Demi Lovato - Skyscraper

"Miss Basil"

So with nothing to do with the last month or more I decided to go back to gardening. I used to help my grandfather garden when I was a little girl and then of course I did a lot of it growing up at the house in Clinton. Since the Pops wasn't around too much, I was pretty much in charge of the the landscaping and helping my mom with her vegetable garden.
At the Regency, the soil isn't very good and well its just not worth investing a lot of money in renewing it so I dealt with what I had.
A daily ritual in the scorching July-August heat was to water the plants for an hour every night.
The roses finally came into full bloom about 10 days ago as the weather started cooling down post-Irene.
The basil photo is after its 3rd harvest. I used all of it for pesto and just froze it. I think the last harvest I will try to dry it.
And the ardvi/taro/patra took the most energy out of me. Pre-Irene and all the rain, it took me a total of 6 hours to make moats around all of the plants. They need A LOT of water--pretty much grow best in South Asia in swampy areas. They took so much time because the soil really really sucks and is more like clay and very tough to deal with. I think that is also why the leaves didn't grow to a larger size and stayed fairly small compared to how large they used to be in Clinton. Irene in a way was good because it provided constant watering for a few days, but with the pressure of the water, the moats/walls around the plants washed down and now the water doesn't hold anymore. =(
Regardless, I had a great time with the water and keeping up with the few plants I had to maintain this summer. It was therapy in a way. Today I just went to ShopRite of their 3 for $10 deal and bought 30 Mums plants. I planted 15 at the Red Mill Inn and will finish planting the remaining 15 at the Regency today. Not really a fan of the Mums--but the Pops loves them for some reason so whatever. I'm also planning on buying the large bags of daffodil and tulip bulbs from Home Depot that I saw today and planting them so they bloom in the Spring.

Pesto Pizza!

This was delicious and very simple! I made it twice in one day!

So I made pesto using any recipe you find online or you can buy it ready made. Whenever I make anything, I ALWAYS modify it to my tastebuds, so sometimes I never really keep track of how I'm modifying it, which is what happened in the case of this pesto unfortunately.

Ingredients:
1 Mama Mary's Thin Crust Pizza Crust
1/4 c. pizza sauce
1/4 c. pesto
1/2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese
Salt to taste
1/2 Fresh Lemon

1. Turn oven on to 350 degrees F. During its pre-heat time, put the crust in the oven.
2. When the oven is done pre-heating, take the crust out. Spread on the pizza sauce.--its not supposed to be too saucy--just a thin layer
3. Spread on the pesto on top of the sauce. It's okay if the two mix.
4. Throw on the cheese and shake on some salt and squeeze on some fresh lemon juice.
5. Bake the pizza until the cheese is melted.

YUMMMMMMM.

Some notes:
When I make my pesto, I freeze it, which means I don't add the Parmesan until I'm ready to use the pesto. However, instead of mixing in the parm, I just sprinkled it on top of the pesto once I spread it onto the pizza but before I threw on the mozzarella cheese.

Shoutout to Saurabh!

Deep Fried Goodness

I was going to say I usually am not a fan of deep friend things, but then I remembered all those appetizers from last year and cheesy fries that I craved every few days. Anywho, I made these as a "wariety" for the Pops for his Chaturmas...and well we all ended up eating them leaving him no left overs for today because they turned out to be just thaaattt good. So if you don't mind opening all your doors and windows to the chilly air outside, I urge you to give these a try.

Deep Fried Cheesy Broccoli, Carrots, Potatoes

I really eyeballed this recipe, so really just give it a whirl and I'm positive it will turn out just as good for you!

Potato Prep:

Wash and peel 2 medium sized yellow or white potatoes. Slice to them ~1/2 cm thickness and leave them to kinda of dry while preparing the rest of the things.

Carrot Prep:

Rinse a handful of the ready peeled carrot sticks. Drop them in a small pot full of water and bring to boil. 

Broccoli Prep:

Wash a handful of broccoli florets and cut the stems off, but keep them long enough that you can hold them by just a pinch. Drop them into the pot with carrots and keep at boil for ~3 minutes.

Drain the boiling water out of pot and immerse carrots and broccoli in an ice water bath for a few minutes. 

Drain cold water and let carrots and broccoli dry on paper towel.

"Kheru" Prep--Kheru is a Guju term. I believe its called "batter" in English, but I learned Guju first so that first term that came to me.

Once again this recipe is farali--but instead of the two farali flours, just substitute all-purpose flour.

• 4 tbl shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 heap tbl yogurt
• 1 serrano pepper--grinded with hand held grinder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 c. Buckwheat flour
• 1.5 c. Rajigira flour
• 1-2 quarts cooking oil heated to about 375 degrees F in pot leaving at least 3" space at top of pot

Mix all this together and then add water to make a semi-smooth (you don't have to break the cheese) batter that has the consistency of pudding (enough to make it stick to the vegetables).

Drop a tiny bit of batter into the oil to see if it is ready--the oil will start to bubble a lot around the batter.

Dip each vegetable into the batter one at a time and place carefully into deep fryer. HOT OIL WILL BURN YOU RIDICULOUSLY! Remove when dark golden brown with a slotted long arm spoon and place on a paper towel on a plate.

Dip in spicy honey mustard dip or squeeze some lemon on and shake some masala on.

"Healthy Frick" Food

So sometimes for my dad's chaturmas, I just throw some things together which I suspect taste good and it apparently does.

I'll call this a "Roasted Zucchini Salad"

Ingredients:
1 Medium Zuccini
1/2 Green Bell Pepper
1.5 c. Purple Cabbage, cut
Dry Italian Seasoning to taste
Salt to taste
Olive Oil
Pepper to taste
1 Fresh Lemon

1. Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees F.
2. Cut the Zuchini into long pieces, about the thickness and length of your forefinger.
3. Cut the bell pepper into pieces, about the size of a dollar coin.
4. Arrange the Zuchini and bell pepper pieces onto a baking sheet. Drizzle on olive oil. Sprinkle on some seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. Squeeze on about a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Bake for about 20 minutes until bell pepper edges start to brown.
5. Add few tablespoons olive oil and saute the purple cabbage until it is half-cooked (you don't want it overly cooked and too floppy). Add seasoning, salt, pepper, and lemon to taste.
6. Toss and serve.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Works Amazingly

This a great workout I found sometime last year I want to say that I do when I'm too lazy to go to the gym but too bored to do anything else at home. I personally do feel the effects but up the weight limit if you don't!--remember women can't bulk like men since they don't have as much testosterone.

New Song I'm Lovin...

Lovesick

by Lindstrom feat Christabelle

Easy Peasy Cheesecake!

I guess I'm in the baking mood =)

Ingredients:
1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust (6oz)
1 16oz Low-Fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese Container, softened
1/2 c. White Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
3 eggs--see note below

1. Pre-heat oven at 325 degrees F. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla. Add the egg substitute and mix just until blended.

2. Pour into crust. Bake 40 minutes (until center is almost set). Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Some notes:
1. To soften the cream cheese, place the container in the microwave on High for 45 seconds. (this is much easier at the same cost of buying the 8 oz packages)
2. Use Splenda if you want to make this treat even healthier.--I'm just not a fan of the Splenda taste.
3. For clean edges on the cheesecake slices, use a sharp knife to cut the chilled cheesecake, wiping the knife blade with a damp cloth between each cut.
4. EGGS-so I obviously used egg replacer--EnerG egg replacer which is 1.5 tsp powder + 2 tbls warm water mixed prior to adding to the recipe.

Spice Cake for Fasting

Yet another Chaturmas-friendly farrari recipe =)
Spice Cake!

Ingredients:
1/2 c. Singoda Flour
1/2 c. Buckwheat Flour
1/2 c. Potato Flour
3/4 c. White Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground AllSpice
1 pinch Ground Black Pepper
_________________________________________________________
1 tbls Honey
1/4 c. Oil
1 tbls Distilled White Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 c. Cold Water

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the first set of ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir together the second set of ingredients in a measuring cup.

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; pour the wet ingredients into the well. Mix the batter together until just blended. Pour the batter into an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Either frost it with vanilla frosting or sprinkle on some confectioners sugar.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Some notes:

When you make the batter, you might have to add some water and oil because the Singoda flour makes it extremely jello-like.

Also, the taste turns out great, however it does not rise as well as normal cake because of the farrari flours and their consistency. I'm sure the eggs have something to do with it too.

Pinwheels!!

so ever since Houston and Kashyup&Tejals wedding more than a few of us have been going gaga for these amazing pinwheel appetizers...so I'm going to make them today--unfortunately can't be lazy ab it because Shivu is not here to help.
So I found a basic recipe for them online and kind of twerked it a bit:
to make 100:

ingredients:
16 oz sour cream
16 cream cheese-softened
2 Serrano chilies-finely chopped
2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 can olives-well drained and finely chopped
1/2 c. green bell pepper-finely chopped
1/2 c. red bell pepper-finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4-5 tsp taco bell mild sauce (swaminarayan safe =D)
10 10" flour tortillas

MIX all the ingredients except tortillas

SPREAD about 2 heap tbls onto each tortilla

ROLL each tortilla individually

WRAP each roll with Saran Wrap
REFRIGERATE rolls for several hours

UNWRAP & CUT into 1/2"-3/4" thick slices discarding the ends

YUMMMMMMMMMM

some notes:
I used low fat cream cheese to make this a little healthier.
The serranos can be quite powerful and spicy even to the touch so if you wear contacts DO NOT CUT them. Instead throw them in a hand grinder!!