Cook's Hideout: July 2016

July 26, 2016

Homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce

For the final day of this week's marathon under 'bookmarked recipes', I have this delicious Chocolate Fudge sauce. I made it couple of months ago and finally got a chance it post it here.
Chocolate Fudge Sauce
 Recipe is from Brown Eyed Baker. This chocolate sauce keeps for a very long time in the fridge and is great to drizzle over ice cream or fruit or pound cake or just eat it by the spoonfuls.

July 25, 2016

Quinoa-Lentil Falafel

Blogging Marathon#66: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Bookmarked Recipes 
Dish: Quinoa Lentil Falafel from Food52
Today I have a yummy variation to traditional falafel. This is made with quinoa and lentils instead of chickpeas and fava beans. I bookmarked the recipe from Food52. Original recipe used whole mung beans but I subbed them with some French lentils.
Falafel with Quinoa and Chickpeas
These falafel are baked and are healthier than the traditional deep fried version. Adding quinoa makes them more substantial and filling. Along with quinoa and lentils, chickpea flour or besan is added to bind the falafel and also to impart a nutty flavor.

July 24, 2016

Lemon Rasam

Blogging Marathon#66: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Bookmarked Recipes 
Dish: Lemon Rasam from Nalini
We are starting our final week of blogging marathon today and my theme for the week is 'Bookmarked recipes'. For the first day I made this simple yet very tasty Lemon rasam from Nalini's blog.
Tangy Indian style Lemon soup
Nalini made it for the April mega marathon and I bookmarked and made it right away. It took this long to post the recipe here. Rasam in our households is made with tomato and tamarind. Toor dal or any kind of dal is not usually added. Our version is rather watery and is usually eaten along with a thicker dal.

July 19, 2016

Avocado-Palak Roti


Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Kid's Delight -- Lunch Box Recipes
Dish: Bean Burrito with Potatoes
For the final day of this week's marathon, I have a healthy roti for the kids lunchbox. I was planning to make Nalini's Avocado roti but then had some baby spinach in the fridge that needed to be used up, so that's how these avocado-spinach rotis were born.
Avocado Spinach Flatbread
Avocados are very healthy and provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, vitamin E and folic acids. I like it quite a bit but my husband is allergic to it, so I usually eat it by myself but never make it for the family. But I wanted to at least see how the kids like it.

July 18, 2016

Potato Rice for Lunch box (Aloo bhath)

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Kid's Delight -- Lunch Box Recipes
Dish: Potato Rice with Spice powder 
Both my kids love potatoes and can eat it every single day without getting bored. I'm the one getting bored to make them the same potato curry. So when I saw this recipe on a cooking show, I noted it down and made it for my kids.
Spicy Potato Rice
This rice has crispy fried potatoes mixed with a homemade spice powder. The use of lentils (dals) in the powder adds some protein to the dish. Serve it with some yogurt for a filling meal.

July 17, 2016

Bean Burrito with Potatoes

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Kid's Delight -- Lunch Box Recipes
Dish: Bean Burrito with Potatoes
We are starting a new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Kid friendly-Lunchbox dishes'. I am hosting Valli's Kid's Delight event this month with the same theme. Packing lunches for my kids is quite a task since they are quite picky and it gets really challenging to come up with dishes they would eat in school.
Kid friendly Rice and bean Burritos
Both my kids have very different tastes. My son likes pasta, sandwiches or wraps to school whereas my daughter prefers rice with broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrot etc. With such varied tastes, it becomes so difficult to make something that both of them would enjoy. Luckily until last year, my little one was going to school only 3 days a week, but come September she will be going full time, which means packing lunch for both for the whole week.

July 13, 2016

Announcing Kid's Delight~Lunch Box Recipes

I am hosting Valli's Kid's Delight event this month and the theme for this month is 'Lunch Box Recipes'. Cooking for my kid's lunch is one of the toughest things for me. I am always at a loss of ideas on what to pack for them. So I'm asking all of you to please share your kid approved lunch box ideas, so that packing lunch is not going to be a chore but a fun experience.
Any and all lunch ideas are welcome (only restriction being they have to be vegetarian -- eggs are allowed). Here's a few things you need to know:
  • Cook any kid approved Lunch box dishes with and post in your blog between July 15~August 15, 2016.
  • Link to this post and Valli's Kid's Delight announcement post is mandatory.
  • Old posts need to be reposted with links to this post and Valli's Kid's Delight event announcement post.
  • Do not have blog, but want to contribute, then email me your recipes to cookshideout@gmail.com. I will post them on my blog and include them in the round up.
  • Multiple entries are allowed, in fact they are encouraged.
  • Only Vegetarian dishes please, eggs are allowed.
  • Use of logo is optional.

Here's how to send in your entries:
Email your entries to cookshideout@gmail.com before end of day August 15, 2016 with the following information:
  • Your name
  • Blog name/ Blog URL (if applicable)
  • Entry Name
  • Entry URL (if applicable)
  • Include a brief description of the dish and how he/she enjoyed it
  • I can take the pictures from your posts, but if you have disabled right clicking in your blog, please send me a picture of at least 580px wide. Non-bloggers please email me a picture along with your recipe details.
Looking forward to all your entries.
Signature

July 12, 2016

Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes for #Food of the World

We are visiting Laos this month for the Food of the World event. I made this Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes and Mint recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine.
Eggplant with Tomatoes and Mint
Laos is a landlocked country bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the West. I've heard about Laos, but had very limited knowledge of the country or the cuisine. A little googling later, I learnt (from Wiki) that steamed sticky rice is the staple food of Laos and they eat more sticky rice than any other country in the world.

Thai Tofu Pizza on Spelt Crust

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Pizza
Dish: Thai Tofu Pizza on Spelt Crust
For the last day of this week's marathon, I have an interesting pizza recipe. The base is a No-rise spelt flour crust and the topping is spicy peanut sauce with crumbled tofu. I was in an experimenting mode and found these recipes -- crust recipe from Vegan Richa and Thai tofu topping recipe from Nasoya -- and wanted to give them a try.
No-rise Spelt Pizza with Thai Tofu Topping
No rise instant pizza crusts seem to be the common theme for all three days this week (check out the instant-pizza crust and chickpea flour crust). This spelt flour pizza base doesn't need any rising time and is ready to roll once you have the topping done. Richa's original recipe has BBQ tofu topping, but I used the Thai style peanut-Tofu instead.

Maple Pecan Scones for #BreadBakers

For this month's Bread Bakers, we are baking with natural sweeteners. I looked high and low for yeast bread recipes using natural sweeteners but couldn't find one that I wanted to try. Finally found the recipe for these Maple-Pecan Scones in Vegetarian Times Magazine.
Scones with Maple syrup and Pecans
Our host for the month Mayuri (Mayuri's Jikoni) wanted us to bake using natural sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, blackstrap molasses, dates, coconut sugar etc. These are healthier and tastier alternates to refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners.

July 11, 2016

Chickpea flour Pizza with Pesto

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Pizza
Dish: Chickpea flour Pizza with Pesto
After yesterday's Instant pizza recipe, I have another instant pizza today too. This one's made with chickpea flour or besan. The crust tasted a lot of cheela to me, but instead of cooking on the stove top, the crust here is baked in the oven. Apparently this chickpea crepe is also associated to France where these are called Socca and are a popular street food usually served with frosty-cool rosé.
Socca Pizza with pesto
As I was looking for instant pizza bases, I found this Socca Pizza recipe on Cookie and Kate blog. The chickpea base in baked under the broiler until set -- so the longer it bakes, the more crispy and browned the pizza gets.

July 10, 2016

Saag Pizza (Indian Style Spinach Pizza)

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Pizza
Dish: Indian Style Saag Pizza
We are into 2nd week of blogging marathon and my theme for this week is 'Pizza'. With the kids home on summer vacation, I knew they would be very happy if I made some pizza at home, so picked the theme. First up is a Indian style pizza topping on an Instant pizza crust.
Instant Pizza Crust Recipe
I have quite a few pizza recipes on the blog and most of them are traditional crusts that need at least 3 hours to up to 18 hours of rise time. So I wanted to try a crust recipe that doesn't need too much time to make. This recipe from Mel's Kitchen worked out perfectly. It needs just 10 minutes of rise time and then you are ready to make pizzas.

July 05, 2016

Vankaya Perugu Pachadi (Eggplant in Yogurt gravy)

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: 3 Veggies that are Fruit
Dish: Vankaya Perugu Pachadi
For the final day of this week's theme '3 veggies that are fruit', I have a dish made with eggplant -- you know I can't miss an opportunity to try and post a new recipe with my favorite veggie. I watched this yogurt based eggplant dish being made on a Telugu cooking show.
Eggplant in Yogurt gravy
I planted a few eggplant saplings in my backyard this year and they just started to flower and grow. My daughter counts the flowers and the tiny eggplants everyday. Hopefully I'll have more eggplant dishes for you this summer.

July 04, 2016

Tomato Cheese Sandwich with Pesto

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: 3 Veggies that are Fruit
Dish: Tomato Cheese Pesto Sandwich
Tomato is probably the most popular vegetable that is in fact a fruit. Today I have a simple sandwich recipe that needs just a few ingredients but tastes absolutely amazing -- Tomato Cheese Sandwich with Pesto.
Caprese Sandwich with Pesto
This dish doesn't really need a recipe. Assemble the ingredients listed in the name, pile them on bread and enjoy as is or if you like the cheese melted and the bread toasted, then grill the sandwich. I like it toasted, so that's how I served it.

July 03, 2016

Creamy Cucumber Gazpacho

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: 3 Veggies that are Fruit
Dish: Creamy Cucumber Gazpacho
Can't believe it's July already and half the year passed off so quickly. We are starting a new edition of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is dishes made with 'Veggies that are fruit'.
Gazpacho with Cucumber
Technically speaking fruit is a part of the plant that develops from a flower. It is also the section of the plant that has seeds. Other parts of the plant are considered vegetables -- like stems, leaves or roots. Good example of  'veggies that are fruit' are cucumber, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, squash and so on. But from a culinary point of view, vegetables are more savory and fruits are sweet.

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