Posts

Semi-homemade Falafel Pita Pockets
These falafel pita pockets are the best for warm weather lunches or picnics! They are my go-to Saturday lunch after we have done our Saturday morning ritual of farmer's market and Trader Joe's and there is just not enough time to devote to lunch.  It literally takes 15 minutes to put this together to put lunch on table and that's because it's semi-homemade :) You know how Trader Joe's has this little sampler foods you can try; one day they gave out samples for these frozen falafels and I thought it was great quality particularly for frozen. The cooking instructions accordingly were super simple 3min in microwave or 10-15mins in oven. I usually go for microwave. Each pocket has 12 small sized falafels which is perfect portion for 3 of us.    I always have a packet of whole wheat pitas in the fridge, also from Trader Joe's. We have a great hummus lady at the farmer's market - I regularly buy a packet of her baba ganou…

Mini Blueberry Muffins for Kids Lunchboxes
My daughter, who is now 4+, and I love baking together! Often she is the baking initiator  between the two of us. She mixes the dry ingredients, preps the baking tray, licks the spoon and of-course does the perfect job of anxiously waiting and jumping around to see when the baked goodies would be done :)  Recently we bought a large box of blueberries from Trader Joe's which turned out not as sweet as usual so they ended up waiting to be used up. And when that coincided with my daughter's "let's bake something, Mommy", blueberry muffins it was! I have got to say I love my new mini muffin tray. I always felt the size of a regular muffin too large for one portion and really who has the will power to split the muffin in two and only eat one half? Definitely not a 4 year old or mom of a 4 year old! So when I saw the mini-muffin tray at Target, I quickly put one in the cart along-with a mini-muffin liner set. The recipe is a deriva…

Get Them Before They Go - Asparagus
(Get Them Before They Go: In this series we feature a seasonal produce or fruit our family is thoroughly enjoying these days. Infact we are enjoying it so much that we think it deserves you opening another tab of your browser right now and finding out your nearest farmer's market to visit (or a local CSA or a seasonal grocer)!  We at G&G believe in simple & quick recipes with local and seasonal produce made with care for family dinner tables. Not only you will be enjoying fresh bounties of the nature without the preservatives and 1000s of food miles, you will also be helping the local farmer's ecosystem and sustainable growing. And seasonal vegetables picked hours before just taste so much better - you got to try it to believe! So.. get them before they go) Spring is the season for Asparagus. Last weekend I saw first asparagus shop sprouted up in our farmer's market and bought my first bunch of asparagus for the season. While you can f…

Citrus Blossoms!
Have you ever smelled an orange blossom? If not, I urge you to visit any of the orange farms or the many home grown citrus trees which are blossoming with the heavely smelling white flowers all around California, and perhaps other parts of the country, at this time!  Blood Orange Blossom To me, it's the most refreshing, invigorating and pure smell that has even been invented! Better than any flowers, way better than any artificial fragrances! My earliest memories of citrus blossom are returning home from a fun day at mountains in San Diego. The winding road takes you through many citrus farms.. just roll down the car windows and the enjoy the blossoms, so peaceful! Lemon Blossom Now I am fortunate to live in a house with various citrus trees in our backyard - a bloooming meyer lemon tree, a bustling kumquats (the tiny orange like fruits where the peel is sweeter than the flesh and supposed to be eaten whole) and many variety of oranges which a…

Lo Mein Noodles with Lots of Vegetables
We love our noodle fix at our house! Noodles make a weeknight dinner appearance atleast once every other week for us.  I load them up with lots of vegetables for a heart healthy dinner and they cook so fast - what's not there to love about this weeknight dinner! This is another one of my busy working mom's 20minutes or less dinners. The trick, as always, is a well stocked fridge and pantry. Can't emphasize this enough. Spend that hour on Saturday to make it a priority to visit farmer's markets (if in your area) or any fresh local grocer/CSA and your tummy will thank you for it for the whole week to come! My two favorite noodles to cook with are Soba and Lo Mein. I love them both. Soba tends get slightly stickier if you overcook them even for a minute -- Lo Mein have the advantage of being more unforgiving when it comes to texture. I buy them at Whole Foods but they are available at any asian grocery stores. I have this trick to…