Corn and Potato Fritters

This would be my contribution for this month's Cooking for Kids Event- Corn.
I have extended the date for this event to Jan-5th.
Currently awesome cookies are pouring into my mail box :) Hoping to see more entries for corn too.




Ingredients

2 large potatoes
1/2 cup fresh or frozen(thawed) corn kernels
2-3 tbsp spring onions, chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
Pinch of chilli powder
oil


Preparation

Boil and cool the potatoes. Peel and mash. In a bowl combine these potatoes, corn, spring onions, garam masala, salt and chilli powder. Mix well.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based frying pan. Make patties and cook until golden on both the sides. Serve with tomato ketchup.






This beautiful book will be given to one person who will be selected randomly by my little one for Cookie Baking event .

Christmas Tree Pizza, Pom-raffle winner, Awards and Free books.

I found this beautiful recipe from Pillsbury site. This Appetizer tree is beautifully decorated with veggie ornaments for holiday.




Ingredients

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can Pillsbury Crescent refrigerated flaky dough sheet
2tbsp diced tomato
2tbsp chopped mushroom
2tbsp chopped onions
2 tbsp red bell pepper
1 tbsp yellow bell pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh broccoli
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp Mexican blend cheese or any shredded cheese





Preparation

Heat oven to 375°F. Remove dough from can in 1 long roll; do not unroll or separate. Cut roll into 16 slices.
On ungreased cookie sheet, place slices cut side down to form tree. Start by placing 1 slice for top; arrange 2 slices just below, with sides touching. Continue arranging a row of 3 slices, then a row of 4 slices, ending with a row of 5 slices. Use remaining slice for tree trunk.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and arrange all the veggies on top. Finally top it with shredded cheese.
Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute; carefully loosen from cookie sheet with spatula, and serve warm.




I was selected as a winner of the weekly POM giveaway contest for my Pom-Smoothie recipe. This is what I got!!


My lovely friends showered me with awards, though I was not blogging regularly.

Adlak has given this lovely award to me! Thanks Adlak.



Ramya has showered me with all these nice awards. Thanks Ramya, so generous of you!




Ramya Vijaykumar has given me this nice award. Thanks Ramya!


Lakshmi has given me this beautiful award! Thanks Lakshmi.



I would like to pass these awards to all those nice people who leave comment on my blog!!

Here are some links which I found online to get free recipe booklets by mail. This is only for people in US, I suppose. You can find the link to the right side of the page.

Here are some nice recipes from Kraft you can download from here . It is a nice printable version.

This is a gentle reminder for the events in my blog.

Cooking for kids last date Dec-31st

Cookie Baking event last date Dec-28th

Walnut-Scallion Stuffed Mushrooms

These savory bites are made with ingredients you probably already have on hand in your kitchen!! I found this lovely recipe in a magazine and it took me just 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

10-15 medium white or button mushrooms
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
4 green onions, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped coarsely
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
2tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing
1tsp low-sodium soy sauce(optional)



Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degree F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Trim mushroom ends and remove stems. Chop mushroom stems coarsely and combine it with walnuts, green onions and garlic in a bowl . Now there are two ways to do this. You can either just pulse all these ingredients in a food processor(Don't make it in to a paste) or just fill the caps without grinding them.

Transfer mixture to bowl. Stir breadcrumbs and olive oil into the mushroom mixture. Brush mushroom caps with oil and fill it with the prepared mixture, packing tightly and mounding on top. Place round-side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and filling is browned. Serve warm. These scrumptious goodies make great appetizers for parties.

Holiday Cookie Baking Event and Giveaway!

I am excited to announce one more event for the holidays.
The "Cookie Baking Event".
Yes, with the 2 little ones I too feel like a kid and why not?? It is holidays and a season of festive feast!!
No Christmas is complete without cookies, so let's bake some!!

All you have to do is send in some delicious cookie recipes with lovely pics.
Send me an e-mail with your Name, a picture of the recipe, perma-link of the recipe and name of your blog to "cookingforkidsevent AT gmail DOT com". Please pre-fix email subject with "Cookie Baking Event". Use the above logo.
The last date to send in your entry is December 28Th.

Now the best part !! One lucky winner will be selected randomly to receive a lovely "BOOK" filled with cookie recipes:) isn't it fun!!
So what are you waiting for... start baking right away!!!

Announcing "Cooking For Kids- Event"

I saw this show on CNN, FEd Up: America's Killer Diet. I heard this quote from Dr. Sanjay Gupta “…barely one percent of children meet government guidelines for a healthy diet.” If you're searching for a villain in America's obesity epidemic, most nutritionists tell you to put one picture on the wanted poster: a cold, bubbly glass of soda pop.

He talks about this kid, Adrian McHargh who grew up active and skinny in Kingston, Jamaica. An enthusiastic swimmer, he had the pristine waters of the Caribbean for a playground until two years ago, when he and his family moved to America. I would eat a lot because I was bored," he says. "I was sitting on the couch just watching TV, not playing a lot."

Within months, Adrian was in trouble. He'd packed on 30 pounds. Doctors said he had hypertension, high cholesterol and was at high risk for type 2 diabetes.
(Source:CNN)

Kids get carried away by french fries, soda, cookies, chips, juice with high fructose corn syrup. Ready made frozen meals, sugar coated attractive cereals, pizzas and burgers have made it convenient for people from not cooking fresh food. How much freshly prepared food, fruits and veggie servings are included in your kid's diet?

The other day while talking to Kay of One bite at a time, I was telling my concerns about my 4 yr old not eating home cooked food and eats a lot of junk food. She gave me some very innovative ways to make healthy food tasty and attractive.

Now coming to the point, the idea behind starting "Cooking For Kids" event is to cook healthy yet attractive and delicious recipes for kids. We want our kids to be healthy and live a disease free life.



The rules of this event is very simple.

Monthly an Ingredient will be announced by the start of that month and you have to create a recipe with it. The Ingredient can be anything from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, flours, legumes, lentils, dry fruits, herbs, spices, milk, milk products and so on.

1. Prepare a kid friendly recipe with the main ingredient, and post it on your blog from the announced date till 30Th of that month.
2. Send me an e-mail with your Name, a picture of the recipe, perma-link of the recipe and name of your blog to "cookingforkidsevent AT gmail DOT com".
3. Please use “CFK” to denote the subject matter.
4. Also link this event to your entry.
   
   The Ingredient for December month is "Corn". You may use any version of corn. It may be fresh corn, corn flour, creamed corn, baby corn, corn meal or frozen corn.
   Create anything from Soups, Salads, Appitizers, sides, Breakfasts, dinner or desserts.
   
   You can also include information like "sweet corn has significant Antioxidant activity, which can substantially reduce the chance of Heart disease and Cancer.
   
   The deadline for this event will be December 31, 2008. The round-up will be posted by January 5Th 2009. January's ingredient will be announced on the 1st of Jan.
   Please feel free to use the above logo. You can (left)click on the logo to save it.

So get creative and post some yummy recipes!!

Carrot Milk Pudding / Carrot Kheer

Rich and creamy carrot milk pudding is a very easy recipe. It can be prepared and served on any occasion.

Ingredients:

2 cups milk
1 cup fresh grated carrot (or coarsely ground carrot in food processor)
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/3 cup sugar(optional) ( I did not as the condensed milk gives enough sweetness)
2 tbsp Raisins/ sultanas
2 tbsp Cashew nuts
2 tbsp Ghee/clarified butter
2 tbsp unsalted chopped Pistachios
1/4 tsp crushed cardamom

Preparation:

In a small pan fry the cashew nuts and raisins in ghee till golden. Keep aside.
In a heavy-based pan, pour milk and stir over medium heat until it comes to boil.
Reduce the heat and add carrots. Simmer and stir occasionally until the carrot gets cooked.
Add condensed milk (you can add sugar at this point if required)and let it cook for 20 more minutes. When the pudding becomes thick and creamy add cardamom. Remove from heat and add fried cashew nuts and raisins. Garnish with pistachios and serve warm.

This goes to JFI- Carrots hosted by The Cooker.

POM Salsa

Pomegranate Salsa is a great combination with whole grain tortilla chips. I mixed up a bunch of other fruits along with it to make a delicious hot, sweet and sour salsa.



Serves 4 people
Ingredients:

1 cup fresh POM pomegranates
1/2 cup chopped red onions
1/3 cup diced apples
1/3 cup diced mangoes
1/3 cup diced tomatoes
1tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
1 chopped Jalapeno pepper
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
salt and pepper as per requirement





Preparation:

Mix up the pomegranates, mangoes, apples, onions, tomatoes and fresh cilantro in a bowl. Season it with lemon juice, olive oil, Jalapeno pepper, salt and crushed peppercorns. Toss them all together gently and chill in the refrigerator for sometime before serving. Serve with whole grain tortilla chips.

I am sending this to POM Wonderful Contest and Foodie Blogroll contests hosted by The Leftover Queen.

This also goes to Vegan Ventures-2 by Suganya

Pomegranate Fruit cups

These colorful mini cups are perfect for holiday entertaining and kids will love them.

Serves 6-8 people
Ingredients:

1 pkg. Raspberry or cherry gelatin
2 cups POM wonderful 100% pomegranate juice
2 tbsp POM Wonderful fresh pomegranates
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
2 tbsp chopped pineapple
2 tbsp chopped apple
2 tbsp cranberry
8 foil muffin cups
Muffin pan





Preparation:

Boil 2 cups of POM 100% Pomegranate juice. In a bowl pour in the gelatin and boiled juice. Stir for 2 minutes until completely dissolved.
Stir in Fresh pomegranates, apple, pineapple, walnuts and cranberry.
Spoon into foiled muffin cups, place then into a muffin pan to keep up the shape and refrigerate for 2-3 hours until firm. Remove liners and serve.



Wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

I am sending this to POM Wonderful Contest and Foodie Blogroll contests hosted by The Leftover Queen.
This also goes to Vegan Ventures-2 by Suganya

Berry-licious Pomegranate Smoothie

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice, chilled
1 cup mandarin oranges in light syrup, chilled
8 ounces low-fat frozen blueberry yogurt or plain vanilla yogurt and 1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup ice cubes
Orange slices or fresh mint leaves, for garnish









Preparation

Place pomegranate juice and mandarin oranges in the freezer for about 30 minutes before starting the recipe.
In a blender add pomegranate juice, mandarin oranges, blueberry yogurt and ice. Blend until smooth.
Pour into tall glasses and garnish with orange slices or mint leaves and serve.

I am sending this to POM Wonderful Contest and Foodie Blogroll contests hosted by The Leftover Queen.

Thank you Foodbuzz!!

I am very happy to share the NEWS that I won this beautiful Juice fountain in foodbuzz weekly raffle. Thank you foodbuzz!! I and my family are very happy to receive this lovely "Breville Compact Juice Fountain", which we never imagined of.



I had received an email that I won the raffle and that I was soon going to get a juice fountain. The very next evening a huge box was at my door as a great surprise. I was so exited to open the box. My husband was not ready to believe that I had got this huge Juicer as a gift. Foodbuzz made it possible!!

I am very happy be a part of foodbuzz which is a beautiful community of foodies around the world. Wonderful recipes to learn and share , restaurant reviews, meeting new foodie friends, visiting their blogs and above all celebrating food are some of the awesome features of foodbuzz.

Some More Diwali Treats:)

Boorelu- A traditional Andhra Delicacy made during festivals.

I wanted to make boorelu ever since I saw it in Sailu's blog. I tried it for this Diwali , Thanks to Sailu for the wonderful masterpiece recipe. It came out very well.

Ingredients:

For batter:
1/2 cup black gram dal/urad dal
1 cup rice salt to taste

For Filling:
1 cup bengal gram dal/channa dal
1 cup sugar or 1 cup grated jaggery
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut
3/4 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp Ghee (clarified butter)
oil for frying

Preparation:

Soak rice and black gram dal for about 4 hours. Drain the water from the black gram dal and rice. Grind into a thick dosa batter like consistency adding very little water. Add little salt and mix well. Set it aside.

Cook bengal gram with just enough water to cover the dal. The dal should be cooked and should hold its shape. Drain any left over water from the dal after its cooked. Add jaggery or sugar to the dal and blend them together till it folds well.In a heavy-bottomed pan add ghee, the dal paste and cook till the extra water from the sugar dries off. Stir continuously as the dal tends to stick to the pan. Turn off heat. Add grated coconut, cardamom powder to the paste and fold. Make small balls as shown in the picture.

Heat oil in a wide heavy bottomed vessel for deep frying the balls. Dip each ball in the batter to coat evenly. Deep fry till golden brown. The shelflife for boorelu is 2-3 days but it disappeared in my house within hours .

Badam /Almond Halwa

This Halwa is one of my own experiments which turned out to be a success.

Ingredients:

1 cup Almonds (Soaked for an hour and peeled)
1/2 cup condensed milk
3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/3 tsp cardamom powder
pinch of saffron strands for garnish
raisins for garinsh

Preparation:

Grind the soaked and peeled almonds into thick paste adding very little water or milk. In a heavy bottomed pan melt ghee and add this paste.The heat should be in medium. To this add condensed milk and fold.Keep stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.You can see the ghee and the oil coming out of the halwa .The mixture will completely stop sticking to the pan. Add cardamom and transfer the halwa to a ghee coated plate. Garnish with raisins and saffron strands.

This recipe is quite easy and simple to make with very limited ingredients.Once the halwa cools down you can cut them into squares and store it in fridge.

I am contributing this to All That Glitters-Sugar High Friday hosted by my dear friend Susan and created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess.

Chocolate Burfis

This burfi is my mom's trademark . I used to tease her when ever festivals were nearing and she used to shop for Khoya/mawa. Now that she lives away from me, I miss her and try out her recipes:). It is a quite simple recipe and can be made in minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup Fresh grated coconut
1/2 cup chocolate powder
1/2 cup condensed milk or Khoya or both
3-4 tbsp ghee
1/3 tsp cardamom powder
Nuts for garnish

Preparation:

In a heavy bottomed pan add ghee, grated coconut, condensed milk, khoya and fold well.

If you don't find khoya you can do with condensed milk alone but the burfis will be little soft so you have to set them in fridge. With Khoya, burfis get some good square shape.

Well after stirring the mixture for a while, you can see that they leave the sides of the pan.The mixture should be transfered into a ghee coated plate and spread evenly. After it cools down, cut them into squares, garnish and serve. This also can be stored in fridge.

All this goes to JFI- Festival treats hosted by Srivalli.

I am sending the boorelu to Ruth's Kitchen Experiments .
All these Festive sweets go to Ivy's World food day event. I want to thank God for what ever he has blessed me with.

I am sending all these to Aparna's diverse Kitchen celebrating her Blog Anniversary too.