Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Canned biscuit pretzel bites

 It was the Super Bowl Sunday.  There are those who love this day for the game, those are those who love it for the commercials and there are those who love it because of the yummy spread of finger food. This was one of the easiest and delicious finger foods.


Canned biscuit pretzel bites

Canned Biscuit pretzel bytes

Ingredients:

  1. 1 tube of biscuits
  2. 1 teaspoon baking soda
  3. 1 egg beaten
  4.  Everything bagel seasoning (optioal)
Separate the biscuits and roll them into a 4 inch roll. Cut it into 4 pieces and roll it into small balls if desired or leave it as is.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Boil water in a deep dish and add the baking soda.
Add the pretzel bites and boil for 30 seconds or until they float to the top.
Put the bits on a prepared baking sheet and brush with the egg wash. Add the bagel seasoning if using.
Bake 12-15 minutes until they turn golden brown.

Enjoy with your favorite mustard sauce or cheese sauce


Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Masala Oats Dosa

 Growing up my favorite breakfast was Idli. But as I grew up I realized the amount of planning it takes to get Idli on your plate.

But as I grew up a bit more, I found the convenience of the ready made "mix" for idlis. Then I discovered Oats idlis, rava idlis and then the bst of both worlds Rava Oats idli.


And then I finally wanted to make Dosa/Cheela with the batter of Rava Oats idli and they were super delicious. I know my mom would have been proud of me :)


Masala Oats Dosa (Crepes made with oats and samolina with Indian flavors)

Masala Oats Dosa

Ingredients:

  1. 1 cup quick cooking oats (pulse once or twice to make the oats a bit small)
  2. 1/2 cup sooji/samolina
  3. 1 masala packet from the masala oats (or 1 tablespoon chat masala)
  4. 1 tablespoon oil + oil for frying the dosa
  5. 1 tablespoon chana dal
  6. 1/2 teaspoon each of mustard, cumin, urad dal
  7. 1/2 cup yogurt
  8. Salt if needed
  9. handful of finely chopped cilantro
  10. 1/4 cup finely grated carrots , cabbage
  11. 1 teaspoon baking soda
  12. 1 tablespoon lemon juice
In a pan heat one tablespoon oil add the mustard seeds. Cover and cook until they start splattering. Add chana dal and fry for 30 minutes. Add cumin and urad dal. Add the Sooji and fry for a couple of minutes.
In a dish beat the yogurt and add all the ingredients (except baking soda) to it and 1 to 11/2 cup hot water and stir well. Set it aside for 10 minutes.
Add baking soda and stir lightly and set aside for 5 minutes.

Heat a griddle and take a ladle of the batter and add to the center of the griddle. With a light hand spread it into a circle with a light hand. Add some oil to the edges of the dosa and let cook for 2 minutes. Flip and add some oil and cook for 2 more minutes. Enjoy with coconut or peanut chutney


Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Hot cocoa mix brownies

 This is the time of the year when you want brownies...let me correct myself any time of the year when you want brownies and you are out of the brownie box mix or cocoa powder and you have the hot cocoa mix packets on hand...you have pretty much all the ingredients you need to make brownies. And they were super delicious.


Hot cocoa mix brownies (Brownies made with Hot Cocoa Mix packets)

Hot Cocoa mix brownie
Ingredients:

  1. 5 packets hot cocoa mix (either plain or with mini marshmallows)
  2. 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
  4. 3/4 cup melted butter
  5. 1 cup granulated sugar
  6. 2 eggs
  7. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees
Melt butter and add the sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix well. Shift the flour with the baking powder and add to the butter and egg mixture . Add the cocoa mix and stir to combine.

Prepare a 8x8 baking dish and add the batter to the pan and bake for 35-37 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Let stand atleast 5 minutes before cutting it and enjoying the delicious chocolaty brownies

Friday, October 13, 2023

Spicy Tuna Rice

 Another rice dish. Looks like there are as many rice dishes as there are vegetables and protein in this world. So here you go...one more.


Spicy Tuna Rice (Tuna Stir fried rice with Indian spices)

Spicy Tuna Rice

Ingredients:

  1. 1 can Tuna in water, drained
  2. 1 cup basmati rice cooked according to package directions
  3. 2 dried red chillies
  4. 1/2 medium small onion sliced
  5. Few curry leaves
  6. 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
  7. 1/ teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, split black gram (optional)
  8. 1 teaspoon each of salt, Andhra fish curry powder
  9. 1 medium small bell pepper cut into 1 inch cubes (optional)
  10. 1 tablespoon oil
In a pan heat the oil and add the mustard and cover and let fry until they splutter. Add cumin, black grams, broken red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a 30 seconds. Add onions and fry for 5 minutes. Add bell pepper if using and ginger and stir well. Add drained tuna and fry for 2 minutes. Add rice and all the spices and salt and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 2 minutes on medium low heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve with a lemon wedge

Baked Mexican Rice

 I have tried making Mexican tomato rice on the stove stop and oin the rice cooker but it never turned out like the restaurant style. I finally made it in the ove and the results were spectacularly delicious.


Baked Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

  1. 1½ cups white, uncooked
  2. 3 cups chicken broth
  3. 1 cup crushed tomatoes 
  4. 1/4 cup each of finely chopped onion, carrots, frozen corn thawed
  5. 1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
  6. 2 tablespoons oil 
  7. 1/2 teaspoon cumin 
  8. 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a 9x9 pan, combine all ingredients and stir until everything is evenly distributed.
Cover tightly with foil.
Place carefully in oven and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
Remove from oven and leave covered until ready to serve.
Onions and garlic may settle on the top. Fluff with a fork to mix them evenly into rice.

Enjoy with your favorite Mexican sides

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

 Pandemic lock down and work from home ruined so many things. With work from home you do not get to out for lunch with people and try different things. But eating home cooked meals every. dingle. day for lunch and dinner gets boring at times. So...what does one do? One gets frozen food. And one of my fav frozen food is Evol's Chipotle chicken Mac and cheese.

I have been thinking of replicating that recipe at home and finally I got it. I cut some corners and used some store bough ingredients instead of making everything from scratch. Turned out great. I will be making it often from now on.


Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese
Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

  1. Chipotle in Adobo sauce (Used 1/2 of the chillies in the container and chopped them up)
  2. 1 chicken breast grilled chopped into 1 inch cubes (about 2-3 cups)
  3. Salsa con queso cheese dip (15 oz jar )
  4. 3 cups ditalini pasta cooked according to package directions with generous amount of salt.
  5. 3 tablespoons butter melted
  6. 1-2 cups panco breadcrumbs
  7. 1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Mix the cheese sauce, chopped chipotle , cheese and chicken. Drain the pasta and mix it in. 
Mix the melted butter with the breadcrumbs
Add the pasta mixture to an 8x8 baking dish and top it with the breadcrumbs.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Enjoy


Friday, July 14, 2023

Buffalo chicken Quinoa

 Since we are trying to not each as much rice as possible for various reasons, Quinoa has become my go to grain for many dishes.

This is a new recipe I made up and it turned out pretty good.

Buffalo chicken Quinoa (Quinoa with buffalo sauce chicken)

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa

Ingredients:

  1. 1 cup Quinoa cooked according to package directions. Do not add any salt.
  2. 1 8 oz canned chicken breast or 1 chicken breast cut into small bite size pieces
  3. 1 tablespoon oil
  4. 1/2 tablespoon  butter
  5. 2-3 tablespoons red hot buffalo sauce (depending on how spicy you can handle)
  6. 1 medium clove garlic chopped fine
  7. 1 teaspoon dry ranch dressing (optional)
  8. 1-11/2 cups cauliflower cut into 1 inch or smaller florets
  9. Carrots and Ranch to serve on the side
In a pan heat the oil and cook the chicken if using raw chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper (7-10 minutes) Drain and set aside.

In the same pan add the butter and the cauliflower and cover and cook for 7-8 minutes until tender on medium low heat. Add garlic and stir to combine. add the canned chicken (drained) or the previously cooked chicken and fry for 2 minutes on medium high. Add the Quinoa and dry ranch dressing (if using) and hot sauce and combine. Stir well.

Serve with Ranch and Carrots on the side and enjoy!!!