Quinoa Mango Salad for #Food of the World

This month's country for 'Food of the World' event is Senegal, a country located in West Africa. I wasn't familiar with Senegal or Senegalese cuisine until I started looking for recipes for this event. I made this simple quinoa salad with mango from here.

Since Senegal borders the Atlantic Ocean, fish is a very important component in the cooking. Most other meats are also popular except for pork due to the nation's large muslim population. Peanuts are the primary crop of Senegal along with couscous, white rice, sweet potatoes, lentils and various vegetables.

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Creamy Cucumber Gazpacho

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: 3 Veggies that are Fruit

Dish: Creamy Cucumber Gazpacho

Can't believe it's July already and half the year passed off so quickly. We are starting a new edition of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is dishes made with 'Veggies that are fruit'.

Technically speaking fruit is a part of the plant that develops from a flower. It is also the section of the plant that has seeds. Other parts of the plant are considered vegetables -- like stems, leaves or roots. Good example of  'veggies that are fruit' are cucumber, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, squash and so on. But from a culinary point of view, vegetables are more savory and fruits are sweet.

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Peach Ice Cream (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes 

Dish: Peach Ice Cream

I didn't know that peach ice cream existed until I had it at a dairy farm last summer. It tasted so fresh and full of peach flavor. I was looking for an opportunity to make it and when I saw peaches on sale in our local grocery I bought and made this yummy ice cream.

When buying peaches, look for fruit that smell like what you want them to taste like. One good thing about peaches is that they ripen even after they have been picked. So you can buy them slightly ripe and finish ripening at home. But make sure to buy peaches that are heavy for their size but are not too hard (these will never ripen).

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Rose Milkshake

It's officially Summer in our neck of woods and the temperatures are slowly rising. So this colorful and refreshing Rose milkshake is just perfect for the season. Recipe is from a TV cooking show.

It wasn't until recently that I got to know that my mom likes rose milkshake. We were talking on the phone a few weeks ago and she was telling me about how she used to drink it when she was little. I wish she had told me that while she was in US, I would have made this for her. Next time she visits us, I know what to make for her.

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Sweet Milk Ice Cream

Here's a recipe for ice cream that tastes like the kulfi we are used to eating in India. This recipe for Sweet milk ice cream is from King Arthur catalog. It is one of the few recipes that I made the same day I saw it.

Fortunately I had all the ingredients on hand and the ice cream base came together in no time, though I had to wait overnight to freeze and make the ice cream. This recipe is made from a predominantly milk base instead of a custard base (with eggs) but it is creamy and almost gelato-like. The tapioca starch takes the place of the eggs to stabilize the base, lending it a rich, creamy texture to the finished ice cream.

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Chocolate Pudding Pops

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Summer Vacation Recipes

Dish: Chocolate Pudding Pops

So for the final day of this week's blogging marathon, I have any sweet treat for the kids. The recipe for these Chocolate pudding pops is from Nupur's blog and I knew I would make them as soon as I saw her post.

Both my kids son love chocolate and these pops are perfect afternoon treat for a warm summer afternoon. They are very easy to make, make some chocolate pudding, pour into molds, freeze and serve.

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Lemonade Concentrate

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Summer Vacation Recipes

Dish: Lemonade Concentrate

Whenever my son thinks he needs money to buy something from school, he asks if he can open a lemonade stand. My answer is always is 'go ahead, but don't ask me to make the lemonade'. He doesn't really get the concept that he has to spend money first to earn later.

But I wanted to make him lemonade anyway because my husband bought 2 huge bags of limes and lemons and as they say when life gives you lemons (and limes), make lemonade. Which is exactly what I did :-)

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Pasta Salad with Black Beans (Vegan recipe)

Memorial day is right around the corner and if you are looking for a dish to make, then here's an easy to make and tasty Pasta Salad with black beans and veggies. It's completely vegan, if you use vegan mayo but if you have regular mayo then go ahead and use it instead.

I am always looking for opportunities to try new dishes, so last weekend I took this pasta dish when I went to meet my blog buddies, Sushma, Rajani, Usha, Mir and Amara. The good thing about this dish is it can be made ahead of time and chilled until ready to serve, which makes it a great dish to make for picnics. barbecues or for take along lunches.

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Vegan Rich Chocolate Mousse

Today I have a rich chocolate mousse recipe that is guilt free and sooo delicious. The secret ingredient in this mousse is soft silken tofu. I was initially skeptical about using tofu in a dessert because I've had some really bad experiences with tofu based desserts years ago and I have not gone back to it till now.

I saw this recipe in Vegetarian Times magazine and wanted to give it a second chance. I was pleasantly surprised how chocolaty and creamy this mousse turned out and there was no tell-tale sign of tofu. I made this last weekend to eat as a movie night treat and both my kids absolutely loved it.

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Thai Zucchini Curry with Red Curry paste

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Dishes

Dish: Thai Zucchini Curry with Red Curry paste
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Hope you have yummy food and lots of fun with your loved ones. We are going to a Thanksgiving party hosted by a dear friend, so we will definitely be having lots of yummy food and fun today.
I am thankful for a lot of things - big thanks to god for this life, thanks to my family and friends for always being there in both happiness and sadness, thanks to the blogging marathon group for keeping me inspired and motivated to keep cooking and blogging.

I am also thankful that I had this curry recipe in the drafts for today's post, otherwise I would have been scrambling to get this post done :-) I made this Thai Red Curry with Summer squash from Food52 couple of months ago. It came in handy today since I had bookmarked and tried it then.

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Pickled Jalapenos

Buffet on Table: Bloggers Choice

Day 25: Preserving Summer Bounty - Pickled Jalapenos

Today I have a simple pickled jalapenos recipe to use up some of the jalapenos from the backyard. Recipe is from 'Everyday Food' magazine. This is a quick pickling method and it stays good in the refrigerator for about a month.

The recipe uses cider vinegar (aka apple cider vinegar) for the pickling purposes. Just a word of caution, boiling the vinegar gives out quite a strong smell and both my husband and son were bothered a lot by it. I pretended that didn't bother me, but it was quite strong to my liking as well :-)

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Corn and Pepper Relish (Preserving Summer Bounty)

Buffet on Table: Bloggers Choice

Day 24: Preserving Summer Bounty - Roasted Confetti Corn

We are reaching the final stretch of this month's nonstop blogging for 'Buffet on Table' and the theme for this week is 'Blogger's Choice'. I thought it was going to be a breeze to come up with a theme and do 3 posts.
I couldn't even decide on the theme until last week. I was flip flopping on few themes, I'm going to jot them down here, so I remember them for later --dinner menu ideas, dhaba recipes and Bengali desserts. Then suddenly I thought of posting recipes for preserving the summer bounty/ harvest.

I planted some tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and chilies in a raised bed garden for the first time this year. I mentioned about my home grown zucchini in this post. Unfortunately after giving me the very large 13" long zucchini, the plant decided to call it a day and die on me :-(

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Carrot Halwa Ice Cream

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Carrot Halwa Ice cream

Did you ever eat warm carrot halwa with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? That is one extremely rich and decadent dessert to have (also a calorie bomb -- but you are allowed to indulge once in a while, not everyday, mind you!!). My mom and sister love this combination.

This ice cream combines carrot halwa and vanilla ice cream to make a flavor that is sure to be a hit at a Indian themed parties. Recipe is from here and it is just as it sounds, make some carrot halwa, make a vanilla ice cream base -- mix them both and churn.

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Dulche de Leche Ice Cream (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Dulche de Leche Ice cream

Next ice cream I made this summer is this Dulche de Leche Ice cream. I had a bottle of dulche de leche in the fridge that my husband got from Argentina. It needed to used up and this ice cream from Smitten Kitchen sounded like the right recipe to make.

This is one of the most easy ice cream recipes I've made. All it needs is bringing milk and cream to boil and then stirring in dulche de leche and setting aside to chill, then churning it in the ice cream machine to finish making the ice cream. I swirled some dulche de leche while putting it into a container.

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Wholewheat Zucchini Bread for #BreadBakers

It's time for #Breadbakers again and I'm so excited to host it this month. The theme I picked is 'Breads using Summer Bounty'. So any bread, quick or with yeast, using fruits, herbs and vegetables from your garden or fresh from the farmer's market can be made. We have a delicious list of breads from the lovely bakers, don't forget to visit their blogs (listed at the end of the post).

I planted a zucchini plant in my raised vegetable bed this year. It started flowering beginning of July and I was hoping for a bumper crop of zucchini. Little did I know that not all flowers become fruit. With no zucchini in sight even after 3~4 weeks, I started to panic. A quick google search even led me to think that there were no bees in our area to pollinate the flowers and I might end up zucchini-less after all. Then one day I saw these 2 big ones -- not sure how I missed them the whole time. Then the next day I found a gigantic 13" one -- I might have to get my glasses checked now. I'm glad that my zucchini story ended on a positive note. Not sure if I'll get more though -- I see flowers but no tiny or big zucchinis :-(

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Grill Roasted Vegetables and Quinoa Salad

Summer is about barbecues, grilling and enjoying the outdoors. I took the kids to the lake last weekend for the very first time and they had a blast. It was a beautiful day and the lake was very scenic too. Kids had fun swimming in the lake and my daughter didn't even want to come out of the water.

Today's recipe is perfect to make for your next barbecue or grilling party. Recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine. I love grilled vegetables and this salad uses in them in the best possible way. Vegetables can be roasted under the broiler too if you don't have an outdoor grill.

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Strawberry Jam (using Pectin)

With the last batch of strawberries we got from the farm, I made this Strawberry jam. I had some Pomona's Universal Pectin and I used the recipe from the instruction manual to make this jam. I bought a box of this few years ago and I've made jams using this pectin before and it always worked well for me.

Some people prefer not to add pectin, but I find adding it makes the jam hold its shape better. If you prefer not to use pectin, then feel free to leave it out. Almost all fruits have some level of natural pectin in them that will help them set to make a somewhat firm to very firm jam. Here's a good article to read more on this.

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Strawberry Crush (Strawberry Concentrate)

I wrote about the huge load of strawberries we got from strawberry picking in this post. After making those pancakes and the syrup, I still had a lot of them leftover. So I asked my blog buddies on whatsapp on how to use them up before they go bad.

Ever resourceful Vaishali gave her Strawberry crush recipe. She said it's her tried and tested recipe and I immediately set about to make the crush. Vaishali uses the crush in many different ways: as a sauce to serve chocolate desserts, to make popsicles and so on. Head over to Vaishali's blog for many more yummy ideas to use with strawberry crush.

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Lentil Chickpea Burger

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Lentils -- 3 Ways

Dish: Lentil Chickpea Burger

For Day 2 of this week's marathon, I have a protein rich burger made with a combination of lentils and chickpeas. Homemade veggie burgers usually don't hold up too well on the grill, but these burgers didn't fall apart on the grill and tasted awesome after grilling.

Recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and it was originally a Greek flavored burger, but I changed it to more of an Indian flavored one. If you want to, change up the herbs and spices and make up your own version.

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Honeydew Citrus Juice

I am enjoying the warm summer weather, the lovely fresh summer fruit and my backyard garden these days. It makes me sad that it's already middle of summer -- I wish I can hold on it a little longer.
May be I can with this refreshing drink made with honeydew melon and citrus juice. I bought a honey dew melon the other day, it was super juicy, sweet and delicious. After eating most of it as is, I used the rest to make this drink.

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