Here's the 3rd post in a series on my friends' fabulous cooking! The first dish was a Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry that so many folks have already cooked and tasted and loved. The 2nd one was a favorite yogurt dish, raita, great as an accompaniment to a full Indian meal and actually a fantastic pair with today's recipe. Today's recipe is a mix-everything-in-a-bowl quick dish that is very kid-friendly and family-friendly, by my friend Shelly. Shelly and I are part of a meal share group where we all cook for each other every week, so I've had TONS of her fabulous cooking! You can read ... read more
Rajal’s Raita
This is the 2nd post in a new series here on my friends' fabulous cooking! Last week, I put out a recipe for a butternut squash and spinach curry with coconut milk by my friend Jayanthi. So many people have already told me or messaged me that they have made the dish with great results! I got some questions about whether or not I tested the recipes myself too, and YES! All the recipes on this site, including on this series, are tested by me, more than once. Many times, recipes need to be tested over and over when it's an original creation. In this case, I am testing a recipe that is already ... read more
Mom’s Magic Bars
There's something to be said about your childhood friends: the ones you've grown up with, slumbered with, shared their family stories and teased while their parents shared their own amusement as you and your friend goofed around at the dining table in your PJs. This is just one of many memories of having a childhood friend whose mom was like a 2nd mom to you. She was concerned for your well-being, your discipline, and your grades. She valued her daughter's friendship with you, maybe even more than you yourself, at the time of your teenage growth. And you got in trouble with her once in a while ... read more
Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry with Coconut Milk
Over the last 2 decades learning about cooking I keep coming back to the same idea that out of all the cuisines I have learned about, the cuisine of India is the most vast. The array is staggering and the differences at first glance in recipes or regions don't seem that discrepant….until you actually cook the recipes. As y'all know, I've been an Indian cooking instructor for several years. And I started out teaching to make the public aware of the regional differences of Indian food, mostly because of my various roots in India. But I'm certainly NOT the only Indian cook out there. And I ... read more
Chai Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
The moment October 1st comes around, my kitchen instantly switches from late summer tomatoes and oven-less cooking to roasting autumn squashes and getting ready for holiday season. For us that means Indian holidays like Diwali and Navratri, but also one of our family favorites: Halloween! We carve our pumpkins a week before Halloween at our annual pumpkin-carving block party, after which we are left with handfuls of raw white pumpkin seeds. I hate to discard them every year; pumpkin seeds are nutritious! The creamy white seeds are the unhulled pumpkin seed and the olive green kernel ... read more
Pav Bhaji Sliders
Pav bhaji, the popular Indian street food curry with a bun, is a semi-indulgent dish to have, loaded with ghee or butter and always paired with the whitest of white bread (browned and toasted with even more butter). Pav means "bread" and bhaji is an all-around loose term for a vegetable-laden curry. The key ingredients in the curry are potato, carrots, and peas. Often you'll find cauliflower too. In a typical onion, tomato, garlic and spice base, all the vegetables are cooked through and through, almost to a puree. Veggies appear hidden in the final dish, which is then sprinkled with raw ... read more
Bhel Puri Salad
Bhel Puri, the classic Indian savory cereal-esque snack, is often served on the bustling streets of India in paper cones and doused with spicy, sweet and tangy chutneys. So much that the snack needs to be eaten within minutes of serving otherwise the dry mix consisting of puffed rice, whole wheat cracker bits, chickpea noodles and spices becomes a soggy (yet still tasty!) delight. Though it's a street food often in India, we grew up here in America eating bhel puri as a party food or often as a light lunch because of Mom’s nostalgia for the taste of home. I now still serve it ... read more
Turning 40
Gratitude. It's the number one feeling I have propped up in my head over the last couple of years as I approach 40, almost like a post-it note, flying around in my brain, floating around like stickies around my house. It's the point of my one regular morning journal. I came to the idea of gratitude journaling from a book called Slow Family Living, by Bernadette Noll. The second feeling is fear. Fear of not finishing it all, not completing the dreams, nearing the last half of life. It doesn't sound young! It sounds old. Children are getting older, the vision of them graduating doesn't ... read more
Lunchbox Blues?
This post was originally published September of 2011; this one has a few updates and larger better photos. :) Got the lunchbox blues? We're a month into school here and many parents are suffering from an emptiness that is growing inside them. I'm not talking about hunger pains or missing our youngster during that long school day. I'm referring to the frustrations of having NO idea what to pack for lunch other than the same old turkey cheese sandwich or peanut butter jelly sandwich. Read on for tips in this department. Kids coming home with a half-eaten lunch? Don't fret. Kids love to talk. ... read more
A Recipe for PhytoButter: a Roasted Corn, Garlic, and Chili Compound Butter
Butter is not always the bad boy. I wasn't always a fan, especially when reports were out decades ago about how margarine was a much better-for-you substitute and my strictly vegetarian (and thin!) father had just had a heart attack. But as we know now, those ideas just aren't true and a small amount, especially if grass-fed, could have not-so-harmful effects, if in small quantities and in moderation. Though a small amount of grass-fed butter has saturated fat, those fats are still necessary for your body. But it's wise to use products with saturated fat with discretion. I don't claim to ... read more
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