Pizza Sauce | Baby Friendly Pizza Sauce

Hola People! 

Its been just a few days short of a year since I penned something down here for you all! Thanks to some of my loyal readers who wrote in frequently to check on me. Means a lot.

Life has been hectic on so many aspects outside this little blog of mine and hence I was missing in action here. 

Let me quickly fill you in on what all has been happening in the last one year that I have been absconding 

• My little sonshine turned two last month. He keeps me busy all day with his curiosity and cuteness! 
• I have discovered a new found passion in early learning activities for my boy and hence have been deeply involved in creating a whole bunch of early learning activities and DIYs for the little guy. We both have been loving this and I love that I am able to give him my full time and attention during this inquisitive age. If this is something that interests you, do have a look at what we have been up to here: Sonshine Mumma! 
• By chance and beautiful turn of events, I have landed up starting a little venture that I am immensely passionate about. I create Memory Quilts with baby clothes, sarees and tees. A new found hobby, sewing has been taken to new heights and being a one person army behind this, I am still trying to cope with the demands of juggling between all these different aspects. However, am slightly proud of what I have been able to create so far in the last 6 months. Again, if any of this interests you, I would love you to have a look at my page Sew Mini Moments.

Phew! Am done, I promise.

So amidst all these various beautiful things happening in my life, food blogging sadly went down the priority scale! But now I hope to be back if not as often as before, at least maybe once a month!

To break the long silence here, I have with me a super simple pizza sauce that I tried just today and loved it so much that I decided to blog it! It is baby friendly and I used this to make tiny pizzas for my boy and has been approved by the toddler foodie! 

This is a basic sauce with minimal spice, which you can pump up the spices of, if you would like a bit more of a chilly kick. I have leftover and I am planning on making some pasta with this tomorrow! 

Basil Pesto Pasta

Oh, I LOVE Pasta! 

If you have seen my posts on pasta you will know that I get experimental with the sauces. I love trying out new combinations and flavours. 

Pesto Pasta has been on my to-do list for ages and I have no clue why it kept getting postponed to later. One reason was I didn't want to use ready made pesto, I wanted to make my own. But considering how easy making pesto sauce is, I still remain clueless why it took me so long to try it out! :P

Well, anyway... so finally I got to making my own pesto and the next step of course was cooking up the much awaited Pesto Pasta! :)

It turned out to be so delicious that I think I might have just found my new favourite pasta flavour! Yayyy! So herby, so flavourful and so very yummy! If you have the pesto in hand, it only take like 20 minutes to out this dish together.

I had plenty of time on had that day, so baked a loaf of bread and made Garlic Bread out of its slices to serve with my pesto pasta! It was a winning combination. DO try it! :)

Basil Pesto with Almonds

Basil is such a fragrant herb that it gives every dish it is added to, a beautiful aroma and freshness. This pesto sauce is nothing but herby deliciousness. I have been meaning to try making my own pesto sauce for ages and have been putting it away for no solid reason, that I can think of! But am so glad that I finally made myself go for it and make this yummy sauce at home a couple of days back.

It is super simple and quick to put together with the simplest of ingredients. If you get your hands on fresh basil leaves, the rest of the ingredients would probably be right in your pantry.

You can use up this sauce right away, after you prepare it or can freeze and store it for up to 3 months! Well, I love such stuff which make cooking on hurried days a breeze.

I made a batch and intended to make pasta a few days later. I in fact transferred the freshly made pesto into an airtight container and shoved it away into the freezer only to take it out a few hours later to make Pesto Pasta!! Teehee... couldn't wait too long to make my much awaited pasta with this delicious sauce, could I!? :P

Go ahead and do yourselves a favour. Make this scrumptious pesto and treat yourselves to some pasta or slather it on toast and enjoy its herby, creamy goodness! :)

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Pasta

I love the taste of smoked, roasted vegetables. It infuses an earthy feel to the dish and a taste unique that cannot be substituted by any other method of cooking. Baigan ka Bharta or Fire-Roasted Eggplant, is one of my all time favourite dishes cooked by directly roasting the brinjal over the stove until tender and pulpy and then mushing the flesh and infusing it with Indian spices. Oh YUM!

So, this particular pasta has been on my to-do for a while now. I have heard of Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup and Pasta and have been curious on how it would taste. Was sure I would love it, considering my liking for this method of cooking, but I had never tasted it before. 

Just like in most cases of my planned cooking experiments, I just began creating this dish one evening after a work day! Yes, planned for me just means I have to have the core ingredient and sufficient time, then the rest of the recipe just gets built on. I can never set aside a day or date to venture into my cooking experiments. That only rarely works. I am more of a spontaneous cooking kind of a person! 

So, I bought these lovely red bell peppers and stocked them in my fridge and hoped I could make some time out in that particular week. And so, this one day was the day when I decided to make this for dinner!

Just like in Baigan Bharta, the roasting makes the skin char and blacken and the inside flesh soft and tender. I imagined a particular flavour in my head and went on building on it. I wanted roasted garlic, peppery spice and only slightly cheesy flavour. That is just want I did! 

This dish can be made a little richer, by adding in some fresh cream into the sauce, if you like. You can also add in more veggies. I kept it very simple and less fattening and let the roasted red bell pepper be the hero of the dish :)

Also, next time I plan to add in some dry red chillies, maybe the Kashmiri variety to the sauce to give a tad more redder colour. The taste however, was a winner and I am glad to have created this simple recipe! Enjoy :)

Stir-fry Veggie Noodles with Soya-Honey-Peanut Dressing

Oh, I LOVE roasted peanuts.  

I like to snack on them plain or also love it when they are added into a dish. They bring along a whole new dimension to the dish that they are added into. Be it a simple Poha, Vermicelli upma or Sabudana Vadas... the crunchiness of peanuts enhances the dish many levels. And Snickers! Oh, that is a my favourite chocolate, again for the crunchy peanuts that it contains. 

Apparently the people of Thailand also love peanuts. Peanuts is a common ingredient in Thai cuisine and it also happens to be a cuisine I love!

I am yet to try the Thai Peanut Noodles prepared the authentic way. I guess there are a lot more elements to it and more prep time. But when I come across a quick-fix recipe for any dish, that would be my choice! So today, we will be making a dish that has hints of Thai flavours in it, a dish that is very simple to put together and one that is absolutely YUM!

I was out shopping today and returned home well past 2 in the afternoon. Being home alone and having only my tummy to feed, I decided to get experimental. But the tummy was hungry and I did not have too much time to invest in cooking. I decided to try my hands at this recipe that I came across the other day. Oh, it turned out to be totally delicious. This recipe gets done in a jiffy! 

This was the first time I was pairing peanuts with noodles and I absolutely loved the crunchiness it gave to the dish. The awesomely simple yet flavourful dressing is the taste giver here. 

So this noodles is a lovely combination of delicate flavours intricately woven together and blended with the crunchy veggies, noodles and peanuts... ah, food heaven! :)

Roasted Potato Pasta in Beet Sauce | Potato and Beetroot Pasta

Ever since I made this amazing pasta with Spinach puree [Spinach & Mushroom Pasta], I have been waiting to try my hands at making a similar pasta with beetroot puree. I was just not sure what to pair it with. A perfect pairing is very important here as beetroot has a distinct flavour of its own and may not pair well with veggies that are too powerful on a different flavour. It was not like making the usual tomato based pasta or the pasta in white sauce which are tried and tested sauce bases and are pretty versatile with a whole lot of veggies. Hence, after much contemplation, I decided to stick to the good-old potatoes!

Potatoes is the most versatile vegetable, according to me. You just cannot go wrong with it. Simple to cook, easy to flavour and so friendly that they get along up real well with anything you pair it up with!  

So for this pasta, I planned on pan-roasting boiled potato wedges, along with some Italian seasoning to give the humble boiled potatoes an Italian make over. The result - YUMMILICIOUS Roasted Potatoes! These make great munchies as is and they are not even deep-fried! Oh, I had to hide it from myself to save some for the pasta :D

And oh, the colour that the beetroot puree imparts to the pasta, is so pretty! The rich pink was simply inviting and I used Farfelle pasta here, to enhance the cuteness factor! :) This pasta is so healthy considering the minimal use of cheese, the sauce base being beetroot and the potatoes are only pan-roasted... it really felt nice munching on it! 

Spinach & Mushroom Pasta | 20-mins meal idea

You know that feeling, when you crave for something that you have only envisioned in your head and have not really eaten or even seen before? Oh, I get that feeling often... so often! 

I bring myself to such a state that I have to stop whatever I am doing and head right into the kitchen and literally listen to my craving and create a dish to satisfy your highness's taste-buds!  Thankfully, my cravings are mostly simple and have healthy character to it. Okay fine... at times I have craved for deep-fried goodies, but only at times. 

And I also figured that I sort of like challenging myself to be quick at whatever I am cooking. As you see cravings are not going to wait for too long! I have gotta be quick! 

So, it was just another day, and I was busy with something, and suddenly with no warning I wanted a Spinach and Mushroom Pasta! That was it. I just get the mental order and I have to go cook it right up! 

And I as said, these cravings are pretty impatient. "Can I just finish my work and then get to making it?" I ask... "Hell no... I want it like right now!" comes the answer. Yes, that is the scene. Its like being the guest at a restaurant as well as the chef to please the guest, all at the same time! :D 

And so I obeyed. I just headed to the kitchen and pulled out all the ingredients I had in mind and began cooking. 

Oh, and another thing with this craving frenzy is, I have this habit of reminding myself of what all I got in my fridge that need to be consumed soon (chopped veggies, purees, etc). And that day, I had spinach puree and some mushrooms which I had already sliced and stored away the previous day. So now you know where the craving for Spinach Mushroom Pasta came from?! :D

Such simple preparations at times when you do have some extra time, come handy when you need to make a quick meal for yourself. So, it took me just 20 minutes to simply put these pre-prepped ingredients together to make this wholesome yummilicious pasta. 

The cheese in this was just an afterthought, else I was going to completely skip it. In fact, I am sure it would taste just fine even without it... but then what is pasta without a little cheese right? :) 

Go-green Pasta

It is a real delight to see something that you have imagined up in your head to turn out so perfect and good to eat. This makes you want to go again and experiment some more. This is exactly what is happening to me currently. I am in that experimental frenzy when it comes to Pasta. 

After my successful attempt at bringing to the table an unusual pairing in Pumpkin and Spinach Pasta I have been itching to try out another innovative pasta. And having made a Red, White and an Yellow Pasta... I wanted to Go-green! :P

So when Farah asked me to do a guest post for her, I did not have to think too much to decide what am going to make for her :D 

Yay! My first guest post! And when it’s for a good blogger friend, it’s even more delightful!! :D I have known Farah for a few months now, and her posts are something I wait for! Her delicious recipes and witty comments make me smile every time I am at her page :) Glad to do a guest post for u Farah…. Here goes!

I checked my fridge to see what I have in hand to get a green sauce. Spinach! Oh yes, that would give me a rich green sauce. Then just to add some flavour, I chose to team it up with some green peas too. 

So with my base as a healthy Spinach and Green Peas sauce... and an interesting combination of Broccoli, Capsicum and Baby corn as the veggies to accompany my pasta, I took off and created this Pasta in Green Sauce :) Again... a must try for a pasta lover! 

You can also hope on to Farah's Page, be here guest and read this post there and also check her space for her other goodies! :)

Pumpkin and Spinach Pasta

Yesterday was one of those lovely days when I imagine and dish in my head and then dish it out to match it perfectly... to my greatest satisfaction! :) Until yesterday, I wouldn't have thought of combining Pumpkins and Spinach with Pasta! But voila... here it is... and trust me, its simply yum yum! :) Unique was the taste as the combination of ingredients are uncommon and truly nutritious.

Ah.. am trying hard not to brag, but I must say.. this is one of the best pastas i have had! :) Finger licking in the true sense, as I did wipe out the last traces of it from the pan :D Oh, and did I mention this pasta uses very little cheese!!? So yes, here is a pasta that is healthy, fun to make and absolutely YUM! :) A must try for any pasta lover... :)

Pasta in White Sauce

All our orders at Dominos, by default had a Pasta in White Sauce. It is our favorite. Its mild flavors make it delectable and light on the stomach. I have made Pasta in Red Sauce quite a few times and have been wanting to try my hand at Pasta in White Sauce.

After reading up a few recipes online and taking ideas from each, I created my own recipe and voila... I got a bowl full of Pasta in White Sauce ready for us to indulge in. It was yum! Maybe a little extra sauce could have been yummier. However, this is one dish, that is going to be repeated time and again at our home :)

Pasta in Red Sauce

Ingredients:
Macaroni - 2 cups
Onion - 1 big (sliced finely)
Tomato - 1 big (chopped)

Baby Corn - 8 nos (cut into one inch pieces)

Cauliflower - 10 to 12 (inch sized florets)

Capsicum - 1 big (sliced length-wise intho thin strips)
Red and Yellow Capsicum - 1/2 each (sliced length-wise intho thin strips)
Red Chilli Sauce - 1 tblsp
Green Chilli Sauce - 1 tblps
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Cheese - 2 cubes (grated)
Pasta Mix Powder - 4 tsp 
(else you may also use a mix of red chilli flakes, herbs such as basil leaves powder, thyme, rosemary powder)

Method:

• Par boil the cauliflower florets and baby corns in a pan of water with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt. Keep aside
• Gently boil the macaroni in a vessel of water for 5 minutes and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the sliced onions and roast for a while. Add tomatoes and let it roast for a few more minutes.
• Add in the par boiled cauliflower, baby corn and stri fry for a few minutes, then add in the capsicum slices (green, red and yellow).
• Add red chilli sauce, green chilli sauceand the dash of vinegar.
• Add the macaroni and the pasta powder (or the mix of the supplementary ingredients). Mix all the ingredients well.
• Keep it closed and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
• Garnish with grated cheese and keep the lid closed, to let the cheese melt on top of the macaroni! Serve hot!