Eating is Bliss

Yes Guys it is celebration time at Smart -Snacks. I really feel honored & on top of the world to have received an  award for my participation in Smitha”s ( Smitha’s Spicy Flavours)  & Siri ‘s ( Cooking with Siri) ” Berries ” event .  Thanku so much Smitha & Siri for hosting this event & for all your time & effort that goes into bringing these events to us. Last week I received my award in the form of this most beautiful book  ever ” Sukham Ayu ” which has some awesome  & simple but Ayurvedic recipes. To my surprise most of the meals that I cook everyday are similar to the recipes in the book except that I do not use mustard seeds or curry leaves as tempering too often coz these are not a vital part of North Indian cuisine. Initially I had started this blog to document some of my cooking  & baking recipes  for myself so no matter where I was I could always go back & see as to what I baked & if it really worked. Gradually as I moved forward it dawned on me that Blogosphere  has evolved into a beautiful  community & I have come across some amazing & super talented people who always have nice & encouraging words for fellow bloggers . So now I document much for those beautiful friends( & Yes I have more than a 100 friends now) as much as for myself. Celebrating the award & a 101 friends I bring to you a very simple Moong dal recipe from the book which is exactly what I cook almost twice a week, along with a side veggie & fresh roti & it is just 100% pure happiness on the plate. I never really thought of documenting these simple everyday recipes but after going through this ” Award Winning book”  I would really like to introduce all my friends  to  some simple everyday North Indian meals that are so comforting & satisfying & entirely different from the creamy & pasty -orange colored curries that we find at every North Indian Restaurant.I have no idea where from the restaurants evolved that kind of a cuisine as it  is far from authentic  & for the same reason I have not been to any North Indian restaurant here in the US for the last 4-5 years. Ingredients: 1/2 cup Moong Dal 1& 1/2 cups of water 1/4 th tsp turmeric powder salt to taste For tempering the dal: 1 tsp cumin seeds 1/4 tsp  asafoetida powder 3-4 chopped green chillies 1 & 1/2 tsp Desi ghee / clarified butter 1-2 red Chillies pinch of red chili powder Method: Wash Dal thoroughly & pressure cook in 1 & 1/2 cups of water to 1 pressure , also add turmeric powder & salt . Let it sit for 5 minutes & then release the steam & open the pressure cooker as we do not want the dal to become mushy ( I generally put the pressure cooker under running water to release the steam ) Heat 1 tsp of Ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds & let them splutter , now add asafetida & green chillies . Add it to the boiled dal & mix well. Now heat the remaining 1/2 tsp ghee & add a pinch of red chili powder & the whole chillies . Top  dal with this chili ghee. Enjoy with a side of veggie , raita & fresh roti/ Indian flatbread. I have aloo gobhi / Cauliflower & potatoes , Boondi raita / yoghurt and sprout salad as an accompaniment. Enjoy…………. This post has been linked to Kavi’s Edible Entertainment  ” Healthy Cooking Challenge  

 Trying to eat Healthy? Here is one easy, breezy , healthy & delicious salad recipe that is sure to bring  a kick to any meal. …….With the very refreshing taste it will surely satisfy your taste buds to the point of being addictive.  Ingredients: 1 cup boiled Quinoa  1 boiled & diced Beet 1 green onion finely chopped Segments from 1/2 orange peeled & sliced 1/4 cup dried cranberries 1 tablespoon pecans or walnuts  For the Dressing: Juice of 1/2 orange ( I used freshly Juiced orange) Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp orange zest 1 tsp olive oil 1 tsp sweetener of choice( I used Agave Nectar) Salt & Black Pepper to taste Preparation:  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, quinoa, beet, onion, cranberries , walnuts & orange segments. In another bowl mix all the ingredients together for the dressing & give it a good whisk . Add the dressing to the Quinoa mix , give it a stir & refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Goes well with any kinda meal & makes for an awesome side in the lunchbox. Enjoy…………….. Thanks a ton to Dear Nalini from Nalini’s Kitchen for sharing the Fabulous Blog Award with me………I feel greatly honoured. 

Ingredients: For satay:                                        1.       Seasonal mix fruit (here I use dragon fruit, strawberries, pineapple, watermelon and mango) 2.       Satay of fruit punctures Method: 1.       Preheat a grill to medium high. 2.       Brush grill rack with oil. 3.       Thread fruit onto water soaked wooden skewers. (Pieces of fruit skewers alternately with a skewer). 4.       Grill each skewer 3-4 minutes, turning often, until grill marks appear. 5.       In stove also use for grill mark. (its easy and fast). 6.       Serve with dip. For mango zesty dip: 1.       1   cup yogurt 2.       1/4 cup ripe mango 3.       1/4   cream cheese or paneer (Indian cottage cheese) 4.       1/8 teaspoon lemon zest 5.       salt to taste   Method: 1.       Mix yogurt, mango, and bland in blander. 2.       Transfer this mixture in one bowl mix mashed paneer or cheese cream and salt. 3.       Add lime zest than serve chilled with fruit satay.

Ingredients: 8 to 10 jalapeno pepper medium size 1/2 cup peanuts 2 tablespoon sesame seeds 2 tablespoon grated coconut 1 large onion 1/4 cup oil 1 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 teaspoon   ginger garlic paste 1 tablespoon cumin- coriander powder 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp 1 teaspoon brown sugar Salt to taste   3 cup water       Method: Wash, wipe and slit green chilies lengthwise without cutting the chilies into two. (take out the seeds). In heavy bottomed skillet dry roast sesame seeds till they get light golden and set aside. In the same pan add the peanuts roast, set aside. Add in the grated coconut stir and switch off the flame. Set aside. In a non stick pan add 2 tbsp oil and add chopped onion cook until they get light brown. Allow to cool onion than add tamarind, turmeric, peanuts, coconut, sesame seeds, ginger garlic paste, salt and 1 cup water and blend to a smooth paste. In a wide skillet, heat about a tablespoon of oil. Bring the oil to smoking point. Add and sear jalapenos to sand color. Take care not to black or burn. In the same pan add the remaining oil and add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add in the prepared Salan (paste) and water and stir. Add   red chili powder, cumin-coriander powder and garam masala   and mix well.. Add in the fried jalapeno mix well. Cover the pan and let it cook for 10 minutes on medium heat while stirring in between.   Serve hot with rice, parathas or biryani.

I’ve been cooking the past few weeks, but not as much as I should have. Today, I decided to use my crock pot.  I have MANY things I could be cooking in it, I just needed to pick a recipe and do it. I chose Butter Chick’n out of Kathy Hester’s The Vegan Slow Cooker .  It’s tofu (cubed) slow cooked in a curry sauce.  I’ve seen recipes for Butter Chicken, but when I was a carnivore, I never tried it.  Now, I want to try it. It’s currently in my crock pot.  I’ll be having it over brown rice (mixed variety) and roasting some Brussels sprouts for my side dish.  Can’t wait until dinner! Also, I’d like to share a website with you. It’s a mother/daughter business based in Iowa.  They make aprons, and they are very CUTE aprons, if I say so myself. (I did!)  The aprons are 100% USA made.  It’s called J & J Inspirations – Fancy Aprons & Custom Creations .  I learned about this website from The Iowa Housewife blog (not a vegan blog, but still a great blog).  It took me a month to order one and by the time I got around to it, the one I wanted, For the Dogs , was sold out.  :::boo hoo!:::  I emailed the site and Janelle immediately responded to me. Needless to say (because you can see in my picture), Janelle and her Mom (who does all of the sewing) made more For the Dogs aprons and I got mine!  This site has a lovely collection of aprons.  I have my eye on Turquoise Stripes and Flowers (there’s just something about that apron that speaks to me).  :::smile:::  So, if you are looking for a unique gift or just a cute apron for yourself so you don’t splash ingredients on your favorite shirt (I swear, it only happens when I am cooking something with tomatoes in it), check out J & J Inspirations .

It’s Halloween.  As Halloweens go, the weather is pretty nice.  It’s been just a so-so day for me.  The State of Illinois, in its infinite wisdom, sent new license plates for my son’s car.  I found out, when I was trying to take the old plates off, that the bolts were rusted.  After researching the problem online, I headed off to the auto store to get some PB Blaster to spray on the bolts.  The biggest advice on the internet was to be patient and go slow.  OK, sounded easy enough. So, I spray the bolts, wait about 10-15 minutes and go out with my vise grip pliers.  The right bolt turns reluctantly and comes out.   YAY!  The left bolt seems a bit more stubborn.  Do you think that I sprayed more PB Blaster on it and waited?  Nope.  I snapped the bolt head off, leaving the screw inside the nut.  It snapped off flush with the nut, so there was no hope of using pliers to get it out. Back to the internet! The next procedure was to get a bolt extractor kit, make an indentation in center of the bolt fragment, and then drill into the center of the bolt fragment.  Once there is a pathway through the bolt fragment, I was supposed to tap the bolt extractor into the pathway and screw counterclockwise to remove the bolt.  Sounded scarier, but hey, I was up for the challenge.  Alas, I couldn’t get an indentation in the middle of the fragment, which meant that when I tried to drill, the drill drifted.  Rather than risk more damage to the nut, I took it to the car dealer, which was the only place that would drill out the old bolt (believe me, I called around for a cheaper alternative). I had the dealer remove the bolt fragment and then install the new plate on the back.  (This could or could not have involved tapping out the screw and rethreading the nut, I didn’t ask.)  Then, I had the dealer install a new bracket for the front plate, which has been missing for years after someone rear-ended me and pushed me into the car in front of me, popping the license plate and bracket off of the front of the car.  While I’ve not been ticketed for a missing front plate, it’s a distinct possibility in Chicago, so I just had them replace it.  $200 later, the car is back home.  :::sigh::: So, while I was waiting for the car to be fixed, I decided to make some Slow-Cooker Black Bean-Mushroom Chili .  I received the recipe in a Recipe of the Day email.  I made a few alterations.  First, I halved the recipe as it’s a TON of chili.  Second, I added some ingredients and changed one. I sauteed the mushrooms, tomatillos, and onion in the spices and 1/4 cup of water.  I probably sauteed them 15 or 20 minutes before the liquid from the vegetables started to evaporate.  Instead of adding mushroom broth, which I didn’t have, I added 1 carton of Imagine Organic No-Chicken Broth.  I still added a full can of tomato paste and two chopped chipolte peppers in adobe sauce. I let the broth heat up so it was steaming before I added it to the crock pot.  I put 3 cups of frozen black beans that I had cooked on Thursday, and I added 1 poblano pepper, chopped to the crock pot. I also added a cup or so of a black bean/corn/bell pepper frozen vegetable blend and a third of a bag of vegan crumbles that I had in the freezer after I added the broth to the crock pot. Since the beans are already cooked, I figured I didn’t need to let the chili cook as long as it would have needed to for uncooked black beans.  I put the chili on high and let it cook about 4 hours.  I will be eating mine with a little avocado and a teaspoon of Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream.  If it’s not quite zippy enough, I’ll add a little Cholula Hot Sauce, chipolte flavor.  Here is the recipe as I made it. Addendum:  The chili is da bomb!  I didn’t add any avocado (due to laziness), but I did add 1 teaspoon of Tofutti Sour Cream and a couple of dashes of Cholula Chipolte Hot Sauce.  This chili rocks.  I’ll definitely (A) be freezing some portions for future meals, and (B) be making this again during the winter season.  Next time, I need to make some rocking cornbread to accompany it.  Tonight, I’m just satisfied with the chili. Black Bean and Mushroom Slow Cooker Chili 3 cups black beans, cooked* 1 poblano pepper, chopped 1 cup corn (or corn/black bean/bell pepper blend) 1/3 package of vegan crumbles (my best guess is 1 to 1½ cups) 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon mustard seeds 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 tablespoon medium hot chili powder (Penzey’s) 1/4 teaspoon cardamom 4 oz. tomatillos, coarsely chopped 1 large onion, coarsely chopped 8 oz. sliced mushrooms (I used button) 1 carton (32 oz.) Imagine Organic No-Chicken Broth 1 6-oz. can tomato paste 2 chipolte peppers in adobe sauce, minced** Chop poblano pepper and add it to crock pot with black beans, corn, and vegan crumbles. Roast spices (mustard seeds through cardamom) in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 30 seconds to a minute (mine were popping all over, so I don’t think I did this for even 30 seconds).  Add tomatillos, onions, and mushrooms with 1/4 cup of water and saute/simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the mushrooms have released their water and the mixture is starting to dry.  Add broth, tomato paste, and chipolte peppers.  Cook another 5 minutes or so until the broth is heated through. Add broth mixture to crock pot.  Cook on high 3 to 4 hours or on low for 5 or 6 hours.  Serve with avocado slices, Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream, and Cholula Chipolte Hot Sauce. *  Can use two (2) 15 ounce cans of black beans.  If using canned, rinse beans well to remove excess sodium. ** I froze the rest of the chipolte peppers in an ice cube tray.  I put one pepper per ice cube portion and evenly distributed the remaining adobe sauce.  After the peppers and sauce were frozen into cubes, I dumped them all into a ziploc bag and threw them back in the freezer.   I had 10 portions left over. Happy Halloween!  Here are pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes.  Seeing as they are both named after great basketball players, what better costume could there be, but to have them wear the basketball jersey for their respective player.  Kobe’s jersey is left over from when my sons were young and my oldest first started loving Kobe Bryant.  This is back in the day when Kobe Bryant wore #8.  Jordan is in a Michael Jordan jersey, #23, his most famous number.  Don’t they both look thrilled? It’s a really nice day here in Chicago.  The girls are much happier looking out the back screen.

Today is the third Thursday and the Improv group, organized by Kristin of Frugal Antics of A Harried Housewife, is sharing recipes with lemon and sour cream.  Of course, my first reaction was a baked dessert but I decided, I wanted to change my ways, so to speak.  I am thrilled that I did.  This is a delicious way to make salmon.  The dill added to the lemon and sour cream give it additional life. Baked Lemon Salmon in Sour Cream Sauce Ingredients: 4 salmon fillets  2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon very finely minced onion   1/4 teaspoon salt dash pepper      1/4 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped dill 1/2 teaspoon additional lemon juice Method: Place salmon in a buttered baking dish.  Combine lemon juice and onion. Sprinkle a little over salmon fillets.  Season with pepper.  Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes, or until fish flakes easily. Remove from oven.  Mix lemon juice and sour cream and spread sour cream over salmon.  Sprinkle with fresh dill.  Return to the oven for 3 minutes. Serve with a green salad, cucumbers or tomatoes. Linked to Gallery of favorites     Fish Blog Hop        Fat Tuesdays

Saturday night, I usually make something different, casual and hopefully appealing.  That might mean pizza or pasta or pancakes  Tonight, I made a brand new recipe, Cheese and Red Pepper Latkes.   There is no way, this was not going to be good but also it was going to be unhealthy. Despite the last fact, I made the pancakes as described and now, I know how to do this without so much fat and I bet, it will turn out just as good.  I hope to make these again soon and I will share my makeover with you, when this happens. This is the original recipe with a few modifications.  You can find it online, here . Cheese & Red Pepper Latkes Recipe   adapted  –  Yield: 12 Servings Ingredients: 2 large onions, finely chopped 2 medium sweet red peppers, finely chopped 1 tablespoon red pepper dip 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 3 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and shredded 1cup grated Parmesan cheese 1-1/2 cups shredded Mexican mix 1 cup gluten-free flour mixture 3/4 cup sour cream 3/4 cup olive oil Minced fresh parsley Method: In a large skillet, saute onions and red peppers in butter until tender. Add garlic and pepper; cook 1 minute longer. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the potatoes, cheeses, flour, sour cream and mix well. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls into oil; press lightly to flatten.  Fry in batches until golden brown on both sides, using remaining oil as needed.  Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 3 dozen.           Time to look back at a few of the submissions, last week, for My Meatless Mondays.  Thanks for your support and more important, for these great ideas for meatless dishes. Lettuce Soup with Goat Cheese Croutons from Galley Kitchen                        How about some Rich, Buttery Crackers to have with the lettuce soup, from http://raisingdieter.blogspot.com/2012/01/rich-buttery-crackersyum.html After our soup with crackers, let’s have Eggplant Parmesan from Kosher Cookbook.                                                  Our side dish comes from Beyond The Peel , Kabocha Squash Gnocchi. We need dessert and I am not sure how to make a decision on that.  Such punishment for me having to pick two tempting dishes.  The first is Peanut Butter  Cup Truffles from Suburban Prarie Homemaker Our second dessert is a light version of Banana Pudding from Imitation by Design. What a meal, we are having.  Let’s see what our meal will be, next week?  Please link up below and thanks.   Linked to   Cook Book Sundays     Gallery of Favorites     Frugal Antics of a Harried  Homemaker                  Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits      Seasonal Inspiration          Your Cozy Home Party

I wish you all A Happy and a prosperous New year..I hope this year will bring all the happieness and a success in everyone’s like..May god bless you all… This is my first post in year 2012….. Now coming to the cake..as everyone love to welcome a new year with a sweet,, specially Cake to add more on this..chocolate cake is always very special and delicious …for such occasion……as you all know that I have already to updated one chocolate cake recipe in my blog,,,so this time I thought of using a different recipe…..so when I googled about eggless cake I found a very nice website where there was lots of information about baking,,,,cake,,egg less cakes and I like mainly about the information about egg substitutes..I learned lots of things from there and I got to know that there are lots of egg substitutes are there by using then we can prepare the cake (or any baking which includes egg)as good as we want it…….so this time I am using white vinegar as egg replacer…. Ingredients: All purpose flour 1 1/2 cup Coco Powder 3-4TBSP Baking powder 1tsp Baking soda 1/2 tsp Sugar 3/4 cup(can us up to 1 cup) Lemon juice 2tsp Salt 1/4 tsp cooking oil(i have used sunflower oil) 5TBSP White vinegar 1tsp warm milk 1/2 cup warm water 2tsp For decoration(optional) Icing sugar for dusting and 1plum or few strawberries) How to prepare: Sieve together flour,baking powder, baking soda and coco powder. Now add salt and sugar to this and mix well. Add the vinegaer to 2tsp water and keep aside for 10mins. Preheat the oven at 350F/180C or gas mark 4(as i am using gas cooker ). Take a 24mm sandwich oven pan, grease it with butter and line it with a greece paper or wax paper.. Now add all the wet ingredients one by one like lime juice, milk,oil and finally water vinegar mix to the flour and make smooth batter by using hand mixer.. as i was not sure this recipe will make good cake or not so i have not clicked any picture this time….. This cake batter should be little more liquid compare to other cake batter.. Now spoon the batter in the prepared tin and bake for about 40-45 mins (or till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean). Once the cake is baked completely take out the cake from the oven wait for 5 mins and then take out from the tin ,and also take out the wax paper Serve warm or cool. or if you want icing…..u can do so or just decorate like below and serve…. Sending this to the below events….. visit Yummy-Dessert-4-New Year event visit announcing-cooking-concepts-6-chocolate event glitter-graphics.com

Hello every one..its again celebration time..I got some awards from my blogger friend…Its been long time,,,may be around 2months back…I am very sorry Prabha that I was bit busy with this Christmas and new year cooking…so I could not update this from may days…but Today i decided to post it as even I wanted to share a award to some of my blogger friends….. Thanks very very much Prabha for such a lovely and wonderful awards..I am so happy to take these awards and feel so proud about myself…. he has got a wonderful space of her named cook well ….so everyone please visit her website visit Cook well by Prabha for wonderful yummy recipe… At the same time even I would like to share the below wards to some of below mentioned my blogger friends..as all the blogs are very good and nice but I felt these blogger friends are really doing very good job…so Its just to appreciate their work… So please grab the below award friends… visit AMU’S RECIPES by Amarendra visit Chitra Amma’s Kitchen by Chitra visit Indin Cuisine by Hari Chandana visit maayeka by Anjana visit Prats Corner by Prathima visit Recipe world by Vani visit priya’s easy n tasty recipes by Priya visit Erivum Puliyum by Julie visit Torview by Akheela visit Edible Entertainment by Kavi glitter-graphics.com