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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3 Day Detox Diet -- Detox Soup with Carrot & Green Beans

Blogging Marathon# 64: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Detox Diet

Dish: Detox Soup with Carrot & Green Beans

What I really liked about this 3-day detox diet is that we never felt we were dieting or eating less in the 3 days. The portions of all the meals are quite substantial and we are also allowed 2 snacks each day -- either 1oz. of nuts and/ or 2 pieces of fruit. Today I have the recipe for the soup that is served for dinner during the cleanse.

It is a simple soup with carrot and green beans. Make the full batch on the first day and you are good to go for the next 2 days. Hot soup is poured over fresh spinach and chopped dill and then steeped for 5 minutes for the greens to wilt.

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Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Dishes using Root Vegetables

Dish: Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili
For the final day of this week's marathon I made a hearty and comforting chili with sweet potato, quinoa and black beans. This is a one pot meal that is great to make on a weeknight too.

Sweet potato is a tuberous root with a smooth skin with different colors like yellow, orange, red, brown, purple and beige. Even the color of the flesh differs from one variety to the other from beige, through white, red, orange and purple. Something new that I learnt is that the sweet potatoes with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red or orange flesh.

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Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Taste of Home Top 100 recipes of 2015

Dish: Cauliflower Soup

Starting a new month with a new edition of blogging marathon today. My theme for the first week is cooking from 'Top 100 recipes of 2015 from Taste of Home'. It was quite a task choosing just 3 dishes from that list. I scrolled up and down that page a million times before picking my dishes.

First up is this creamy and delicious cauliflower soup. It is a very easy recipe to make -- cook cauliflower, make cheesy white sauce, mix them together and serve hot!!

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Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Dishes

Dish: Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Soup

We are in the last week of this month's blogging marathon and my theme for this week is 'Bookmarked Recipes'. I always jump on the chance of getting some of my bookmarks cleared and this theme is just perfect.

We are 2 days away from 'Thanksgiving', which means that holiday season is right here and I'm sure many of you are planning on sending/ shipping gifts to your loved ones. I just found out about a really good shipping option for all your international and domestic packages -- Transworthy. Few points that make it better than the other international shipping options are:

• 74% savings on your shipping costs.
• NO waiting in lines to send the package, they pick up the package right from your home or office.
• Shipment can be tracked on the DHL site.
• Convenient payment on their site.

So take a minute to explore more about Transworthy and see if it is a good fit for your shipping this holiday season. Here's a list to my edible holiday gift guide to help you out with what to send :-)

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Japanese Miso Noodle Soup for #Food of the World

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are visiting the beautiful country of Japan. My knowledge of Japanese food is very limited and I've only eaten it a couple of times. We have a Mitsuwa close to our house with a huge food court, but I didn't find many vegetarian options there, so never really tasted Japanese food outside except for the couple of dishes I made at home.

As I was looking for Japanese recipes to make, I found this simple Miso noodle soup recipe in Vegetarian Times magazine. I had all the ingredients on hand, so made it right away. It is a light and tasty soup. I slurped the entire bowl you see in the picture :-) I added a few dashes of hot sauce to spice it up but otherwise it is a great tasting soup.

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Indian Style Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is the perfect accompaniment to grilled cheese sandwich. It is also great to serve warm with crusty bread on a chilly day.

I added Indian flavors to the soup along with some coconut milk to make it thick and tasty. Substitute ginger with garlic, omit the cumin seeds and red chili powder. Use cream or half-n-half instead of coconut milk and make a American style thick tomato soup.

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Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 3: US -- Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

We are stopping in the United States for a hearty and comforting combo of grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. This is a such a classic combination; crunchy, buttery bread and melted cheese just begs to be dunked in a big bowl of hearty tomato soup.

One good thing about this combo is that both the sandwich and the soup can be customized to ones palate. So I took the liberty and made them both with Indian flavors. Skip the green chutney and caramelized onion in the sandwich and you have an all American sandwich.

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Menthikura-Pesarapappu Chaaru (Methi-Moongdal Soup)

There's an overdose of Methi recipes on my blog this week. After Methi Matar Masala, Methi Chana Pulao & Methi pulusu/ stew, I have a lentil based methi dish today. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show.

Methi and moong dal are a good combination to make pappu or dal. But in this recipe, the consistency is more like a soup instead of thick like a dal. Soup is flavored with freshly made spice powder made with coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and peppercorns. This makes the dish taste very earthy and spicy. Finally adding lemon juice to the rasam/ soup gives it the required tang or zing that makes this dish super delicious.

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Brazilian Kale & Lentil Soup for #Food of the World (Sopa de Lentlhas com Couve)

We are going to Brazil for this month's #Food of the World event. I had couple of Brazilian recipes bookmarked from our A-Z International series, but both of them happened to be desserts and I was in no mood to make anything sweet. So after looking around for vegetarian recipes, I found this hearty and comforting lentil and kale soup on Cynthia Presser's blog.

I had a bag of kale ready to be used and I also had some brown lentils (aka masoor dal) in the pantry. I think the original recipe had green lentils but the brown ones were just as good.

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Vegetarian White Chili with Roasted Poblano Peppers

Can you make a wild guess of what could be the scariest thing that can happen to you right now? We experienced it recently -- it's not flu or ebola virus or zombie apocalypse!!!!!!! It is losing your internet, tv and phone service for an entire DAY. WHAT??? Yes, it happened to us yesterday and everything went haywire at home. You would think the adults will be the ones most affected, but it was the 7 year old who declared a state of emergency and wanted to leave the house. His dad who was (supposed to be) working from home was more calm than the kid who gets about 1 hour (if that) of computer time every day and he looked soooo lost without it. Let me tell you, we got a lot done in this 24 hours: the whole basement looks clean now and I finally got a chance to look through all the new cookbooks I recently got free from the very friendly librarian. 

Thankfully we are back in action with all the devices up and running and fully connected. I was worried I won't get this White Chili post in time for the upcoming Super bowl XXXXIX sunday. But here it is for those of you looking to make something different for the party this weekend. 

This Chili uses white beans instead of the more traditional red or black beans, hence the name White Chili :-) This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and has roasted poblano peppers that add nice smokey flavor and depth to the dish.

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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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Suafa'i -- Samaon Banana Tapioca pudding (with Chocolate) for #Food of the World

This month we are going to Samoa the beautiful island country in the South Pacific ocean for #Food of the World event. I have tried these delicious fluffy and coconut milk soaked Pani popos and this super simple banana pudding, Poi from Samoa.
Today's recipe is a Samoan banana-tapioca soup called Suafa'i. Overripe bananas are cooked down along with coconut milk and tapioca. It is supposed to be a soup but I cooked it down to a pudding consistency. This dish is not really photogenic, so I added some chocolate chips to make it a little appetizing in the photos :-) Skip the chocolate if you want a more traditional Samoan dessert.

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Swedish Broccoli Soup

This is probably the most simplest broccoli soup ever. As I was making the Swedish meal, I wasn't sure if my daughter would like any of the dishes that was making and since she likes broccoli, I searched for 'Swedish Broccoli' and this broccoli soup came up. Traditionally Swedish broccoli soup is served with local cheese and chili tuiles (fancy name for melted cheese crackers), but I didn't have the time to make them, so this is Swedish broccoli soup without the Swedish element in it.

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Borscht -- Russian Beet & Vegetable Soup (Vegetarian Recipe)

When I think of Russian food, first thing that comes to mind is Borscht --  beet & vegetable soup. To be honest I'm not a bog beets fan, so this was soup was something that I was not too excited about and kept looking for other dishes. But finally I realized I had no time and then ended up making the soup anyway. I was surprised that I liked the soup, it is very hearty and technically I didn't taste the beets as much as I feared I would. The color sure makes the beet presence apparent and I really loved how photogenic this soup was.

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Korea -- Miso Soup & Joomuk Bap (Vegetarian/ Vegan Recipes)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: K for Korea

Dish: Korean Miso Soup & Joomuk Bap
We are staying in Asia and visiting Korea today. I knew from day 1 that I would be doing Korea for K, since I live in a town that has a very high Korean population. We have a Korean grocery store in town and most of the stores have signs in Korean.
I hardly cook Korean food at home even though I have full access to all the Korean veggies, spices and other ingredients. I don't have much knowledge of Korean cuisine and I thought this is a good opportunity to give some Korean dishes a try.
I was under the impression that all of the Korean dishes have meat in them. But there are a lot of Korean dishes that are actually vegan. Buddhist temple food is completely vegetarian and/ or vegan. I found an amazing Vegan Korean blog called Vegan 8 Korean and they have some awesome Korean dishes. I have tried a few Korean dishes already, check those out here.

I made Korean Miso Soup that uses Korean Miso paste called Doenjang. But a good substitute would be red or brown miso paste. I found quite a few recipes that used anchovies and fish sauce, but I skipped them and used some vegetarian options instead. Most of the ingredients were bought specially for this recipe.

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Arunachal Pradesh -- Thukpa (Vegetarian Noodle Soup)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 2
State: Arunachal Pradesh
Dish: Thukpa (Vegetarian Noodle Soup)

Arunachal Pradesh is in the North eastern part of India. It is one of the seven states from the north eastern India that are referred to as ' The Seven Sister States'. Arunachal Pradesh means the 'land of the dawn-lit mountains' or the 'land of the rising sun' as it is located in such a geographic position that the sun hits it before spreading its rays to the other states or regions of India.
Cuisine: Cuisine of Arunachal Pradesh varies by the region as there is a lot of tribal influence on their food. Each major tribe consists of number of sub-tribes and each sub-tribe has different food habits and life styles. The ethnic cuisine of Arunachal Pradesh is simple to cook with lots of nutrient values and is scrumptious to consume. Non-vegetarian is preferred and minimum spices are used making the dishes mild to taste.
Tribes: Apatanis, Chuki, Nishi, Monpa etc.
Staple Food/ Drink: Rice, Fish, Meat and Leafy vegetables/ Apang (Rice Beer)
Specialties: Thukpa, Dre-Thuk (prepared from noodles, minced meat and soup), Zan (preparation of millet or flour and boiling water), Bak-tza (prepared from flat rectangular shaped dough, minced meat and soup).

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Homemade Bread Bowls for Soups

King Arthur site is my favorite place to look for baking recipes. They have fool proof recipes and almost everything I have baked from there have been a success. So if you are a beginning baker, then start your search in the King Arthur site and I'm sure you will slowly gain confidence in your baking skills.

I made these homemade bread bowls to serve the broccoli-cheese soup.This recipe makes buns that are perfect to serve soup for 1 -- not too big and not too small. They are also soft and great to eat just as is. Make the buns smaller -- may be 8~10 instead of 6, skip the dried thyme and you have great dinner rolls or even breakfast rolls. They taste awesome with a smear of soft butter and if you are like my son, then spread some Nutella.

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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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Refrigerator Soup

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 1/ Day 1 
Theme: Soup or Salad with Sides 
Dish: Refrigerator Soup with Zucchini Tortilla/ Omelette 

It's time for another blogging marathon, BM# 38 and my theme for this week is 'Soup or Salad with Sides'. Valli wants us to pair soups or salads with a side dish. So for the first day I made a very simple soup. 'Very simple' is the key word here, you might actually feel cheated when you read the recipe, it is THAT simple.
March is already here, but winter with bitter cold decided to stick around for a little too long this year in our neck of woods. This season's 13th storm is on its way as I type this post -- but thankfully it's only going to 1~2" of snow instead of the 8~12" as predicted.

With that weather report, you know why I have a soup recipe today. That too a super simple one. I was watching the Rachael Ray show the other day and saw Jacques Pepin make his refrigerator soup. It sounded so comforting and perfect to eat in this weather, so I made it the very next day with whatever veggies I had in the fridge.

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