Caprese salad

Ingredients:

Tomato ripe-1/2
Avocado*-1/2 medium
Mozzarella cheese**-equivalent to 1 cheese stick
Salt-to taste
Pepper-to taste
Lemon-1/2 tsp
Basil leaves-5
Olive oil-drizzle

Method:

1. Arrange alternately tomato, avocado, cheese and basil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, lemon and olive oil. You can add some pine nuts or other nuts if desired.
2. Healthy fats from avocado, protein from cheese and vitamin C from tomato makes this a really healthy salad. Enjoy delicious, healthy salad and serve fresh and cold.
*I use Florida avocado when in season and it tastes delicious when compared to the one from California.
**Use fresh mozzarella balls for better taste. I used cheese stick as I had a lot of them :D

Tahini sauce

Ingredients:

Sesame seeds hulled-1 cup
Light Olive oil-4 tbsp
Salt-pinch

Method:

1. Roast sesame seeds on low heat until they start to become brown. Make sure to stir all the time. Otherwise, they get burnt very easily. Let the seeds cool.
2. Blend seeds in a blender till powdery.
3. Now add olive oil and pinch of salt and blend again.
4. If it doesn't become runny, add 0.5-1 tbsp oil till it is smooth and runny.
5. Use the fresh homemade tahini sauce for making hummus or baba ganoush!!

Hummus

Ingredients:

Chick peas-1 cup dry
Tahini-1/3 cup
Garlic-4 cloves
Lemon juice-6 tbsp (~2 lemons)
Salt-2 tsp
Water or chickpeas boiled water-3 tbsp
Hot sauce-10-15 dashes

Method:

 

1. Soak chick peas overnight and boil them next day for 2 whistles. Drain the chickpeas and keep the water aside.
2. Pulse boiled chickpeas and garlic till crumbly.
3. Add tahini, lemon juice, water, salt and hot sauce. Blend till smooth. If you need your hummus to be even smoother and thin, add more water.
4. Adjust the taste with more salt, lemon juice or hot sauce.
5. Refrigerate and enjoy for about a week!
6. Serve with fresh veggies (carrots, red pepped), pita bread, falafel, crackers and many more!!

Sour Cream Bread

Ingredients:

 

Sour Cream-1.5 cups
Water-2 tbsp
All purpose flour-3.5 cups
Sugar-1.5 tbsp
Salt-1 tsp
Yeast-2 1/4 tsp

Method:

 

Yeast preparation

1. Heat water and make sure the temperature is close to your body temperature. It should not be too hot or too cold.
2. Add yeast, sugar to a bowl and then add water. Let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy. Sugar makes the mix more frothy. Meanwhile work on the other ingredients.

 

Dough preparation

1. Add flour, salt in a big bowl and mix until there are no lumps.

2. Add sour cream, yeast mixture to the flour. Knead properly until smooth.

3. The more you knead the softer your bread turns out. Knead the dough for atleast 10 min and make sure it becomes soft and there are no crumbles.

4. Transfer it to another bowl with oiled surface and cover with a moist towel or plastic wrap. Keep the bowl in a warm place for an hour or until your dough becomes double the size. I keep the bowl inside the oven.

5. Now take the dough and knead it again quickly. 

6. Shape it like a bread loaf and transfer to a bread loaf pan.

7. Cover the pan with a wrap and place in the over for an another hour. The dough will rise to double the size.

8. Turn on the oven to 375F and bake for 30 min or till the fork comes out clean from the center.

9. Enjoy this moist bread with chilly olive oil!

Banana peanut butter smoothie

Ingredients:

Banana-1 ripe
Unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter- 1 tbsp
Milk-1/2 cup

Method:

1. Blend away all ingredients. Chill for few minutes in the freezer if you like.
2. For healthy version use peanut butter which is neither salted nor sweetened (I like the one from Teddie).
3. Enjoy this delicious and protein rich smoothie.

Banana berry smoothie

Ingredients:

Banana-1 ripe
Frozen Strawberries-5
Frozen Bluberries-1/4 cup
Milk-1/2 cup
Sugar-1 tsp

Method:

1. Blend away all ingredients. Frozen berries taste much better than fresh ones.

Corn Bread

Ingredients:

Yellow corn meal-1/2 cup
All purpose flour-1.5 cups
Baking powder-1 tbsp
Sugar-2/3 cup
Salt-1/2 tsp
Butter-3 tbsp
Oil-1/3 cup
Milk-1 1/4 cup
Eggs-2

Method:

 

1. Turn on the oven to 350F.
2. Combine corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Mix well and make sure there are no lumps.
3. In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, oil, milk and eggs.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix properly.
5. Oil 8 in square pan and pour the mixture.
6. Bake for 45 min or till a fork comes out clean from the center.

Kadai Paneer

Ingredients:

 

Paneer-200 g
Onion-2 medium
Green pepper-1 large
Red pepper-1 large
Tomato sauce-7 oz can
Garlic-3 cloves
Salt-to taste
Red chilly powder-to taste
Garam masala-1 tsp
Corriander powder-1 tsp
Cumin powder-1 tsp
Lemon-1/2
Corriander-1/4 bunch
Oil-2 tsp
Kasoori methi-to taste

Method:

 

1.  Heat oil in a pan and saute paneer till crisp and golden brown. Add garlic to the same pot and saute for 15 sec. Add onions, salt and cook until translucent. You don't have to remove paneer.
2. Add chopped red and green pepper and cook till soft but crispy. Do not cook with the lid on to retain the crisp.
3. Now add the tomato sauce (you can use pureed tomatoes as well) and cook until the sauce thickens.
4. Add chilly, cumin, corriander powders, kasoori methi along with garam masala and cook for about a minute.
5. Turn off the stove and add lime juice. Garnish with corriander.
6. Serve with rotis or you can make a roll as well.