Warm Millet Salad with Brussels Sprouts, dried Cranberries and Walnuts

I am trying to incorporate more whole grains these days and have been looking for some interesting recipes in my cookbooks and magazines. Found this hearty and delicious Millet and Brussels sprouts salad in Vegetarian Times magazine.

Brussels Sprouts have become my latest favorite and I have been buying them almost weekly these days. Brussels sprouts look like mini cabbage and they have been popular in Brussels, Belgium, and have originated and gained their name there. They are excellent source of Vitamin C and Vitamin K.

Read more »

Muhammara (Red Pepper Walnut Spread)

Buffet on Table: Week 3 -- Condiments from Countries

Day 16: Syria -- Muhammara (Red Pepper Walnut Spread)
Today's condiment comes from Aleppo, Syria. Muhammara or mhammara is a hot pepper dip and is found in Levantine and Turkish cuisines. In western Turkey, muhammara is referred to as acuka. 

It is made with smoky roasted peppers, crunchy walnuts and fruity pomegranate molasses. It is a great alternate to hummus that is a usually found on Middle Eastern appetizer platter. Aleppo pepper is usually added to the dip, but you can substitute with a pinch of cayenne.

Read more »

Oats Bread with Maple and Walnuts for #BreadBakers

For this month's #BreadBakers challenge, our host for the month Rocio picked 'breads with oats'. We are free to pick any form of oats -- steel cut, rolled or quick and it can be a sweet or savory bread.

I chose to make Oats bread with maple syrup and walnuts from King Arthur Whole Grains Baking cookbook. Whole wheat and oats are the featured whole grains in this soft, high rising loaf. Original recipe used maple sugar, but since I don't have it, I just used light brown sugar. Maple syrup adds a hint of sweetness and the nuttiness of walnuts is a nice counterpoint. This bread is great as is or toasted with some butter, jam or my kids favorite Nutella.

Read more »

Eggless Date & Walnut Cake

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes -- Veena's Veg Nation

Dish: Eggless Date & Walnut Cake
For the final day of this month's blogging marathon, I picked this yummy looking Eggless Dates Cake from Veena's blog. I recently bought a bag of seedless dates from Costco and have been snacking on them almost everyday. So when I saw this recipe, I knew it would be perfect to use some of the dates.

This cake is eggless and can be made with just a few basic ingredients. If you are using dates with seeds, then the dates need to be soaked in milk overnight to help in removing the seeds. I used seedless dates, so just warmed it in the microwave to make them a little soft.

Read more »

Healthy Cilantro Rice (with Brown rice)

Recently I started watching a Telugu cooking show where the chef, a holistic nutritionist -- Sridevi Jasthi, shows recipes that incorporate whole grains, healthy fats and seasonally available ingredients. I like these kind of shows because they show a totally different perspective on cooking healthy everyday food.

I have tried quite a few of her recipes and they have all turned out great. I will be posting them here periodically.

Read more »

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). 

Read more »

Whole Wheat Banana & Walnut Bread

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole Grains 
Dish: Snack  -- Whole wheat Banana & Walnut Bread

For Day 2 of BM# 35, I made banana bread with 100% whole wheat. My son loves banana bread and I already have more than enough banana bread recipes in my blog, but I still keep looking for more banana bread recipes :-) I have always used half and half all purpose flour and whole wheat flour in the past, but this bread is made completely with whole wheat flour. 

Recipe is from 'King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking'. From my previous experience with baking with whole wheat flour, I thought the bread was going to be dense, but I was totally surprised how moist and fluffy the recipe turned out to be. Resting the batter for about 10 minutes before baking makes the whole wheat soft resulting in a softer bread.

I used egg replacer instead of eggs. I have been baking more eggless recipes with egg replacer powder these days and I'm really happy with the results. If you are into eggless baking, then investing in a bag of egg replacer powder is completely worth the money. It stays fresh for a very long time in the fridge, so eggless bakes are at your finger tips at any time.

Read more »

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).

Read more »

Pasta with Asparagus, Mascarpone cheese & Walnuts

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Favorite Celebrity Chef Recipes
Dish: Giada's Pasta with Asparagus & Mascarpone cheese
My Celebrity chef of choice for Day 2 of BM# 33 is Giada De Laurentils. She is an Italian chef and is a regular on Food Network. Her Italian recipes look doable and easy to make with every-day available ingredients.
I learnt a lot of Italian recipes watching Giada's shows. One of the fancy ingredient I started to buy after watching her is Mascarpone cheese. She uses it in both sweet & savory preparations like cheesecakes, pastas etc. I buy a tub on mascarpone cheese when on sale and use it in various dishes.

Today's dish is Giada's Farfalle with Asparagus & Mascarpone. I was making this for my sister who doesn't eat mushrooms, so I used peppers instead. Also I jazzed up the recipe with sauteed onion and garlic for added flavor. Addition of walnuts was the highlight for this recipe and I really enjoyed the crunch. Final dish was colorful, creamy and filling.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

Sourdough Banana Bread

This is the last of the banana recipes from my drafts. This banana bread recipe uses 2 ingredients that I always have on hand, my soudough starter and of course the bananas. My starter is now more than 3 years old and it has been through a lot already in these 3 years. I forget to feed it regularly, but in spite of the neglect it has been doing well (knock on wood). 

Even though this bread has sourdough, it does not taste sour. All you can taste is the banana. I think the sourdough makes the bread really moist and gives it a soft crumb.

Read more »

Walnut Chutney

Recipe Courtesy: My Dear friend Himabindu
Here's a delicious no-cook recipe from my friend Himabindu. Bindu and I went to school together years and years ago and I think it's been that long that we've seen each other. But thanks to Facebook, we are only a 'message' away from long lost friends.

Bindu lives in India and has adorable twin boys who keep her busy. She sent this simple no-cooking involved Walnut Chutney that sounded so good that I had to make it right away. It takes so little time to make and needs everyday pantry ingredients -- so there's no reason not to make it right away. The resulting chutney was soooo good, creamy, nutty with the walnuts and spicy with the chilies and garlic. I had it for lunch with rice, but Bindu says it goes well with rotis too.

Read more »

Lentil Salad with Cranberries & Walnuts

After hogging on these yummy cookies, I think it's time for something healthy, yet festive and delicious. This brown lentil salad is very easy to make and will make a great item for a holiday menu or even for potlucks. You can adapt the recipe and add nuts or cheese (feta would be excellent) to make it even more holiday worthy.

The recipe is slightly sweet and tart with the agave & dried cranberries and crunchy with the toasted walnuts. Dish can be served at room temperature or chilled, which is perfect for a make ahead menu.

Read more »

Nutella Cookies, Scottish Shortbread Cookies & Mexican Wedding Cookies

I'm back for the 11th edition of Blogging Marathon. I can't believe another year has almost come to an end and kudos to Valli for taking time and organizing these BMs. With the holiday season right upon us, I chose  "Holiday Specials" theme for the marathon. So for the next 7 days, I will posting some dishes made for holidays or made on holidays (including weekends).

This is my 500th Post and I'm celebrating with some homemade cookies.

 

I made cookies for this years's holiday gift-giving. I tend to stay away from cookies that require rolling & cutting and prefer slicing and baking cookies (psst.. if you really want to know why..... 'cos I'm a little lazy). So when I saw these slice & bake icebox cookies in Vegetarian Times magazine, I decided to give them a try and glad I did as they were easy to make and turned out pretty good.

Read more »

Whole Wheat Walnut Bread

Recipe Marathon - Day 6

This is yet another bread that I made from Whole Grains baking book by King Arthur Flour. I borrowed the book from the library and I’m totally in love with it. There are a ton of recipes that I’ve already bookmarked to make. I’m planning to buy it from Amazon because there’s no way I can make all my bookmarked dishes before the time runs out on the book.

This is probably the first yeast bread that I baked, not including pizza crusts & naan breads. We really liked the soft bread with the slightly crunchy crust. It is not too sweet nor too savory which makes it ideal for both sweet & savory additions. We had it for breakfast with nutella, butter & jelly and for lunch with egg salad.

Recipe from Whole Grains Baking Book.
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat flour – 3 cups (Recipe called for traditional, I used white ww)
Instant Yeast – 2½ tsp
Walnuts – ¾ cup
Light or Dark Brown sugar – 2tbsp, firmly packed
Vegetable Oil – 2tbsp
Orange Juice - 3tbsp
Lukewarm water - 1 cup

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients, and mix & knead them until you have a soft, smooth dough. I used by hands, but you can use a stand mixer or bread machine to do this. Cover and allow the dough to rise until its puffy and nearly doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
• Lightly grease an 8½ x 4½ inch loaf pan. Gently deflate the dough, and shape into a 8" log. Place in the prepared pan. Cover it gently with lightly greased plastic wrap or a proof cover, and allow it to rise till it's crowned about 1" over the rim of the pan, 1½ to 2½ hours.
  
• Near the end of the bread's rising time, preheat the oven to 350ºF.
• Uncover and bake the bread for about 40 minutes., tenting it with foil after 15minutes.
  
• The bread is done when it is golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190ºF. (I don't have any such fancy equipment in my kitcehn but the bread was definitely done and delicious.)
• Remove it from the oven, after a minute or so turn it out onto a rack.
  
• Brush with melted butter (I brushed some earth balance), if desired; to keep the crust soft.
• Cool the bread 30 minutes before slicing.
  

Vaishali's Applesauce Cake

I wanted to make this cake as soon as I saw it on Vaishali’s blog. I had all the ingredients on hand and as Vaishali points out applesauce turns bad pretty quick even in the fridge. I usually buy a big bottle of applesauce for my son, but he being a 2 year old, has his mood swings and would not touch it for days together. I was in that rut and this cake was a savior; AND it tastes so good. It is the different spices that Vaishali adds makes it very special.

I made it non-vegan with the addition of egg instead of egg-replacer. You can find the original recipe here.

The changes I made are: Added 1 extra large egg instead of egg-replacer. Used pecans instead of walnuts.

Banana-Walnut Bread

All the ingredients for this recipe can be combined in a food processor which makes it a perfect entry to Mansi’s BBD# 18: Quick Bread event. Bread Baking Day (BBD) is the brainchild of Zorra @ Kochtopf.

This recipe is from Vegetarian Bible by Sarah Brown. The recipe used pecans and dried apricots, I subbed them with walnuts & raisins resp.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Bible

Ingredients:

Self Rising Flour – 2 cups (I used 2 cups AP flour + 3 tsp Baking powder + 1 tsp salt)

Butter – ½cup, melted

Eggs – 3

Light brown sugar – ½ cup

Bananas – 3 ripe, chopped

Walnuts – 1 cup

Raisins – ½ cup

Method:

• Reserve ½ cup walnuts for garnish.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8” circular baking pan or 9”x 5” loaf pan.
• Add bananas, flour, eggs, butter, sugar, nuts & raisins to the food processor; pulse till well combined. (I had some technical problems with my processor when I tried to turn it on after dumping all the ingredients in it; so I had to dump everything back into a bowl and use a hand mixer to mix. It was a little annoying cleaning up the mess, but the bread turned out just fine).
• Pour into the prepared pan; arrange the reserved walnuts on the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  
• Cool in pan.

This bread tastes great toasted with some butter. I brought it to my colleague’s birthday breakfast and everybody loved it.

Walnut-Raisin Flapjack

These bars are full of whole grains which makes it healthy and filling. AND they are easy and quick to make. Recipe is from Vegetarian Bible by Sarah Brown.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Bible

Ingredients:

Margarine – 1 cup (I used Earth Balance Soy margarine)

Honey – ½ cup

Light Brown Sugar – ½ cup

Whole Wheat flour – 2 cups

Rolled Oats – 2¼ cups

Raisins – 1 cup

Walnuts – ½ cup, chopped

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 7”x11” baking pan.
  
• In a small saucepan, melt margarine, honey and sugar on medium flame.
  
• In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, oats, raisins and walnuts until well combined.
• When the margarine mixture comes to a boil, add to the flour mixture and mix thoroughly.
  
• Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
• When done, remove from the oven and score into 12 pieces. Cool completely in the pan before removing the bars.
  

These bars are great as an afternoon treat that keeps you going till dinner. This is my entry to Sunday Snacks- Grab n Go being hosted this time around by Pallavi @ All Thingz Yummy.

Check out DK's wonderful Cranberry & Oats Bars.