Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Winter has finally made it's appearance loud and clear. For last few days temperatures have been steadily dropping, evenings are chilly, mornings are frosty, my hot cup of chocolate is just that much more warming to body and soul - and that means one thing in our household, lots and lots of soups!

On many winter days our quick lunch is a pot of soup with some thick crusted sourdough bread brushed with olive oil and broiled at high temperature with just a rub of a fresh garlic clove. Throw in some salad (my favorites are couscous with butternut squash and dried cranberries salad or quinoa salad or a simple greens salad topped with some fruits and nuts dressed with an easy olive oil red wine vinegerate) and it's a perfect meal any time of day..

The recipe below is a slight adaptation of an old recipe I had posted earlier (but no new photos this time - what with a warm aroma of soup and garlic bread wafting your way sometimes all you can do is eat!). 

The early readers of Ginger & Garlic may remember I was in big favor of not adding creams to savorys as a rule (yes, I know I am the singleton who doesn't like alfredo sauces or cream based soups either!) However I have had some softening of my palette recently - I think motivated by my one year old's preferences ;) - so the cream lovers would be happy to know now that I am slowly edging towards their camps :) 

Banana Nut Muffins

The weather Gods have been quite unpredictable recently. It seems we can not quite decide whether to take that leap forward into chilly fall evenings or lapse into those gorgeous bright sunny summer days. I do not mind either. Rainy days like this week is just another excuse to spend hours cuddling with my little doll while the kitchen fills up with a wonderful heartfelt aromas that only bakers can rejoice :)

I was home early today and spent most of my early evening reading a book I have been planning to finish for a long time (Sister of My Heart - good read, not exceptional but very catchy). The weather was getting cloudier by the hour but once in a while sun would shine through the tiny pockets between the clouds basking the surrounding yellow hills with a warm glow. It was so tempting to just give up the book and take a nap for a while or just stare outside mindlessly. I lost count of how many times I refilled my coffee cup after two. Just as I was finishing up the last of the pages, a thought crossed wouldn't it be nice to have some snack baking right now to enjoy after the book? Telling you, its the weather making you crave all sorts of things. I figured a good old batch of banana nut muffins would be just perfect for the day!

Summer Lentil Soup with Garlic Bread

It is such a tick-off when you start feeling under the weather right on the eve of a long weekend... not to mention the _last_ long weekend of the summer and the one where you had plans for beach picnic and doing tourist-y things in San Francisco. But that is exactly what happened - right around Friday afternoon was when I started feeling some early onset of cough and sore throat. Not very surprising considering the little one was coughing on and off sporadically last few days. Before I became a Mom I used to wonder how grown-ups can have cold and cough multiple times a year, unfortunately now I know only too well how the chain of germ breeding ground moves from sharing toys to hugging Mommy & Daddy :)

Anyway, after my third cup of coffee on Saturday morning (all to sooth an itchy throat), I decided to make a large pot of hot soup - and that too my favorite soup, the one I always turn to  for comfort on cold winter nights or whenever someone in family has cold or fever. Lucky for us, we were about to do our weekly visit to farmer's market - so I quickly made a mental note to buy stuff for a lentil soup and for good measure also bought a loaf of freshly baked sourdough bread to go along with my soup.

This is a very versatile recipe - swap whatever fresh vegetables you have at hand. I used green lentils, you use whatever lentil is lying to be used up in your pantry. I used dried oregano and fresh basil, you can use whatever herb combination is crowding your backyard or suits your fancy for the day :) The trick to this soup is slow simmer - can't stress this strongly enough, once the soup starts to boil, reduce heat to as low as your gastop would allow, cover and forget about it for another 40mins or so. Then check the done-ness of the lentils by tasting a little bit and cook further as needed.

Romano beans sabji and A Year of Local Eating

It has been close to a year since I switched-over to buying and cooking local and seasonal produce. Mostly that means buying my week's fruits and vegetables at farmer's market and supplementing only as and when needed from Trader Joe's.

One of the perks of living in bay area is that there is an Indian grocery store right around the corner - doesn't matter where you are! So its always very easy to hop into car and buy whatever you need at nearest supermarkets or Indian groceries. Most of the produce here though is shipped from miles away and has the dreaded high food miles.

Right around when I was entering the second-semester of my pregnancy last year that I thought of making this big change in our lifestyles. Part of it was sustainable eating for ourselves and the environment we live it, part of it was supporting local farmer's community but the biggest part of it was changing our lifestyles so the new addition to our family would get to enjoy not the only the fresh seasonal tasty local produce but also the very enjoyable Saturday morning farmer's market family visits right from her childhood :)

Summer's Peach Cake

Well, hello again! Hope you are all doing great and enjoying the wonderful summer's bounties with your family and friends. This is my first summer as a Mom and it has been a blast so far - Sun Gods have been unusually good bestowing us with sunny but relatively mild perfect weekend picnic days; farmer's markets are overflowing with sweet peaches and plums and nectarines and my own tomato plant (which I had planted two summers ago and thus far thought to be dead) somehow miraculously propped up again start of the summer making my day.. So much for the life's little pleasures :)

Needless to say we are treating ourselves to a whole array of delicious and super-sweet stone fruits from farmer's market this summer. In all the midst of the summer, one of our best friends are relocating across the country and I thought what better way to treat them than some home-made stone fruit cake. I rarely bake cakes. The last one I baked was six years ago - yes, that long! Not that I don't like cakes or don't like baking but the trouble is if I bake cake then I eat it all :) and thus one year I made plans to treat myself occasionally to coffee and a slice of cake in nearby bakeries in an effort to keep me away from baking and then munching the whole thing.

But some occasions deserve breaking of the rules! And what's a better occasion than to enjoy a piece of home-made cake reminiscing over our happy times together with old friends - and thus came a Google search which got me to this absolutely delicious peach winner recipe from food52.

I pretty much followed the original recipe to a delightful end-result; a few things I changed from the original recipe and a few things I would change the next time (yes, this is coming back my kitchen next year for sure!) are:

Methiche laddo (Fenugreek sweets)

It was such a blessing to have my Mom help us out those first few post-delivery weeks! I think its the only time you have to be babied up while you settle into a rhythm caring for your own little baby :) While she was here in addition to the fresh lunches and dinners she also made a big batch of methiche laddo (fenugreek sweets). It is traditional in our region of India to gift fenugreek laddos to the new nursing moms. 

Benefits of fenugreek for lactation are well know. No one quite knows how it works but fenugreek is famous in many cultures as a milk-boosting herb. While fresh fenugreek leaves can be added to the daals and sabzis; the easiest way to get enough dosage of fenugreek for its lactation benefits is to either take fenugreek in capsule form or a better-tasting yummy alternative would be make these fenugreek ladoos which are made from powdered fenugreek seeds. 

While fenugreek seeds or powder is easily found in Indian grocery stores; for those in states, its also on Amazon.

Pumpkin cranberry muffins

I am on my maternity leave at present. My parents were here for the first 2 months with the baby and it has now been close to a month of three of us managing by ourselves. While there have been rare days with the baby fussing and crying and dishes pilling up in the sink; in general we are managing great - spending majority of the time cuddling and playing with our little girl, eating very simple home-made food everyday, resting whenever we can and housekeeping and cleaning as time permits. 

Life is setting into a rhythm. I make fresh dinner daily and the leftover dinner serves as my lunch the next day - works great for me as I get to spend the whole morning with my little bundle without worrying about lunch logistics. My little girl naps in the afternoon.  After her nap I take her out to a stroll nearby; then we come home, she plays in her baby gym while I take a quick coffee break (gotta have caffeine!). Then we play together some more; spend time in the backyard counting guavas and playing peek-a-boo :) After another quick nap, its time for making dinner! We got a wonderful rocker chair as a gift from a friend and it has proven so very useful! I place my little girl in the rocker in kitchen and start working away preparing dinner. I keep talking to her about every little thing I am doing like asking her what to make, chopping veggies, sauteing etc.. I am pretty sure she cares not much about our dinner menu or the recipe, but neverthless she keeps looking at me trying to babble away making conversation as I cook... its our together time making food memories -- and needless to say it makes preparing dinner time just that much extra special for me :)

Anyway, coming back to today's recipe! I had some leftover pumpkin puree in a can which I wanted to use up one day. I was thinking of making my usual pumpkin kheer but instead thought why not make some pumpkin muffins - they would serve great as my coffee snack for next few days. Thus a little Googling later, this recipe came about. Its mostly a derivation of the banana muffin recipe I had posted earlier. The muffins were awesome - and I'll be sure to make them again next fall when fresh pumpkins are in season.

Chocolate covered strawberry bride & groom & other treats!

Valentine's day is just around the corner and to a foodie like me that means chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates! I love how everywhere around this time one starts seeing the bouquets of beautiful roses, various chocolate treats and all sorts of beautifully wrapped gifts.

Strawberries and chocolates are two of my most favorite things so its only logical that chocolate covered strawberries happen to be on the menu whenever I am in the mood for making something cutsie without a whole lot of effort. With plump fresh strawberries and white and dark chocolates, your imagination is the only limit when it comes to making designs for strawberry chocolates but here are some of my all time favorites (and something I have blogged previously here) which sort of differ from the usual chocolate covered berries.

These chocolate bride and groom are the perfect treats if you are in the mood for a more delicately worked strawberry designs and perhaps a perfect gift for a dear friend's bridal shower :) Instructions are here

If bride and groom are not on the menu then you can always try one of these free-fall designs which are equally delicious. Really your imagination is the only limit! Instructions are here

Happy Valentine's day everyone! May the year ahead bring lots of love, peace and well wishes for everyone near n dear to your hearts :)