Sun-dried Tomato and Arugula Pesto Pasta

"Simple, easy and delicious" - defines pasta for me. Pasta is my fallback dish, my ultimate savior whenever I am in a time crunch or tired or in no mood to cook. My kids love pasta and for them, pasta is a fancy food. They love to eat pasta, any time of the day!

We particularly love pesto pasta and I have tried various combinations of greens & nuts. What I like about pesto is that, it is not only super-quick & easy to prepare, but also a great way to sneak in lot of fresh greens, veggies and nuts. Once in a while, I add parmesan cheese and make it extra fancy for my kids. The most satisfying part about pesto, my kids cannot pick greens/veggies out and throw it off their plates. The good stuff just goes in with little (or) no resistance and in that sense, pesto pasta is truly a winner!

Bean-Mix Soup

A simple and delicious soup recipe with bean-mix that's hearty, healthy, filling and will warm you up in the winter. Best thing about the recipe, it works with all kinds of bean-combo and goes without saying, beans are very healthy too! (high in fiber, rich in protein, low in fat and contains no cholesterol).

Chili Paste

Chili paste is a versatile hot sauce that can be added to a number of recipes in Chinese cuisine, Thai cuisine, Mexican cuisine etc. While every cuisine uses native chiles and have their own combination of ingredients, this recipe is very basic using only chiles. I have used Indian dry red chiles which can be compared to cayenne red peppers. You can experiment this recipe with any type of chili that is available in your local market.

Roasted & Curried Butternut Squash Soup

A warm & spicy soup made with roasted butternut squash, carrots and a varied selection of spices.

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

A simple go-to weekend meal and a tasty break from all your regular pesto sauces.

Quinoa Salad with Black Chickpeas & Arugula

Yet another weekend went by, packed & busy. Luckily, I had time to watch two documentaries - "GMO OMG" and "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead by Joe Cross". Both are great food documentaries and must-watch. While the first one exposes the black side of GMO products in the market, the second one stresses on the importance of adding more fruits and veggies to the diet. If you have a Netflix account, I insist you take time and watch the videos, for they will help you in the long run.

Pal Payasam - Rice Kheer - Rice Pudding

Pal Payasam (or) Rice Kheer is the quintessential dessert of Indian cuisine. Traditionally, ghee-roasted rice is simmered in reduced milk, flavored with cardamom & saffron, garnished with nuts & raisins. When making rice kheer, major time & effort is spent on cooking milk until it reduces half its volume, so the dessert is sinfully rich & creamy!

"Vegan" Savory Crepes

Last week at farmer's market we picked a crepe stand to eat our breakfast. I chose a savory crepe that had sautéed spinach, avocado, basil pesto, feta cheese in it and was too good. When asked, the crepe stand owner sounded very secretive about his recipe and did not want to share. Since then, I have been "seriously" researching on various crepe recipes from across the globe only to develop an eggless recipe of my own, which now happens to be vegan too. And, that's precisely one of the reasons why I love being a food blogger!!

Aloo Palak

Aloo Palak is an extremely popular recipe in restaurants, parties and home too. Potatoes (Aloo) simmered in a spinach (Palak) based green gravy is truly delicious and also, very healthy!