Baked Kale Chips

I am a hand-me-down owner of a large vegetable patch dedicated to many varieties of kale at our home. One of the many things the previous owner had loved and cared for when they were here.

And even with my minimal care which is mostly trial and error based, the kale is flourishing! Now the only problem is I have to find more ways to use up the kale and fast! :) 

I make kale daal, going to try kale paratha, have a favorite quinoa and kale mediterranean salad with almonds (recipe coming soon!) but the one tried and trusted kale recipe we have come to love is this baked kale chips!

These chips are nice and crunchy and you can play with seasonings a bit to what you like. Believe me you can't eat just one! But unlike other chips, in this case it's guiltless grazing, cool, right? :)

These are super easy to prepare and are very nutritious and healthy snack. I make two baked tray full of kale chips over the weekend and keep a bowl full of chips right on the kitchen table which is the perfect place to snack around.  

There are many other ways to use up the chips too: I crush the chips and add them to rice or salads sometime for color and texture. They go really well with morning oatmeal or smoothies. But really they almost always seem to vanish themselves right off of the bowl :)

Making them is easy:

• Take 4-5 large curly kale leaves and using hands tear the leaves into small pieces
• Wash the leaves well and dry them *completely* (drying takes time, but this is very important so take your time)
• Pre-heat oven to 350F
• Line a large baking tray with parchment paper and add the kale leaves in a thin layer (don't overcrowd otherwise you won't get the crunchy effects)
• Drizzle with olive oil, salt and paper and using your hands ensure the leaves are well coated with oil.
• Bake for 12-15mins (12 mins will give you moderate crunch with still a few soft bits; 15mins will be super crunchy)
• Take off of oven and eat!

Sometimes I also drizzle with lemon juice after they are out of oven for a tarty taste! Or sprinkle some chili flakes before baking if I am making it for adults.

Either way, so healthy and quick... this is our #1 way to enjoy this superfood!

Chard Parathas

Staring at leftover of a large bunch of chard leaves from farmer's market, I tried thinking of some creative ways to use it for a Friday night dinner. Nothing popped up so finally settled on making just the regular usual parathas but for the first time with chard instead of the usual paratha greens of methi or spinach.

It turned out great and I thought it was a nice way of adding chard to our meals. Empowered by this experiement, I'll be trying kale parathas next and will of-course let you know how that goes :)

Otherwise the recipe is the usual paratha recipe: make a dough of 2.5C whole wheat flour, add finely chopped 5-6 chard leaves, 4-5 cloves of grated garlic, 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, 1/2tsp turmeric powder, 1tsp cumin powder, 1/2tsp garam masala and salt. Add enough water to make a pliable dough (chard releases some water, so add less than what you would otherwise add for 2.5C of water - I usually aim at 1C water).

Then let the dough rest for 30mins. Roll the parathas and cook each with 1tsp oil on hot cast iron or non-stick pan. Enjoy with raita or as I did with some harissa bought at farmer's market drizzled with olive oil -- so tasty!

  

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 ganoush and harissa (green chili paste) (pictured above). Both are great additions and provide a nice kick to the grown up version of these pockets. Hummas and hot sauce would be the store bought alternatives.

Now for the home-made portion: I whip up a quick tzatiki -- add few Tbsp yogurt + one grated cucumber, just squeeze after grating to remove as much water + splash of olive oil + 1tsp lemon juice + pinch of dried dill + S&P. Just mix and serve!

I prep a bunch of veggies to add to pockets - like thinly sliced red pepper, onions, sliced cucumbers, sliced avocados, even some chopped kale or spinach will go wonderfully!

Warm up the pitas in oven or on stovetop. Gather everything on table and call out for lunch! Or pack up everything and head out to a picnic to enjoy these gorgeous spring days!

Everyone can make their pockets how they like, more veggies or less veggies, super spicy or no spice - either way these are always a super hit.

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 derivation of the Allrecipes version - my main variation was to reduce sugar and add more fruit and to skip the crumb topping altogether. 

The muffins turned out great! 

Recipe:

Source: Allrecipes

Makes 16 -18 mini-muffins

Ingredients:

1.5C AP flour

1/2C sugar

1/2tsp salt

2tsp baking powder

1/3C vegetable oil

1/3C milk

1 egg

dash of vanilla extract

1.5C blueberries - fresh, rinsed and dried

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400F

Mix the dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat an egg, add oil and milk to it. Mix well. Add vanilla extract. Then add all the blueberries and coat well.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well.

Line a mini-muffin tray with liners. Add muffin mix to each and bake for 20-25 mins until top is crucnhy and the muffin is cooked through (insert a toothpick to check)

Remove from oven. Cool on a rack for few minutes. Enjoy!

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 find asparagus year around in supermarkets, they are there only for about 5-6 weeks in farmer's markets starting about now in early spring.

When buying asparagus look for tender stocks; I feel the tender once are more packed in flavor and have fewer tough ends.

Roasted Asparagus seasoned with Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Chilli  flakes and Lemon juice

I learnt a trick to avoid cooking with tough ends - you hold an asparagus, one end in one hand each. Bend lightly until it snaps on it's own. The place where it snaps is the general place you should chop off rest of the asparagus of that bunch so you get the soft flesh and not the hard ends. Don't through away the hard ends however, they are great to make a stock or grate and use in frittattas.

Asparagus is a well-known vegetable in US so there are abundant recipes of asparagus on internet. I'll list here some of my favorite ways to cook asparagus.

1) Roasted Asparagus wih Salt, Pepper, Chili flakes and Lemon
This is my most favorite way of eating asparagus. Prepapre them by chopping tough ends (see abov). Drizzle with olive oil, coarse salt, chilli paper flakes and pepper. Roast in 400F oven for about 15-20mins so they crunchy but soft inside. Remove from oven and sprinkle with lemon juice, serve hot as a side.

Note: you can play with oven temps and cooking times or turning broiler on for last 2 minutes if you like them browned.

2) Grilled asparagus

3) Steamed and sauteed

4) Chopped asparagus in noodle dishes such as Lo Mein or Soba

5) Asparagus can be a nice substitute to cauliflowers in masale bhat (Indian spiced rice).

Whichever way you like them, make sure you don't loose them out this season!

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 are flowering all around showing their promise for the season.

Meyer Lemons!

Leaving you with a few photos of citrus blossoms and a link to my simple but tasty citrus salad recipe - dance of colors on the plate!

Enjoy the spring while it lasts!! :)

Kumquats!

A simple citrus salad!

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 keep vegetables in a noodle dish crunchy. You just stir fry them one at a time and remove from heat. Then add everything together at the end - easy!

I hope you will try this another 20minute weeknight dinner.. you can add meats or tofu if you want or vary the vegetables - variations are endless!

Recipe:

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1 packet Lo Mein noodles - usually has 3 bundles

few Tbsp vegetable oil (don't use olive oil for stir-frying)

quarter of a large onion - sliced length wise into thin slices

1 red pepper - sliced length wise into thin slices

2 carrots - chopped

1C broccoli florets

7-8 mushrooms - sliced thinly

1tsp grated ginger

handful of chopped green onions

handful of chopped cilantro

3-4Tbsp soy sauce, low sodium

2Tbsp rice wine vinegar

dash of hot sauce (per taste)

salt & pepper

Recipe:

Heat water in a large pot.  While water is heating, prepare all the veggies. Prep ahead is really beneficial for stir fry dishes which cook in a jiffy!

When water is hot, add Lo Mein and cook per package directions (usually 4-6 minutes), Then drain noodles and rinse with cold water thoroughly to stop cooking. Set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or a large surface area pan on medium high heat. When hot, stir fry onions, peppers, broccoli and carrots quickly one at a time - each taking a minute or two and then remove each vegetable with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Then add ginger and mushrooms to the pan. Cook stirring for 3-4 minutes until mushrooms are slightly softened. Add soy sauce, vinegar and mix well.

Turn the heat off. Add noodles, add all the veggies back, add salt & pepper to taste (go easy on salt as soy sauce often makes dish salty). 

Garnish with hot sauce, green onions and cilantro and mix well.

Serve hot with a hot cup of your favorite green tea to sip along! 

Rustic Apple Tart

This rustic apple tart is perfect for those crazy days when you have friends or family coming over for dinner but have no time left for a home-made dessert - just use a store bought pie crust. Or it's even perfect for those days when you are in the mood for making a pie crust from scratch and have a couple of apples waiting to be used in the fridge. 

Either way, whether you use store bought crust or make one home at home, no-one needs to know as a wam slice of this tart with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream is perfection in every bite irrespective!

And psst.. another thing no-one need know: when you call something rustic, by definition you make room for imperfections. Imperfections even add to the rustic-ness of the pie, you could say :). So don't let the fear of not being able to roll a perfect round pie crust stop you from a delectable home-made deessert!

Rustic Apple Tart

Recipe: Rustic Apple Tart

Serves 4 large slices

Ingredients:

1 9" pie crust - store bought or home-made

2 granny smith apples (I used Fuji this time)

2Tbsp brown sugar

2Tbsp melted butter

1/2tsp pumpkin spice (or 1/4tsp cardamom powder, 1/4tsp cinnamon powder, pinch of nutmeg and pinch of all-spice)

juice of half a lemon

dash of salt

Recipe:

If using frozen pie-crust, defrost on counter or fridge as per package direction. If making crust at home, experiment with different shapes! Apple tart looks great as a rectangle or a half-circle too!

Pre-heat oven to 400F

Slice apples thinly and evenly, add to a large bowl. To the apples, add all the spices, melted butter, sugar, lemon juice and salt and mix well.

Roll the pie crust on a pachment paper lined baking sheet. Add the apples, you can arrange them in a single layer facing one way (like the picture above) or just add them in a mound and then spread evenly - leave a little border on all the sides to be able to roll. Then using your hands lightly roll the border or tuck in the tart.

Add a little more crumbled butter and sugar specs on top (optional).

Bake for 35-40mins until the crust turns brown at places and apples look cooked. Remove from oven, let rest for a couple of mins. Cut into slices and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. 

5 Foodie Things For the Rainy Days..

It has been raining a lot this winter. Rain is good. Particularly for California this year.

One such rainy morning I was sitting next to a window overlooking the early spring flowers and leaves getting a nice good soaking while listening to the steady pounding of rain on our windows, and I found myself deliciously reminiscing of my favorite foodies things for rainy days over the years. And that's how this compilation was born :)

I hope the next time rainy gloomy weather strikes, you can add just a bit of sunshine and spice to your days with these rain friendly yet healthy foods! (notice no deep frying or sugar laden recipes below)

1) A steaming hot cup of your favorite beverage with spice!

First things first, one thing rain de-facto needs is a steaming hot cup of your favorite beverage just a little spiced. For us it is spiced mulled apple cider and spiced coffee or spiced chai.

Both are really simple. For spiced apple cider, I warm regular apple cider. Add to it a cinnamon stick, a couple whole peppers and cloves, a star anise, few cardmom pods, 2 slices of lemon and orange and some lemon juice. Warm on low heat for 20-30mins until the spices have thoroughly flavored the apple cider. Strain if serving to kids. And serve warm! 

Spiced chai/coffee is made by adding clove, cinnamon, cardamom (some or all of these) in boiling water and then make tea/coffee as usual. Strain before drinking.

Steaming hot cup of pumpkin spice coffee!

2) Hot bowl of soup with crusty garlic bread

Rains and soups are a match made in heaven - don't you think! My favorite rainy day lunch is a bowl of hot soup with some crusty garlic bread to dip in - like the hearty lentil soup or roasted red pepper and tomato soup or leek and potato soup or noodle bowl. And I have a great trick to turn any regular bread into garlic bread!

Roasted red pepper & tomato soup, hearty lentil soup, (bottom) curried butternut squash soup & leek and potato soup

3) How about some snacks to go with that tea/coffee?!

A good cup of chai/coffee on a rainy day can also use some of rain's favorite snacks! Our rule of thumb is to not deep fry at home, so we stay away from fritters/bhujias... but that doesn't mean we have any the less fun! Baked samosa puffs, baked sweet potato fries, kande pohe or pinwheels are all great options which are great for your belly too!

Sweet potato fries, baked samosa puffs, kande pohe & paav bhaji

4) Baking! 

There is something so therapeutic about baking.. the warm aromas drifting off of the oven or watching the joys of a bread rising - baking is a food for the tummy and the soul. And if you are stuck at home while it's pouring outside, who wouldn't like a slice of freshly baked quick banana bread or pumpkin cranberry muffins or the apple crisp to go along-with it!

Banana nut bread, banana muffins & apple crisp

5) Chocolate covered strawberries!

Now if you have a daughter to entertain on rainy afternoons, then a great idea is to make some chocolate covered strawberries together! 

You can either just drizzle chocolate to create pretty effects or go all out and spend an hour trying yourr hands at Mr. & Mrs. Berry! Get your creative juices flowing! They are really not as complex as you would think. Read about them here.

Mr. & Mrs. Berry!
Dark & white chocolate strawberries

I hope next time the rain strikes, other than the cozy blanket and the movies, you will try out one of your favorite rainy day foods too!

Lentil Avocado Pita Pockets with Yogurt Mint Sauce

Ever since I saw this Mark Bittman's sloppy joe pita recipe in Cooking Light I have been itching to try it out. Honestly, what's not there to love when you have warm toasted pitas stuffed with spicy lentil stuffing, some cool mint yogurt sauce and crunchy fresh cucumber! This is a perfect early spring meal. Seems very California too :)

Have I told you that a well stocked pantry and fridge is the most well kept secret of eating more healthy meals at home? It really is. I always have a pack of Trader Joe's whole wheat pitas at hand and some dried or cooked lentils ready to go at a moment's notice.

One of these weekends we came home late from morning chores. The weather is unseasonably warm and turning spring, so I was craving lighter meals like salads, soups and sandwiches.

Quickly chopped some onions, tomatoes and garlic and put the lentils to cook (hardly 10min prep time). The lentil cooking time of around half an hour was largely unattended in which I made myself a hot cup of coffee with a slice of bread spread with fig butter as a side :)

Once the lentils were ready, the whole assembly took another 15mins and thats it, meal is served! I substituted fresh avocado slices for the cucumber slices and finished with a tangy sweet jalapeno sauce that I found at a local Afghan grocer for some extra kick.

You can eat them on their own but preferrable pairing is to serve with a warm light soup of your choice - my favorite combos are leek and potato soup or the roasted red pepper and tomato soup. Or as the guys will say, beer is a perfect pairing too :)

Recipe:

Source: Mark Bittman's sloppy joe pitas in Cooking Light

Ingredients:

For the lentil filling:

3/4C French lentils (or brown lentils or masoor)

2C water (or per the lentil cooking instructions)

1 medium onion - chopped

3 cloves of garlic - smashed

2 tomatoes - chopped

handful of fresh thyme chopped (or dried thyme)

1.5tsp cumin powder

1Tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

For Yogurt Saucee:

1/2C non-fat or low-fat yogurt

handful of chopped fresh mint

dash of red wine vinegar

pinch of crushed red chili flakes

salt

For vegetables in the filling:

1 fresh avocado - sliced

OR 1 cucumber - chopped

some fresh mint

For assembly:

4 whole wheat pitas

hot sauce of your choice (I used an Afghan bolani jalapeno sauce)

Recipe:

Prepare the lentil filling:

Saute chopped onions and garlic in a Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. When the onions start to tender, add cumin powder and roast for a minute or two. Follow up with some chopped tomatoes, lentils, water and enough salt. Let the mixture come to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and simmer covered for 30mins or so or until the lentils have cooked through (but not turned mushy). Add more water if you need it during the cooking process. When the lentils have cooked through turn the heat off, add thyme and black pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Prepare the raita:

Assemble all the raita ingredients. Taste and adjust the seasonings per taste.

Assemble:

Toast the whole wheat pitas and then cut them into halves diametrically. Using your fingers or a knife open the pitas up. Spread the raita on one side. Add few Tbsp of lentil mixture into the pita. Add a few avocado or cucumber slices, some chopped mint and finish with a dash of hot sauce.

Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake

I wanted to bake something special to bring to a new year's party we were invited to. Baking for a large gathering is always fun, because you can confidently add the sugar and the butter without worrying about the horrific outcome of you finishing all of it alone! (been there, done that, repented by hours on trademill :) ) 

So I was looking for something more elaborate and this chocolate swiss roll cake recipe which appeared on PW blog recently seemed perfect.

I skipped the chocolate ganache because I realized last minute I didn't have enough chocolate in the fridge but the cake was great even without it (though presentation would have been much better with ganache, going to try that next time!)

There were two mistakes I made while making this and both ended up with the same root cause of not whipping the batter long enough. Egg and sugar batter had not come to the ribbon stage, though likely a few more minutes would have done it. And the cream cheese filling could have used a few more minutees of beating too. I have a new hand mixer and there is still some getting used I need... particularly the high speeds. I tend to stick with lower speeds and the filling definitely needed high speed in retrospect.

But all said and done, it was a very tasty cake which finished off within minutes of opening. Next time I'll focus on getting the filling right consistency and also the ganache I skipped!

Happy baking!

Tilapia Fish Curry - Bengali Style (v2)

Some recipes never seem to grow old no matter how many times you make them. They only age better with time and their v2, v3 and v4s are born. This is one such recipe for me - I have tried endless tweaks on this fish curry and tried perfecting it a little more every single time.

Original version called for various spices, this time I substituted all the spices with curry powder instead. Result was equally delicious! The trick is to find a good quality curry powder if you don't make one at home. I generally use Trader Joe's curry powder and I am quite satisfied with it; it's a very mild version heat-wise but packs a lot of punch. Home-made has it's benefits but using a good quality store bought one is a very useful time saving arsenal of a busy mom. Another good one I like is Maharaja curry powder from Penzy's spices.

I own a small bottle of mustard oil and all my Bengali recipes now start with mustard oil instead which I feel is great way to add flavor.

We devoured the fish curry with rice and lime wedges.

This photo is from the time I had made it previously - we were too busy eating our dinner this time to stage a good one :)

Recipe:

Serves 3

Ingredients:

3 tilapia fillets (preferably fresh)

quarter of a large onion - finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic - grated

1/2 in piece of ginger - grated

2 tomatoes - chopped

1 small potato - sliced

1/2tsp kalonji/nigella seeds (substitute with mustard seeds if you don't have kalonji - but try to use kalonji if possible, it gives it that Bengali taste!)

1tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp curry powder

2Tbsp yogurt

salt

juice of 1 lime

2Tbsp mustard oil

Fajita Fridays

We love Mexican food at our home and fajita Fridays are one of our favorites! The fajitas below look like a spread but once you make them a couple of times and get the hang of recipe, there are lots of opportunities for process improvement and parallelizing making this a very convenient Friday or any weeeknight 30minute dinner too.

When we lived in San Diego there was this place in Old Town called Cafe Coyote which we used to visit every Friday. They have a roadside stall where they serve fresh off the stove tortialla with butter and salsa just 50c each -- which was a steal for my student days! Most Fridays we ate roadside tortiallas but on special occasions we went inside for a more sit down dinner and that was always their fajitas for me..

After years of hopelessly searching for a Cafe Coyote alternative in south bay I started making fajitas at home instead and that's how our fajita fridays were born.

I have a set of Mexican spice blends I ordered from Penzey's spices which has been a great investment. Now I can get that authentic Mexican flavor to even the simplest of home-cooked meals which is great inceentive to eat more at home. If you like tacos and fajitas a lot, I definitely recommend investing in good mexican spice blends.

So here is how I make it:

Spanish Rice:

1C rice

2Tbsp chopped onion (or less)

2 cloves of garlic - crushed

2 small or 1 large tomato - chopped

1 tsp tomato paste

1Tbsp olive oil

1 3/4C water

salt, pepper, pinch of dried oregano

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Then add tomato paste and chopped tomatoes and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add rinsed rice and saute again for a couple of minutes. Add water, salt, pepper, oregano and transfer to rice cooker. Rice will be ready in about 20minutes (or as long as rice cooker takes)

Black beans:

1 can of rinsed black beans

1Tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove - crushed

1/4C water

salt

Saute garlic in olive oil. Then add black beans, water, salt to taste (go low salt for canned beans) and cook on low-medium for 5-10minutes or until all the water is absorbed.

Guacamole:

2 ripe avocados

1Tbsp finely chopped red onion

handful of cilantro leaves - chopped

juice of half a large lemon

salt & pepper

Mash avocados roughly (not a smooth paste). Add the rest of ingredienets. Mix. Taste and adjust for taste

Pico de Gallos (basic salsa):

2 small tomatoes - finely chopped

1 Tbsp finely chopped onion

1 green chilli

handful of cilantro leaves  - finely chopped

juice of half a lemon

1/4tsp of salsa seasoning

salt & pepper - to taste

Mix everything. Taste and adjust for taste. Set aside for about 15-20mins before serving.

Fajitas:

thinly sliced veggies (I used onions, red pepper, mushrooms, carrots), optionally can add thinly sliced chicken pieces.

Juice of a lemon

2tsp fajita mix (or to taste)

2Tbsp vegetable oil

salt & pepper

Mix all the veggies with 1Tbsp olive oil, juice of half a lemon, fajita mix, salt & pepper. Set aside to marinate for as long as you can. When ready to cook, heat a large non stick skillet, when very hot add 1Tbsp oil and veggies. Stir-fry on high heat for just a few minutes stirring in between until the veggies start to char. Remove from hear - sprinkle with remaining juice of half a lemon. Serve immediately with warm tortiallas.

Time optimization tips:

• Start with rice first. Once rice starts to cook, then start on other things in parallel. Rice cooking I find is the main time gate.
• After rice is on it's own, I usually marinate veggies for fajitas and put the salsa together so they both get most time to marinate.
• Then I cook beans
• And lastly guaco.
• If you have additional help in terms of kids or husband, guaco and salsa are great to delegate!
• At last right when you are ready to eat, then stir fry veggies/chicken and then wipe the same non-stick pan with a paper towel and warm tortiallas.
• Dinner is served!

OT: My Favorite Recently Read Early Childhood books

Once a month or so we, the mother daughter pair, visit our local library and borrow like 20-25 young kids books. So many that recently I started carrying a grocery bag to library - no kidding! She makes me read atleast 4 books a day and sometimes 8 on weekends. And 20-25 are just enough to provide variety for the month.

I love public library of our new town. It's large, has a varied selection and all books are in great condition and has a lovely decorated children's section that even adults would want to stay and read in. And a big bonus for me is the small coffee nook --- makes for the perfect book reading experience!

Image Credit: goodreads.com

We borrow varied subjects and authors but once in a while few books just strike a cord! This is a snapshot of some such - not just to list out for readers but also as a memory for me for future..

We love all the Lucy Cousin books - Maisy goes to Hospital, Maisy goes to Movies, Maisy's vacation etc etc. Simple sentences, lovely illustrations and easy concepts to grasp for little once. I highly recommend to read one to your <5 year olds!

Image Credit: goodreads.com

Next one is not a famous book but one that I simply adored reading to my daughter. No Time for Mother's Day is a lovely story of a young girl whose mom is also a busy business owner. Mom is always busy, juggling home and office and runs out of time for the standard Mom things - for example, she gets called from office on a Saturday and needs to cut short an outing with her daughter. The mom loves her family and she loves her work too (strikes strong cords with me!). 

The dad and the little girl are really supportive of mom's work and appreciate her for all she does. The daughter also understands how busy mom is all the time and knows that her mom is different from her aunt and thinks hard and finally gives mom the gift she really enjoys for mother's day which is a full day of quiet. No work.

Image Cerdit: goodreads.com

No stress. Just relaxing. I love this book on so many levels and love how it embodies the struggles and joys of parenting with demanding office duties. And that everyone is unique. I would love for more such books to be available to be honest.

Another book we really enjoyed is Mud Soup. It's about a boy who is so afraid to try "mud soup" offered by his Mexican class-mate thinking it literally to mean soup made with mud. Finally he gives it a try, loves it and realizes how silly his scare was -- this book touches a delicate topic of cultural diversity and being open to new experiences. Something I think we all could do a little more of.

Another series we always enjoy grabbing is the Berenstain Bears - mama for mayor, homework hassle, we are a family, Christmas time.. all are great books. Simple sentences, easy concepts and a good short story line. 

Image Credit: goodreads.com

There are many others we love reading - most recent once being Sophie's Squash, many Dora the Explorer books and Mary Eenglebright's collection of classics.

Local libraries are such a great resource to try out and read many different books at no cost. And in this age of apps-for-everything just visiting library and picking up new books to read is, I feel, a great way to get kids excited about reading and build their curiosity.. I love.

Image Credit: goodreads.com

Masale-bhat (Indian Spiced Rice with Cauliflowers and Potatoes)

Masale-bhat literally means spiced rice. The diversity in Indian cuisine is so amazing that I think every region in India has a unique way of preparing masale bhat and the one below is from my home state, Maharashtra.

Masale bhat was an integral part of every wedding while growing up in Maharashtra. In fact I don't remember attending a single marriage ceremony where this mighty dish was not served! It is a sign of how well loved this dish is by everyone. Masale bhat with mattha (cold buttermilk drink with mint, chilli and cumin) are like the inseparable duo of our home town celebrations!

I bought a large head of cauliflower from the farmer's market this weekend - it was the rarely seen loose cauliflower (versus the tightly bundled florets version we find here) so I ended up buying a bigger head than I wanted. And while I was thinking of what to make, I thought of the mighty masale bhat.

It was a very tasty meal devoured by everyone! The way I have been eating masale bhat in childhood, garnishes of dollop of ghee, lemon juice and cilantro are really important. Definitely recommend not skipping those. 

Also kala masala is a quintessental Marathi spice powder. Garam masala could be a substitution but taste won't be the same - you can find kala masala in Indian grocery stores here or many reliable recipes by other bloggers!

This was a lunch loved by everyone -- we will be making this again and again and again and hope you do too!

Recipe: Serves 4

Ingredients:

2C rice

3.5C water

3 green onions - whites and greens chopped thin

2 potatoes - sliced into wedges or thin circles

2C cauliflower florets

1tsp ginger-garlic paste (OR 3 cloves of garlic crushed and a small ginger piece grated)

1 small tomato

2Tbsp oil

Spices:

2 whole cloves

2 whole cardamoms

3 bay leaves

1 small cinnamon stick

1tsp mustard seeds

1/4tsp asafoetida

2tsp kala masala (or goda masala)

1/2tsp garam masala

1/4tsp turmeric

Garnish:

Chopped coriander leaves

lime juice

Ghee or butter

dried coconut flakes (optional)

Recipe:

Wash and soak rice in water. Set aside.

Then prep all the veggies. Separate the whites and greens of chopped green onions. Thinly chop tomato and cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets.

Heat oil in pressure cooker. When hot add mustard seeds, as they sizzle add asafoetida, cloves, cardamoms, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Let sizzle for a minute.

Then add white part of the green onions followed by ginger and garlic. Cook for a few mins until onions start to brown. Then add potatoes and cook a few more minutes. Follow up by chopped tomato and turmeric powder. Then add cauliflower, kala masala, garma masala and stir well. Cook for just a few minutes.

Then add rice with water, salt to taste and stir well. Start the pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles. Don't overcook the rice.

Serve with a dollop of ghee or butter, chopped coriander and green onions and lemon juice.

Pizza Love

We love pizza at our home - right from the little one to the grown ups of the house-hold, everyone is a pizza fan. 

But, we don't like the heavy cheese version where all you really taste is cheese and a meat topping. We like our pizza to be lightly dressed in cheese, we like to change up the cheeses we add, we like to taste the crust just as much as the pizza, we love to load it up with vegetables and we love to experiment with unusual toppings!

Veggie and Persimmon topping

So as you can guess, we make our pizza at home to satisfy all these requirements :). But really, pizza making can be a weeknight dinner thing with just a few tips and tricks.

Veggie with Mushroom & Olives

We buy pizza dough from Trader Joe's - they carry 3 varieties, plain white, whole-wheat and herb. The herb is my favorite - you taste the rosemary or the thyme when you bite into the crispy crust - so yummy!

You take the dough out about 15 mins before you have to form a crust and use generous amount of dusting flour and olive oil to roll the dough using hands as thick or as thin as you want. All of our pizzas are thin crust - we get about two medium sized pizzas from one dough packet.

This is embarrasing to admit but dozens of pizzas later, I still don't have the hang of rolling a perfect round base - it tends to be a map of the world base, but it tastes just the same, so who is looking :)

Tomato sauce also can be home-made and quickly. Just chop 2 tomatoes, saute in olive oil with crushed garlic and pinch of chilli flakes. Add salt, pinch of sugar (very important!) and a dash of good balsamic vinegar. Let it cook uncovered for 5-10mins while you prep the veggies.

We like to change up cheese - sometimes it's mozzaerlla, sometimes parmesean but quite often it's goat cheese - which adds such a nice tanginess to pizza, though it doesn't really melt so if you want melted cheese stay with parmesan or mozzarella.

Veggie with Figs!

Our usual toppings are mushrooms, red peppers, onions, tomato slices and then we add the mystery topping ingredient!

My daughter has the honor to choose one ingredient from fridge and let me just say that she makes some bold choices :)  but I am so glad we do this as every now and then one of the topping choice just sticks as winner -- she usually ends up choosing fruit, so thinly sliced apples or figs, halved grapes, sliced parsiman go great. Same with thinly chopped spinach ribbons. Just experiment with toppings, it's so much fun!

Veggie with Eggplant topping

Pizza stone is a great investment if you cook pizza often - I can never get the same crust as I get with the pizza stone. I have this but a cheaper model will be just fine too.

It takes me about 20 mins of prep time and then 20 mins of unattended baking time (at 420F) and dinner is served.  

One Food Resolution You Should Consider for The New Year.....

Happy new year to everyone! As we say Good-bye to 2015 and welcome 2016, it's a perfect time to review the good about the past year and identify things to improve for the new year.

If there is one food resolution which has been near and dear to my heart for over 4 years now is to eat more home-cooked meals and buy locally and seasonally grown food as much as possible. The later facilitates former to a large extent.

This is our fifth year of exclusively sourcing all the produce from local farmer's markets and eating seasonal, and I am so happy that we stuck with this path for as long! It has so many tangible and intangible benefits to health and lifestyle!

Before global transportation was as pervasive (think our grandparent's generation), eating local and seasonal is what everyone did. You ate apples in fall, squashes and tomatoes in summer and strawberries in spring - it was all part of enjoying the season. And you preserved or pickled seasonal vegetables to enjoy year-around..

Then happened global transportation boom and food industrialization - both resulted in foods being easily transportable 100's of miles from their original picking destination to being shipped to opposite parts of the worlds for consumers to enjoy year-around. Not only it's taxing to the environment but it also causes foods to be picked ahead of ripening resulting in more use of pesticides or preservatives and compromised taste.

The best way to start buying local and seasonal is to visit your local farmer's markets or be part of local CSA or co-ops which will deliver a basket of locally grown seasonal produce right to your door-steps.

There are innumerable advantages of eating locally and seasonally. 

• First, you are eating produce picked right at it's peaks within hours of being picked. Not only it is fresh, it also tastes so much better! 
• You will help local farmer's eco-system and sustainable growing practices
• Fruits and produce bought seasonally is often cheaper purely due supply and demand helping you save $$
• And the weekly ritual of visiting farmer's markets, choosing through rows and rows of freshly picked produce can be so therapeutic and if kids are part of it right from their childhood, I do believe they are naturally grown towards eating more vegetables and eating healthier!

There are also some challenges to seasonal/local eating and here are some tips I found useful over the years:

• Seasonal can often mean repetition - you end up buying same vegetables weeks in a row because that's what is in season. But then, this is your chance to be creative in kitchen! Google various ways to cook with that vegetable and experiment with a new one every week - who knows, you will find a keeper recipe somewhere in there that you didn't even know about!
• How do you know what's in season - there are great resources online or visiting farmer's markets is a more fun way to find out for yourself :)
• Access to locally grown seasonal food - farmer's markets, CSAs, produce co-ops or even some supermarkets now-a-days carry local seasonal produce marked as such!

In this day and age of genetically modified everything and food industrialization, I truly feel that eating local and seasonal is a small step in the right direction, for our health, for our local farming ecosystem and for the environment! 

I get to talk to the farmer's who grow our vegetables on our plates everyday and I know I am doing my part in developing the local sustainable ecosystem, but really the main reason I eat local/seasonal is the taste, there is just no comparison to food with 1000's of food miles -- just try your local farmer's market next time and see it for yourself!

Spicy Black Eyed Peas and Kale Soup

This is a new take on an old favorite. Our new house has a large vegetable patch solely dedicated to many varieties of kale. And while I have always wanted to be someone who eats a lot of kale, the truth is I barely cook with kale always finding it a little on the bitter side. 

However now this flourishing vegetable patch is forcing me to find ways to add kale to our meals.

The easiest way to get more of kale for newbees is to add it in your favorite soups or daals - paired with a little tartness from lemons, kale really shines in these preparations.

This particular soup has black eyed peas - my favorite legume! It can be as thick or as soupy as you want. Mine is usually on the thick side. I love to serve this with a dollop of cream cheese or greek yogurt and some freshly chopped green onions or chives. No bread.

But you could also make it a lot thinner (just add more water or stock) and serve with a crusty bread for dipping. 

Recipe: Serves 6

Ingredients:

1C dried black eyed peas

4C water

1/4 of a large onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 inch piece of ginger

1 celery

4 large leaves of kale

4 large chopped tomatoes or 1 can fire roasted tomatoes

2Tbsp olive oil

Seasonings:

1tsp hot chili paper flakes

2tsp cumin powder

1tsp paprika -- for color

dash of hot sauce

pinch of oregano (thyme has worked well for me too)

salt, black pepper

juice of 1lemon

Recipe:

1. Rinse and cook black eyed pease per package direction.
2. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot on medium-low heat. Add chopped onions and cook for a few minutes.
3. When onions are tender add finely chopped ginger and garlic. Cook for a few more minutes until aromatic.
4. Next add sliced celery.
5. Remove the stems from the kale leaves and tear the leaves up using your hand into small pieces. (I find that kale is much easier to tear using hands than chopping with a knife). Add kale to the pot and cook for just a few more minutes until the greens are wilted.
6. Add tomatoes, paprika and chili flakes and cook for 10minutes or so until the rawness of the tomatoes is gone.
7. Transfer cooked black eyed peas to the soup pot next. Add cumin, oregano, salt and hot sauce. Cook for 10more minutes on low heat uncovered.
8. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and ground black pepper. Adjust the seasonings per taste. Serve hot.

To Home Cooking & Family Dinners....

About time to say good-bye to 2015 - can't believe another year has gone by! It's time for me to be thankful for the little joys this year has brought and review how well the resolutions held up. On the food front, 2015 was a great year of eating more family dinners together at our household. 

Mostly all home cooked. We are not big on takeouts. And I have a whole stash of 30 minute recipes so putting a simple and healthy dinner on table even on crazy weekdays has never been a hassle as long as you have a well stocked pantry and fridge.

I truly feel there isn't a more important way to take care of ourselves than managing what we eat. What we eat influences our health & beauty, happiness, stamina to work/productivity and increasingly I am finding out that it heavily influences family bondings too!

A simple home cooked meal is the best way to manage what we eat - and it doesn't have to be very fancy either. A pot of hot soup with some store bought crusty bread when eaten with family together may give you just as much joy and satisfaction as an elaborate Indian feast cooked over many hours. The idea is to sit together, talk share and enjoy a simple healthy home-cooked meal made with love and care. 

We all lead busy lives and grab lunches on the go. I am guilty of exclusively eating all of my work lunches on my desk while catching up with emails. So the evening ritual of coming home, hustling about in the kitchen, putting something delicious on table and everyone sitting together enjoying the meal while talking about their day just feels so important!

Taco Tuesday this week - looks like a spread but very simple and takes 30 minutes

My daughter is always running around me when I am in the kitchen - she is my helper, grabbing a lemon from front yard or few mint leaves or chilli pepper from back yard or helping fix a salad. She loves that - and I feel this combined with visiting farmer's markets have made such a positive impact towards her atitude on food and eating (and touch-wood on that!). 

She also looks forward to the meal times when we all go around the table and share a story of the day - it helps you connect with the families and specially helps kids form stronger family bonds.

On warm summer nights, we take our dinner outside and eat with a candle lantern hung to a nearby tree. Then we blow off the candle and take turns watching stars and matching them with star gazer apps on phone - just so much fun to make your own small customs around meal-times and make that a focus of the evening. 

After-all good food brings everyone together... Here is to keeping the home-cooked family dinners stronger than ever in 2016! 

Leek and Potato Soup

If the soups were to have personalities, I think this leek and potato soup will be the simplest and the humblest of the once I cook. Yet, there is something so homely and deliciously satisfying about gulping bowls of this hot soup on cold wintry evenings that you will not feel like you are missing any fancy ingredients or embellishments!

This soup has few ingredients and as long as I buy leek from farmer's market, all other ingredients are pantry staples which is a huge plus for weeknight dinners.

It is also very quick cooking - about 20minutes. And the recipe is forgiving so no worries if you are multi-tasking in kitchen or playing with kids while a pot of this is bubbling away!

(Incidentaly, I really need to spend more than the 5 secs I have gotten used to spending on my food photos. I went down from an SLR to a Canon decent mid-ranger to my Nexus5 phone for photos and the quality has relatively taken nose-dive too. And while this phone does an okay job in natural light, it's barely manageable in night home yellow light. But anyway, it's either having some photo or no photo, so I am going to deal with the poor quality photos for now. Hope you will excuse the photo quality too :) )

Recipe:

1 sliced leek

2 russet potatoes

2 cloves of garlic - crushed

dash of dried oregano (thyme works well too)

dash of whole milk or heavy cream

juice of half a lemon

1Tbsp olive oil + 1Tbsp butter

salt & pepper

Clean and slice leeks in thin half-moon slices. Leeks are notorious for hiding dirt in between leaves, if this is your first time working with leeks, check out this cool page on how to clean and prep leeks.

In a large pan, heat 1Tbsp olive oil. When hot, add garlic and saute for a minute. Then add chopped leek and saute for a few mins until they are tender.

While the leek is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.

Add potato cubes to the pan and cook for a minute. Add water for desired consistency - I added about 6C. Add thyme or oregano, salt & pepper, cover and cook on low medium for about 15mins.

Check that potatoes are tender, remove from heat. Using an immersion blender or just a potato masher, mash or blend soup. I like my soup chunky so I use potato masher and mash lightly. If you like silky smooth soup, then please use blender and puree.

Add 1Tbsp butter, dash of milk/cream and lemon juice. Taste, adjust seasoning. Serve hot!