Tag: lunch


Nov
2013

Skinny Zesty Salad

categories: Dinner, Fall, Lunch, Quick Fix, Salads, Sides, Summer

Skinny Zesty Sala1

 

After hogging lots and lots of sweets and fried stuff during 5 days of festivities in the past week, believe it or not, but my digestive system needed a break. So I am doing a cleanse/detox for few days.

I made this skinny salad for lunch one day and have fallen in love with it since then. It is so versatile, protein-packed and healthy even for people with diet restrictions. Yes! It is suitable for all the vegetarians and vegans out there! A complete meal in itself.

Add any or all of the ingredients mentioned below or whatever you have in your refrigerator. Don’t like uncooked Paneer/tofu? Don’t worry! You can grill it with a bit of olive oil and some seasoning before adding it to your salad or skip it. I once made this with just apple, pear, pomegranate and it was still lip-smacking!

So do your body a favor, give yourself a break from cooking and make this hearty salad! 🙂

Skinny Zesty Sala2

Skinny Zesty Salad

Serves: 2 as a side and 1 as a main-course

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 200 gm Paneer/extra-firm tofu, cut into 2 inch-long thin strips
  • 1 small red bell pepper, chopped into thin strips
  • 1 small yellow zucchini, cut into semicircles
  • 1 small apple, thin slices
  • 4 Tbsp black olives
  • Bunch of lettuce
  • few sprigs of parsley, finely chopped

For dressing:

  • 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
  • Juice from 1 lemon, or more to taste
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat a small pan on stove and add 1/2 Tbsp oil to it. Add garlic and broccoli florets. Stir fry till cooked, approximately for 4-5 minutes. Be careful not to burn garlic. Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for dressing.
  3. In a medium bowl, add stir-fried garlic and broccoli florets. To this, add prepared paneer/tofu, bell pepper, zucchini, apple and black olives. Pour dressing over it and toss nicely.
  4. In a salad serving bowl, arrange lettuce at the bottom. Add salad on top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately*.

*If serving later, refrigerate the salad and add apple just before serving.

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Oct
2013

Oven Roasted Asparagus & Potatoes with PeanutButter & Buttermilk Dressing

categories: Dinner, Dips, Dips & Sauces, Fall, Lunch, Quick Fix, Sauces, Sides, Uncategorized
Oven Roasted Asparagus & Potatoes with PeanutButter & Buttermilk Dressing4
Past 10 days were a blur at our house.. Between Karva Chauth party and my girl gang gathered at the house for the wedding, I hardly had time to squeeze in a blog-post. Those were such good days and in all honesty, I didn’t want them to end! Exciting times filled with fun, laughter and so much joy!! I’m going to cherish the precious memories of this time spent with friends and family forever. Moments like these is what makes our life worthwhile.
Between all the festivities of the past weekend and coming weekend, I am doing a detox of my own with fruits, soups, stir-fries and salads. Gearing up for the next big weekend, you see! You won’t believe how many great recipes I have lined up for you all! But before that enjoy this humble dish which truly deserves a place in your repertoire! 🙂
Oven Roasted Asparagus & Potatoes with PeanutButter & Buttermilk Dressing2
Today’s recipe is simple but totally lip-smacking.
I mean it has potatoes & peanut butter in it so of course! 😉
Just some roasted veggies with healthy yet delicious dressing. Perfect for the ‘touch of cold’ weather we are experiencing here.. It is great as a side dish or as a whole meal in itself.. I had it for dinner and could not finish it entirely. The recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled as per your needs. I used regular potatoes but baby potatoes would be amazing too!
Oven Roasted Asparagus & Potatoes with PeanutButter & Buttermilk Dressing3
Roasted Asparagus & Potatoes with Peanut Butter & Buttermilk Dressing
Serves: 2 as a side-dish or 1 as a lunch/dinner
Ingredients:
Roasted vegetables:
  • 4 small potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes or 12 baby potatoes, halved
  • 20 spears of asparagus cut into 5-inch pieces, hard woody ends discarded
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Salt & pepper, to taste

Dressing:

  • 4 Tbsp buttermilk
  • 1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp crunchy peanut butter
  • 1/4 tsp honey
  • 1/4 tsp red chilli flakes
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  • salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Arrange prepared potatoes and asparagus on the baking tray. Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and toss together. Let it bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove the asparagus from baking tray and return the tray to oven. Let the potatoes bake for another 15 to 20 minutes till fork-tender.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing.
  3. Serve the roasted vegetables smothered with the dressing.

Enjoy!!

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Sep
2013

Baked Orzo with Spinach, Corn & Asparagus

categories: Dinner, Fall, Lunch, Quick Fix
Baked Orzo with Spinach, Corn & Asparagus1
Okay, I have a pattern. On this blog. I write either about desserts or pasta here. I have a proof. But what can I say?! They are two of my favorite things. The weather here is not helping the matters either. This rainy, gloomy weather forces me to switch on the oven almost everyday! It makes me add cinnamon to every sweet stuff I bake so that the house smells like Fall. I am craving soups and wearing cardigan while going out. Gosh, how I am in love with the weather right now!!
You guys know I am all for skinny dishes. But that does not mean I do not like eating overloaded cheesy goodness. In fact, I LOVE it so much but just NEVER make it. I can’t bring myself to add a pound of cheese to any dish knowingly. Period.
Baked Orzo with Spinach, Corn & Asparagus2
This dish here is in no way skinny. But not unusually loaded either. Something in between. A dish I would dive in. It is everything I had hoped and dreamed for in baked pasta. There’re pillows of corn and asparagus throughout. There are decadent, gooey cheese pulls stretching from every forkful. And it is easy. Yes, as easy as this simple mac-n-cheese I know how to make. So make it NOW as there is no reason to keep yourself away from such a bliss.
Baked Orzo with Spinach, Corn & Asparagus
Serves: 2
Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Orzo, a rice shaped pasta
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels
  • 8-10 spears of asparagus cut into 1-inch pieces, hard/woody ends discarded
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 5-6 shallots, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp tomato pest
  • 1/2 cup spinach leaves, packed, roughly chopped
  • 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded
  • 1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese, small cubes of 1/2 cm
  • salt, to taste
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 tsp oregano flakes
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1/2 tsp lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup reserved pasta water

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF. Boil a pot of water with generous sprinkle of salt. Add Orzo, corn kernels and asparagus to the boiling water. Let it boil for 2 minutes and after that save 1/2 cup of water. Drain Orzo, corn kernels, asparagus and set aside.
  2. Simultaneously heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add oil to the hot pan and once oil is shimmering, add the shallots, garlic and celery. Cook for 3 minutes or so till shallots turn translucent. Add tomato paste, Orzo, corn kernels, asparagus and cook for 3 more minutes. Off the heat. Immediately mix-in spinach leaves.
  3. Add Parmesan, Mozzarella, salt, pepper, oregano, red chilli flakes, lemon zest and pasta water and mix well.
  4. Transfer mixture to a small oval or 6×6-inch square ovenproof baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes, then bake for 15 minutes without the foil. (You can change ratio of foil-on to foil-off time as per your preference for crunchy pasta lid.) Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:

*You can use whole-wheat Orzo or replace Orzo with any other small-sized pasta.
*I used pasta water and did not feel that the dish was lacking in flavor at all. But if you do not like using water then use vegetable stock.

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Aug
2013

Caprese Pasta Salad

categories: Dinner, Lunch, Quick Fix, Salads, Sides, Summer

Caprese Salad1

 

It’s my Mother’s Birthday today! She is the most special woman in my life. She is my first best friend and I have had heaps of special moments with her. She handed down so many traits of hers to me… We both love bags, shoes, clothes and FOOD! She is such an awesome cook!

As already confessed in my intro page, I never learnt to cook before I got married and being such a great cook that she is, my mom was quite concerned about that part. She sincerely wrote down all her recipes in a diary for my convenience and gifted it to me on my D-day. That is my most prized possession and a lovely gesture on my mom’s part! I should soon get down to posting few of her special recipes!

Among many things my mother and I share, we both LOVE pasta! So aptly, I am posting a very simple pasta salad which is very refreshing and flavorful. I’m sure my mom would have enjoyed this thoroughly if I could make this for her at home for tonight’s celebration. But we are distanced by miles hence a virtual birthday dish will have to suffice! 🙁

 

Caprese Salad2

 

I love Caprese in any and every form!

You must remember I once created this unusual ice-cream with it and these skewers served with pesto!

This time I brought together 2 of my favorites and created this dee-lish caprese pasta salad. Of course with a twist… I added capers for a little tang! And it really did wonders. This salad is so beautiful, adorned with pear tomatoes and bursting with basil! Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Happiest of Birthday Mother! Cheers!!!

Caprese Salad3

Caprese Pasta Salad
Servings: 4-5 as a side and 2-3 as a light lunch/dinner
Ingredients:
For salad:
  • 2 heaping cups bow-tie pasta
  • Around 20-25 pear tomatoes, sliced
  • 25-30 small cubes of Mozzarella
  • 2 Tbsp capers, drained & washed
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced basil leaves
For dressing:
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • A pinch of red chili flakes
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Cook pasta in generously salted boiling water according to package directions till al-dante. Drain and rinse with cold water.
  2. In a large bowl, add pasta, sliced tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese cubes, capers and toss.
  3. In a small bowl, take all the ingredients mentioned under dressing and whisk.
  4. Add the dressing to the large bowl of salad ingredients and toss well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Let it chill in refrigerator for half an hour. Top with sliced basil leaves just before serving.
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Jul
2013

Skinny Mac’n’Cheese

categories: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, Pasta

Skinny Mac'n'Cheese2

Oh I love me some mac’n’cheese! It is my no.1 comfort food… I love it on a rainy day, on a bad day, when I’m sad, when I’m happy! I crave for it. I resist few times and sometimes just cave in!

To be honest, I can’t allow myself good-old-over-the-top-cheesy mac’n’cheese everytime I want one! So I gave it a skinny make-over! Of course they are not totally guilt-free but everything in moderation doesn’t hurt right?!

Skinny Mac'n'Cheese1

 

If you are anything like me then you are going to love my version of mac’n’cheese. It has goodness of vegetables too. Yup, I have added some veggie tid-bits to make it little bit nutritious and kid-friendly. Best for those picky-eaters! You can sneak in any vegetable you want.

So wait no more & make it tonight!

Skinny Mac'n'Cheese3

Skinny Mac’n’Cheese

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup broccoli, cut into florets
  • 2 cups macaroni pasta
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
  • 4-5 button mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
  • 2/3 cup skim milk
  • 1/3 cup vegetable stock/pasta water
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
  • 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
  • 1 Tbsp breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

  1. Cook pasta and broccoli together in a large pot of salted water as per the package instructions for al dante (or slightly under-cook for 2 minutes). Keep 1 cup of pasta water aside if you do not have vegetable stock. Drain cooked macaroni-broccoli in a colander. Grease a baking dish with oil and preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.
  2. In a large pan, melt the butter over low heat. Add onion and saute it for about 2 minutes. Then add and saute mushrooms, chili flakes for another 2 minutes.
  3. Add flour and saute for another minute till flour is golden and well-combined. Add milk and vegetable stock/pasta water and whisk raising heat to medium-high. Let it boil for about 3-4 minutes or till the sauce becomes smooth and thick.
  4. Once the sauce is thick, remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add grated Cheddar and mix well until cheese is melted. Adjust seasoning. Add macaroni and broccoli and mix well.
  5. In a prepared baking dish, pour the mix. Top with grated cheese. Combine breadcrumbs, garlic powder, pepper together and sprinkle over the cheese layer. Spray a little more cooking oil on top. Bake for 15 minutes and broil for 1-2 minutes for golden breadcrumbs.

Dig in!!

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