Mexican Rice Lettuce Wrap--HB We turn Six!!!

Hello Sweeties!!!! Today is a big day for us. We turn 5 today. Wow.. time just flies. 6 years, I am still going on slowly and not so steadily. I so badly wish that I could post like a recipe a day, but growing kids and growing commitment have slowed down my pace with posting. I am still happy to not have totally abandoned my baby who turns 6 today. It was a snowy day when I started this blog and it has kept me warm and fuzzy with your love and wishes.

This is the time when I want to thank all my well wishers, readers, family and friends who have been the spine behind Indulge. Their time, efforts and constant words of encouragement is what is adding fuel to my passion of blogging.

Keeping up with my resolve to eat clean and healthy, we have been regular at Chipotle. The kids eat well and that makes me a happy mom. They don't fancy sour cream, and avocado so half the things that make the burrito interesting are missing from their plates. So to please them and add the spice to the otherwise bland Chipotle, we spiced it up at home.

You will need;
Fresh washed Lettuce leaves
1 cup boiled corn
1/4 cup small diced red pepper
1 cup Black beans
1 tbspn Taco seasoning 
Hot Sauce-as per taste
Store Brought Salsa
2 cups Lime Cilantro rice
* Take warm boiled rice, add 1tbsp butter, salt to taste,  2tbspn chopped cilantro and  juice of 1 lime., mix well and lime cilantro rice is ready.

Mix the boiled corn kernels and the peppers and add in the taco seasoning, salt and hot sauce and keep aside. Empty the can of black beans and drain and wash the liquids, add some salt to it and keep it aside. I add some Taco seasoning to the beans as well.

In a bowl take the corn salad, add in the rice, black beans and the hot sauce, mix well. On a lettuce leaf take some of this rice mixture and fold the leaf to form a bowl and munch on. No plates required to set up, wash and dry. This is PFChang meets Chipotle kind of a dish, makes my kids and tummy equally happy.

Herbed Croutons

Hello dearies... how is the summer heat and sun treating you all. Our summer has been the usual kind so far, weekends getting busier than the regular weekdays. June was a birthday month where I had been to a minimum of 3 birthdays so far...June is again special for me as My birthday and wedding anniversary is also in this month.

I am trying to get my kids in the kitchen to learn the basics of food and getting used to the idea that even if something fails, it need not see the garbage can, you can still try to save it and make something new from it. Since my idea of making home made pav/rools failed and flopped big time, I had a full batch of rolls/pav on hand which had baked well and tasted even better, but the whole softness and  the melt in your mouth was missing. I followed the recipe to the T, yet it sank my ship. so out of that disaster, these croutons were born. Here in Ashland , we enjoy croutons like  a snack, topped with melted cheese, on salads, or in soups. The recipe as such is very simple, either use store brought bread slices, stale or day old bread works better than soft fresh ones. I made these croutons with  my failed recipe of whole wheat pav/rolls.
 
You will need;
any amount of leftover bread, diced into big cubes
oil enough to coat them
Herbs like black pepper, rosemary, sage and Salt to taste

** YAY!!. the herbs are from my kitchen garden.

***You can  use the garlic rolls, instead of the bread.

I went ahead with simple, dicing the bread, coating with oil, salt and herbs. Spread it on a cookie sheet. Crank the oven to a good 400 degree F, and roast the croutons. Watch them like a hawk as they burn so easily. Turn off the oven just when they change color to a pale brown( I used wheat flour for my bread). IF using any white bread, turn off when it starts getting toasted. Let it stay in the oven for 2-3 mins more and then remove and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled enjoy them in salads, or soups. or if are like us, snack on them.

Beetroot Raita/Beetroot in Yogurt Dip/Beetachi Koshimbir

Welcome to the wonderful world of beets. I am sorry my dear beet, that I did not like your shabby appearance and poor tail when I was growing up. I am also sorry that when stared at you for long I thought of you as a small mouse waiting to be thrown out of the window. I also did not like the stains you gave my shirt with your brilliant magenta color. I disliked you so much that I vowed that the day I have my own kitchen and liberty to make my rules you would be exiled from my land. I apologize for the thoughts, but I was immature then.Now that I have grown up, I am much more mature than I was. I took time to  listen to you, look beyond the appearance and appreciate the goodness in your little body. Now that I have come to love you, promise me to be with me and not leave my land and be a friend foreever.

I use beets in pavbahji, cutlets, parathas and now even will make a  cake with it. I am in love with you, Mr. Beet. ( also Mr. Ash and my munchkins.) But my affair with beets is totally on a separate page. I try to eat beets at least twice  a week, to get nice color to my blood and also my cheeks, well..that's what my momma told me. How do you eat your beets??

Prep time; 5 mins if you have boiled  OR canned beets
Serves 2

You will need;
1/2 cup boiled beet- diced
1 cup yogurt beaten well
salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish

Tempering;
1 tsp ghee/clarified butter
1 medium hot green chili
pinch of hing/Aesafodita

In a bowl, take the diced boiled beets, and add yogurt. mix and keep aside. In a small pot, heat the ghee and add the chili and hing. Let it splutter for 2 secs and aroma fill the air. Pour this over the beet-yogurt mix. Add salt and mix well. Garnish with cilantro. This is an easy raita and dip that goes well with rice/phulka/ roti or just as is.

Radish Salad--Khamang Mulyachi Koshimbir and an Award

I am trying to include some raw vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, radish, beets and some other crunchy veggies in our daily diet. As you know by now, I am the queen of disguising veggies in our food. My mom made this salad at least three times a week, that I stopped making it after marriage. The thought of radish gave me a weird taste in my mouth. But things change with age, I now enjoy eating this as is or with phulka.

You will need;
1 cup grated radish
1 medium green chili
cilantro to garnish
1 tbspn roasted peanut powder
salt and sugar to taste
1 tspn lime juice

Tadka-optional
1 tspn ghee/clarified butter
1 tsp jeera/cumin
1 pinch hing

In a bowl, mix h grated radish with the peanut powder, salt, sugar, cilantro and lime juice and mix, In a small wok/pot/kadhai heat the ghee, splutter the jeera and then add the green chili and the hing. Take it off the heat and mix it with the radish mixture. the salad/koshimbir is done. Adding the tadka is completely optional, but add it as there is a noticeable difference in the taste after adding it. Please use ghee for the tadka. the taste will be different with you replace ghee with oil for the tadka.

We love making such koshimbir/salad with grated carrot or cabbage also. Add a salad to you meal now on. make this your new year resolution.

I am sending this to Color Palette, Kids Delight and Healthy and hearty events happening in the blogland.

Now this brings me back to the award. Gauri of Pasta and Paratha   and Aparna of Square meals shared a Happy Blogger award with me. This surely makes me extra Happy and so far 2012 is looking promising for all. To make everyone Happy, I am sharing this award with one and all. whoever likes to collect it, drop me an email and will send it over to you. Happy Blogging and sharing.