Puffed Wheat, Almond and Coconut Granola Bars

Blogging Marathon# 64: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Wholewheat Dishes

Dish: Puffed Wheat, Almond and Coconut Granola Bars

Day 2 of 'Wholewheat dishes' and I'm using it in puffed wheat form today. My husband has been asking me to make granola bars at home for quite some time, so I tried these granola bar recipe from Cooking Light magazine.

Recipe calls for goji berries which I have never used before. I bought some from the bulk section of Whole Foods -- they are quite expensive, but they are supposed have many health benefits. If you can't find them, then use any other fried fruit that you like.

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Easy Granola (with Almonds)

Here's an easy peasy recipe to make Granola. I say easy because it requires a very few pantry ingredients that are mixed together and then baked off until golden. Recipe is from a cookbook that I recently bought, Clean Slate.

This cookbook emphasizes on eating clean, whole and unprocessed foods. Original recipe for this was made with rolled barley flakes and rolled spelt flakes. I went shopping looking for these ingredients but I couldn't find them, so I made the granola with them and with just rolled oats.

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Curry flavored Roasted Mixed Nuts

Roasted nuts are my husband's favorite go-to snack. He is the snacker in the house, grabs a handful every time he walks into the kitchen. I don't like snacking, I'm more of a 'eat a full meal and wait for the next meal' kind of a gal. Even when I snack, it has to be in a proper bowl, I don't do handfuls, I only have bowlfuls :-)

Anyway, my husband has been asking me to make roasted nuts for a long time and I finally made him these curry flavored roasted mixed nuts. Recipe courtesy Ellie Kreiger's Food Network show.

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Granola with Cinnamon and Nuts

I always stop my husband from buying granola or granola bars and promise him that I will make them at home for him. But never get around doing that and he keeps asking me for them. After procrastinating for as long as I can, I finally made him this Cinnamon-Nut Granola from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain baking cookbook.

This granola is a perfect balance of salt and sweet, crisp and crunch, fruit and nuts. Using butter to make the granola gives it a ton of flavor, especially in combination with cinnamon. But you can easily substitute vegetable oil or coconut oil for the butter. Varying the fruits and nuts in the granola is the fun part, so feel free to use whatever you have in your pantry.

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Skordalia (Greek Potato-Garlic Dip)

Skordalia is a traditional Greek appetizer dip made with whipped potatoes flavored with fresh garlic, almonds and olive oil. Serve at room temperature or slightly warm with warmed pockletless pita triangles or with crispy oven-roasted eggplant and zucchini.

This recipe is from 'Vegan Eats World' cookbook. I was so excited to see this creamy potato dip recipe that I made it right away for the Buffet on Table -- Condiments week, only to realize that I already had a dish from Greece, so moved this over to this week's Cooking from Cookbook Challenge.

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Mango Almond Smoothie

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Fruits in any form

Dish: Mango-Almond Smoothie

We are starting a brand new week of blogging marathon and my theme for this week is 'Fruits in any form'. It's for Valli's Kid's Delight event being hosted this month by Harini. I have 2 extremes at home, my son doesn't want to touch any fruit and my daughter loves most of the fruits. So for this week, I've tried to make dishes that would (hopefully) please both of them.

First up is this delicious and nutritious mango-almond smoothie. With mango season in full swing, I am making sure to keep fresh, juicy mangoes in stock all the time. We eat most of them as is -- peeled and diced.

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Lemon Almond Ricotta Bundt Cake

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 22

Bake of the Day: Cakes -- Lemon Almond Ricotta Bundt Cake

I am not a health freak but I do look at what a eat. My motto is everything in moderation is OK. There was a phase in my life, few years back, when I tried making 'healthy' foods that really tasted 'healthy' (you know what I mean, right??). I'm glad that phase has passed and now I try incorporate healthy ingredients into my dishes but try to make them taste as normal as possible.

Coming to today's dish, I had a container of ricotta in the fridge waiting to be used up and a quick search landed me on this Lemon almond Bundt cake recipe. I loved the pics and decided to bake it.

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Broccoli Meatballs (Vegetarian & Gluten free Recipe)

These meatballs have nothing to do meat, they are completely vegetarian (skip the eggs and cheese -- you have totally vegan meatballs). They are made with broccoli and ground raw almonds with no bread crumbs for binding -- so these are gluten free too.
Recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and the use of broccoli in meatballs was interesting to me, so I tried the recipe to see how these would taste. Ground almonds and eggs (or egg replacer) bind the meatballs together.

Almonds give a nutty taste to the meatballs while the broccoli makes them taste earthy and delicious. I was initially worried if the meatballs will hold together and if they would cook all the way through in the oven. I didn't have to worry much, the mixture came together beautifully even with the egg replacer substitution and baked perfectly in the oven.

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Colomba Pasquale for #BreadBakers (Easter Dove Bread--Eggless Recipe)

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 12

Bake of the Day: Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove Bread)

I'm taking a short break from breakfast bakes today and instead have a delicious Easter bread. I recently joined the Bread Bakers group. #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. More information about the group and how to join in the baking fun is at the end of the post.

This month's theme is Easter, Passover and Springtime breads from around the world. I made these cute little spring breads last week and wanted to try a more traditional Easter bread for the Bread Bakers group. Found this Colomba Pasquale or Easter Dove bread recipe on King Arthur website. The dove shaped bread looked lovely, so I decided to give it a try.

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Red Pepper & Almonds Pasta Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Red Pepper & Almonds Pasta Sauce

I consider myself at least 5 years behind technology especially social media. The only one that I use is Facebook and that is mainly for the blog and sometimes to share pics of the family. I have no clue where to play and how to play on Facebook. So there you have it -- now you know there is no point in sending me that Farmville request because you got it -- I don't know how to play -- Thank you. But if I compare myself with my husband, I am at least 10 years ahead because he has no Facebook account and he thinks I'm snooping around and violating someone's privacy by reading their status update, hehehe :-)
I digress, coming back to the case in point. I recently started using Instagram, even though I've had the account for almost 2~3 years now. What I'm stumped is the hashtags used in Instagram. Most of the time I'm #totallystuck #havenoclue #howtousehashtags. Any tips, tricks and inputs into expanding my #hashtagknowledge would be highly #appreciated :-) Please leave them in the #comments section below. Thank you.

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Palak Badam Shorba (Spinach Almond Soup)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Recipes from Menu Card
Dish: Palak Badam Shorba

We are starting 3rd week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Recipes from Menu Card'. Valli gave us a few menu cards to choose from and I picked the menu from Puranmal restaurant. We are supposed to pick dishes from 3 different courses, so I have 3 yummy restaurant style dishes coming up this week.

I love reading menu cards and even though in a non-Indian restaurant here in the US, there are probably just 3~4 vegetarian dishes that I might be interested, I still make sure to look at all the pages for good measure :-)

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Afghani Sheer Payra (Afghani Milk Fudge)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes from A-Z International Marathon

Dishes: Afghani Sheer Payra

I'm going to end this month's blogging marathon on a sweet note. I have made this delicious milk fudge from Afghanistan 3 times in the past 1 month. It is that simple to make and quite a crowd pleaser. My husband really liked the fudge because it has a really nice flavor from ground cardamom and rose water.

The only thing that takes time in making this fudge is melting sugar and boiling the syrup and letting the fudge cool -- other than that the whole process is very simple and quick to make. The most important and critical part of successfully making this fudge is the consistency of the sugar syrup. it should not be too thin (fudge won't set) or too thick (fudge would be very very hard). 

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Fruit & Toasted Almond Stuffing for Thanksgiving

Stuffing is a quintessential Thanksgiving side dish. I never understood the concept for stuffing, to me stuffing has to be inside something to be called that, but this stuffing is usually served on the side.
There are regional differences in the way stuffing is made. Southerners make their stuffing, called dressing in the South, from cornbread, while those in the other parts of the country make it from white, wheat or rye bread as base. Apples, chestnuts, raisins, celery and/ or other vegetables, sausage are added to stuffing.

Generally there is meat added to the stuffing and even if it is meat free, the bread is usually moistened with chicken/ turkey broth. So I've eaten stuffing very few times and never thought of making at home either. But my Thanksgiving recipe series made me look for traditional recipes and try and make them vegetarian.

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Rajasthani Badam Halwa (Almond Pudding for ICC)

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli gave us Vaishali's recipe for Badam Halwa/ Almond Pudding. My mom makes awesome badam burfi, but I have never tried badam halwa before, so I really wanted to make it before the deadline. I knew I had some whole almonds in the freezer and this is a great recipe to use them up before I go buying for more. Holiday season is a great time to stock up on nuts, flour & sugar since many of the stores have them on deep discounts. So if you have the pantry space, then this is the right time to go shopping for dessert & baking staples :-)

Sorry, I digressed. Coming back to this amazingly delicious badam halwa. Recipe had clear instructions to use non-stick pan to avoid sticking, so I used by brand new ceramic coated pan that I bought from India and it worked like a charm.

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Karnataka -- Pathir Pheni with Almond milk

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 13
State: Karnataka
Dish: Pathir Pheni with Almond milk

After exploring the states from the North, we are travelling to southwest India today to Karnataka. It was created in 1956 and was originally known as the State of Mysore, it was renamed as Karnataka in 1973. Karnataka shares a border with my home state Andhra Pradesh and the language spoken, Kannada, has some similarities to our language, Telugu. Kannada script is also similar to that of Telugu. So I can probably say that I understand and read about 5% of Kannada.
When I was about 12 years old, my dad took us on a vacation to places in Southern India. We visited some famous touristy places in all 4 southern states. I still remember the beautiful Mysore Brindavan gardens, especially the light show at night. Hampi, Bellur, Halebeedu, Shravanabelogola are some of the places I still remember. My mom still has the pictures from our trip.

Cuisine: Kannadigas (people from Karnataka) make a wide array of snacks, main dishes and desserts. The variety of dishes they make with just rice and flattened rice is mind boggling. Karnataka's cuisine includes both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes that have influences from the neighboring regions and communities. South Karnataka is famous for its typical dishes like Bisi bele bhath, Jolada Rotti, ragi rotti etc., Famous Masala dosa traces its origin to Udupi cuisine. Coastal Karnataka is famous for its tasty seafood specialties and pork curries. Coorg, the hilly district in Kodagu has its unique cuisine that includes spicy meat dishes.
Staple Food: Rice, Ragi, Sorghum etc.,
Specialties: Jolada Rotti, Ragi mudde, Uppittu, Maddur Vada, Dharwad peda, bisibele bhath, Vangi bhath, Kesari bhath, Chiroti, Chitranna, Avalakki, Mandakki.

Today's Dish: During our Kaaja making session, I was chitchatting with my mom and was telling her about the mega marathon and the dishes I had planned to make for each state. For Karnataka, I told her I had planned to make Chiroti, but they sounded so much similar to kaaja that I was planning to change it to something else. My mom said she tasted chirotis long time back at a kannadiga friend's wedding and she said there is no comparison between kaaja & chiroti and both of them belong to different category altogether.

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Iranian Jeweled Rice (Vegan recipe)

For this month's International Cooking Challenge, our host Savitha Ramesh @ Savitha's Kitchen has taken us on a culinary tour of Persia/ Iran. Iranian cuisine or Persian cuisine refers to the traditional and modern styles of cooking related to Iran. Situated in the Middle East, the Iranian culinary style is unique to Iran, but it has been influenced by Iran's neighbouring regions at various stages throughout its history.
Many foods famously associated with Middle Eastern, and indeed World cuisine have their origins in Iran, such as kebab and ice cream. Fresh green herbs are frequently used along with fruits such as plums, pomegranates, quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. Typical Persian main dishes are combination of rice with meat, lamb, chicken, or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian flavorings such as saffron, dried limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.

I made this very flavorful and colorful Iranian Jeweled Rice. It is sweet, nutty and very aromatic. I'm lucky to live in an area that is close to good Turkish/ middle eastern groceries and I have access to good quality ingredients. I bought orange blossom water on one of my so-called 'window' shopping days, which was put to good use in this recipe.

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Almond-Pistachio Cloud Cookies (Gluten free & Dairy free recipe)

This is the first cookie I made for this holiday season. I had jars of almond paste and pistachio paste in the pantry and I found these cookies on King Arthur flour site. There is no flour, no dairy and no oil/ fat recipe -- gluten free and diary free recipe. Egg whites hold the cookies together. Cookies turned out chewy and delicious.

These cookies are very easy to put together. No refrigeration is required, so these can be made when with no prior planning and no time at all. Perfect when you need cookies or something sweet really really fast :-)

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Dates & Nuts Laddoo

BM# 34: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Cooking from Sapana's blog
Dish: Dates & Nuts Laddoo

It has been a very busy weekend. Saturday whizzed by really fast with 2 birthday parties -- my sister's where we had lunch and evening snack with cupcake cutting then a surprise 50th birthday party for a friend. Of course we were late for the surprise part since we were driving from one corner of New Jersey to another. But all in all it was a great day with loads of good food and fun with family and friends.

Sunday started out lazy but soon became busy with house cleaning and laundry. We are hosting our first ever Thanksgiving party this year and even though it's going to be a potluck, I'm getting nervous about the menu, quantity of food, decor and just about everything related to hosting a party. So rest of the Sunday quickly went by with menu planning, laundry folding and Kung Fu Panda watching (not sure how and when the last one got onto the list -- but it's definitely worth the time, kept my mind off the impending work).

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Almond-Cranberry Biscotti (Eggless Recipe)

For this month's Home Baker's Challenge, Priya Suresh @ Priya's Versatile Recipes wanted us to bake some crispy & crunchy Biscottis. She gave us options to bake either savory or sweet biscottis. Since I have a housefull of sweet toothed people, I made the sweet biscotti. 

I have been planning to bake biscotti for a while now, but didn't get a chance to try them. I was excited when I saw Priya's picks for this month and I wanted to bake both sweet and savory biscottis, but couldn't find time to make the savory one. I'm glad that I was able to make the sweet version that was liked by all at home. Hopefully I'll make the savory ones too some time soon.

The biscotti I made is a variation to the American Style Vanilla Biscotti that Priya wanted us to bake. Biscottis are Italian cookies that are twice baked. Italian biscottis are hard, but these American style biscottis are light and crunchy.

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Poushtik Moti (Seasoned and spiced Rice balls)

Wish you All a very Happy Diwali..

Hope everyone is enjoying the festival. Today's post is going to be short because I've to cook for Diwali lunch, then attend an early Thanksgiving party in the evening. Too many things going on in the head and in the kitchen, so I'm going to keep this post short and simple.

This dish is perfect for days like the one I'm having today. Too many things going on and suddenly you realize that you have only sweet dishes and forgot to make the savory dish. You also don't want to make anything deep fried, then this dish is perfect for you.

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