Thai Chicken Watercress soup

The other day at my award ceremony...that's right I got the awards for "The Best in the Field"...anyway at the award ceremony I was seated next to a person whose father and grand mother owned restaurants in Mexico. In the course of talking I mentioned to him that I am always looking for ingredients which are high in Iron and he mention "Watercress" has a ton of Iron...turned out he was not correct.

But anyway when I was looking at watercress's nutrition turns out it has a pretty good amount of Vitamin C...which is what I need right now as my little one was generous enough to share his cold with me. So instead of making my standard chicken soup  I made this yummy coconut based soup with watercress  in it...

Needless to say I had to go shopping first...stopping at Sprouts for Watercress, Thai red curry paste, coconut milk and Onion pockets with Cheese breads for dipping in the soup. It was a great soup.

Thia Chicken WaterCress Soup (Coconut based Chicken soup)

Thai Chicken Watercress soup

Ingredients:

1. 1 chicken breast cooked and shredded or 1 12.5 oz can chicken breast
2. 1 8 oz mushroom sliced
3. 1 chicken bouillion
4. 3 cups water
5.  1 package water cress chopped into 1.5 to 2 inches
6.  1/2 tablespoon olive oil
7.  1 small onion sliced into 1/2 circles
8.  1 can light coconut milk
9. 2 tablespoons Thai red chilli paste or less (according to your spice levels)
10. 1 heaped teaspoon finely chopped garlic
11. 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
12. 1 tablespoon or more fresh squeezed lemon juice

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions and mushrooms for 5 minutes. Add garlic and red chilli paste and fry for 2 more minutes. Add chicken bouillon and coconut milk on low flame bring it to a boil. Add chicken water and watercress and let boil for 5 more minutes. Add the lemon pepper and lemon juice and enjoy hot with bread

Chicken Quinoa Rice

All kinds of grains are getting popular these days. Quinoa is one of them. But you need to know how to cook it else it will taste bitter. The quinoa and rice is one of the sachet foods you can get at Costco these days.
It is so easy to make, that you do not need to buy a prepared packet. You can make it hot and fresh in less than 30 minutes.

Chicken Quinoa Rice

Chicken Quinoa Rice

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup each of quinoa, white rice rinsed under cold running water
2. 2-3 cups rotisserie chicken shredded or 2 cans chicken breasts
3. 1 chicken bouillion

Check how long your rice and quinoa will cook. My rice takes 20 minutes and quinoa 15 minutes to cook. So I made them in the same pot.

In a pan add the rice and 2 cups water and cook for 5 minutes. Add 2 more cups of water and quinoa and cook for 15 more minutes along with the chicken bouillon. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Cover and simmer on very low flame for 5 more minutes. Enjoy

You can add any veggies you want to this pot in the last 10 minutes.

Healthy clam chowder

The first time I had clam chowder in a bread bowl, I had no idea how it would taste. It was in the farmers market in Los Angeles. It was like a warm hug from inside. It was great. But of course clam chowder is quite calorific. And if you try to use less of the  butter, it doesn't taste as good.

The version I made of the clam chowder today, it has a ton of vegetables and it is sooooo super delicious. And on a cold night like tonight, there is nothing better for dinner

Healthy Clam Chowder (New England style Clam Chowder with veggies)

Healthy Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

1. 2 cans minced clams or substitute 1 can with tuna in water
2. 1/2 cup each of chopped onions, chopped carrots, chopped mushrooms, thinly sliced spinach, chopped broccoli...try to cut all the vegetable to be of same size
3. 2 medium small potatoes peeled and diced and microwaved covered for 4 minutes (stir mid way...be very careful)
4. 1 teaspoon each of salt, thyme, minced garlic
5. 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
6. 2 tablespoons olive oil
7. 2 tablespoons butter
8. 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
9. 3 cups milk and 2-3 cups water...hot

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil and fry the onions till soft. Add the vegetables one after the other and cook on medium heat for 7-8 minutes. Take it of the pan and set aside.

In the same pan melt the butter and fry the garlic for a minute. Add the flour and continuously stir for 5 minutes. Add the milk and stir to combine. Add salt, thyme and pepper and add all the vegetables along with potatoes, clam and fish. Stir well. Add the water depending on how thick you want the soup to be. Enjoy hot with crusty bread

Here is another versions of Clam Chowder

Blueberry cheese pancake balls

Long time ago I got a pan which is very popular for making Danish puff pastries. What many people do not know is, this dish is also popular for making Indian  dishes. So, anyway, I have made this breakfast balls...pancake balls before but I never b-logged it. So here it is. Eaten warm with coffee these are the most delicious pancake balls

Blueberry cheese pancake balls 

                    Blueberry Cheesecake Pancake balls
Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Aunt Jemima Buttermilk Pancake mix
2. Philadelphia cream cheese cut into 3/4 cm cubes
3. blueberries
4. sugar
5. butter
6. maple syrup or powdered sugar for serving

Roll the cheese cake cubes in a tablespoon of sugar and set aside

Mix the pancake mix as directed. Heat the Danish puff pastry pan. Spray with nonstick spray. Add a tablespoon of batter to each hole. Cover and cook for 60-90 seconds. Turn half way the batter and add a cheese cube and blueberry to each hole and turn completely. Add little cubes to butter to all holes. Cook for 60-90 seconds. Serve hot/warm with maple syrup or powdered sugar

BlueBerry Breakfast Cake

This is one of the best recipes for breakfast with blueberries. They have so many health benefits and this recipes from King Arthur flour's website is great. Ofourse I changed it a bit but...it has already become a staple at my home. Have been making it every week from the past 1 month. And it is the breakfast tomorrow morning. Enjoy

BlueBerry Breakfast Cake

Blueberry breakfast cake

Ingredients

1. 2 large eggs
2.  1/2 cup sugar
3. 6 tablespoons melted butter
4. 1 cup greek yogurt
5. 1 cup sour cream 
6.  1 teaspoon vanilla extract or rose essence
7. 3/4 cup  All-Purpose Flour
8. 1/2 teaspoon salt
9. 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
10. 1 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat together the eggs and sugar until smooth.

Add the butter, yogurt, sour cream, and rose essence, beating until well combined.

Add the flour, salt, and baking powder, stirring or beating gently to combine.

Pour the batter into the pan, and scatter the berries evenly over the top.

Bake the cake for about 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes,  and serve warm.

Makkai ki roti

I got some great fresh looking mustard greens from the Indian store and I was going to make Makkai ki roti, sarson da saag for dinner. But...but...but...I did not have any corn meal.
Leaving in a country which is not my mother's land I have learned to improvise ...and improvise I did. And yum yum yum the results.

Makkai ki roti (Indian bread made with corn)

Makkai ki roti

Ingredients:

1. 1 can sweet corn drained
2. 2 cups whole wheat flour
3. ghee for frying

Grind the corn to a smooth paste with some water. Mix this with the whole wheat flour into a smooth paste. Set it aside for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 parts. On a clean surface sprinkle some wheat flour and roll the rotis. Heat a griddle and fry the roti on a medium low flame for 2-3 minutes. Flip and apply some ghee and flip for a minute. Serve with paneer sarson ka saag

Chicken with Cauliflower

I was trying to find a recipe which had chicken and some vegetables...so that I can make the family eat more veggies. This recipe is great. It just flew off the dish super fast and everyone loved it.

Chicken with Cauliflower (Chicken and cauliflower cooked in coconut gravy)

Chicken and Cauliflower curry

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb chicken breast cut into bit size pieces ( I cut them into medallions)
2.  2 cuts cauliflower florets
3.  3/4 teaspoon salt or to your taste
4. 1 cup thick coconut milk*
5.  1 small bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
6.  1 medium small onion sliced
7. 1 tablespoon oil
8. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, chilli powder

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions till they start turning brown. Add chicken along with turmeric, salt and chilli powder. Cook for 10 minutes. Add cauliflower and fry for a few minutes. Add coconut mix or milk and 1 more cup of water and cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add bell pepper and mix and cook for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with hot rice

* I did not have coconut milk so I used 1/2 cup dried coconut in 1 cup hot water and ground it up and used it

Healthy Potato salad

I was looking for vegetables which are best for grilling/baking and one of the items on it was potato. This recipe is great. I have already had it for lunch and I have some for later. It is creamy but does not have Mr.Mayo in it.

Healthy Potato salad (Red potato salad with greek yogurt)

Yogurt Potato Salad

Ingredients:

1. 4 red potatoes
2. 1 tablespoon Boar's head delicatessen mustard (or your fav spicy mustard)
3.  1 tablespoon honey mustard 
4. 1 tablespoon sweet relish
5. 1 teaspoon each of salt, lemon pepper and garlic powder divided
6. Cooking spray
7. 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or home made yogurt
8. 2 or 3 sweet peppers sliced
9. 1 or 2 green onions sliced
10. 2 tablespoons red onions chopped fine

 Scrub the potatoes well and cut them into 1 cm pieces. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the salt, pepper and all the garlic powder over the potatoes. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake them for 30 minutes. Stir mid way. Take them out of the . 

 Mix the potatoes wit everything else and  refrigerator to cool before enjoying.

Dr Seuss Green egg

I have been making these pretzel green eggs for the Dr Seuss's birthday celebrations at the kids school for atleast the past 5 years. They are always a hit. And when I run out of green M&M, I use the yellow ones to make regular "egg omelets"

Dr Seuss Green egg(Pretzel, Candy melts and M&Ms)

Green eggs for Dr Seuss's birthday

Ingredients

1. Square pretzels
2. White candy melts
3. Green and yellow M&Ms

Heat the oven to 170 degrees F. Lay the pretzels on a cookie sheet and lay the candy melts...the pointy side onto the pretzel. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Take it out of the oven and press the M&Ms onto the warm candy melts. Let cool a little bit and enjoy