Recipe Time: Anyone can cook

Hey guys... I am back... with my 2nd guest post...



Remember me...

"Mr" Ratatouille said "Anyone can cook" and I took it to the heart... actually I do love cooking...
So this weekend we had our friends over... Geetu and Shaveen.... We were watching movies... It was women's day and the girls declared that the men are cooking and they are not going to do anything... We were not allowed to order to go or delivery.... :(

So Shaveen and I put my chef hats on... And came up with this brilliant idea... Lets make Hawaiian burger and pair it with a nice bottle of red...

So we made these vegetarian Hawaiian burger....

Serves 6
Ingredients:
8 Sesame Hamburger buns
1 large potato (peeled and diced into cubes)
1/2 cup diced onions
1 cup kidney beans
1/2 cup bell peppers (cut and diced as fine as you can)
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup diced green beans
6 slices of pineapple rings or 4 pineapple spears
Honey BBQ Sauce
Salt to taste
Seasoning to taste (I used Onion Garlic and Tomato Basil)
Oregano

Preparation:
In a pan sprayed with olive oil, put all the vegetables (potatoes, peppers, carrots, green beans and onion) along with kidney beans on medium flame. Add some salt so the natural water in the vegetables gets extracted. Once you start seeing some water in the pan, turn the flame to low and cover the pan. Keep stirring the vegetables every 5 minutes. After about 20 - 25 minutes of slow cooking the steam will cook all the vegetables and make them really soft. You should be able to mash a potato cube with your spatula without any effort.

Once your vegetables are ready, mash them with your spatula or a masher. Take 2 hamburger buns and shred them (alt: you can use bread crumbs but prefer shredding the buns itself). Mix these crumbs with vegetable mix and add seasoning to taste.
Refrigerate it for 15 minutes which binds the mix. You patty mix is ready.

Create patties with this mix (may I suggest using a slightly wet hand so that they bind together properly) and cook them on a flat pan for a minute or two on both sides.

Serve the patty on the bun, add a slice of pineapple and top it with the honey BBQ sauce.

 

We enjoyed it with a nice red. However you could also pair it with a nice Moscato. We got ours from Napa valley... Remember our Valentines surprise trip (Link)

Me and my friends loved this recipe so give it a shot and I hope you like it :)
Let me know how it goes....

Diwali - festival of lights!!!

Diwali is one of the biggest festivals celebrated throughout the country in India... With people wearing beautiful clothes, houses lit with diyas and candles, rangolis at the entrance of the house and the festive - jolly atmosphere!! Although I miss being in India at this time.. I decided to create the same atmosphere here in India by throwing a diwali party....

We decided to have a potluck as everyone makes yummy dishes on diwali and we thought it would be the perfect way to taste them....

Did not have Rangoli colors.. so made it with flour!!

                                             

It was a whole lot of fun.. I too lit my " tea-lights" , made rangoli.. Decorated my cute little apartment with flowers and lights.. And thus the mood was set...
         

Bought Flowers to decorate my home!!

                                       


We did our pooja.. As we do every year...

Pooja ki thali!

 And then started on with our party as friends starting coming in...

We sat and chatted, played games, laughed, took pictures.. ate yummy food!!

Chatting, laughing and enjoying with friends!!

                 

Me with first prepared platter of appetizers!! Please ignore the mess in the background.. preparations in order!!

We did light "fooljhadi" ... Which Yuthika brought.. Hank you so much girl!! That was the only thing missing.. As back in India you would hear the sound of firecrackers all around at night and the sky is all sparkling with it.. But this little thing is the one that does not make any noise but fulfills the purpose of firecrackers!!!!

Fooljhadiyan!!! yay!!!

Hubby made this face.. "My fooljhadi is coming to an end"

I hope the pictures would do justice...

Thanks to Yuthika-Barun, Nisha, Priyank, Ajay-Sneha for making this Diwali a memorable one and Himani we missed you a lot!!!!

P.S. Next up : Book Review..

What do you do?

What do you do when you have an extended "ME" time.. with no work to be done..
When your hubby calls you to tell that he's gonna be late from work and probably be eating out...

1. Hit the gym.. Bike for 6 miles.. Feel good about yourself!!

Sorry for the bad pictures.. Taken by my phone while I was still paddling!!

2. Have a nice long shower!!

3. Put on your favorite music and pamper your skin!!

I really like the fragrance it has and Yes, these are the Birchbox Headphones.. I Love the color!!

4. Pump up the music, cook a yummy dinner for yourself while singing your favorite song on the top of your voice!!

Yummiest Dinner.. It's South Indian Utthapam.. Rice Floor Pancakes!!

5. Sit in front on the TV to browse that Netflix instant queue that you have been meaning to for a long time now.. find that there is nothing to watch without hubby (missing him)

6. Pick up your ipad.. enjoy reading some fantastic blogs ; that you missed...

7. Get a call from hubby, telling you he got free early and will be home soon... SMILE !! :)

So, how would you like to spend an extra hour or so of your "EXTENDED ME" time???

When hubby got home.. we went to visit our friends and had a lovely time!! :) :)

P.S. : Next up : New Outfit post!! :)

Weekend Edition - II

Monday is here... and I hope all of you had an amazing weekend cause I know i did!! This Monday is special for me too cause it marks the beginning of a fun filled month to come as my brother is coming to stay with us!! Yay!! that means.. more outings, more BBQ's, more trips to the mall (don't know whether he'll be interested but a gal can dream, right!!), more movies, more game nights and overall A LOT MORE FUN!!

As for the weekend, Saturday morning started with a run around the lake, the weather was perfect and I had the company of my hubby and my friend....

Mr. Duck wandered in our way!! So cute!! :)

Healthy and yummy breakfast!!

Later that day we went to see an art chalk festival in Pasadena,Suggested by our dear friends Margaret and Steve, they are the sweetest people we know!! Always looking out for us and suggesting us new places to visit.. Thank you so much!!! :)
There are so many talented people out there.. the talent was overflowing there.. people were painting and drawing on the pavements and ground there alongside a beautiful mall and shops.. there was a concert going on, there were contests, vintage items stalls, jewelry stalls and what nots..

Favorite 1

Favorite 2

Favorite 3.. It's Van Gogh's starry night!! I've been meaning to make this one for a long time now!!

We had a perfect burger dinner at ISLANDS but before that I bought a new pair of shoes from the largest DSW I had seen in the past 1 and a half year of my stay in the US..

Outfit post for this look coming soon!!

Steamed veggies instead of fries!!

A midnight sugar fix at Yogurt-land!!

My go to place for dessert!!

On Sunday, we spent the day at the mall, I am glad hubby bought something for himself and i was not the only one drooling at every new style in the window of the shops, there were some really good sales going on and couldn't help myself and bought a few things myself (guilty)..

Hubby's shopping.. he's entering the NEON world!!

Evening Swim and Jacuzzi Session... Divine Feeling

If you don't know how to swim .. Summer's are here.. The perfect time to learn.. There is no age limit for learning.. just go for it!! Trust me you'll love it!!


Now for the FabFitfun Challenge

Day 12 : Lettuce alone

Day 13 : Blend it

I know this post has an photo overload!! But there was so much to be shared with you guys!!! :)

My new InFb VIBGYOR challenge winner badge is in the sidebar.. don't forget to check it out on 24th June on infb.com