A vegetarian food blog with unique and interesting recipes from all over the world mainly focused on South Indian Cuisine.
White sauce pasta is one of the universally acclaimed pasta especially by kids, and today I am going to share the how to make that yummylicious white sauce with white cheddar cheese and how to incorporate some veggies as well. Here comes my white cheddar cheese pasta with spinach and mushrooms.
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Are you looking for an easy-peasy pasta recipe? Here comes my Orzo pasta (wheat orzo) with tomato basil pesto and olives – A delicious semi-homemade pasta recipe with minimal ingredients. There are days when we want to cook something quick and come out of the kitchen. This Orzo pasta recipe is one of your best bet and today I am sharing the recipe that we usually like. Learn how to make this rice like orzo pasta with different condiments.
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Can you make pesto without basil and pine nuts? Oh yeah, why not? We can make it even without parmesan cheese. Here comes my cilantro pesto with almonds and a simple cilantro pesto pasta recipe prepared with the pesto for the lunch box. Don’t forget to check the notes section for the packing suggestion as well as how to prevent pesto from tasting bitter.
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Restaurant style pizza at home, yes today I am going to share how to prepare California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) style Wild Mushroom Pizza – a thin crust pizza loaded with different varieties of mushrooms and cheese. Check out the detailed recipe with step-wise pictures and also the alternatives for cheese and mushroom varieties.
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P is for Pizza, precisely Pesto Pizza and it’s my favorite kind of pizza. This is my second recipe from the land of Italy after Focaccia. I love thin crust pizzas and the one that I posted earlier is also a thin crust one and today’s recipe is also a thin crust one. Will you believe me that this pizza is a perfect weekday dinner and it can be prepared within 30 minutes with proper planning? No, I am not kidding, and that’s what I am going to share today, how I planned and prepared this.
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I am going to share a rustic yeast based bread recipe from the land of Italy today. It’s the Focaccia al rosmarino – Focaccia bread with rosemary, and I added olives too. I love the rustic bread they serve as a starter in Italian restaurants. Be it the ciabatta bread or this focaccia; we love it with a generous drizzle of Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. (I know ciabatta is more for sandwiches) You can serve this focaccia as a starter along with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or you can serve this as a side for soups and stews.
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Yayyy it is the weekend, specifically the game weekend. Looking for easy yet exotic meals that can be prepared in a jiffy? Today I am going to present one such recipe which will be party pleaser for sure. Errr.. forget the parties and games, this recipe will surely magnify your dinner table and make your family time more memorable. When east and west meets, this is what you get – Curried Naan Pizza with Paneer. :-)
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Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert prepared with cream and sugar. It is usually molded with gelatin, but I am using Agar Agar for setting the pannacotta. In Italian, it means cooked cream. Here is simple vanilla flavored Italian cream pannacotta prepared with heavy cream and milk and molded using agar agar.
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Eggplant Parmigiana or Eggplant Parmesan is one of the classic and unique Italian recipes. It is one of the staples in all the Italian restaurants. It is prepared with shallow or deep fried eggplant or aubergine slices and topped up with cheese and tomato sauce. Today I am presenting this eggless eggplant parmigiana and I am serving this along with spaghetti as they serve in restaurants. So here is the restaurant style, eggplant parmigiana but without eggs.
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This is a simple multi-purpose Italian Red Sauce, prepared with tomatoes, basil and I added mushroom for the additional flavor. I use this sauce for pastas, spaghetti and as a dip and also for my pizzas. That’s why I am calling it as a multi-purpose sauce. This is a very basic version and you can add different herbs, veggies and prepare this sauce according to your preference.
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Mac and Cheese is everyone’s favorite. No one can say no to baked Mac and cheese with crispy breads crumbs and ooey gooey cheese. I have already posted the traditional baked mac and cheese recipe and you can find it here. Today’s recipe differs from the baked mac and cheese in the ingredients used and the cooking process but tastes the same. Here is the slow cooker version of mac and cheese.
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I am not going to post a salad recipe today. It’s the regular pasta recipe with cheese. (Finally huh?) I wanted to post-Thanksgiving meal recipes last year, but it didn’t happen. Thanksgiving Vegetarian recipes are super simple, and I do prepare a couple of them on day to day basis, and I don’t know what kept me from posting them on my blog. So this year I am starting my Thanksgiving meal ideas and recipes. So today I am starting with the main course recipe and my kiddos favorite – roasted veggie pasta casserole. Stay tuned for turkey free vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes.
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Fall is here and which means varieties and varieties of squash in market. Regular pumpkin, acorn squash, butternut squash and many more. Pasta is one dish that all kids like and including mine too. We usually add red sauce / Tomato sauce / Marina or the white sauce or Alfredo or Pesto. Kiddo loves colors in his food so alfredo pasta becomes white pasta, pesto pasta becomes green pasta and tomato becomes of course red pasta. So how I do orange pasta now? Obviously with squash :-) I am big lover of this bottle shaped ve ggie squash. I have posted couple of soup recipes but now its time for the sauce recipe for the pasta.
My earlier squash/pumpkin recipes.
For this pasta sauce we need to cook butternut squash either in vegetable broth or plain water and puree them. The cook the puree with garlic and other italian herbs. Thats it you are done !
Along with minced garlic you can also add onion.
Fresh herbs will be more flavorful. If you can get fresh herbs always go for it.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 56
Loading InLinkz ...Welcome to the 10th day of baking Mania. Yayyy I have successfully crossed 10 days. 16 more days to go :-)
Today I am replicating one of the restaurant menu. Whenever we goto Olive Garden we order this stuffed mushrooms. We got to make it vegetarian though. Then one day I decided why can’t it try it at home with pesto sauce. Gave it shot and it came out really well. Its great party starter. If you planning for a Italian menu, this would go well for the starter. Its a very simple dish which can be prepared in 20 minutes. For this dish we need only the mushroom caps, not the stems. But mushroom cleaning is not as hard as banana flower cleaning. ;-)
Couple of things note if you making it for a party/potluck:
Ingredients:
Steps:
Thats it . Yummy baked mushrooms are ready. A great bite sized snack, serve it hot with Marinara.
This post was earlier cross posted in Vidya’s blog, Traditionally Modern Food (TMF). I did a guest post for her and here it is. Thanks again Vidya for giving me this opportunity. :-)
When Vidya asked me for guest post, I was really elated and humbled and when the theme was “Toddler food” I couldn’t say no for sure. Also when Vidya asks, how can this Vidhya say No? :-) Vidya was my first virtual friend from the food blogging community. What do I say about her and her blog? The blog name says it all – Traditionally Modern Food. I love all her recipes and especially the baked versions of thattai, vadai and other delicacies. Its in my todo list and will be trying them soon. I got a chance to meet her also. A fun person to be with and the other thing that I like about her is she readily shares her tips that she follows for posting and stuff. Now tell me who will do that?? I am glad to find a friend for life. Wishing her good luck for all her future endeavours.
Here is her social media presence
Blog link: https://traditionallymodernfood.wordpress.com/
FB link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Traditionally-Modern-Food/762621750435010?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark
Pinterest link: http://www.pinterest.com/tradmodfood/traditionally-modern-food/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tradmodfood
Now coming to the recipe, I have mentioned many times in my blog that my kiddo loves soup. In my opinion, soups are best ways to sneak in the vegetables.
Initially I used to give him pureed soups and then started chunky soups. The veggie chunks soaked in the soup broth is easier to chew and a great way to introduce vegetables. The Minestrone soup is a famous Italian soup and its one of the famous dish in the Olive Garden – Italian chain restaurant in US. Whenever we go there, we have this soup for sure. Its loaded with veggies, beans and pasta. I have tried similar kind with Indian spices but here is the recipe with Italian spices. Its a filling soup and you can pack this for lunch too along with some sandwich.
Ingredients:
Shallots: 4
Celery – 2 stalks
Carrot – 2
Zucchini – 2
Tomatoes – 3 to 4
Red kidney beans – 1 can
White cannellini beans – 1/2 can
Vegetable broth – 1 can (32 oz)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 2 tbsps
Shell Pasta – 1 cup
Dried Oregano – 1 tsp
Dried Basil – 1 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Freshly crushed pepper – 1 tsp
Grated cheese while serving – as required (Parmesan will go well, but you can choose your favorite)
Water – 4 cups
Steps:
Boil the three tomatoes in 4 cups of water till the skin peels off. It will take upto 12-15 minutes
While the tomatoes are getting done, chop the shallots, celery, carrots and zucchini.
Let the tomatoes cool, peel the skin and chop them into chunks.
Heat the pan and add oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the onions and saute till they are translucent.
Now add the chopped veggies, oregano, basil and salt and Mix well.
Let it cook for up to 3-4 minutes.
Now add the tomato chunks and mix well.
Add the pasta and vegetable broth.
Let the pasta cook in the vegetable broth for 8-10 minutes till they are al dente.
Finally add the beans and crushed pepper and let it cook for another 3 minutes.
Thats it. Yummy soup is ready. Serve hot with shaved/grated cheese and bread. #MinestroneSoup 
Notes:
1) You can use regular onion instead of shallots. The traditional recipe doesn’t call for shallots though.
2) If you notice I went with store bought beans and broth. You can make them from scratch too. Soak a handful of beans and pressure cook it by adding 1/4 tsp of salt. Similarly whenever I do kootu, I save the boiled veggie water and use it as broth. But if I don’t have it in hand I go for store bought.
3) You can also use canned tomatoes and that gives you the red color to the soup.
I prefer Low Sodium canned products and when you use the canned beans rinse them before adding it to the soup and adjust the salt accordingly
The kids anniversary party started with pesto rolls as a starter. And now the main course – The traditionally baked mac and cheese. On busy morning, I usually don’t bake and also just add 1 cheese but when it comes to potluck and parties I go with the traditionally way of baking them and also add Gruyere cheese. This cheese is the key ingredient here. It adds more taste and baking adds crispiness to the pasta. Gruyere cheese is hard yellow cheese which is both sweet and salty.
Ingredients:
Preparation Work:
Steps:
So yummy mac n cheese is ready. You can leave the mac n cheese in the oven itself in warm mode and bake it again for 5 mts before serving.
Here is the starter and the main course together
Submitting this post for Blogging Marathon #45 – A 3 day marathon for 4 weeks
Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45
Submitting this post for Kid’s delight anniversary party.
So this is the second week of blogging marathon and I have chosen this week’s theme to be “Kids Anniversary Party”. So basically I will be posting kid’s friendly dishes which can be made in bulk easily for any party. Here I am starting with an starter.
Basically for kids party, apart from food you need do a lot of stuff. You need to find a way to keep them all engaged, planning activities and games etc. So I want my food to be simple and which can be made fast but not compromising the taste. Also I am all up for semi home made too like this starter pesto rolls. I am using the store bought pastry sheets and you can use home made too. Basil – Tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese is an awesome combo. Who would say no when baked as a roll?
Ingredients:
Preparation Work:
Steps:
And thats it yummy, pesto rolls are ready. If you notice the actually work time is very less. Its the prep time and bake time which takes longer. But meanwhile you can make your main course which I will be posting tomorrow.
Submitting this post for Blogging Marathon #45 – A 3 day marathon for 4 weeks
Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45
Submitting this post for Kid’s delight anniversary party.
After a long time I am posting an non-indian dish. Its not that I don’t cook, other cuisines. I do cook Mexican and Italian a lot at home. But when the blog was with blogger, I was using the tag line “Authentic recipes from TamilNadu” and I didn’t post any other cuisines. When I wanted to post lunch box recipes, I realized I should change the tag line. So when I moved to WordPress I did change it but then got busy with postpartum recipes and Tamil meds. It took lot of time to write about them than I thought. But when I see the search terms like “pathiya samayal after c sec”, “benefits of gorojanam”, “tamil meds of new born mother” which helps the users to land in my page, I am really elated. Its worth all the time. So glad that people are looking for all these meds.
So for a change here I am with Italian cuisine and my kiddo loves this cuisine a lot. Its very easy to make Italian food too and you get the ingredients pretty easily. Pesto is one of the popular sauce used in north Italy and is used in pastas, along with veggies and breads too. I do use this pesto in lot other than pasta. Will post them one by one. So before that here is the simple recipe that I follow.
Note: I don’t use parmesan cheese while making pesto as kiddo doesn’t like cheese in the pesto. You can add cheese while making yours. Its really perfect for me to pack pesto pasta for lunch as I am not adding any cheese. You don’t need to reheat the food.
Ingredients:
Making Pesto:
And that’s it yummy pesto is ready and you can refrigerate it up to 1 week in an airtight container.
Pesto Pasta:
I usually use spaghetti when I am doing pesto pasta.
Add grated parmesan before serving.
