One Day At A Time!

Last few days just flew by. First, prepping and celebrating the festival of lights. Next was the first long outing with our baby. One of the places we visited was BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Chicago . I had always liked the peace and quiet there. My kiddo liked it too, walking around with her tiny little feet, glancing at the beautiful idols of all the deities.

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali! Hope you all are having a good time.  This year's festival of lights is special for us, its our baby's first Diwali.  I could not spend much time cooking Diwali sweets or snacks, but I managed to make a few. One of them is Atte ka Laddoo , which we Konkanis call as Churmundo or Gava Pita Ladoo . Ingredients: Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 cup Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Whole Cashews/Kaju - 4 (optional) How to make Wheat Flour or Atta Ladoo: Crush cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a kadhai or a pan. Fry cashew halves until slightly brown. Set it aside. If not cashews, you can use golden raisins or any other dry fruits of your choice. In the same pan, add wheat flour. Stir well and roast the wheat flour until it turns aromatic and color slightly darkens. This is the key step in making Atte ka Ladoo. You don't want that raw smell of ...

Lately, I have been cooking Italian couple times a week. Cooking pa sta is easy and quick. Pastas are deliciously perfect for busy weeknight dinners. Last night, I made a Creamy Pasta Salad  with some of our favorite veggies and everyone was happy.

Fall 2014 is here with chilly weather and beautiful colors. Well, its time for cheesy, fried goodness. Paneer cutlets with colorful veggies are the perfect snack for such wintry days.  Any kind of cheese is comfort food, but Indian Cottage Cheese is one of our family favorites. 

I am amazed at the variety of Indian breads one can make... Naan, Mooli Paratha, Roomali Roti, Lachha Paratha, Bhakri, Ragi Rotti, Tandoori Roti. For most weekday lunches, I generally make Phulka. I know, it becomes monotonous sometimes.  Today's special is North Indian whole wheat Lacha Paratha . These take a couple more minutes than regular roti, but can be made on a busy day. You don't need any fancy ingredients, just atta and ghee.  The same layered flat-bread when made with all purpose flour (maida) is known as Kerala Paratha .

For movie nights, we like a variety of snacks - popcorn, pita chips and hummus, raw celery sticks with cream cheese, potato chips and so on. Well, some are healthy and some not so much. This weekend, tortilla chips and salsa was our pick. So, leftover celery became a part of our weekday meal. Crunchy celery feta salad is a good change from the regular lettuce salad.

Hey foodies! I know, I have been gone for a long time. Cooking and food photography was happening, but I wasn't able to blog. Now, I am back with everyone's favorite Paneer recipe - Paneer Makhani also known as Paneer Butter Masala . My version is more like Badami Paneer . Hope you guys like it.