classic hummus, only prettier!Perfect with pita chips, it's sure to please your guests. The recipe is definitely a keeper. Lets get to the recipe already!!

Ingredients
For roasting beets

1. Beetroot- one small(peeled & roughly chopped)
2. Oil- 1 tsp
3. salt & red chili powder or pepper- to taste

For dip

1. chickpeas- 1 can(skin removed)
2. garlic cloves-2
3. yogurt- 2 tbsp
4. oil- 2 tbsp
5. salt & red chili powder- to taste
6. lemon juice-1 tsp

METHOD

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350deg F .
2. Coat the beets with oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper/red chili powder.
3. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 mins.
4. Once done, add this along with other ingredients under 'for the dip' in a blender.
5. Puree it until you get a smooth, creamy paste. Do a taste-test and add more salt/red chili powder if required.
6. Store it in the fridge until you serve it. Enjoy!

TIPS

• You can serve it cold with pita chips, raw veggies, roasted veggies or can be used as spread or dressing.
• If you  are finding it tough to puree it into a smooth paste. add a little water.
• You can also add tahini sauce or some sesame seeds while blending.

What's your take on these veggies? Are you a hater or lover? I think it’s all about cooking them right! Let me know!

XOXO

A beet lover and converter.

Check out our other easy finger food recipes  roasted red pepper hummus, baked pita chips, cucumber tzatziki bites, bread potato rolls

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Nutella Swirl Banana-walnut Muffins

 I love to have desserts or something sweet for breakfast, so having the stock of fresh fruits or freshly baked muffins or cake is a must in our house. When I say muffins/cake, it's nothing fancy.. to be honest most of the times I end up making banana muffins or the orange cake. As much as I love the classic banana muffins, the Gemini in me wants something new every time and I was wondering why not include the Nutella in the recipe. Why not?? give me one good reason why I shouldn't!! haha
Nothing can go wrong when there is Nutella in it, right?

These muffins are wonderful; moist, light and Nutellicious!! Its almost similar to the classic banana muffins recipe with the addition of your favorite and my favorite Nutella and some walnut which gives a  nice crunch! :)


Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour/whole wheat flour
• 2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil/butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1/3 cup walnuts

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Spray the muffin pan with non-stick spray.
• Add a  tsp of flour to walnut and just shake them so that they get coated evenly. set aside
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Set aside
• In another bowl, add banana and mash mash mash. Add sugar,oil and mix well
• To this, add the flour mixture & walnuts, mix until just combined. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups.
• Place nutella in a microwave safe bowl and heat it for 30 secs.
• Spoon a dollop of nutella on top of all the muffins. Swirl the nutella on top of the batter in circular motion using a toothpick.
• Bake for 15-18 mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean/crumbly. 
• Let these dudes cool down for 5 mins. They have gone through a lot!!
• Transfer them to wire rack and let them chill for more time.

Check out our other recipes using bananas

• Vegan Banana Nut Cake 
• Banana Ice-cream
• Banana Muffins
• Peanut Butter Banana Waffles
• Banana Strawberry Milkshake

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Strawberry Lemonade

This homemade strawberry lemonade is delicious and extremely easy to make. Ripe strawberries combined with freshly squeezed lemon will create a refreshing drink for a summer day. Pretty beautiful red color aren't they? :). This lemonade can be experimented with fruits like raspberry, blueberry, mango etc. Everyone will love it!!

Have fun and stay cool.....

                                 

Ingredients 

• Fresh strawberries - 8 
• Lemon - 1 
• Sugar - 3 tbsp
• Salt - pinch 
• Water - as needed 

 Method

• Wash and remove the top green part from the strawberries. 
• Now slice the strawberries.
• Grind strawberries with sugar and water to a smooth paste.
• Now strain the paste with strainer by adding more water.
• Squeeze lemon and add a pinch of salt. Mix well. 

Tips 

• Adding salt will balance the taste of lemon. 
• You can also use frozen strawberry.   

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Curd Rice/Thayir Sadam

Curd rice is a popular South Indian dish and very easy food to make. It tastes great with pickle or potato fry or simple kootu. If curd rice is made with fruits and nuts it's called as Bagala Bath. My husband is a big fan of seasoned curd rice, he'll be very happy even if I temper with mustard and curry leaves alone. Me too!!

Curd has a semi solid and creamy consistency. Curd helps you beat the heat in tropical countries. It's a diary product with the following health benefits like instant relief from diarrhea and dysentery, enhances digestion, zero carbs, sugar and trans fat.
                            

Ingredients

• Sona masoori - 1/2 cup
• Curd/ Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Mango (finely chopped) - 2tbsp
• Carrot (finely chopped) - 1tbsp
• Cilantro (finely chopped) - 1tbsp 
• Green Chilli (finely chopped) - 1
• Ginger (finely chopped) - 1tsp
• Salt - as needed

To temper 

• Oil - 2tsp
• Mustard - 1tsp
• Urad dhal - 1tsp
• Asafoetida - pinch
• Curry leaves - few 

Method

• Wash the rice and pressure cook with 1 & 1/2 cups of water for 4-5 whistles in medium flame. Once done immediately mash the rice well and add hot boiling milk, mix well. Add more water if needed. Allow the rice mixture to cool down.

                             

• Now add curd along with salt, all the chopped ingredients one by one.
• Then temper with the items given under 'to temper' table and mix well.

                             

 

Tips

• You can add cashew nuts, dry grapes, cucumber, pomegranate, grapes, apple etc. It's your call. 
• If your preparing for occasions then add butter for creamy and rich flavor.
• While tempering you can also add red chillies, that also gives a nice flavor  to the recipe. 
• Before adding curd, ensure the rice is cooled down, because it tends to cause curdling when rice is hot. This will cause the killing of bacteria in the curd, which will not be comfortable to the tummy!
• Always add hot milk to the rice. 
• If you are packing for lunch then add more milk and less curd, which will prevent the rice turning too sour/tangy. 
• If packing for kids, avoid green chilli. 

                               

 

Veg Momos

                                       

Vegetable Momos are steamed dumplings made with all purpose flour or maida. It can be filled with either veggies or meat. These popular street dumplings are so versatile. Momos are very healthy and delicious when served with hot chilli sauce. Pardon me for the shape and size, as it's my first attempt ;-)  

These dumplings were so good that we skipped dinner. I made these dumplings a month back and for some reason I have not been able to post this recipe but better late than never. This will be perfect for your kids, as it's not every day that you see kids relishing with lots of vegetables. These dumpling can be tried with wheat flour or deep fried as well. 

Ingredients 

For the dough 

• All purpose flour - 1/2 cup ( you get 10-15 dumplings)
• Water - as needed
• Salt - as needed
• Oil - 2tbsp 

For the stuffing 

• Finely chopped cabbage - 1cup
• Finely chopped carrot - 1/2 cup 
• Finely chopped garlic - 1tbsp
• Spring Onion - 4-5 (finely chopped)
• Sugar - 1/4 tsp 
• Pepper powder - 1tsp
• Soya sauce - 1tsp
• Salt - as needed
• Oil - 1tbsp

Method 

• Mix flour with salt, oil & water into a smooth pliable dough (just like poori dough). Cover the dough and keep aside. 
• Heat a pan with a tbsp of oil. Add garlic, chopped white part of spring onion and stir fry in high flame. 
• Then add chopped veggies, sugar and fry in high flame for a minute. 
• Once the veggies are cooked then add salt, pepper powder, soya sauce and mix well. Finally add finely chopped green part of the spring onion and mix well. Switch off and keep aside.

                      

• Roll the dough into a big disc and use a lid to cut them into a smaller disc. After that I rolled the smaller discs into a thin circles then added stuffing in the middle. 

                             

• Fold it into momos shape. Now steam it in a steamer spaced properly for 5 minutes. 
• Veg momos is now ready to be served with hot chilli sauce or tomato ketchup. 

Tips 

• Adding oil will soften the dough.
• You can also add veggies like beans, sweet corn.    

                         

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Karamani Sundal/ Black Eyed Peas Sundal

Karamani is also called as "thatta payir" or "black eyed peas". Karamani is one of my favorite legume. It is very easy to make this yummy sundal. This legume is available in varieties of colors. It's very good source of fiber and low in cholesterol. Here you go with the healthy sundal recipe :D

                          

Ingredients 

• Karamani - 1cup
• Grated coconut - 1/2cup
• Mustard - 1/4tsp
• Urad dhal - 1tsp
• Dry red chillies - 2
• Asafoetida - pinch 
• Salt - as needed 
• Oil - as needed 
• Curry leaves - few

Method 

• Soak karamani overnight. Drain water. Pressure cook the karamani with enough water and salt for about 2-3 whistles in medium flame.
• Heat a skillet with oil and temper with the items in the above ingredient table. When it starts to splutter add the cooked karamani and stir for 2 minutes until water evaporates. 
• Add grated coconut stir for few seconds in medium flame.
• Now sundal is ready to be served.

                     

Tips

• If you forgot to soak the karamani overnight, then soak the sprout for 3-4 hours in hot water. 

Check our other sundal recipes black-chickpeas-sundal|kondakadalai-sundal|peanut-sundal       

Kondakadalai Sundal/Channa Sundal

Navratri means "nava"- nine, "ratri"- night, worshiped for nine forms of Devi. It's a festival dedicated to Hindu goddess Durga Devi. The tenth day is commonly celebrated as Vijayadashami or Dasara. This festival is an important one which is celebrated all over India. Kondakalai Sundal is a traditional savory snack for vinayagar chathurthi and navratri. It's very healthy and guilt free sundal. This recipe is easy and flavorful one. Here you go with the recipe :)
                      

Ingredients 

• Kondakadalai / Channa - 1 cup
• Coconut grated - 2 tbsp 
• Salt - as needed 
• Oil - as needed 
• Mustard - 1 tsp 
• Urad dhal - 1/4 tsp
• Red chillies - 3 
• Asafoetida - pinch 
• Curry leaves- 1 spring 

Method

• Soak channa overnight and pressure cook with salt and water for 3-4 whistles.
• Heat a skillet with oil and temper with mustard, urad dhal, curry leaves, asafoetida and red chillies. Fry until it splutter and turns to golden brown. 
• Add cooked channa and stir for 2 minutes until moisture evaporates. 
• Now add grated coconut and fry for a minute. Transfer the sundal to serving bowl.

Tips 

• You can replace red chillies with green chillies.
• Instead of adding coconut as such you can grind coconut and green chillies together and add as a coarse paste at the last. 
• If your soaking the channa overnight you can pressure cook along with salt or the soaking time for channa is less, then you have to add salt at the time of cooking only. 

Try our other sundal recipe peanut sundal  

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Banana Muffins

Today's tiny tale featuring me n my better half...

I loveee muffins....he hates muffins...
I loveee strawberries...he hates strawberries...*what a shame*
He loves egg plant...I hateeee eggplant....
He loves me...I hatee..whaaaa.. I love him to the moon and back.. no doubts..

Everytime I force him to eat a strawberry, he wants me to promise him that I would eat eggplant whenever its made. Truce!  Few days back when I baked blueberry muffins,to my surprise he did eat  a couple of them without me pestering. *epic win*

So, this time I wanted to try banana muffin mostly cos the bananas were over ripe. You know that the muffins are awesome when you literally have to snatch the jar from your husband's hand to stop him from eating all at once. Yea.. THAT good!! 

Seriously you guys these muffins are cinch to make and you can have them for breakfast, snacks, dessert.. Since it has banana in it I think its breakfast appropriate.. This is the best you can make out of over ripe bananas, close second is banana ice cream. 

Vegetable Hakka Noodles

Nowadays vegetable hakka noodles have become usual Indo-Chinese dish at my place. This is one of our all time favorite recipe. Whenever I feel bored to cook, this is the recipe I prefer to make because it's easy, less time consuming and healthy too ;). Its smoky flavor, crispiness and color of veggies that blend with noodles is what I love the most in this dish. Wok also plays a significant role in making hakka noodles. Your kids will love to take this in their lunchbox often. I make this recipe along with any type of Manchurian like vegetable, cauliflower, paneer and tofu. You can use any plain noodles for this recipe. Now here you go with the recipe....
                         

Easy Peanut Chutney ( without coconut)

This recipe is easy and different from other usual coconut chutney. I am not a big fan of peanut but I started to love it after having this chutney. I make this chutney for idly and dosa.The best thing about this chutney is its creamy even without coconut, which I love the most. Here you go with the recipe!!

                           

Sweet Kuzhi Paniyaram

Sweet Kuzhi Paniyaram is a popular and traditional recipe of Chettinadu. This is a snack recipe, which can also be served as breakfast or appetizer for dinner. It is a favorite snack among kids, you can give this sweet paniyaram when they return from the school. They will surely love it. In earlier post, I have already posted the masala paniyaram version. The batter is same for this recipe also. This recipe will have excellent taste of jaggery, coconut and cardamom and healthy too. Here you go with the recipe....

                      

Mint Cilantro Raita

Mint and Cilantro are like best friends.This combination is my all time favorite. The taste of this simple raitha is so flavorful and refreshing especially for  summer as curd keeps our body cool. This is one of the easiest and quick raita that goes good with any kind of Biryani. But I personally liked it with the quinoa pulao. I think raita doesn't need more introduction, so here you go straight to the recipe. 
                               

           

Quinoa Pulao

Quinoa is more a vegetable than a grain. It is tasty, a go-to diet for weight watchers and it is rich in fiber. Quinoa grain has balanced amount of amino acid, vitamins, minerals, fibers and proteins. It will satisfy your hunger and not make you feel deprived. The fiber found in quinoa will reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.It is a replacement for rice. For the first time,I had no idea how to cook it. But thanks to my sister, she gave me this healthy and delicious recipe. It can be cooked in many ways, one such is pulav. Stay tuned for many different dishes using Quinoa. This post is dedicated to my sister :) Here you go with the recipe. 
                         

Minestrone Soup

Whenever we go to olive garden, we first order the minestrone soup with salad without even seeing the menu. I wasn't sure why we were crazy about this soup, then I understood that the aroma and the taste from the fresh veggies, beans, mild flavor of tomato and pasta cooked in the vegetable-broth was the reason. This soup can be taken as lunch or dinner portion with two slices of wheat or garlic bread toast, which will be filling. This soup will have an awesome taste when served hot!
                              

Vegetable Broth

Got vegetables which are almost  'on their way out' or veggie scraps lying around in your kitchen? I have an idea may be its an old idea but its a good idea, so I thought I would share it with you all. I keep a zip-lock bag in freezer and keep adding the veggie odds and ends to it. Once the bag is full, its vegetable broth time!

Homemade vegetable broth is not only flavorful but very nutritious and much cheaper than the store bought one. It can used as a base for soups, gravies and rice recipes. Make a large portion of broth, cool completely and store it in freezer for later use.

INGREDIENTS

•  1tbsp oil
• 1  cup of onion, tomato and carrot each.(you can add other veggies like beans,cabbage,potato)
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 6 cups of water
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• peppercorn - to taste
• salt - to taste

METHOD

Heat a large pot, add oil and garlic cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns. Add in all the vegetables, salt and allow it to cook for 5-6 min. Add in water & cover, increase the flame to high and wait for it to boil. Once it boils reduce the heat, cover and simmer for at least 45 min.Turn the heat off and allow it to cool completely. Strain the stock/broth from the vegetables and remove the bay leaves. Store in refrigerator then freeze it for later use.

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