Memories of my FIRST MONTH as a food blogger

Hello there! 


It is 25th July 2011.
I decided to become a food blogger and started the blog EXACTLY one month ago. It was unplanned. I took the decision on an impulse. But boy! I have had so much FUN these last 4 weeks! Everyday, I looked forward to reading new recipes so that I could cook them up & blog about them! Earlier, my weekends were boring, pointless & lazy. But in the past one month, every weekend, I have cooked at least 3 new dishes!

As I always say, when you really do something that you love, it always finds a way to become a success. And even though this may be too early to say, I think that I've made tremendous progress! Sure, the comments are few; but I appreciate them nevertheless! ☻ And I am grateful to all the viewers! You keep me motivated to keep cooking & experimenting!

Reminiscing some of my recipes...
1. Black Forest Cake : My very first recipe. Eggless, delicious. I wasn't that confident. But it turned out to be great for a first-time baker.

2. Ragda Patties : Indian (especially Mumbai roadside) Fast Food. Unbelievably tasty & yet simple. I'm actually proud of this recipe! I love the picture that I clicked! ☺

3. Ragda Puri : Mumbai Fast Food number 2. Delightful!

4. Vanilla Cake & Chocolate Ganache Icing : My 2nd cake. Better than the first one! :-D Be sure to try it out if you have the time & equipment! :-D

5. Garlic Pull Apart Rolls : I bravely ventured into yeast-baking! And it paid off!
6. Samosa - The supposedly pyramid shaped goodie is India's famous fast food! I still have to get good at this!

7. Calzone : Yeast Baking round 2!

8. Onion Dumpling/Pakoda : Onions dipped in gram flour & fried! Easy & tasty!

9. Corn Dumplings : Corn in a delicious form!

10. PASTA : Who says you have to go to Italy to eat good Pasta? Here's a yummy recipe! ;-)

11. Vegetable Fajitas : Mexican Food!! Heard a lot, but I still think I need to improve! By the way, my brother loved it. :-P

12. Vegetable Burritos : Can't really differentiate better burrito & fajita. But apparently they are two different dishes!

13. CAKE in a COOKER : That's right. You don't need an Oven to bake a cake any more! My friend Janani Kannan's mom's idea! I think its brilliant! :-)

14. Marble Cake : I had so much fun making this cake! And you can see that it looks beautiful too! :P

15. French Fries : Easy to make. Tasty. And an awesome companion for a movie night!

16. BURGER : Burger & Fries Combo is hard is resist, isn't it? :-)

17. Garlic Bread : Okay, this is not the authentic way of making garlic bread. But its far easier! And the taste is not compromised! :-D

18. Cheese Chilli Toast : Simple & you can make it in 10 minutes! Veggies, bread & cheese. It doesn't get better! :)

19. Cold Chocolate Milk Type ONE & Type TWO : Don't like milk? Try this recipe & you'll end up drinking 4 glasses a day! :-D

20. Apple-Almond Smoothie : This high protein smoothie can be made in 2 minutes! AND it tastes awesome!!!!!!

21. Chocolate Custard : Time Crunch? Yet you want to show off your culinary skills? Make this delicious dessert! 10 minutes of your time & worth 10 times more!

Check out the blog for more recipes & photos!
Now that the vacation time is over & life is getting back to normal, I'm really even more determined to keep the blog going on. Hence, I have decided to look up recipes that can be made very quickly! Your ideas & comments are welcome!

Have a great day!!!! ☺

Chocolate Custard

Who needs to be an alcoholic when being chocoholic is so much more fun! :-P Okay, okay, I know that was a lame opening line. I got to get better at blogging!

It is no secret that I'm fishing out recipes that are quick to make & taste good too. I came across this recipe and was blown away! It looked so exquisite! And yet, could it be that simple? Well, I tried & found out that it indeed was! It takes about 10 minutes of your time (& 3 hours for the cooling time). And when it is chocolate, need I say anything about the taste? :-D


This easy, yet delicious dessert is sure to win the hearts of those who have the good fortune of tasting it! I urge you all to try this one right away! You wouldn't even want to wait 3 hours for it to set!

Ingredients (makes 1 cup)
Milk - 100 ml
Heavy Cream - 40 ml (around 2 big spoonful) {use normal crem for a less fluffy custard}
Sugar - 20 grams (3-6 tbsp)
Cocoa Powder - 2 teaspoons
Cornflour/starch - 3 teaspoons
Vanilla Essence - 1 teaspoon

Method
1. Take a pan & mix the milk & cream together

2. Separate half the mixture into a bowl. Add the cocoa powder, cornflour & the sugar & mix well.

3. Heat the other half of the milk mixture over medium flame. When it just comes to boil, add the other half (in which cocoa pwd, cornflour & sugar is mixed) to the boiling milk mixture & stir it continuously

6. Add the Vanilla Essence and keep stirring continuously until the mixture is thick & creamy. This should take not more than 1 or 2 minutes.

7. Pour into a bowl/cup. Let it cool down. When it comes to the room temperature, chill it in the freezer for 2.5-3 hours at least.

8. Sprinkle some cocoa powder, chocolate chips (optional) before serving!  ☺ ☻

Cheese-Chili Toast

Good Evening folks!

Back with another simple recipe! Cheese-Chilli Toast. I don't know if you've heard it, but it is a pretty famous appetizer in almost all Pizza shops in India. Anyways, its not very different from a Pizza or a Sandwich. Sprinkle some oregano & chilli flakes on it. Serve it with tomato ketchup! :-)

click on the pic to view a bigger image

Ingredients
Bread Slices - 8
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Capsicum - 1 finely chopped
Tomato - 1 finely chopped
GREEN CHILLI - 5-6
Processed Cheese - 1 Slice
Mozzarella Cheese/ Pizza Cheese - 1 cup
Salt - 1 teaspoon (to taste)
Pepper Powder - 1 teaspoon
Butter - 1 tablespoon

Method
1. In a mixing bowl, add all the vegetables, (onion, capsicum, tomato, green chili) cheese, salt & pepper powder. Mix them very well.

2. In a pan, DRY roast the bread slices. It makes the bread nice & crispy. It takes about 1 minute both sides.

3. Apply butter on all the bread slices. (I had some garlic-butter mixture left-over from the garlic bread)

4. Now put around 1 tablespoon full of the vegetable-cheese mixture on the bread. If you want, just grate some more cheese over the bread. I skipped. :-)

5. Put it on the grill & in the MICROWAVE for about 4 minutes - 1 minute on normal heat (until cheese melts) AND 3-4 minutes on the GRILL mode. When you get it out, you get this really delicious, cheesy chilli toast! ☻ ☺

EASY Garlic Bread

Okay, remember Garlic Pull Apart Rolls? While it tasted heavenly, it did take quick some time to make! And now that the vacation time is over, I'm in a bit of time-crunch. So, most of my recipes will be quick ones! ;-) Of course, I wont jeopardize the exoticism & the taste of the dishes! :-D

Anyways, I saw this really easy way of making Garlic Bread at home on TV. You don't need an Oven to make this. And total time - 10 minutes!!!!! & The outcome is pretty impressive! Not authentic, but definitely yumtastic! :-D I'll probably make the long & authentic version of the garlic bread during vacation time. But until then, enjoy my EASY-PEASY Garlic Bread made on the stove! ☻

Ingredients
Bread - 8 slices
Garlic - 10-20 cloves peeled & minced
Butter - 2-3 tablespoons **
Coriander Leaves - 2 tablespoons
Salt - to taste. (1 teaspoon)
** If you are health conscious, skip butter & use olive oil or any other oil.

Method
1. Melt the butter, add the minced garlic & coriander/parsley & mix well to form a nice buttery mixture.

2. Take a slice of bread, apply the buttery mixture on one side & put it on the pan.

3. Once you've put on the pan, apply the same garlic-butter mixture on the other side too. Cook on MEDIUM FLAME.

4. After 2-3 minutes, turn the bread to the other side & let it cook for about 2-3 minutes. The longer you keep on the stove, the crispier it gets. So touch the bread to see how crispy or soft you want & remove the bread from the stove accordingly.
5. If you want CHEESE Garlic Bread, then put some Mozzarella cheese on the top side & let it cook for about 1 minute until the cheese melts.
5. Sprinkle some Chilli Flakes, Oregano & Enjoy! ☺

Apple-Almond Smoothie (high-protein)

Somebody had requested a healthy, high-protein drink. Well, here it is! Anybody can make this! It takes only 5 minutes to make! A smoothie is generally a blended, chilled beverage made from fresh fruit (most of the times). Read more about it here. This is just one of the innumerable number of smoothie we can make! From now on, I plan to make a smoothie every week. Its healthy, tasty & of course QUICK! That's what we all are looking for, aren't we? Quick yet tasty dishes.
If you want to read more about the various types of smoothie one can make, do buy the book The Ultimate Smoothie Book. You'll find recipes beyond your imagination! ;-) 
So, before you make a smoothie, make sure you have a blender or a mixer at home. You can make it manually too, but it is boring & again, time-consuming.

To make the Apple-Almond Smoothie, you need - 
Apple - 1
Almonds - 6-8 pieces (& any other dry fruits)
Sugar - 1-2 teaspoons
Whipping cream OR Ice Cream (optional) - 1 tablespoon
Milk OR Yogurt - 100 ml
Vanilla Essence - 1 teaspoon
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (optional)

 Method - 
1. In a blender, add the Almonds & other dry fruits you want to use AND blend it to for a powder. Remove it in a mixing bowl.

2. Slice the apple into small pieces & add them in the blender & blend into a coarse paste

3. Add the vanilla essence, cream/ice cream & blend into a smooth paste.

4. Add the paste into the dry almond-dry fruits powder. Add some milk/yogurt & mix well.

5. If you want, you can add the chocolate syrup & mix well.

6. Pour it into a glass & decorate with more apples.

Enjoy!!!! ☺