Homemade Cream Cheese

Cream Cheese is a delicious condiment served along with bagel and crackers. It is also used as an ingredient in making deserts like Cheesecake and Mousse. I got this recipe from Gayathri's blog and with only 2 ingredients, this is surely a keeper recipe.

Sprouts Salad

Do you like sprouts?? I love to enjoy them, but many do not like them as is... Sprouts can be used in many ways and this salad is a delicious way of enjoying it.. Enjoy this protein rich salad with only a few ingredients... Serve this cold and it will be a pleaser.. Serve this as a light snack or as a side..

Milk Powder Burfi–Double Color Burfi–Diwali Sweets

My daughter loves the double color sweets on the sweet shelf.. And the ones that we normally do is with maida.. Today I am making a similar looking sweet with no maida or flour but with milk powder as the main ingredient.. This sweet will also be a treat for people looking for gluten free recipes..I got this recipe from here and made the changes according to our taste.. Make sure to adjust the sugar as per your taste… Artificial sweetener also works great for this recipe.. So if you are making this for people who use artificial sweetener, feel free to substitute.

Nutella Milkshake - Nutella Recipes - Summer Drinks

Starting this week’s BM with Summer Special. Here comes a way to deliciously chill your summer… What is your favorite milk shake? Mine is chocolate.. I saw the recipe here and wanted to try it immediately.. All of us loved it.. It makes a refreshing drink in a jiffy with the ingredients at home..

Thirattipaal / Theratipaal using Ricotta Cheese / Microwave Thirattipaal

One of my favorite sweets is enjoy is thirattipal, but it takes for ever to do them. But the taste and the end result is so worth the time, effort spent. Here I came across a simple recipe and got the thirattipal in 15 minutes... Now that is so delicious and also the time and effort is much less..

Paneer Tikka–A perfect Appetizer

Paneer Tikka is a very popular appetizer or starter. It has its unique taste and aroma. It is made from marinated paneer and veggies. The spices added in the marination is a personal  choice. When marinating is ready, then the dish can be done in 15 – 20 minutes. You could also serve this as a side with roti, naan, pulao or kulcha. Try them with etandoor. I have made them on the tawa here..

Broccoli Cheese Paratha or Calciumaratha

Women are advised to eat calcium rich foods. This advise is more when you are a new mom. So when I was advised about having calcium rich in my diet.. I took the advise from my folks at home and also turned to internet to see what ingredients are rich in calcium.. And then I put these ingredients together and made this paratha.. So I named it Calciumaratha.. The two main ingredients are Broccoli and Cheese.. Makes 12 medium big sized parathas. Good for 3 – 4 people.

Poli (போளி)

Poli is a very popular festival food and it is called by various names across India. Some names of Poli are Tamil: போளி Poli, Puran poli (Marathi & Konkani: पुरणपोळी or पुरणाची पोळी, Gujarati: પોળી, Kannada: Obbattu/Hollige, Telugu: Bobbattlu... This is a like a stuffed paratha with a sweet stuffing. Ensure that there is no moisture in the kadalai parupu. Also DO NOT pressure cook the kadalai parupu, it may get mushy. Traditionally poli will be pressed on plantain leaf. Now we can use plastic paper if you cannot lay hands on plaintain leaf. It is served hot with ghee. The size of the poli should be similar to a puri and not bigger. This makes 12 polis. This is made on Tamizh Varuzhapirappu (Tamil New Year) which is celebrated today (14.4.2013) this year.

Eggless Ranch Dressing (guilt free)

How many of you like eat the main dish because its side is sooo tasty… I am one among you…. I used to love the French fries at a particular restaurant as they had a delicious side (Not ketchup) – Ranch Sauce. I always order the fries as it comes with Ranch sauce as a side. But only in that restaurant there is an option called Low Fat or Egg free Ranch sauce. In all other places, I have asked they had egg in their ranch sauce. So now I decided to do this on my own and the result is a very healthy and guilt free Ranch dressings which tastes yummy. It is a great accompaniment to fries, crispy vegetables and also can be used as a dressing in burger and salad. This tastes very similar to the ranch dressing I have enjoyed in the restaurant. With a few ingredients and hardly a step in the process, this is surely a dip not to be missed!!!

Ghevar

Ghevar is a Rajasthani Dessert traditionally served during the Teej Festival. I have personally not heard of this dessert until it was announced by Manjula of Desi Fiesta for the SNC Challenge to make the mini ghevar with rabri. I actually went by the shops nearby to see if anybody has it… But nobody had this sweet in the shops!!! This is surely a sinfully delicious dessert. Thanks to Manjula for this delicious challenge and thanks to Divya for the idea for this challenge. I got around 10 ghevars from this recipe. You can make the ghevar much ahead of time and when cooled, it can be stored in an airtight container until it is ready to be served..

Almonds Dates Payasam / Badam Khajoor Kheer

Payasams are so much versatile and they bring festive delights and celebrations when made.. I made this payasam from here and we all loved it. Payasams and sweets are every kid's love (yeah though most kids prefer Pizza and Pasta now a days) and am happy to share this in this month's BM for Kid's delight. You can adjust the amount of sugar and dates according to preference. You can also use regular white sugar or light brown sugar if you cannot find the cane sugar or the nattu sakkarai.

Peda

Peda is an interesting, quick and tasty sweet. This can be done in less than 10 minutes from start to finish. I chose this simple sweet which looks so good and difficult for this month's BM...

Milk Cake

Milk Cake is a very tasty sweet made with just a few ingredients. I got this recipe from here and it was very tasty. With lot of festivals lined up, this is an interesting and new sweet to make. You do not need any special ingredient, most of it is in the pantry. Do not throw away the whey water. It has lot of health benefits. Add it to roti / chapathi while making dough.

Eggless Strawberry Cheesecake

Whenever somebody says Cheesecake, first thing that comes to people’s mind is yummy and creamy and then you get this feeling ok it is little too rich, too much fat, loads of sugar and what not!! A perfect cheesecake is one which is soft, creamy, delicious and not overpowering with sugar. Most of the cheesecakes out there have 2 ingredients that I do not use, one is egg and another is gelatin. Cheesecakes look so tempting and picture perfect. So how about a cheesecake which is not loaded with sugar, which does not make you feel guilty much? The size of this cheesecake is about 6 inches diameter and can be made with ingredients that are in the pantry (other than the fruit).. I am so happy to have this as a part of the blogging marathon - Cooking with Berries

Paneer Chettinad

Paneer is a type of cheese from milk. Paneer by itself has less flavor but has the capacity to absorb flavors well. This dish unlike most paneer dishes is done with both North Indian and South Indian spices. The flavors are very different and interesting. It goes very well with chapathi, roti, kulcha or pulao. I got this recipe from here.  The key in getting the best in this recipe is the fresh masala. This dish is not commonly found in restaurant menus, but this recipe is so flavorful and also simple – this one is a keeper.

Oats Dosai

For blogging marathon, under low cal breakfast, I chose Oats Dosa which is a quick and easy breakfast or tiffin item. It tastes best when served hot and best accompanied by Sambar, coconut chutney or tomato urugai. We loved it with sambar. I got this recipe from here. I love the rava dosai my mom makes and this resembles and also tastes like rava dosai but much more healthier.

Raisins Oatmeal – A perfect breakfast

Oats is always on my list when I think breakfast and happy to share this recipe as part of BM for Low Cal Breakfast. Raisin Oatmeal is a quick and healthy breakfast that can be prepared in less than 10 minutes with only a few Ingredients. If a chewy texture is desired, add the oats and salt when the water is cold and then bring all to a boil. Some of topping that can added to this oatmeal are dried fruits, nuts like almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, cream etc. This recipe is the basic version and will serve 2 with ¼ cup of oats per person. Adjust the amount of milk needed as per preference.

Garbanzo Beans Salad

You on diet – eat salad… Salad is considered a very healthy food.. and sometimes boring food too. People imagine salad as a combination of uncooked vegetables mostly spinach, lettuce, onions and some salad dressing to add all the calories reduced by the vegetables. This salad is very refreshing and tastes best when served cold. It is very rich in protein (all credit to garbanzo beans). The nice potato chips topping (2 or 3 chips per serving) gives an interesting taste, texture and dimension to this salad. I got this recipe from here.  Make sure to add the potato chips just before serving or it will loose it crispness.

Aval Payasam

Today is Krishna Jayanthi. It is Lord Krishna's birthday. Lord Krishna is very fond of butter and aval. There is a story of friendship which also talks about the liking Lord Krishna has towards aval. Sudama, who is very poor comes to see his friend Lord Krishna who is the King of Mathura, Sudama's wife sends some aval for Krishna. Sudama brings it wrapped in an old cloth. When Sudama reaches Mathura to meet Lord Krishna, the guards at the gate cannot believe he is the friend of their king. They send a messenger inside the palace to inform Lord Krishna about the visitor. When Krishna heard the name Sudama, he immediately gets up from his throne and comes running to see his friend and welcomes him with a big hug.
Sudama is very happy to see Krishna and vice versa. Lord Krishna asks Sudama - what did he bring for Lord Krishna. Sudama is very ashamed to take out the aval which is wrapped in an old cloth. Still Krishna gets it out of Sudama and eats the aval happily.. Lord Krishna loves aval very much. When Lord Krishna eats a few handful of the aval, all the problems of Sudama is vanished.
There are many sweets and savories made on this day to celebrate Krishna Jayanthi. Simplest is this aval payasam which can be done in a jiffy and is also Lord Krishna's favorite.

Kathirikkai Thayir Pachadi (கத்திரிக்காய் தயிர் பச்சடி)

Kathirikkai Thayir Pachadi is a very flavorful and elegant pachadi. I was actually skeptical on how this will taste but it was very good. Prepare the pachadi and mix the brinjal with curd mixture just before serving to ensure crispiness. This is a great accompaniment.