April 30, 2009

Garden Tuna Melt from Kraft foods


Good morning everyone! Hope you all are doing fine. Last week was really hectic with last minute stuff to be taken care before my work and with lil LM starting school and all. She's going to her new school from tomorrow onwards. Hopefully everything will go alright, keeping my fingers crossed!!

I am kind of bummed that I was not able to post regularly the last couple of weeks. I am all the more bummed that my regular readers seem to have given up on me!! I am so sorry for the infrequent posts, I hope to get it back on track now!! Hope you all will continue to visit me and drop me your cheers, I really do miss it!

This recipe is from kraftfoods.com an excellent source for quick meals and creative desserts. Check out the actual recipe here. I tweaked the recipe a little and made it in my own way according to our tastes. Please make sure that you read the tips for a crisp sandwich. All of us love tuna sandwiches and this recipe was delightful as well, with the added crunch of crisp green bell peppers. It was delicious, trust me!! This recipe is a keeper for us and I hope it will be for you too!! Its THE BEST recipe for a quick and healthy munch any time of the day!


Recipe (Makes 3-4 servings) :

Canned tuna in water - 1, drained and flaked
Mayonnaise - 7 tbsp, divided
Chopped green pepper - 1/4 cup
Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp
Bread - 8 slices
Cheese singles - 4

Method:

Mix tuna, mayo, green peppers and seasonings together.

Divide the mixture between four slices of bread.

Place a slice of cheese over the tuna mixture on each sandwich.

Top with the other four slices of bread.

Spread 1 tbsp of mayo on either side of each sandwich.

Cook in a skillet until crisp and brown on both sides. **





Tips:
  1. I omitted the onions and dried basil from the actual recipe.
  2. I tried browning the sandwich in a skillet and my sandwich turned out to be a bit soggy.
  3. For the second sandwich I used two slices of bread toasted in a regular toaster and then omitted the mayo spread on the surface. The result was an amazing healthier, crisp and appealing tuna melt sandwich.
  4. I used wheat bread for the sandwich.

Hope you all will come visit me again. Have a great day and a relaxing weekend!!

April 27, 2009

Vanilla Cheesecake with Graham-Pecan Crust

Its time for all us Daring Bakers to reveal our challenge for the month of April. Drum roll please....... The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. We were required to bake a cheesecake and were allowed great freedom and creativity. The recipe given was for a basic vanilla cheesecake on a graham cracker crust.

This is my 11th Daring Baker Challenge. I decided to stick with the basics as this was my first cheesecake ever! So I made a Vanilla Cheesecake on a Graham-Pecan crust with home-made strawberry coulis. My creative juices were not flowing this month..... AT ALL.... Somehow I was deadly afraid of the challenge this time. I am still wondering why I was so scared of this challenge since the recipe seemed pretty much straight forward, and I have gone through with tougher challenges before! I guess the anticipation of my new work at the U and leaving my lil one at the school is getting to me even before I have started. I was procrastinating my challenge completion and finally mustered up enough courage to tackle it last Friday!!


I decided to make only 1/3 rd of the recipe so that I will have to make use of one 8oz block of cream cheese and adjusted all the other measurements accordingly. The crust was made as given in the recipe, but I added 1/4 cup of pecans to the food processor along with the graham crackers (1/3rd recipe) and crumbled it. The preparation of the cheesecake batter went without incidents. I baked the cake in a tart/quiche pan with fluted sides and removable bottom. I was planning to make some swirls on top with a different colored batter containing either chocolate or strawberry puree, but honestly in the end I just forgot!!



The cheesecake was baked in a water bath at 350F. In 20 minutes, when I checked the cheesecake seemed to be pretty much well-set without much jiggle in the middle. Maybe I should have checked it even before. Eventhough I thought I screwed everything up, it seemed pretty nice and well constructed. The gradual cooling helped and did not cause any cracks or craters on the surface and it turned out real nice and uniform.

After spending a day in the fridge, it was finally ready to be devoured on Saturday. JM was anticipating the tasting of the first home-made cheesecake and so was lil LM. She wanted the sprinkles more than anything!! When I took it off the pan for serving it seemed as if the crust was soggy. I thought that water had leaked in despite the double layer of foil and a layer of cling wrap!!


Usually when I stick to the original recipe without much creative changes, I try to bring some variety to the final presentation of the dish. This time my mind once again was totally blank. I couldnt come up with anything exciting. And those ideas that I had were too time-consuming and I honestly just didnt have enough energy to go through with it. So I finished the cheesecake with a simple topping of colored sprinkles and whole strawberries on the side. The individual servings were topped with a swirl of cool whip and a cherry with a chocolate garnish on the side and a bit of strawberry coulis. The second flower shaped cheesecake serving was a cut out from the original cheesecake, using a floral cookie cutter. I originally wanted to do a praline topping with chocolate drizzle.


VERDICT:

JM and I are not really cheesecake people, though we do enjoy it very rarely. But I must say that both of us enjoyed this cheesecake. I thought that the recipe was really simple and quick. The cheesecake was really smooth, beautiful to look at and delicious. I could proudly say that my first cheesecake experiment went without any major hurdles. My only complaint to myself was that since I reduced the recipe by 1/3rd, I couldnt get any traditional/typical pictures of the mile-high cheesecake slice!! :-) But the reduction in the recipe made the portions that we had, really enjoyable. Eventhough the crust appeared a bit dark and I thought that it was soggy, that was not the case. It was probably a bit moist (not soggy at all), because of the pecans? Anyways, I regret that I forgot to make swirls on the cheesecake and I couldnt make any exotic combinations this time. But I am happy that we fully enjoyed our first home-made cheesecake and I would suggest this recipe to my friends!!

Hope you all enjoyed reading through my experience and comments. Check out all my previous Daring Bakers Challenges here.


Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

Crust:

2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake:

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake


DIRECTIONS:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note:

The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes:


While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!


Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool).

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.
**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.



Dont forget to check out the wide array of flavor combinations in the DB cheesecake factory this month!

Come back soon for more recipes from Tasty treats! Have a great day!!

April 21, 2009

Spinach Cheese Swirls


Things are definitely getting more hectic around here... I am going to start volunteering at the U for a couple of months. So each day is packed with actvities like preparing for the work, finding a pre-school for lil LM and finishing up the house-hold stuff before things get real crazy around here!! I am trying to enjoy the last few days of freedom and savoring the time alone with my lil girl. Even before starting work, all those days whining about sitting at home have started to seem like a bad idea ;-). Eventhough I know that if we were in India, LM would've started Kindergarten, it feels hard to let go!! SIGH!! JM is wondering why I am sad about sending her to pre-school for the whole week. Well, it might be because I am used to being with her 24/7!! I am so sorry, am I bringing you all down? I just had to let it out somewhere..... Anyways, lets get into our recipe for today!

I got this recipe from a small recipe booklet of Pepperidge farm puff pastry sheets. This is a very simple and straight-forward recipe made easy with the ready made pastry sheets (Check out the home-made flavored pastry sheets for Daring Bakers challenge here). I substituted a few of the ingredients with my own. Check out the original recipe here. These cute lil cheese swirls were simply irresistible. "No one can eat just one" if I could quote the Lays potato chips ad! This is one delicious hors d'oeuvre or appetizer that you can serve your guests which is guaranteed to be an instant hit! Sorry for the not so great pictures, we just didnt have the patience to wait around for re-taking the pictures!!

We all are not-so-great spinach lovers and these made me doubt if I am missing out on something! The spinach goes well with the cheese and other ingredients in these savory cuties and the flavor and texture of spinach is well pronounced, but wonderful! Try these out and you will be definitely making more of these - thanks to the puff pastry sheets!! :-)

PS: A special thanks to everybody who dropped me a word appreciating my song in the previous post.


Recipe:

Puff pastry sheet - 1/2 of a package (1 sheet)
Egg - 1
Water - 1 tbsp
Colby & Muenster Cheese - 3/4 cup
Parmasen - a dash
Green onion - 1, chopped
Italian seasoning - 1/4 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Frozen Spinach - 10 oz, thawed and drained well

Method:

Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature for 40 minutes or according to package instructions.

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg and water in a small bowl.

Stir the cheeses, green onion and seasoning in a medium bowl.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.

Brush the pastry sheet with the egg mixture.

Top with the cheese mixture and spinach.

Starting at the short side closest to you, roll up like a jelly roll.

Cut into 20 (1/2-inch) slices.

Place the slices cut-side down on the baking sheets.

Brush with the egg mixture.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the swirls are golden.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tips:

  1. The actual recipe use Parmesan and Muenster or Monterey Jack cheese.
  2. I have omitted the garlic powder in the actual recipe and added some Italian seasoning.

Enjoy the recipe! Have a great day!!

UPDATE:

I would like to send a few of my archived recipes to Sudeshna's First Blog Birthday event : Event for eggs.

Egg Biriyani
Egg Curry with Coconut Milk
Pineapple Fried Rice
Onion-omelette-sandwich with mushrooms

Happy 1st Birthday to your blog, Sudeshna!!

April 16, 2009

Beef Croquettes (Cutlets)


Hey everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and Vishu (in Kerala)! Things have been very very hectic for me back home at MN. We came back from California on Friday and have been taking care of several overdue stuff all through this week. I was busy putting together a humble Easter meal on Saturday and decided to stick to some basic dishes (mixed cuisine) including these beef croquettes/cutlets and onion salad as an appetizer, naan, fried rice, pork vindaloo, raita, pappad and pickle for the main course and caramel custard pudding to finish off the meal. I would like to share the recipe for these croquettes today!! I also have a small movie with a few of the floral pictures that I took in CA, along with a song I sung and recorded at home (WARNING : neither perfect nor professional!!). The song is from the new Malayalam movie Sagar alias Jacky. Drop me a word if you like it! ;-). More pictures of the trip will be uploaded soon on "Through the looking glass".


Croquettes are small fried food roll containing mashed potatoes and minced meat or fish as main ingredients and often encased in bread crumbs. This is one of the common appetizers made in Christian homes in Kerala, India for special occasions like Christmas and Easter, even as sides or snacks. I am sure I wouldnt be able to think of any celebration we had without sampling one version or the other of these cutlets!! We usually love the cutlets with a splash of tomato ketchup on the side when served as an appetizer or snack and is a great accompaniment to tea or coffee. It can be dressed up as a more adult-kind of snack with a side salad of onions, green chillies and vinegar rubbed together. It can also be served as a side to fried rice/pulao/plain rice. It is generally deep fried, but I usually shallow fry the cutlets in a skillet and brown them on either sides.


We really enjoyed the cutlets and I am sure you would too. Please do try out the recipe and let me know if you enjoyed it! The cutlets should be fine if made with other minced meat including chicken, pork or turkey (though I havent tried them), or can be subsituted with carrots, beetroots, mashed potatoes and peas for a vegetarian version of the croquettes. Enjoy!!




Recipe (Makes 20-30 cutlets) :

Ground beef - 3 lb chuck
Onions - 1 1/2 medium, diced small
Ginger - 1" by 1" piece, minced
Green chilly (Serrano) - 1, minced
Garlic - 2 large cloves, minced
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Kashmiri Chilli powder - 3 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Golden Klondike Potatoes - 1 1/2 lb
Eggs - 3, beaten lightly
Breadcrumbs - as needed (~2 cups)




Method:

Cook the potatoes until very tender (in a pressure cooker, saucepan or microwave).

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed skillet.

Saute onions on medium hight heat for about 2 minutes.

Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies.

Saute until the onions are tender (for about 2 more minutes).

Lower the flame and toss in all the spice powders.

Allow the spice powders to cook by adding a tbsp or two of water, on low flame.

Cook the spices until oil separates.

Add the ground beef and separate into smaller chunks using a wooden spoon.

Close the skillet with a lid and cook the beef over medium flame for about 15 minutes, or until no longer pink and is cooked well.

Remove the lid and allow the beef keema to dry.

Allow the beef to brown lightly.

Switch off the flame and allow to cool.

Once cooled, mash the potatoes coarsely and mix in.

Mix the beef-potato mixture until everything comes together.

Shape into round or oval patties or cylinders.

Dip each beef patty in the egg, shake of excess.

Coat the patties well with bread crumbs, one at a time.

If the patties are very soft, set aside until easier to handle (it will harden a bit).

Fry the patties, a couple at a time, and serve hot.



Tips:

  1. The cutlets can be deep or shallow fried. I usually shallow fry them with a bit of oil in a skillet. Deep frying gives a uniform brown color to the croquettes. The pictured ones were deep fried. The last picture shows cutlets which were shallow fried.
  2. The cutlets can also be frozen (before frying) wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in an airtight container. Thaw in the refrigerator or in the microwave and use as needed.
  3. The cutlets/croquettes can be served hot as an appetizer with tomato ketchup on the side, or with a salad of onions and green chillies in vinegar.


Here's a floral treat from California with a home-recording (by JZ @ Tasty treats) as background score!!

Hope you all enjoyed the movie. Have a great day!!

April 8, 2009

Apple Coleslaw from Food & Family Magazine


It sure was fun guest-hosting the Lets go nuts event. After all your encouraging responses to the round-up, I am back with a simple recipe for all of you. I am still in California, spending the days lazing around in the hotel with lil LM, reading, sleeping, watching TV, taking short walks and eating!! JM is on a short work assignment and I had decided to follow him to escape the cold Minnesota weather, if only for a few days!! Most of the days he was gone for long hours (~12 hours at a time) and the lil one and I were sitting around, moping, in our room. On his only day off, we took a trip to San Fransisco. The weather was amazing that day, we all enjoyed the trip, took some amazing pictures and came back exhausted!! The relaxation ends this Friday when we'll be back in MN, where it will be back to the old grind. Looks like LM is also missing her home, she just wants to get back to playing with her toys and visiting one of her favorite websites, as she calls it, - "pbskids.org"!!

Now coming back to the recipe, as the title indicates, I came across this on the Food & Family Magazine. Its a very simple coleslaw recipe with apples. One of the few things lil LM loves to eat is coleslaw and with apple chunks in it, I'm sure it would be a favorite for kids and adults alike. I substituted the Miracle whip with Light mayo, and it was good to go!! We enjoyed every bit of it and I'm sure you will too...


Recipe (Makes 12 servings, 1/2 cup each) :

Miracle Whip Light Dressing - 3/4 cup
Honey - 1 tbsp
Coleslaw Blend - 1 pkg (16 oz)
Apples - 2, chopped (preferably one red and one green)

Method:

Mix the dressing and the honey in a large bowl.

Add the remaining ingredients; mix lightly.

Refrigerate for an hour.

Source : Kraft Food & Family Magazine, Spring '09.

Tips:
  1. I halved the recipe and used both green and red apples (half of each).
  2. Instead of Miracle Whip dressing, I used Light Mayonnaise.
  3. You can also season the coleslaw with salt and pepper according to taste.

Have a great day!!

April 3, 2009

"Lets go nuts : Almonds" - Round-up

Hey Friends,

Welcome to the round-up of Lets go nuts : Almonds. Today, I have 56 entries including one entry of mine, for your culinary pleasure. It was amazing, getting a chance to guest-host the fun event Lets go nuts, started by Aquadaze of Served with Love. Thanks Aqua, for this wonderful oppurtunity.

I received a very good response all through the month of March, with many talented bloggers sending in their wonderful entries with almonds. They comprised of an awesome array of dishes ranging from snacks, cakes, sweets and beverages, to salads and even curries. I think this round-up gives a fair representation of the range of recipes showcasing Almonds. I've divided the entries into a few categories for your convenience. I thank everybody who sent in their wonderful dishes made with the nut-in-the-spotlight! In the unlikely event that I missed any entries, please let me know by sending an email to jz.tastytreats@gmail.com.

For a change, in addition to the pictorial round-up, I've also included a movie with the entries. It plays a song from the movie Delhi-6, a new favourite of mine, along with the slideshow. For those who dont know, the music of this song was done by the Oscar winner A. R. Rahman. The movie contains the entries that I received until noon, March 30 because I had to leave on a trip in the evening. I sincerely apologise for this drawback. But the picture round-up include those entries received the day after as well. I will be returning home by next week, but dont forget to check back because I will be posting regularly. I will update the movie with the missing entries when I get back home, I promise!! ;-)

Without further delay, feast your eyes on the entries showcasing the delicious nut, Almonds!! Dont forget to leave me a word if you loved the movie and the round-up.

WARNING : CHANCES OF FLASH FLOODS IN YOUR MOUTH!!

(For those who might be checking this out at the office - the slideshow has a music playing, so you might want to turn off the volume ;-))




Fried Snacks

Daktyla from Ivy of Kopiaste... to Greek Hospitality
Kajjikayalu from Vijaya of Daily Meals
Gujhia & Thekua from Priyanka of Asankhana



Cakes & Muffins


Eggless Orange Almond Cake from Gopi Shah of Health N Taste
Chocolate Almond Muffins from Apu of Annarasa - Essence of Food

Eggless Banana Muffins from Trupti of Recipe Center

Dundee Cake from Poornima of Tasty treats


Armenian Chocolate Cake with Almonds from Bindiya of In Love With Food

Cherry Almond Cake from Bhagyashri of Taste Buds


Sacher Torte from Aquadaze of Served with Love

Almond, Flax & White Chocolate Nutella Pizza from Jennifer of Savor the Thyme


Puddings, Halwas, Burfis & Brittles

Rose Kalakand from Priya of Priya's Easy Tasty recipes

Pineapple Pudding from JZ of Tasty treats

Almond Cashew Pista Slices from Shree of ShreeZ
Cashew - Almond Halwa from Anupama of Mitho Limdo
Almond Choco- brittle from Gayathri of My Adigemane..

Carrot Halwa from Sharmilee of In my passionate world.... :)

Almond/Badam Burfi from Poornima of Tasty treats
Almond Burfi from Aparna of Sumi's Weblog
Coconut ladoos by Uma of Essence of Andhra
Almond Cashew Choco Burfi by Madhumati of Madhu's Food Journal


Almond Halwa from Shri of Ecouter
Dates and Almonds Sweet from Vidya of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes


Almond Pedas from Trupti of Recipe Center


Kheer/Payasam from Aquadaze of Served with Love



Cookies

Almond & Oat Cookies from Poornima of Tasty treats
Spice Cookies from Swapna Pravin of Cooking with Swapna
Eggless Almond Cookies from Trupti of Recipe Center
Almond Crescent Cookies from Divya Kudua of Easy Cooking


Lemon Snaps from Bharti of Veggie Foodist


Beverages : Shakes & Kheer


Almond - Carrot Kheer from AnuSriram of Chandrabhaga
Masala Milk (Saffron and Cardamom scented Almond Milk) from Usha of Veg Inspirations
Beets n' Broken Wheat Kheer from Priya of Priya's Easy Tasty Recipes
Strawberry Jam Badam Milk from Priya of Priya's Easy Tasty Recipes

Dates and Almonds Milkshake from Vidya of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes

Badam Milk from Madhu of Madhu's Cooking Gallery
Strawberry Power Shake from Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen

Watermelon Almond Smoothie from Priyanka of Asankhana




Savouries

Apple - Almond Salad from Divya of Dil Se..

Carribean Rice from Uma of Essence of Andhra

Murgh Nizam from Asha of Foodie's Hope

Chicken with Almond and Coriander Sauce from Superchef of So I Married a Meat-a-holic..
Spiced Almond Powder from Uma of Essence of Andhra

Chivda from Bhawana of From My Palate

Badaami Tangri from Swapna of Swapna's Cuisine
Almond Pate from Yasmeen of Health Nut
Shahi Badam Shorba from Curry Leaf of Tasty Curry Leaf
Cucumber-Almond Soup from A&N of Delectably yours,

Rice Krispies Snack from Uma of Essence of Andhra


Shahi Vegetable Kurma from Madhu of Madhu's Cooking Gallery


Microwave Chivda from Vidya of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes

Crustless Asparagus Mini-Quiches from Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi


Navaratna Kurma from Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen
Chilled Almond Soup from Priyanka of Asankhana

Almond Pilaf from Hema of Simply Spices

Baked Chicken Tenders / Fingers from Jennifer of Savor the Thyme

Meyer Lemon & Almond Green Beans from Jennifer of Savor the Thyme


Thank you once again for your enthusiastic participation and making this round-up a beautiful collection of awesome recipes!! The next "Lets go nuts" will be hosted by Poornima of Tasty treats.. and the theme is "Lets go nuts with Cashewnuts". Check out her event announcement.

Signing off from "not-so-sunny" California, JZ @ Tasty treats! Have a great day!!

PS: To those who sent in entries after the 30th, I'm so sorry for not responding to you till now, I will be visiting you all as soon as possible. Thanks for understanding!!