Spaghetti With Cheesy White Alfredo Sauce

White Alfredo sauce is one of the easiest, no fuss dish you can make it just in few minutes with simple ingredients available in your kitchen. Its definitely a cheaper, flavourful, quicker sauce. The main ingredients for making this sauce is garlic cloves, cream and parmesan cheese. If you are in hurry, you can dish out this cheesy white sauce quickly.Actually my today's post goes for a simple but flavourful Alfredo sauce, if you want to add meats or sea foods or else vegetables,just go with your choice.However this simple Alfredo sauce works awesome to serve with any type of pasta. We had this spaghetti with alfredo sauce for our lunch during this weekend since i was bit busy with my Christmas shopping, trust me this sauce is just fabulous.

Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Sangeetha of Eat N Eat Little More

Bloggy world is an immense world and its wonderful to find out friends with same passions for foods.Many new bloggers join this world every day and really its hard to track them. If a new blogger who have a passion for food starts a blog, i know how its hard to get introduce to this immense world. Keeping this on my mind, i started a new event. Rendez vous with a foodie, a monthly event happening twice a month, this event is specially created for new bloggers who blogs since less than two years. This event will showcase their blogs, their passion for foods and many more. If you want to join me, just send me a message in our Facebook group or leave your mail address in this comment section. This event is going successfully and happy that i came to know more about my guest hosts through this event.

Coming to today's guest host, i came to know her through a challenge, one fine day she pinged me asking whether she can join this event, how wonderful na. Who can resist to this friendly request? i said immediately Yes. Actually i suggested an another date to Sangeetha of Eat N Eat Little More,but suddenly the host of today couldnt make her post coz of her trip to India. Immediately i pinged Sangeetha asking whether she can make a guest post for me and gave her 10days to send me her guest post. But seriously Sangeetha is just amazing, within a day she send her guest post with pictures and her replies for the questions i asked for. Through her replies i came to know that she wasnt living far away from me. Am in Paris and she is in Germany, wish a day she or myself should plan to trip to meet each other either in Paris or in Germany. From the way Sangeetha talk through her words, i can definitely say that she is a humble, very friendly and very kind human, thanks Sangeetha for being this much kind with me eventhough i didnt gave you much time to you for making your guest post.Wish our friendship bond gets very closer as much as possible in future.

Lets hear from Sangeetha of Eat N Eat Little More.

I was constantly seeing in my blogfeed Rendezvous with a Foodie in Priya's space from long time and she was doing this just to bring a new blogger to limelight. An attempt to push the upcoming bloggers a step up in the ladder of blogging . I really appreciate this attempt of hers. I was very much willing to feature in her space and for that I did drop a request and she accepted my request with no further due and even scheduled a date for me. I was quite amazed with this warm acceptance she showed. I still remember the day she posted a recipe of Eggless Choux with eggless chocolate mousse and she annonced that it had been 5 years since she started blogging. I was so much amazed when I learnt that. Yes this needs constant dedication. And I believe she does post even now with same zeal. And to talk about her food photography skills, they are excellent. No doubt in that. To mention a few, I can say the Spiral Moon Cake, Laugenbrezel etc.

I can no more tell I'm new to blogging world as it is almost reaching an year since I started blogging. Cooking was my hidden passion I believe as that revealed only after I came to Germany. Until then I was just an admirer of all who are excellent cooks. I started cooking more and more with different ingredients adjusting to our taste, learnt few traditional recipes from mom and my MIL, few from friends and relatives. Finally with constant request I gave an entry to Blogging world with my tiny blog 'Eat n Eat little More' and now that I have entered I wish to keep going and not stop at any point of time. It is no more a hidden passion rather I proudly say I'm a Food blogger.

1)Tell us about your blog and you?
To tell about me, I'm a software engineer by profession, now spending my time in the world of food blogging. I must say I was very new to cooking as before marriage I was pampered with all cooking done by my mom and I never bothered to enter kitchen. After marriage also I never felt that managing kitchen is difficult as I used to go to work and just managing a simple sambhar or a sidedish was not so difficult for rice to set our dinner table. Breakfast and lunch used to be in office canteens for both me and my hubby. I realised the importance of  cooking different and healthy when I relocated to Germany and I was having a small kid of 1 year by then. I started cooking varieties at home as I was free almost all the time.To be frank it is not so easy to spend daily outside here in Indian restaurants or any other eating joints as they seem to be extremely costly when compared to the bills we used to pay in Bangalore hotels (now even they are getting costlier day by day as I heard from my friends). Cooking became my passion then, not sure if it was inherited as my mom used to love cooking and she too used to prepare delicacies infact she learnt many sweets and savories during our stay in Gujarat.

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?
Yes it has changed my life for sure, I became a busy mom now with my Food blog coming into existence. A kind of satisfaction with this I get which can't be expressed in words though.

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?
I was never ever hitting google for a basic recipes or for simple dessert like carrot halwa or gulab jamoons as for me then my Google was my mom or mother in law. I used to give a call and they used to help me out. But after I came here slowly and gradually I used to try out recipes that I followed in Youtube. Soon I started hitting Google for the same and saw umpteen number of sites(blogs) and was amazed with the beauty and clear cut explanations being provided. I was indeed very much interested to own a blog of my own where I could store few recipes that I learn from net or from family and friends and keep it for my future reference. More over I had ample amount of time and found food blogging to be an ideal way to spend time and soon it became an obsession for me.Hence came into existence Eat n Eat little More.

4)There are a tonsof blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?
I could just say I'm no greater than any other. But definitely I can say it is a pure veggie blog as I abstain to the usage of even eggs in my cooking being a pure vegetarian and proud to own few recipes that are part of our family tradition.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

Cooking is something that all or any one can do, but I definitely am inspired by my mother as she is a great cook according to me.

6)Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?

I can say I faced lot of difficulties. To get in pace with blogging world, I was not aware of how to begin with. I just had a dream alone. I used to share pics in Facebook in my albums. Few friends of mine suggested me as why not I include recipes too as they seem to be very much interesting. I started writing them up as they requested. Soon I was requested to make them public rather that sharing with few friends of mine. One of my good friend asked me to start a blog. I initally had spent around a day's time to coin a name for my blog. He helped me alot in the intial phases, guiding me every now and then. I'm really happy that I could overcome quite a few if not many under his guidance. He helped me with header. Setting up a blog using Blogger was quite easy for me. But the way it should look and all sorts of customisations were based on his suggestions, to tell an example,Having Recipe Index as a dropdown on the side bar will help users to select desired recipes from categories specified.

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

Best recipe is Indian Butter Cookies/Nankhatai as it was my 1st attempt and that was the best cookies I ever had.

Favourite is Instant Jalebi. I was happy with the outcome on my second attempt.

8)Few tips about food photography?

I'm very new to photography. I'm not a good photographer but still try to get the best shot out of all to put it up here. I still can suggest one thing which I have got ot know from personal experience that day light is the best light for photography and avoid using flash though I cannot at times when it comes to night time photography.

9)What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?

No I must say, till date I have not purchased props to decorate. I use what are available in my pantry.

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

I plan daily but end up posting twice or thrice in a week nowadays when compared to my initial days of blogging due to my other commitments here.

11)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?

I do not own any other blog other than this food blog, but yes I love learning new languages and now I'm going to a class to learn German.

Lets move off to my post here today Garlicky Cheesy Fusilli Pasta. I got the recipe from a friend of mine Chaithra Mailankody. I altered it a little adjusting to our taste.

Garlicky Cheesy Fusilli Pasta

Makes 2 serves

Ingredients:

Fusilli Pasta-250 gms

Garlic-3-4 pods chopped

Onion-1 big chopped thin lengthwise

Green Capsicum-1/2 chopped

Black pepper powder-1 tsp.

Garlic salt/Garlic powder-1/2 tsp.

Milk-2 cups

All purpose flour-1 tbsp.

Cheese slices-2

Oregano-1/4 tsp.

Oil-2 tbsp.

Salt to taste

Recipe:

Boil water adding salt as required and when boiled add pasta and cook them till aldente. Drain and set aside.In a pan add oil, when hot add chopped garlic and saute till rawness is almost gone.

Add onions and saute on high flame followed by that add capsicum and saute on high flame.

Add pepper, garlic salt and saute on high flame.

In a bowl add milk and all purpose flour and make a lumpfree solution out of it and pour it over the sauteed mixture and add salt as required keeping in mind about the salt in pasta and the garlic salt being added and cook on a low flame.

Add cheese once the mixture begins to slowly thicken.

Cook till mixture thickens.

Pop in the cooked pasta and mix well till all pasta is well coated.Add oregano on top.

The garlicky cheesy fusilli pasta is ready to serve.

Notes:

Do not cook pasta too much ahead from the time of preparing pasta as that may make them dry and the sauce prepared will not coat the pasta well.It is best to cook pasta simultaneously as you prepare the sauce. But if your are not sure of cooking together do cook just before preparing the sauce, drain and set aside.

Cook pasta till 'Al dente' Al dente' is an Italien word which describes Pasta and means means "to the tooth" or "to the bite", referring to the need to chew the pasta due to its firmness.

Saute the capsicum on a high flame so as to retain the crispiness of the veggies. You may add as many veggies as you like.

You may add more of black pepper if you like it more spicy.

Hope you all enjoyed this creamy pasta from Sangeetha of Eat N Eat Little More, stay tuned for an another guest host..

Roasted Red Bellpepper Spaghetti

Red Bellpeppers have a sweet, almost fruity taste and you can prepare many dishes out of this fantastic vitamin C rich vegetable. Usually i'll add these red bellpeppers in most of the salads, i'll make soups with it or in pizzas, apart from it i'll rarely cook them with pastas or rice. Finally few days back i prepared some oven roasted bellpeppers just by broiling them in preheated oven for few minutes. While they were hot, i packed them in a ziplock bag, so that the skin can be peeled easily. This is how i prepared the oven roasted red bellpepper.

Pastas are my kid's favourite, they can have pasta from breakfast to dinner, obviously i'll cook twice a week pastas at home. Today's dish goes for a simple roasted bellpepper sauce prepared with oven roasted red bellpepper along with onions, garlic and cream with usual spices. This spaghetti is one of the easiest and very quick dish you can prepared for your lunch or dinner. If you dont have roasted bellpeppers at home, you can go for the storebought ones. This is my second dish for this week's blogging marathon coz the theme of the week is Cooking with Capsicum as a main ingredient.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

For me after Pizza, spaghetti means Italian food. I tasted spaghetti for the first time with some cheesy creamy sauce, immediately i have fallen in love to this Italian noodles like pasta. Since am the host of this month's International Food Challenge ,a monthly event started by two wonderful food bloggers Sara and Shobana i was searching for an interesting spaghetti dish and while googling i crossed this spaghetti alla puttanesca which sounds prefect for me as this recipe goes for my favourite anchovy fish and olives.

This dish goes seriously for a very quick and easy preparation and my kids enjoyed thoroughly this tangy,fishy spaghetti.Instead of normal tomatoes, i used cherry tomatoes for making this spaghetti and those addition of cherry tomatoes makes the difference in this dish. You can skip anchovy fillets by using soya granules or tuna fish if you dont like anchovies.

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Cant believe today am entering to the last and final week of this month's long marathon, happy that i could make this incredible blogging marathon with many beautiful dishes under different themes and am loving it. Do you want to know about this week's theme of mine?. Its again an another interesting theme with two choices, yes this week's theme is going to be International dishes or fusion dishes. Do i need to tell wat i chosed, obviously am going to run this week with International dishes. Eventhough i have a bunch of fusion foods that goes very well with this week's theme, i picked International cuisines. Since i love to cook from various cuisine, this week is going to be very much interesting when compared to the previous weeks.

For the first day of this week, we are travelling towards Italy. This country is very close to my heart coz Italy was the first country i visited after my marriage. I had a chance to visit the floating city Venise few years back with my better half, we had a fabulous time there and obviously i came back home with many more precious moments to cherish. The first dish i tasted there is spaghetti alla carbonara which was just out of the world.Spaghetti alla carbonara is a super rich creamy dish with loads of cream and cheese, i still remember the taste of this spaghetti dish. Actually when i planned International cuisines for this week, i decided to make spaghetti alla carbonara but finally i went for a super simple spaghetti aglio olio, one of the famous dish in Italy which is also a traditional dish there.This flavourful and quick spaghetti dish takes hardly less than 20minutes to get ready. Just cook your spaghetti and saute them with garlic, red chilly flakes with salt and dry herbs, thats it. Your spaghetti aglio olio is ready to enjoy, serve this mildy spiced spaghetti with some grilled meats or oven roasted potatoes for your lunch or dinner, am sure you will enjoy thoroughly your food. This dish goes under our family favourite foods list,even my daughter makes this dish. Yes this dish is very simple to dish out with less efforts.

Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Sowmya of Nivedhanam

Every 7th and 20th of a month,you guys would have noticed that am inviting few of my new buddies to share their guest post in my space, seriously am blessed to get this much generous friends in this virtual world.Twice a month am introducing newbie bloggers to this immense blogging virtual world, just to showcase their blogs with their guest posts they prepred specially for me. Since ever i started this event, its running with huge success and all my guests never surprised me with their humble and delicious dishes.Today is one more fantastic blogger who never stopped sharing many traditional,wonderful bakes and many more stunning foods.

She is none other than Sowmya of Nivedhanam, i came to know Sowmya through this virtual world before a year. Actually as a co blogger, i love to visit her space to read all her dishes but seriously i want to know more about the lady behind the blog. Thank god, now she shared more about her and i was surprised to know that she lives in Bangalore now.Dunno why but sincever i came to know her for me, she is a blogger who blogs from abroad. May be coz she shares many dishes from various International cuisines that too with many ingredients which are quite rare to get easily in India.

As a blogger, Sowmya is just an amazing person who never stops encouraging her fellow bloggers, even she is tied up with many stuffs, trust me if she follows your space even after a week she will leave her encouraging words. By the way if you are searching for a fusion or something traditional or else eggless bakes, dont forget to go through Sowmya's place and am sure you will definitely get hooked to her fantastic space called Nivedhanam.

Lets hear from Sowmya..

1)Tell us about your blog and you?

My name is Sowmya Chandrasekaran. I am from Chennai currently living in Bangalore with my husband and my little daughter. I was in Chennai until my marriage and then moved to US and now back in Bangalore after 8 years in US. I have done my masters in Finance and Computers and was a working women in Microsoft as Assistant Controller - Finance until my daughter was born. My entry into the kitchen started after marriage and as I learnt this beautiful art of cooking, it has become my passion. I love photography (although an amateur) and enjoy taking pictures of people, food and places. I am a strict vegetarian and the same is my blog. I combined my passion of cooking and photography and started taking pictures of the food I prepared. Initially I took the pictures to share it with my family as they were all curious as to what am I cooking (Since I did not know anything in cooking)... Then I slowly started to present my food and then take pictures of it.. Since I have the habit of writing down procedures of what I do, I followed the same for the recipes. Any new recipe I did, i wrote it down and slowly I have a collection of tried recipes. I then wanted to share my recipes, so the idea of a food blog was born. In my 9 years of marriage, I have tried a lot of new cuisines and different type of food. I learnt to see and understand the ingredients of all that I buy from Bread to Complan. 

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?

With blogging I have lot of new friends virtually whom I know their name and their blog.. For some I have seen photos. But the bonding is beautiful. Before blogging I never cared to present my food in a 

great way.. It will be garnished well.. Now it has props, beautiful servingware etc.. I am also trying more foods with the events and the groups I join like Blogging Marathon, Vegan Thursdays, Eggless Bakes, Home Bakers Challenge etc.

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?

My passion towards cooking and photography. My husband and my parents encouraged me a lot.

4)There are a tonsof blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?

I try to have a variety in my blog from Baking to South Indian daily food to traditional Indian cuisines. I also try to write them in a very very simple manner and for some I try to include step by step where the steps are critical. All the foods are approved my picky eater husband and very picky eater daughter. All my cooking is vegetarian and eggless. I try to have at least 4 – 6 posts per week so a lot of recipes to check out.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

My mom definitely. 

6)Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?

I should say I am still learning. One challenge that I overcame was the Recipe Index. It was a mess trying if I do not update it manually. Now with Sapna's code and my husband's help I am having an automated 

Recipe Index which makes me lot more comfortable.

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

I am very proud of doing Croissants. I love Nelakadalai Pachadi, Quinoa Salad, Mixed Fruit Jam, Cornmeal Kozhukattai,Kesar Pista Kulfi , Sukku Kaapi,Whole Wheat Garlic Buns, Kesar Rasgulla,Cauliflower Sambar, Eggless Tiramisu,Ennai Kathirikkai , Vegan Mango Muffins, Paavaikkai Podi,  Stuffed Garlic Bread - Dominos Style etc.

8)Few tips about food photography?

Natural lighting is the best and take as many photos as possible and delete the ones that are not good.

9)What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?

I never buy background cloth or paper. I mostly use my duppatta!!! For other props, there is no specific budget. I generally always visit the kitchen section whenever I visit the store and I always love to buy new and interesting stuff. I try to minimize it and also use the ones from my house.

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

I try to post at least 4 times a week. When I do a recipe, I generally write it donwn immediately and it goes into my drafts. Once I process the pictures, they are added to the draft and have them ready.

11)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?

I love photography, travelling and chatting. I spend a lot of time with my daughter. When she is back from school, I am almost only with her... We love to read books, play games (of her age) and also tell her stories.

Basil Pesto Pasta..
Pasta is an Italian dish which is very popular and there are so many varieties available... I did this with Whole Wheat Penne. Pesto Pasta is pasta made with pesto sauce which is made from basil. It is rich, creamy and quick to make with start and finish taking about 15 minutes. The pesto also has a very fresh flavor from the green leaves. This recipe serves 2 to 3 people. Pesto is an uncooked sauce. I used coriander instead of Parsley. Pesto sauce stored in an airtight container can keep in the refrigerator for a week.

Ingredients
Basil Leaves – 2 cups
Parmesan Cheese (grated) – 2 table spoon
Salt – 1 1/2 tea spoons + ½ tea spoon
Olive Oil – 7 Table spoons
Pepper – ½ tea spoon
Parsley / Coriander – ¼ cup
Pine Nuts – 2 table spoons
Pasta – 300 grams
Water – 2 liters

Method
Wash the basil and parsley and put them in a plastic bag and beat them with a rolling pin for 30 seconds.. This will release a lot of flavor.

Heat water and once it comes to a boil, add 1+ 1.2 tea spoons of salt.

Add the pasta and cook until done (one minute more than the prescribed minute in the package)?

Toast the pine nuts on low heat stirring occasionally in the beginning and continuously the last minute for about 8 minutes until golden in color.

Blend together basil leaves, parsley, garlic cloves, ½ tea spoon salt, 5 table spoon olive oil and the toasted pine nuts to a smooth paste. I used hand blender here and it worked like a charm. Add 2 more table spoons of olive oil and mix well. Add black pepper and cheese and set aside.

Once the pasta is done, keep 1 cup of the boiling water aside and drain the excess water and keep the pasta in the serving bowl.

Add the pesto sauce and mix well..

If needed add the reserved water (1 table spoon at a time) and mix well and serve hot!!

Vegan Shell Pasta & Coconut Milk Kheer

My daughter loves kheer with sago,vermicelli or else with pasta. For today's Krishna Jayanthi celebration, i prepared this vegan kheer with small shell pasta, jaggery and coconut milk. This kheer tastes simply fantabulous, with a wonderful coconut flavour. Look at the colour of the kheer, dont you love it. My daughter enjoyed thoroughly her bowl of this delicious kheer and with masala vada, needless to say how filling and delicious this kheer will be.

Since i used small shell pasta, they gets cooked very quickly and your kheer will get ready within less than 15 minutes, if you dont have pasta dont worry,you can still make this kheer with sago,vermicelli or with rice flakes.Just mix and match, am sure you will enjoy thoroughly this kheer.Storebought coconut milk works wonder in this kheer, but you can use very well the freshly squeezed coconut milk too.

Basil Pesto Pasta

I dont like pesto that much before, dunno wat happened to me suddenly i started loving this herbs based sauces for pastas very much that too the basil pesto is my recent favourite. Eventhough we get tons of store bought pestos here, i love to make myself my pestos at home. Here comes an another interesting pesto which i picked from Martha Stewart space, i just loved this pesto,not only me my whole family suddenly became pesto lovers.

This basil pesto pasta is definitely a quick,simple,obviously very flavorful, very nutty and filling dish, you can prepare it in a jiffy and am sure everyone will definitely enjoy this super delicious pesto pasta.Sending to Flavors of Cuisines - Italian event guest hosted by me,event by Julie.

Basil Pesto:

2cups Fresh basil leaves

1/4cup Walnuts

2nos Garlic cloves

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil (as per need)

Bring boil two cups of salted water, drop the basil leaves,within few seconds drain them and let them cool completely.

Pat dry them completely.

In a food processor, take the nuts,basil leaves,garlic,salt,pepper,process until the nuts are finely chopped.

While the machine running, pour the oil and grind until smooth. Transfer the pesto to an air tighted box.

Basil pesto is ready.

For pasta:

2cups  Pasta (cooked)

Basil pesto (as per need)

Few grated cheese

Add enough pesto the cooked pasta and serve immediately topped with grated cheese.

Enjoy with some grilled meats or a simple omelette.

Spaghetti All'Arrabiata/Angry Pasta

Kids loves pastas anytime, twice a week i have to make pastas at home else my daughter will kill me..Obviously its quite like a staple food for my kids, thats why for the fifth day of blogging marathon, am sharing their most favourite spaghetti all'arrabiata aka angry pasta,this dish is a must if am organising any party menu specially for my kids. Yes the name of the dish means 'angry pasta',because this dish will be bit hot as they are prepared with hot red peppers. Usually penne, the small ridged tubes like pastas cut diagonally at the ends are used in this dish. But for a change i prepared this dish with my kid's favourite spaghetti.

This hot pastas are usually served by the cheap eateries in Rome with more garlics and hot chillies for their punch. However some may add onions,fresh tomatoes while some recipes calls for tomato puree, tinned tomatoes and skip onions, i included both onion,fresh tomatoes and tinned tomatoes.Eventhough this dish is bit spicy, its always a hit among my kids.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.Sending to Flavors of Cuisines - Italian event guest hosted by me,event by Julie.

1/2cup Fresh tomatoes (diced)

1cup Tinned tomatoes

3tbsp Olive oil

1no Onion (small & chopped)

3nos Garlic cloves (sliced)

4nos Dry red chillies

2tbsp Fresh basilic leaves

Salt

Cut the tomatoes into large dice.

  

In a  pan, pour the olive oil and add garlic and dry red chillies. Stir and saute for a few seconds.

Add the onions, fresh diced tomatoes and half of the basil leaves,cook for few minutes.

Use a fork to smash the tomatoes and reduce roughly to a paste.

Add the rest of the basil leaves, tinned tomatoes,salt and cook for few more minutes.

Cook the spaghettis in abundantly salted water as per packet instruction. Drain and transfer to a bowl. 

Top the spaghetti with the sauce and enjoy..

You can sprinkle some grated parmigiano cheese over the pasta and enjoy.

How colourful the sauce is na!!

Coriander Almond Pesto

I mostly prepare my pesto with basil leaves and i love the flavour of the basil leaves while having my pastas. When i went through Sharmi's space, i got hooked to this coriander almond pesto immediately i tried them today for our lunch as i planned to prepare pastas.Coriander leaves and almond works out wonder and we loved the flavour of this pesto.

I loved seriously the simplicity of this pesto and obviously its our recent favourite.I just increased the quantity of coriander leaves and grinded the pesto with flaxseed oil instead of water else i didnt changed anything and went as per the original recipe. If you love the flavour of coriander leaves, you guys should give a try to this super flavourful,super nutty and delicious pesto. I even enjoyed the leftover pesto as a spread over some toasted bread slices for my evening snacks.Sending to Tried & Tasted event guest hosted by me,event by Lakshmi.

2cups Cooked pasta

1cup Coriander leaves (washed)

20nos Almonds (deskinned)

6nos Garlic cloves (chopped)

2nos Green chillies (chopped)

1/2tsp Oil (for cooking)

Flaxseed oil (as per need)

Salt

Heat the oil in a pan,fry the garlic cloves and green chillies until a nice aroma comes out,put off the stove.

Grind the washed coriander seeds,almonds,fried garlic cloves,chillies,salt and flax seed oil, until the paste turns bit coarse.

Add enough pesto to the cooked past and serve immediately.

Creamy Kidney Beans & Zucchini Farfalle

My kids can have pastas even everyday,they just love it with anything and anytime of the day. Farfalle is well known as bow tie pastas and dunno why they love this bow shaped pastas everytime. After spaghetti, they just love this pasta,i simply prepared this quick,creamy,healthy farfalle with some cooked kidney beans and cubed zucchini few days back.This dish is super filling, wholesome and definitely satisfying when served along with grilled meats and salad. Quite an easy dish to prepare with simple ingredients and definitely a kid's friendly dish.Sending to my own event CWS-Rajma guest hosted by Riddhima and to Priya's VFAM-Zucchini by Vardhini.

2cups Cooked farfalle
1no Onion (chopped)
1cup Rajma (cooked)
1no Zucchini (big & cubed)
2tbsp Cream
Pepper powder
Salt
Olive oil
1/2tsp Dry parsley leaves

Heat olive oil, saute the chopped onions until they turns transculent, add immediately the cubed zucchinis,parsley leavess and cook for few minutes.

Add now the pepper powder,cooked rajma,salt,cream and cooked paste,stir for few minutes.

Serve hot topped with grated cheese or dry parsley leaves..

Mixed Veggies,Orzo & Peanut Soup

Needless to say how it will be lazy to cook when its super hot outside. I felt like having something quick as soup for my today's lunch, this easy soup goes for variety of veggies. Just picked all the veggies left in my fridge and cooked everything together in low fat cream and vegetable broth in which i could not stop myself adding some orzo pasta and boiled peanuts.This soup was really filling, comforting and hearty with  plenty of veggies, its quite an excellent,super filling soup can be prepared within few minutes with simple ingredients that we have anytime at home.

This soup with peanuts and orzo can be served even for dinner with some toasted bread slices or grilled meats.I prepared my soup bit thick as i had it for my lunch, you can add more water in case if you need to have them bit light. You can skip very well the cream in this soup,by replacing it with a sauce prepared simply with water and cornflour. Check out the other marathoners running this 16th edition of blogging marathon with me here.Sending to  Show Me Your Hits - Iron Rich Foods hosted by Julie,event by Sangee.

3cups Mixed Veggies (carrots, bellpeppers,sweet corn,zucchini,beans)
1/2cup Boiled peanuts
1/4cup Orzo pasta
1no Onion (chopped)
2cup Vegetable broth
1/2cup Low fat cream
Pepper powder
Salt
Dry parsley as per need
Olive oil

Heat enough olive oil in a vessel, saute the chopped onions until they turns transculent, add now the mixed veggies and cook for few minutes.

Add immediately the vegetable broth,pepper powder,salt,dry parsley leaves and enough water,cook everything in medium flame until the veggies gets half cooked..

Add the orzo pasta ,peanuts now to the cooking veggies with low fat cream and put the flame in simmer. Cook this thick and yummy soup until the veggies gets well cooked.

Crustless Mushroom & Spaghetti Quiche

Quiche is kind of open pie prepared mostly as savoury version with most of the time with veggies or else with meats or seafoods..You can have this sort of quiche anytime of day,they can be eatern for breakfast,lunch or for dinner..They can be served very well chilled,warm along with salads or soups..Quiche is quite a famous dish here in France, most of the time these quiche goes for simple crust which i completely skipped here and prepared as healthy version just by avoiding cream and replaced the cream by low fat milk..Also i used some leftover already cooked spaghetti with finely chopped mushrooms to prepare this super delicious filling quiche..We enjoyed having this super delicious quiche for our dinner with a simple tomato and sweet corn salad, both together turned out our dinner super filling,satisfying and prefect..

1cup Button Mushrooms (chopped finely)
1cup Spaghetti (cooked & cut as small pieces)
1no Onion (large & chopped)
2cups Milk
2nos Eggs
3tbsp All purpose flour
Grated cheese (as per need)
Salt
Pepper powder
1/2tsp Dry herbs (parsley,thymn leaves)
Olive oil

Heat enough oil, saute the onions until they turns bit transculent, add the chopped mushroom,salt and pepper powder,cook for few minutes and put off the stove..Preheat the oven to 350F...meanwhile whisk the eggs,milk,flour,dry herbs in a bowl..add the cooled onion-mushroom mixture, sphagetti pieces to the whisked egg mixture and pour in a greased mould,sprinkle the grated cheese as per need..Bake for 15-20minutes in middle rack..

Serve warm with a soup or salad..

Cauliflower Mascarpone Pasta

Quick,creamy pasta with cauliflower florets tastes simply fabulous, super delicious and truly filling..A wonderful pasta dish to prepare and enjoy even if you are feel like cooking anything..If you have leftover pastas, making out this dish will goes for super quick preparation,just cook some chopped onions,tomato puree,cauliflower florets in olive oil with mascarpone cheese and finally toss gently those leftover pastas to the cooking sauce with veggies,the whole dish is ready to enjoy..A wonderful lunch box menu, am damn sure even your teddies love this fabulous creamy pasta without any hesitation..

3cups Cooked pasta
1no Onion (chopped)
1/2cup Tomato puree
20nos Cauliflower florets
2tbsp Masacarpone cheese
Salt
Pepper powder
1/2tsp Dry parsley leaves
Olive oil

Heat the olive oil, add the onions and saute until they turns transculent,add the cauliflower florets and cook for few minutes, add the tomato puree, dry parsley leaves and salt,cook everything simmer,finally add the pepper powder,cooked pasta,salt and toss everything gently and serve warm...

Spicy Tomato Orzo Soup

Most of our dinner goes for salads or soups, sunday's dinner soup is this quick,filling and spicy tomato soup with some orzo pasta..This soup tastes simply fabulous,filling also at the same time a wonderful satisfying dinner to enjoy without any hesitation with some toasted bread slices...Also i have added few chickpeas,celery to this soup to give more flavours,but i spiced up this soup with chilly flakes..Its our recent family favourite and am gonna make quite often this soup with orzo pasta in future..

1cup Tomato puree

1no Onion (chopped)

1/2cup Celery stem (chopped)

1/2cup Cooked chickpeas

1cup Vegetable stock

1/2cup Orzo pasta

Few chilly flakes

Salt

Few Parsley leaves (chopped)

Olive oil

Heat enough olive oil, add the chopped onions and saute for few minutes, add now the chopped celery,chopped parsley leaves,cook for few seconds, add now the tomato puree,vegetable stock,chilly flakes and salt,bring everything to boil,cook for few minutes in simmer..

Now add the orzo pasta,cook until they get partially cooked, add the cooked chickpeas to the cooking pasta,bring everything to boil and put off the stove..

Serve hot with toasted bread slices..

Creamy Mushroom & Orzo Soup

Orzo is a kind of pasta which looks exactly like rice and they are quite used in soups or for making risottos..I love mushrooms as anything, thats why i combined both mushroom and orzo together in a soup, this soup tastes marvellous, filling and quite a wonderful soup to enjoy for a simple dinner..I used  two tablespoons of low fat cream to this soup to give simple soup,you can completely skip the addition of cream in this soup..You can also serve this soup even for lunch coz of the addition of orzo pastas...Warm comforting soup to enjoy without any hesitation..



1/2cup Orzo pasta
1cup Mushrooms (chopped)
1no Onion (large& chopped)
2cups Vegetable stock
Few spring onions
Water
2tbsp Low fat cream
Pepper powder
Salt
Olive oil

Heat enough olive oil, saute the chopped onions until they turns transculent, add immediately the chopped mushrooms,salt and cook for few minutes, add now the vegetable stock,water with pepper powder and bring to boil..

Add the orzo pasta to the cooking broth,cook in simmer until the pasta gets cooked, finally add the cream and spring onions..serve warm with toasted breads..

Spinach & Mixed Veggies Creamy Pasta

A simple,quick,a delicious creamy pasta with plenty of veggies and spinach which suits prefectly for lunch as well as for dinner...I prepared this wonderful looking colourful veggies and spinach creamy pasta yesterday for our lunch and served it with a simple egg omelette and french fries for my teddies..This pasta gets ready in less time also its quite a low fat version of creamy pasta as i prepared with milk and cornflour paste instead of using fresh cream...As my kids never say 'no' to pastas, i usually prepare pastas simply with a vegetable or either with tomato sauce,but this time i tried adding spinach with other colourful veggies,they simply love it and finish their plate without any hesitation, they loved this yummy and colourful pasta..Obviously making out of pastas with variety of veggies and greens is quite a better and best way to sneak these veggies and greens..Sending to A veggie for a month - Spinach guest hosted by Reshmi,event by Priya..



2cups Mixed Veggies (carrots,bellpepper,mushroom,peas,beans)
1/2cup Spinach (chopped)
1no Onion (chopped)
3cups Cooked pastas
1cup Milk
2tsp Corn flour
Pepper powder
Salt
1tsp Dry herbs(parsley,rosemary & thymn)
Olive oil
Grated cheese (for serving)

Heat enough oil,saute the chopped onions until they turns transculent,add immediately the veggies,saute for few minutes, add the spinach,cook everything in simmer until the veggies get half cooked, add the milk and salt,bring to boil..

Put the flame in simmer and cook with lid closed until the veggies get well cooked, make a thick paste with water and corn flour,pour this paste to the cooking veggies and cook for a while..Add the cooked pastas,pepper powder,dry herbs..toss everything gently and serve hot with some grated cheese..

Enjoy with grilled meats or french fries..

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Kalyani, Priya Mahadevan, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special:Me, Veena,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Shylaja, Srivalli
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Priya Yallapantula
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast:Aarthi, Vaishali

Stir Fried Sprouts & Veggies Spaghetti (Chinese Style)

We guys are going to run our 4th blogging marathon from today onwards which was started by Srivalli of Spicing Your Life again for a week..As always we have to choose few themes proposed by valli and i went for 30minutes meals which sounds quite easier for me...I prepared this stir fried sprouted spaghetti two days back exactly the day we Indians became World champions in cricket...Yep i prepared this quite healthy,quick,filling stir fried spaghettis for our lunch and served along with a omelette,just to watch my fav cricket match so that H & my kids wont blame me for not preparing their lunch,this stir fried spaghettis goes for easy preparation with crunchy veggies,definitely a fusion food to enjoy without any hesitation...The picture itself says how tasty these spaghettis are na...Serve this stir fried spaghetti just with some grilled tofu,simple egg omelette or grilled meats, i can definitely say that  u will have a fabulous lunch..Sending to Only Fusion guest hosted by Priya,event by Pari..

Happy Ugadi Wishes to u all!!



250grms Spaghetti
1cup Bean sprouts (store bought)
1no Onion (chopped lengthwise)
1no Carrot (julienned)
1cup Cabbage(shredded)
1/4cup Mushroom (chopped)
1/4cup Green bellpepper (julienned)
2tbsp Soya sauce
1tbsp Chilly sauce
1tbsp Tomato ketchup
1/4tsp Sugar
1tbsp Rice vinegar
1/2tsp White pepper powder
Sesame oil
Few spring onions (chopped)

Cook the spaghetti as per instructions given in their packet,keep aside and let them cool...Heat a tawa with enough sesame oil,add the onions,saute for few seconds, now add the julienned carrots, chopped mushrooms,julienned bellpeppers,bean sprouts and shredded cabbage, saute for few seconds (dont overcook the veggies) immediately add the soya sauce, chilly sauce,tomato ketchup,rice vinegar and sugar, toss everything gently for few minutes, finally add the cooked spaghetti,spring onions & white pepper powder,toss everything gently until the spaghetti gets well mixed...

Serve hot!

Creamy Herbed Farfalle

Farfalle is quite known as bow tie pastas, i do buy often coz my lil one loves this pasta soo much, today i prepared this simple,delicious,quick and creamy herbed pasta for our lunch and served along with some cucumber salad and grilled chicken thighs actually my kids fond always to this creamy pastas whenever we go for Italian restaurants i tried myself to recreate this creamy yummy pasta with dried herbs...This creamy herbed pasta goes for few tsp of dried herbs like parsley,basil,thymn cooked along with onions and low fat cream,if u dont have these herbs, u can add any herbs as u desire to this dish..Sending this filling and comforting pasta dish to Presto Pasta Nighte - 201 guest hosted by Pia and to Srivalli's Kid's Delight guest hosted by Champa ..



250grms Cooked farfalle
1cup Low fat milk
1no Onion (chopped)
1/2tsp Dry parsley leaves
1/4tsp Dry thymn leaves
1/2tsp Dry basil leaves
Pepper powder
Salt
Olive oil
Few grated cheese

Heat olive oil, sauté the chopped onions until they turns transculent, add immediately the cream,dry herbs and bring everything to boil, add now the pepper powder,salt and cooked paste, stir for few minutes and serve hot topped with grated cheese..

Enjoy with salad or grilled meats..

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

We guys can have pastas everyday, we love it that much..I usually make a variety of pasta dish using many sort of veggies or simply with onions and eggs..This time i prepared this easy breezy pasta dish with small whole button mushrooms cooked along with sauteed onions and cream spiced up just with parsley leaves,pepper powder and salt..This creamy mushroom pasta goes awesome for a simple lunch along with grilled meats or else with french fries..Sending this creamy mushroom pasta to Presto Pasta Nights # 197 guest hosted by Girlichef,event by Ruth..



2cups Cooked pasta
20nos Button mushrooms or 1cup chopped mushrooms
1no Onion (big & chopped)
1tsp Parsley leaves (chopped)
Pepper powder
1cup Fresh cream (low fat)
Salt
Olive oil

Heat the olive oil, add the chopped onions and cook until they turns transculent, add the button mushrooms or chopped mushrooms,sauté for few minutes, add the pepper powder, parsley leaves, cook for few minutes..finally add the fresh cream ,salt and cook everything in simmer..Finally add the cooked pastas,toss gently until the cream and mushrooms get well mixed..

Enjoy with any sort of grilled meat or french fries..