Spring Vegetable Risotto

Blogging Marathon# 64: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Cook from 1 European Cuisine -- Italian

Dish: Spring Vegetable Risotto

We are on to our second week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is to 'Cook from 1 European Country' and I picked Italian cuisine. When I think of Italian food, pizza and pasta are the first to come to mind. But there is so much more to the world of Italian cooking. The many regions in Italy have distinctive cuisines based on the local ingredients available, cooking styles and eating habits.

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For the first day, I have this Spring Vegetable risotto. Risotto is a north Italian rice dish that is cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. Arborio, Carnaroli etc are the principal varieties of rice used to risotto. These are high in starch, round medium or short grained white rice -- they have the ability to absorb liquids and release starch, so they are stickier than the long grain varieties.

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Three Cheese Potatoes

Blogging Marathon# : Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Taste of Home Top 100 recipes of 2015

Dish: Three Cheese Potatoes
For the final day of this week's blogging marathon, I made this very addictive 'Three Cheese Potatoes'. My son is a self acclaimed super lover of both potatoes and cheese, so this dish was a hit with both my kids.

The original recipe for these three cheese potatoes on Taste of Home were made on the grill. But since it's very cold to grill, I made this recipe in the oven. Pre-cooking the potatoes before baking makes the dish cook faster. If not just bake the dish longer until the potatoes are tender.

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Spinach Artichoke Lasagna Rolls and Chocolate Risotto.... and a GIVEAWAY!

Can't believe holiday season is almost upon us and I'm very happy to be a part of Colavita and Perugina 'Join our Italian holiday Table' campaign this year. They sent me a large variety of their products including olive oils, crushed tomatoes, marinara sauce, artichokes hearts, olives, lasagna, arborio rice and some absolutely delicious Perugina chocolates. One of you lucky readers will also receive the same amazing products -- scroll down to the end of the post for more details of the giveaway.

Colavita is a family owned company and they have been importing and distributing Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil for over 30 years. Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil is recognized as the #1 Italian brand in the US and has earned awards from renowned cooking publications such as Fine Cooking and Cook’s Illustrated and general-interest magazines like Men’s Health. Perugina is Italy’s most renowned chocolate maker and Baci are Perugina’s most famous confection. Baci (which means “kisses” in Italian) are perfect as an ingredient in recipes, as a daily indulgence or as a gift for a loved one.

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Pizza Popcorn

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains

Dish: Pizza Popcorn

I'm running a little late to post for day 2 of this week's marathon. It has been a busy weekend with back to back Navratri dinners on Friday and Saturday, so couldn't find time to make this dish until today. Luckily I made the pizza spice mix couple of days ago, so all I had to do today was to pop the corn and mix with the spice blend.

Sending this over to Kalyani's Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole Grains (an event started by Valli). Popcorn is a whole grain food that is very low in calories and a good source of fiber. But those buttered or artificially flavored popcorn is not the way to go. It is best to pop your own corn and then flavor it as needed.

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Sweet Potato-Chickpea Burger

This is one of the simplest veggie burger I've ever made. It is hearty, delicious and is not mushy or crumbly like many other homemade veggie burgers. I saw Tricia Yearwood make these on her show 'Trisha's Southern Kitchen' on Food Network. I knew right away that I had to make these.

Roasting the sweet potato makes it take much better than just boiling. This roasted sweet potato is mashed along with chickpeas, flour and breadcrumbs to make the burgers. It is flavored with some red chili powder, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Feel free to to add some spices, like ground cumin or coriander or herbs to add more flavor and taste. But I thought they tasted great just as is.

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Eggplant Parmesan for 1

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Eggplant Dishes from here

Dish: Eggplant Parmesan

Today I have one of my most favorite non-Indian eggplant dish, Eggplant Parmesan. Fried breaded eggplant slices layered with cheese and marinara sauce makes this dish rich and calorie dense. I've eaten it a couple of times in restaurants and many times at buffet style parties.

I have already posted a lighter version of eggplant parm with roasted eggplant and creamed spinach. Today's recipe has all the components of the traditional Eggplant parmesan but is lighter on calories and it makes just 1 serving. So now I don't have to make wait for a special occasion or party to make this dish, I can make it whenever I feel like it.

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Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Today's dish is a simple pasta with sauteed asparagus and spinach that is then mixed with a no-cook checca sauce. We had this dish at California Pizza kitchen couple of months back and I wanted to try it at home ever since.

The first time I made it, I wasn't sure if the kids would like it. But both the kids came back for seconds. This dish will be in my meal rotation now.

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Eggplant Parmesan with Creamed Spinach

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Eggplant Parmesan with Creamed Spinach

We are starting a new edition of blogging marathon today and my theme for the week is 'Vegetarian Italian Dishes'. With my son thinking that he is half Italian, it is only obvious that I take up this theme to try some new Italian dishes.

I already have a lot of Italian dishes on my blog and I wanted to try something new and different for this week. First up is a spin on classic eggplant parmesan. The traditional way of making this dish involves frying eggplant and then burying it under piles of gooey cheese and tomato sauce. It's very delicious, but it has enough calories for the whole day.

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Baked Eggs Fra Diavolo (Baked Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce)

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 14

Bake of the Day: Breakfast -- Baked Eggs Fradiavolo

As I was looking for recipes of baked dishes, I wanted at least a few to be without flour, sugar and the other usual bread ingredients. I got this recipe for baked eggs in a newsletter from Chef Central. I immediately added it to my mega marathon list.

We are a egg loving family -- both my kids absolutely love eggs in any shape or form. I stopped baking with eggs though because I find eggless bakes are so much easier and most of my extended family prefers eggless bakes. So after all the flour based bakes without eggs, here's a really simple recipe for baked eggs.

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Broccoli, Rice & Cheese Casserole

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Gourmet Rice Dishes 
Dish: Broccoli Rice & Cheese Casserole

Today's rice dish is a kid friendly dish that my 18 month old really enjoyed a lot. She loves broccoli and cheese, so this was a perfect dish for her to enjoy.

When my husband's away traveling and when I have to cook for just me and the little one, I look for dishes that are both easy to make and kid friendly. Rice is cooked along with broccoli and cheese, then baked off in the oven to get the crispy crust.

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Broccoli Cheese Soup in Bread Bowl

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Soup or Salad with Sides 
Dish: Broccoli Cheese Soup in Bread Bowl

Today I have a very hearty and creamy broccoli soup served in a bread bowl for Blogging marathon. Soup is another dish I would not order when we eat outside. I consider it more of an appetizer and not real food :-)
I do order broccoli-cheese soup once in a while just because I like it. I have tried it at a few places and except for a couple of restaurants, the soup is usually overpowered by the cheese or the cream. Usually broccoli is the last flavor that you taste.

Recently I got America's Test Kitchen newsletter with the recipe for Broccoli-cheese soup. The experts at ATK say overcooking the broccoli brings out all the flavor out of it and adding baking soda to the cooking water speeds up the cooking process. They also add some spinach which brightens the soup's bright-green color and enhances its vegetable flavor. Finally adding the cheddar and parmesan gave the soup the cheesy flavor without making it heavy.

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Vegetarian Eggplant Meatballs

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Meatless Dishes
Dish: Vegetarian Eggplant 'Meatballs'

'Meatless' Meatballs are one of my son's favorite dishes. I keep some store bought ones in the freezer for quick meal options. I posted a recipe using soy crumbles earlier. Today's recipe uses eggplant and I was surprised how moist and 'meaty' these meatballs taste (by 'meaty' I mean they have lot of body or bulk, don't know how else to express that :-)) 

Meatballs are great with some tomato sauce in pasta or on a salad or just to munch on as appetizer. I flavored these meatballs with mint and parsley to give them a Mediterranean flavor. I served them with homemade tzatziki and it was a very delicious combination.

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Pizza Monkey Bread

For this month's 'Home Baker's Challenge' we are making Bread. Manjula of Desi Fiesta is the host for this month and she chose 4 different breads for trying. After deliberating on which one to choose, I finally ended up making a quite simple, but super tasty Pizza Monkey Bread. I hope to make the others on the challenge too sometime.

Monkey Bread is usually a sweet, sticky, gooey bread served for breakfast in the US. I went with a savory pizza flavor this time and used a pizza crust for the bread. The bread was so soft and fluffy and tasted great when dipped with pizza sauce/ marinara sauce. To make life easy, you could also use store bought pizza dough and make this monkey bread in a jiffy.

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Baked Manicotti

For Day 3 of BM, I made this hearty and comforting baked pasta dish. Turning on the oven makes the kitchen nice and toasty -- perfect for chilly winter nights, so you know where I spend most of my time in winters ;-). This is a stuffed pasta dish with creamy Swiss chard and ricotta filling smothered in spicy tomato sauce and topped with lots of cheese -- great to please a crowd.

Stuffing traditional manicotti/ canneloni pasta can be tricky since cooked pasta tubes are very delicate and have a tendency to tear. So to make life easy I used no-boil lasagna noodles, an idea borrowed from Cook's Country magazine. Filling recipe is adapted from Giada's Swiss Chard & Pea Manicotti. Here's how I made it.

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