Cheese Filled Jalapenos - "Me-Time" :)

Cheese Filled Jalapenos:

To me, feminine 'Me-Time' is must. Sometimes (most of the time) I wanna be left alone, bit heart broken in my pajamas...eating left over rice with sauces and care-less for my bad hair day. Girls are very rarely accustomed with steaming hot comfort food ready for them. So, craving for it back bites a lot. Who wants to dirty their palm for a treat. Then it won't be a treat, right! So, there are few tricks that work for me...without spending much time in the kitchen! Hope you may like it, I fixed this spicy snack on the other day and enjoyed my afternoon to the core:)

Method:

Fill the jalapenos with cheese, bake them over 350 for 7-10 minutes, there you go...spicy snack ready:)

Vegetable Fahita - Coloring My Life:)

Vegetable Fajita:(Mexican Style)

Several times in my School-College-University life...I somehow always ended up having vegetarian room mates:( But kept managing my identity through food, hehe:) No, I never yielded to 'Veganism' or 'Satvik' preachings...and what is peer-pressure, anyway!

There were days, when my hostel mess bill used to be 'Nil' for several months! And I completely survived eating out the whole time:) You know what? It sucks to be a female' when they only provide 'A mess' (vegetarian food) for us girls, whereas boys will always benefit from good 'B mess' (the real food). Anyhooo, finally I am done with those days, now I can be on my own...its so relieving to be an adult (even though none treat me like one!)

Well, coming to the story, it was one of the toughest decision in my life...to take my significant other as my life partner, knowing that he is a strict vegetarian!!! Gosh, life is full of surprises (oh boy, did anyone put spell on me or what?). Anyway...at least now, I learned the spelling for 'V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E'...and what it is made of again? hehe:):)

Ingredients:

Onions 1 large sliced
Jalapenos 1 sliced
Mushrooms 4 sliced
Bell peppers green 1 sliced
Bell peppers red 1 sliced
Zucchini 1 sliced
American Squash 1 sliced
Broccoli 1 small head, florets
Salt
Pepper - as per taste
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Guacamole - avocado paste.

Method:

Stir-fry all the above mentioned vegetables over high heat, preferably over iron skillet. Further add salt and pepper, turn them on to serving dish...cover with cheese and sour cream.

Serve as a filling to your corn or wheat tortillas /flat breads or enjoy as a salad:)

Broccoli Casserole - Flavors of Southern Cooking!

Broccoli-Green Beans Casserole:

Another important dish, that is close to heart. No one could turn this down, after a hard day's work. Speaking of work'...I mean real physical activity, okay. In this new age of information world...work is something that is confined to cushioned chairs, driving to destinations, or even making a phone call for scheduling an appointment!!! If you want to realize the pleasures of old time, now move it baby...mow your lawn, today (don't call Andy to do the chore), clean up the garage, burns 350 calories in 35 minutes...and now you deserve the treat, don't you?! Experience the real meal n tell me how you feel...isn't it comforting, worthy?

Ingredients: (Serves Four)

Rice 1 and 1/2 cups
Broccoli 1 head - florets
Green beans 100 grams - no trimming
Corn kernels 1 small cup
Button mushrooms 1 cup sliced
Milk 2 cups
Mushroom cream soup 1 can
Fried onions 1 cup to garnish
Butter few cubes
Grated cheese to garnish
Pepper powder to taste 1 teaspoon, per serving.

Method:

Melt butter in a crock pot, add rice enough salt. Further add water and milk, cover and cook.

Once the rice is half the way done, add cream soup, plus all the vegetables. Maybe be add a little more salt for the veggies.

Cover and cook till tender.

Now, finally add fried onion, cheese, pepper powder.

Serve steaming hot. Enjoy:)

Cheese Omlet - Breakfast That Makes You Happy:)

Capsicum Omlate:

Other Names: Bell Peppers Omlet. Cheddar-Bell Peppers-Onions-Tomato Omlet.

Ingredients:

Eggs 3
Bell pepper 1 small - sliced
Onion 1 large sliced
Tomato 1 chopped
Green chili - optional 1/2 chopped
Salt
Milk few teaspoons
Cheddar cheese - shredded 1 tablespoon
Olive oil / butter as per requirement.

Method:

Beat egg yolks first and then add whites and beat vigorously. Once it comes to foamy...set aside.

Heat a skillet with oil. Add the vegetables and salt. Stir-fry over high, till onions turn fragrant.

Now add the same to the whisked eggs, further add milk and if necessary white pepper powder, maybe.

Heat a griddle, smear butter and pour the batter...make thin or thick omlet. Cover and cook briefly...finally add cheese and remove from heat.

Serve warm as breakfast dish.

Paneer Kofta Curry - I am Loving It:)

Paneer Kofta Curry:

After done with paneer(Yeah, the home made one), it left a lot of scrap! The trimming part was fun, guess I overwhelmingly chopped it down:( I felt awful to trash the scrap. I was never allowed to waste food, back home. So, this recipe was planned instantly, to fix the shredded cottage cheese. Well, I have to say...it indeed turned more than good. And I am loving it:)

Ingredients:

For Paneer Kofta:

Shredded panir 1 cup
Onion finely chopped
Boiled n mashed potato 1/2 cup
Green chili 1 minced
Ginger-garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Garam masala powder 1/4 spoon
Salt
Cilantro
Oil for frying.

For Gravy:

Onion 1 large grated
Ginger-garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Tomato 2 pureed
Salt
Turmeric powder
Chili powder 1 spoon
Paprika powder 1 spoon
Garam masala powder 1/4 spoon
Cashew nuts 15 - paste
Ghee for frying.

Method:

Mix all the above mentioned ingredients for kofta, except oil.

In a shallow pan, heat oil and fry the paneer koftas. Set aside.

In a wide wok, heat oil and add ginger-garlic paste and onion. Fry real good and then followed by tomato puree.

Further add powdered spices plus nuts paste, cover and cook. Once oil shows up on the top, remove from heat. Add the fried paneer koftas to it

Serve warm to go with your chappathis or rotis.

Cheesy Chilies

Cheesy Chilies:

Chili Relino?! Cheese filled Chili peppers.

If I need a quick snack, the one thing I turn into is, fill my chili pepper/jalapenos with cheese and bake them! This doesnt demand any labor in the kitchen. It would be great if we grill them, although baking is not that bad idea!!

Fried Cheese Sticks

Fried Cheese Sticks:

Fried Cheese. Breaded Cheese Sticks.

Nothing much to talk about the recipe, jut fried the string cheese...that's all!:) Simple evening munch. Now...who wouldn't like cheese, huh!:)

Ingredients:

String cheese 2-4
Egg white 1
Bread crumbs few spoons
Salt
Pepper
Dry Parsley
Dry garlic powder
Dry onion powder
Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Mix all the above said ingredients(except oil, cheese and egg)in a mixing bowl and spread them in a tray.

I sliced the string cheese into two...but one could hold the same size.

Now roll them in egg whites first and followed by bread crumbs.

Shallow fry them in hot oil, until nice color.

Serve warm as a snack.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed Tomatoes:

Best way to have fresh tomatoes is to either grill or bake them, with a hint of butter...its heaven!! Today I planned for snack meal dinner. It doesnt mess up your kitchen at all, so simple to fix!!

Ingredients:

Roma tomatoes 4-6
Wild rice/brown rice/red rice 1 cup
Salt
Garlic crushed
Chili powder 1/2 spoon
Cilantro leaves few
Butter 2 cubes
Cheese to garnish.

Method:

Slice a small part of tomatoes and core them neatly.

In a skillet, add a cube of butter...throw in all the spices and wild rice. Fry real quick until fragrant. Remove from heat and bring down to rooom temperature.

Now fill this rice in the tomatoes, garnish with cheese. Melt butter, bast them over tomatoes.

Now either bake or grill them until semi-tender.

Serving steaming hot as a meal.

Stuffed Eggs

Stuffed Eggs:

Cheesey Rice stuffed Eggs. Cheesy rice balls.

Eggs are essential part of my pantry! When I run out of the vegetables...its an easy solution! I fixed this recipe with left over rice, One could possibly come up with freshly prepared ones, of course! The idea is simple, I love eggs...hmmm, very scared to use lots of fatty yolk in my diet...so carefully avoided it!!

Ingredients:

Eggs 4-6 (soft boiled, sliced into halves)
Cooked Basmati rice 1 cup
Salt to taste
Paprika powder to taste
Cheese (3-4 different types)
Mint 2 teaspoons finely chopped
Butter 1 cube.

Method:

Melt butter, in a wok. Add rice, salt, paprika and mint. Fry for few minutes.

Throw in cheese and mix well. Once cheese melts and becomes sticky, remove from heat.

Make uniform 'egg yolk' sized roundels and fill them up in soft boiled eggs. Here you go, dinner is ready in few minutes.

Don't Mess with Sufian

Lebanese Breakfast:

Friday Morning Breakfast - Middle East! Bachelor's Elaborate Breakfast, Can you believe this???

Hope you guys remember about the club that I attend to 'The Cook! Eat! Share!' for the Internationals. We are about 40 members from different countries. Its a nice platform to know about one's culture through food!

One of our member from Lebanon, Sufian...completed his studies from Olemiss(The University of Mississippi) and went back to his native for job!! So just before leaving...he decided to host 'Lebanese Breakfast' for the members. So sweet, right! It was cold winter(December)he planned to cook at Sue's (South Korean, member)apartment. Imagine we all met up at her place early in the morning, icy winter...the girl was sleeping like a baby!! Since it was too early and late notice...not many people showed up! When Sufian started to cook...I was really amazed at his culinary skills! Oh guys are smart these days...not just cooking, even in clean ups!!

Sufian fixed us: Jasmine Tea, Sesame-Dill biscuits, Egg Salad, Lebanese bread, Cheese, Pita bread, Authentic Hummus and Tahini.

Criticism: Truly one should applaud his effort...guess he is in early 20s and shares the passion for cooking, kool huh. Oh my my...the hummus was awesome, ultimate in taste. Well balanced in fact...right proportion of yogurts, lemonade, salt and garbanzos. The real twist was...He had arranged the bread pieces has first layer and spread some hummus on top, again layered some bread and then hummus, garnish was kool too. So the bread along with hummus was chewy and yummm!! Tahini was much similar to South Indian Idly podi for me...sesame seeds and olive oil...gave a good aroma. Egg salad, he said...he could'nt find cilantro that early in any stores...so he had to throw parsley instead. Even then it tasted good.

Culture: He said his mommy fix such elaborate breakfast on Friday mornings. Friday is holiday for them (Muslim countries generally have Friday holiday for their mass in the mosque)! He said to take a piece of pita bread and roll them with egg salad and grab a spoonful of hummus and dip them in tahini...and then eat it. Followed by a sip of warm jasmine tea. Aaaah that I call breakfast. Wish my mommy hears this, he he.

Saffron Risotto:

Ingredients:

Italian rice/Arborio rice 1 cup
Vegetable broth 2 cups
Saffron 1/4 spoon
Milk few spoons
Salt
Butter a cube
Cheese 1 cup shredded
Saffron few strands to garnish.

Method:

Wet grind 1/4 spoon of saffron with milk and make a thick paste, set aside.

In a heavy bottomed skillet, melt butter. Stir-in rice....let the rice coat oil thoroughly.

Add enough salt and vegetable broth to it. Cover and cook over low-sim heat.

When the rice is half the way done, add saffron milk and continue cooking.

When rice is done without any liquid, add cheese. Mix thoroughly.

Garnish with saffron strands. Enjoy!

Vegetable Cheese Rice:

Ingredients:

Arborio Rice/Italian 1 cup
Carrots 1 small finely chopped
Peas 1 fisful
Jalapenos 1-2 finely chopped
Scalion 1 small finely chopped
Salt
White pepper 1 spoon
Black pepper 1 spoon
Cheese as per taste
Vegetable oil few spoons.

Method:

Cook rice with little bit of salt and oil in it. Spread them in a tray to get well seperated stiff rice.

In a wide skillet, heat oil.Add jalapenos and scalions to it. Fry real good till golden color.

Then add carrots and peas to it. Cover and cook for 2-4 minutes.

Followed by rice, salt, white and black pepper. Fry real good over high heat without lid.

Now stir-in cheese. Maybe not at one corner, crumble at all the sides and give a quick toss. Let it melt real good.

Serve warm as a main dish.