Roasted Vegetables & Avocado Dressing salad

Roasted Vegetables & Avocado Dressing salad

I love colourful things. Colours add zing to my life and perk up my oh! so sad mood. 

Being a vegetarian and a vegetables fan, I often find myself in a fix of what vegetable to leave while cooking my food. So I end up using everything and anything from my Fridge.

Today I tried this amazing grilled vegetable salad with low fat salad Avocado dressing. Hope you All will like it too.

To prepare this quick healthy colour rich chunky salad follow the instructions below . 

Ingredients For salad: 

5 medium mushrooms
1 Small broccoli  
1 small sized green & Yellow Zucchini
6-7 cherry tomatoes
half Red & yellow peppers
few leaves of lettuce
1 medium sized cucumber
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed black pepper
2 tbsp dried oregano seasoning
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried garlic powder. 

For Dressing: 

1 avocado, 
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed black pepper
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar ( I use Bragg's organic Apple Cider vinegar )
1 tbsp lemon syrup
¾ garlic cloves

Method : 

Chop all the vegetables in a medium dice. Place all of them in a big bowl except cucumber and add salt, black pepper ,garlic powder , oregano seasoning and olive oil.

Stir it well and add this mix into a baking tray. Cook it on 200'c / 400'F for about 15-20 minutes on grill/microwave mode. 

Place all the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend well till the texture looks creamy.

For Serving: 

Place lettuce leaves in a serving bowl, add cucumber and add the roasted vegetables.
The veggies will appear a lot juicier after the roast. Add the after roast syrup of that to the salad as well. Pour 3-4 tbsp dressing on it and mix well. 
Enjoy the yummyliscious health freak salad :)

P.S- 

Honey & Apple cider vinegar are my secret ingredients in the dressing because avocado has a tinge of bitterness to it. Honey stabilises the bitterness and apple cider vinegar provides a tangy taste and great texture to it. 

Happy cooking :)

Lush Lemongrass Ice Tea

     

Lush Lemongrass Ice Tea

Beauty in a Jar. 

That’s the first thing which strikes you about this super chill, refreshing and yum drink. 

I dislike aerated canned drinks because they have nothing but sugar and preservatives. I can't even remember when was the last time i drank a cola or thumbs up. Though sometimes with a  slice of pizza I take a sip or two. I love lemon grass because of its health benefits and have grown it in my garden. So I'll be using my fresh leaves.

Mumbai has suddenly become too hot & humid hence I wanted to drink something refreshing, healthy, homemade, pretty of-course and well Green :)

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Ingredients :

 2 tsp lemongrass tea ( you can get this from any label or make one at home. Desi recipe at the end in P.S section)

2 tbsp powdered sugar

mint leaves

sliced lemon

ice cubes

Method :

Boil some water in a vessel and add tea to it. let it brew for about 8 minutes and then add sugar. 

Let it cool down. seize it and keep it separately . 

In a mason jar add handful mint leaves and lemon and crush it using a hand crusher. Add lots of ice cubes and then add the lemon tea syrup to it. Serve chill. 

You can also add berries / grapes to it to give it a zing.

P.S-

Incase you can’t find flavoured lemon grass tea then add lemon grass to your regular tea and use it. Lemon grass is available as an ingredient at any reputed grocery store and your vegetable seller.

Stay chill :)

Mini Lime Pie

Mini Lime Pie

My Obsession with Lemon is something I can't do anything about. 

You will find lemon in most of my recipe's. It is because lemon is the major ingredient in any fat burning food / drink. A glass of lemon juice and honey in a Luke warm water does wonders early morning.

I am going to be sweet and short just like my pie. These bundles of love are a treat to a sore sight. 

Lemon is my favourite ingredient for any dish and hence I thought to try these. They are easy to bake and taste absolute yum. It took me about half an hour to make a batch of these.

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:

 4 egg yolks

4 tsp lime zest (Grated lemon peel)

½ cup lemon juice

100 gram Milk maid

100 gram pack of biscuits

3 tbsp sugar

5 tbsp melted butter

cream 

Mint leaves

lemon zest for garnishing

Method :

Add egg yolk in a big bowl and keep whisking it while adding lemon zest, lemon syrup & milkmaid to it. Make a thick batter and place it aside. 

Now take a transparent zip pouch and add biscuits to it. Crush it with a Rolling pin (Belan). Add melted butter and sugar to it and shake it well in the pouch itself. 

Add this mixture to your cup cake baking tray and line it properly on all the sides leaving the centre empty. Bake this for 8-10 min at 160′C/325′F at Microwave/convection mode in Microwave. 

Add the Lemon mix to the biscuit base and bake for 15-20 minutes at 160′C/325′F. 

Freeze it for half an hour for better taste and garnish it with a scoop of cream, mint leaves & lime zest :).

Viola ! instant love mix 

P.S : 

You can use Parle G or Nice Biscuits. 

And since I Don't have a separate Oven, so I use my Microwave with Convection Mode. It is as good as any Oven.

Happy Baking :)

Spring Onion Pesto Cream Penne

                                                  

Spring Onion Pesto Cream Penne

Italian cuisine is one of my favourites. More so because I get to  drink Wine with it each time I eat an Italian delicacy. cheers!!

This is my easy to go pasta each time I crave for something green and fresh. Whenever we go out to eat, we end up spending a good amount of money on food and because I am a foodie, I love to explore each and every restaurant, cafe, lounge, Bar etc in the vicinity. Hence, by the end of the month, I am left with no choice but to eat at home. So while toying with this idea of how to eat without spending so much, I though to myself why not cook all those delicious things at home and enjoy them at almost 1/2 the price.

So here goes my first of many recipe's. Just when you are in the mood for a quickie. Only takes about 15 minutes to cook unless you are making your own pasta sheets. And I absolutely relish this one. So here is what you need if you’re making for 2 people.

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Ingredients - 

Garlic cloves

100 gas fresh basil leaves

10-12 Roasted pine nuts (you can Substitute that with roasted peanuts/pistachio/walnut)

4 tbsp olive oil

1tsp salt

 ½ tsp Black pepper

Chilli flakes

3-4 stems of spring onion, a small capsicum

100 grams cream

1 cup milk

1cup mozzarella cheese-grated.

Method:

Take a large vessel filled with water and bring it to boil. Add uncooked pasta, ½ tsp salt,a bit of olive oil to it. Boil it till its half cooked but not too sticky. Drain the par boiled pasta on the sieve (chalni) and run it under water so that it doesn't get cooked anymore with the steam. keep it aside. Now, Add basil leaves, few garlic cloves, roasted pine nuts, 3 tbsp olive oil to the mixer and make a thick paste. Add oil & finely chopped garlic to a cold pan and put it on flame. Cook the garlic till golden brown. Add Spring onion, capsicum and sauté it. Then add cream, cheese, Milk and  3-4 tbsp of pesto sauce, salt and pepper. Stir the mixture well and add drained pasta to it.Toss well and Garnish it with Basil leaves, chilli flakes and a dash of grated mozzarella cheese.

P.S - You can sauté chopped chicken pieces with garlic and make it a chicken pesto or add sauté mushrooms & broccoli to it.

Enjoy your pasta with a slice of garlic bread on the side.

Happy cooking !