Pongal/Sankranthi!!!

           Wishing all a Very Happy Pongal/Sankranthi!!!

Recipe: Pulihora,Tamarind Rice

Recipe: Sweet Pongal

Itz Monday !!!

Happy Monday readers!!!
Another Week has come. It doesn't really matter to me if its Monday or a Sunday everyday is a fun day.This weekend was quiet simple. Was at home cooking and watching Bollywood movies.

Sometimes its so good to be home and have your own privacy .
Its 10th day of my Do-over diet and I have some confession to make. Rules are for breaking and I'm not an exception. Over the weekend I had some Potato chips out of temptation or hunger???
I called myself to be hunger but my husband felt as temptation.
Does it mean I broke my resolution??? No I still stand on my resolution with lil more focus on it. 
"Temptations grow weaker when we resist them. The only way to get them to stop is to refuse to give in to them. The more you do that, the easier it will become."

Ciao till next Time !!!

Roasted Beet Salad

Since I have take my resolution I'm trying to eat everything healthy which I haven't ate till now. And 1 among them is Beets. I never ate beets mainly because I get scared of its color. But knowing the importance of Beets, I made Beet Salad; low in calories,high in vitamin C and of-course low in Carbohydrates. 

Ingredients
3-4 medium size Beets
1/4 cup  sliced red onions
1/2 cup parsley 
2 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
1/4cup chickpea
salt to taste
2tbs Olive oil
3-4 garlic minced
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425F
Wrap beets in foil and roast in middle of oven until tender[Took 1 hr approx] Unwrap beets and cool.
In a salad bowl add sliced onions, chickpeas and parsley leaves,salt. Pour in red win vinegar and stir together.
In a skillet added oil and cooked garlic for a minutes and add it salad bowl [I dont like raw garlic so cooked it , For people who like raw garlic can add it directly to salad bowl with olive oil] 
slip skins from beets and cut them to cube size desired. 
Add them in salad bowl and stir in nicely
Salad is ready to serve

Sharing this recipe with thechefandherkitchen and Pari's for the "Only Salad" event

3 Bean Salad

I'm already bored of my regular dinners now...phew Its only 4 days of my diet :(. 
I wanted a change for dinner , so was going thru many sites today and came up with many healthy salad recipes.And this is one among them. I modified the original recipe totally according to my taste.
Ingredients
Any 3 variety Beans 1/2 cup each, Soaked and cooked
[I used Chickpea, Kidney Beans, Black Beans]
1/4 cup onion finely chopped
1/4 cup tomatoes
1/4 cup Red Bellpeppers sliced finely
1/4 cup Green Bellpeppers sliced finely
Seasoning: Oregano, Italian 
3 Green chili
Salt to taste
1 tsp olive oil
Preparation [5 mins Easy Healthy cooking]
1.Soak beans in cold water overnight or for at least 8 hours . Drain soaking water, then pressure cook the beans or put beans into pan with fresh water and simmer until beans are tender. This can take from 45 minutes to several hours, depending on how fresh the beans are, so plan ahead. 
2.Put oil in a pan , once oil is hot add Green chili and Bell peppers and cook for 2-3 mins. Add the seasioning and cobine well and moove the ingredients to Salad bowl
3.Put chopped onions,tomatoes and cooked beans in the salad bowl
4.Add salt to taste and combine well
Yummy tasty and healthy Salad is ready to serve....

Itz 2011!!! {Death By chocolate Cake}

Happy New Year All...Days are running so fast, It's already 3 days over in 2011. And only today I'm back from the holiday mood...Howz 2011 treating u all ???
2011 seems lucky to me !!! This year started by winning a contest at stfashionista. Ye ye I won $50 Anthro Gift card. Thanks to Bonnie for a wonderful contest...


To the chocolate lovers, I baked Death by chocolate cake to welcome New year. Its truly a chocolate lovers dreams. 
Ingredients for cake
8 oz (225 g) dark semisweet chocolate (40-50% cocoa)
2/3 cup (140 g) butter
1 cup (210 g) sugar
4 eggs
4 heaped tablespoons (1 dl) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoon baking powder or 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons sour cream
Ingredients for Ganache
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
Cake Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease 8 Inch baking pan
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water.
Beat the eggs with sugar, mix with flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla extract.
Slowly fold in the melted butter and chocolate and the sour cream.
I added Some semi sweet choco chips to the batter just before pouring into the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 40 to 50 minutes (if using 2 cake tins 20-30 minutes may be sufficient).
Cool the cake completely. 
Ganache Preparation
Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth.
Allow the ganache to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. Start at the center of the cake and work outward. 

I made some chocolate flowers to Decorate...

Had so much fun with cousins and friends.

Bye 2010, Welcome 2011

Just few more hours for Welcoming New Year and I'm so excited.
This year taught me lot many things and hope the coming year also brings more happiness and learnings in life.This is my Last post of 2010.Meet you all in 2011 
Hey I also made up my mind for my New year resolution :)

Anthropologies Stilled Night Dress

Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

   Wishing everyone a Very Happy New year. May God Bless U

Eat Healthy, Workout Daily!!!

                        Ooops look who is speaking about staying fit...

A girl who just loves eating spicy,cheesy food and lazy enough to do workouts.

I'm a type of girl who lives just for eating and shopping,nothing fascinated me more.But today I realized it was getting difficult to fit into my clothes... Its high time to think about fitness and workouts. 

And hence today I made my mind and took a New Year resolution. 

                                        "Eat Healthy, Workout Daily!!!"

I've never been a breakfast person and I usually eat lunch on the run and gained 10 pounds during the past few months. I don't like Milk,egg or in that case any good protein food. And 1 Day I fell sick. And my reports said I'm Vitamin Deficient... I had less or to that case No Vitamin D and B12 which caused joint pains,dry skin,stressed nights and what not. I'm daily living on Medicines to gain my proteins but never realized the diet also plays a vital role.

My Daily Diet was

till 12noon - No food

12:30pm  lunch mostly rice with some spiced side dish

7:30pm    Dinner mostly Indian

In between lots of Candy's, Chocolates and as the Queen of Lazyness no exercise 

This daily diet would never give me any Vitamins or proteins and I'm Sick of taking medicines and so decided upon my  Diet Do-Over

Diet Do-Over

Breakfast- Split as 2 mini meals

7:30am  Large glass of milk and a Fruit

8:30am-9:30am workouts (Gym/Yoga/Skipping...)

10am - Toast/Oats 

12pm   Salad

12:30pm Lunch, No rice. Includes 2 roti's and lots of side dish( Side dish steamed cooked mostly)     

4:00pm- 6:00pm Soy Milk / Butter Milk and a fruit.

7:00pm Dinner Dhalia...Recipe

If hungry before bed eat fruits or veggy's....

Most Importantly taking minimum 10 glasses of water daily..

I would start up with my diet do-over from Jan1st 2011. The only motto I have now is reduce the weight I gained and stay healthy. 

Any one joining me ???

Ginger Bread House

Its Christmas Eve. I wanted to celebrate with something special. So planned to bake Ginger Bread house from scratch. I started this 2 days before and finally done :). Feels so happy to see the house.

Royal Icing

1 large egg white
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Lemon

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. 

Ingredients for Cookie Dough

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, well packed
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour

Method

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more.

2. Meanwhile using the wax paper make the house patterns. It requires 2 Front Panels, 2 Side panels and 2 Roofs. Also cut the Ginger Bread man pattern

3. Using the Rolling pin roll the dough, place the wax paper patterns on the dough and run knife gently to get the desired shape and transfer them to baking sheet

4.Preheat the oven to 375'F and Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

The toughest  time was to assemble the house.

5. Prepare the base initially. I used White Square Dinner plate as Base to my house
6. Time to place the side panel first, Pipe the Royal icing on the plate as long as the side panel and then place the side panel and give it a support. I used Coke tins as support. In a similar fashion place the f ront panels and the other side panel. Lastly the roof. 
Be careful don't break your panels as I did. I broke one of the side panels :)
7. I left the house with all supports over night and then next day decorated the house with some candy and Ginger Man.
It was real fun making this Ginger Bread house. 
My nieces had fun time too.
Special Thanks to Kavya for the recipe.
I'm sharing this recipe with
myeasytocookrecipes
asankhana

Wishing All a Merry Christmas