Minty Cauliflower

Hello Sweeties!! July is BBQ month. The basic quest for all vegetarian food lovers is what's there for us in the BBQ feast!!!!! There is Indian cottage cheese/paneer, roasted veggies corn on the cobs. So to add one more interesting item to your grand BBQ menu,. my sister has this Minty cauliflowers for you.

They can be made on the grill. in the oven or on the stove top. They will surely make you love your cauliflower and  push the good old greasy French fries to the side. 

You will need;
1 whole cauliflower tore into florets, wash and drain

Enough oil to lightly coat the florets

Sea Salt to taste

Mint paste

** Make a fine mint paste with mint,cilantro, cumin, garlic and green chilies

Coat the florets with some grape-seed oil, sprinkle salt and cook in a wok on high heat. The florets cook fast so it should take about 5-7 mins. stir continuously to avoid burning Alternatively you can also roast in a pre-heated oven at 400Degress, till the florets start browning.

 After the florets get cook reduce heat, add the mint paste till all florets get evenly coated. Minty Cauliflower is ready to be served.

Methi Thepla

Hello Sweeties!!!! Weather is getting warmer and so are the weekends getting busier. Whenever we travel, I like to carry at least one food item from home. Theplas or parathas are easy to make and can be had on their own.

A famous snack for the state of Gujarat in India, it has sort of become a staple in my home too. I learnt it watching some tv shows. But its very easy to make.

You will need;

2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Fresh Methi Leaves-Washed and chopped fine

1 small Boiled Potato

Salt to taste

1 tsp Red chili/cayenne powder
1 tspn Haldi/Turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 Amchur or dry mango powder
1tsp Sugar
1 tsp Garam masala
3 tbspn yogurt
2 tbspn oil to knead the dough

Water as needed to make the dough soft.

In a wide bowl, take the methi leaves, mashed boiled potato and the dry spices and add salt and sugar, add yogurt and oil and mix well, now start adding the flour and start mixing in the flour.

Add teaspoon by tea spoon water till you have a soft pliable dough. Once  the dough is soft enough, cover  and let rest for 15-20 mins.

After the dough is rested, roll out the theplas like you would make roti's( make small balls  of the dough and roll out thin round tortillas dusting flour if the tortillas stick to the surface). 

Heat a griddle or tawa on medium heat and cook the theplas on one side. Flip the theplas and spray oil and cook the other side. Repeat on side one and cook both sides. Serve hot with some ketchup. or green chutney or any curry of your choice.

They travel well and stay good for 2-3 days.

Celebrating 100,000 hits with sneak peek in my garden

Hello Sweetpeas!!! July 4th Holiday was extra special for me this year, not only did I celebrate it with my beloved friends and family but Indulge reached the milestone 100,000 hits. 

This is very overwhelming for  a modest blog like mine. Its all because of your continued support and  love that Indulge is what it is today!!!

So will keep it simple today and let you enjoy a sneak peek into my garden as a Thank You!!!! As and how summer progresses, I will keep updating pics from my Jasmine, Hibiscus, Peppers, Cabbage, Cucumbers and Tomato plants.
  

Love you all so very much and appreciate the time and efforts you all have spend on Indulge-Ashscorner, from the bottom of my heart.

DIY -Trash to Treasure

Hello Dearies!!Happy Belated Earth day to you!!! Indulge has found a new space and shout out at Radhikas Imprints handmande blog. Yay!!! 

We exchanged  a few gifts when we met as all crafters and bloggers do. I gifted her these frames which I had purchased from IKEA, painted and drew some warli art forms.

Radhikas Imprints  gifted this amazing box to Ms. Ash.

The box was plain wood, which she hand painted and did the traditional rangoli designs. She has promised readers of indulge one such box when she is done with a few more. Since this is all hand work, this does take up a lot of time and effort. 

Thanks Radhika for the awesome gift. If you are interested in  ordering few for your self or as gifts head over to her blog and get in touch with her.


Also on earth day, Donut and Ms. Ash made this junk sculpture for school; Junk Robot.

For the robot we  wrapped a big box with some  leftover golden tissue packing paper, Donut drew the computer on a
scrap white paper. We used empty medicine boxes as legs and coffee cups as hands. The head was an empty yogurt can wrapped in remaining golden tissue paper. The eyes were old coins from some toy.

How did you celebrate Earth day?? did you resolve to re-cycle, re-use or did you plant a tree/shrub or plant? Do one of these or more on your part in keeping the earth for the future generations.

Valentine Roses- in new Avatar-DIY Rose Water.

Hello Dearies!!! V day is long gone and the roses are wilted by now, But what about the sentiments that go along with the V day gifting, have they also wilted like the roses. I get 3 roses every V day, and I gift a cake in return., That is set in Ashland. 

We do not budge with the whole spending and breaking the budget over overpriced emotions and things expressing love on one day!!! I visited the regular grocery store one day before Feb 14th, and was amazed to see people, all ages, young big, old buying stuff that was either red, heart shaped and over priced. Please do not get me wrong, but I fail to understand the hype behind showing love on one day and fighting the remainder of the year. 

A regular dozen rose bunch was priced at $50, normally it is for $15-$20. As not to dampen the spirit of showing Mommy a little love, I set the budget to $10 on roses and around $10 for the cake. I am not cheap in gifting, where I need to spend I surely do, but the hype behind some holidays conveys wrong message to kids is what I feel. I may be wrong, but then I am what I am!!!!

I did bake a boxed mix cake and  piped some rosettes with my loved whipped cream pudding icing.

 But the star for the day is DIY Rose water. While growing up, having rose water  at home was a regular thing. My mom used it in sweets, in bath water and even applied on her face to cool off in summer. Rose water is  a natural toner and very useful as a medicine and beauty product.

I have been reading a lot about wellness and using herbs and pantry items to create different skin care lotions. I plan on making a glycerin and  rose water potion to reduce dryness and anti skin aging for the spring months when my skin tends to get very dry and  develops dry patches. Keep reading this space for more on that.

I use the three wilted roses that Mr. Ash and kids brought for me on the V day. There is something about V day roses, they are more fragrant than the regular ones. But come June and my home grown tube roses would also be just as good. Making rose water is as easy as  boiling water.

I refereed to this website for making the rose water but seeping for 3-4 hours was not for me. So instead I boiled the petals with water and cooled it; I got a beautiful colored rose water in less than 30 minutes. The kitchen smelled like a rose valley, which was an added bonus.

You will need;
3 Roses- I had 2 red and 1 white- Pesticide free and if possible organic.
1 cup cold water 

Wash and rinse the petals of the roses. In a pot, take the washed petals, immerse in the cold water. You do not need a lot of water, just till the petals soak. Boil on low heat till the water boils and the petals give away most of its color. Mine took about 10-15 minutes.

Once you achieve the desired color, turn off the heat, and let cool for another 15 minutes. Strain and use the liquid. The rose water can be stored in a food save bottle in the fridge for about 10 days. Put it in a spray bottle and  freshen up dull skin or add in the bath water to experience a Cleopatra style bath. Whatever you decide to do, do let me know how you did it and how it helped you.

Save the earth-Round up Part II

Today I introduce another Green blogger, who is decorating her new home in USA with some paper and scrap and even boxes that find their way into our homes. She is a true champion of bring trash to treasure via simple useful items

I birng to you Radhika of Imprintshandmade. A crafter, blogger and a dear friend, who instantly agreed to contribute to my event.

Few Examples of what R is doing and small projects she has  created;

Cereal Box organizer - inspired by Ashwini Deshpande:);
 

 I used gift wrapping paper for this, besides glue and scissors. I cut the box into a container - high on one side and lower on the other, similar to file organizer boxes that you find in stores. I then glued the wrapping paper according to size, into the container. Lastly, I labelled this (not visible in the pictures) and now I use it to store non-prescription medicines.

Salt-box holder;

 This needs a craft knife, pre-punched flower shapes or shapes of your choice (I used postal mail covers that could have got trashed). I removed the lid part of it using the craft knife, removed the brand label and stuck up the pre-punched flowers. I then painted the white bottom which gets dirty from use, with white paint, and also to touch up the cardboard. A coat of Mod Podge was enough to finish it. I use such boxes to store brushes, pens and even as table top trash bins.

Bookmarks;

For the rangoli and Chittara bookmarks, I used cardboard from things we bought at grocery stores. We need to sandpaper the glossy sides of these card boxes that we cut up. Next, it is about sticking card stock or thick color papers to these cardboard's that you must cut to approximate sizes of bookmarks. Next, use white paint for the designs, and then touch up with a brush pen or marker that is darker in shade than the cardboard color. Also, use these markers to color the thickness for a neat look.

I used a similar procedure for kiddy costume bookmarks. For this though, I used pictures of kids in costumes that came in through the ad-fliers or coupon mail stash during Halloween season.

For the postal cover bookmarks, I substituted colored card stock with the inside of postal covers that arrive in my mail box. I used a typewriter rubber stamp and another rubber stamp besides distress ink for a grunge look.

Hope you like these new blogs that I introduced and all the things that you can imagine in your dreams to do with all the trash that we throw out as garbage.

Save the Earth-Event round up -Part I

Pic Courtsey--Internet

 Hello Sweeties!! If you recall, the event Save the earth which was initiated by me, had  response from two of my good friends. Manasi and Radhika. They each had  their 2-3 cents to share with us.

This input has been from my dear friend, a Cook@Heart. 
So over to you Manasi;

I also want to send this post to Ashwini and her event Save the Earth, which focuses on reducing wastage, reusing material around the house and recycling stuff and lead a greener life.
 
While I am no expert or even any authority on this matter, I do some things in my day to day life and take a small step to lead a greener life.
 
I am sure you all do the same, but if you do things differently ( I am sure many of you do) Please feel free to share your ideas in the comment section.

I make it a point to switch off the lights and fan when exiting the room. This is an old idea and we all know about it, but consider this, the next time you forget to switch off the lights, there are people today who do not have any or regular electricity. Look no further than New York, Sandy has disrupted their life! It is Fall and the temperature dips to low, on such cold days and colder nights, people are without power, no heat, no hot water! Old folks and young children are suffering.

Use water carefully. I do not mean be stingy, but little things help. Do not leave the faucet running when you are brushing your teeth or when cleaning up in the kitchen after a cooking session.
 
My Father always reminded me when brushing my teeth. He told me of the hardships he had faced when young and living in Bijapur, Karnataka. Of the times when summer was intolerable and water scarce. 
 
I am thankful that I never had to face these hardships but that does not mean I misuse the privileges either.

When out shopping use your own cloth shopping bag. This is not a new fad. I have seen my Grandmother following this rule since my childhood and so has my Mother! On my last visit to India, I got back my old bag, stuffed with goodies ( it can take a lot of weight!)

 

These are very convenient and fold up too! Such a small pouch in your purse! You can buy one, like this, tough I am not sure if they have the fold-away-pouch, for $1 at the grocery store. Every store carries them!

The other thing I used to do ( sadly, in the past tense) was use yogurt containers to store my beans, sugar, tea etc in the pantry. but after a while it became a problem- Out of sight, out of mind! Since these containers are not transparent, I could not see the contents and many a times, I would neglect some containers and have also ended up buying extra beans thinking I had none. So now, I use these containers as seed starters!

When I go out, I carry my own bottle of water, the reusable one I have at home.

We have, in the past, moved a lot. new apartments, new city, new state. I save my U-Haul boxes and re-use them. These are very sturdy and last up to 4 uses! Open them and lay them flat and store, they do not take up any space!

I store my comforters, woolens in Space Bags saving space and clothes also remain fresh. This is no big deal and many of you may not consider it going green, but IMHO, once I remove these woolens from the bag, they are fresh, do not smell at all and no need to wash them!

We use space heaters instead of using the furnace during fall, as and when needed. Dallas is not a cold place and small space heaters work well, saving electricity and heating the required space instead of an entire apartment when we use just 1 or 2 rooms at most. Of course as winter sets in, we do not hold back, we switch on the heat.

I try to use household items in cleaning as much as I can, for example baking soda, lemon, vinegar are efficient cleansers, not to mention pure and green! Google to find a cleaning solution that suits your purpose.

Carpool when possible.

On a lighter note, I do not iron my clothes until absolutely necessary! The husband calls it being lazy to boot, I call it energy conservation!

Some more steps I plan on taking:

We have a lot of old clothes, the good ones go into the donation box. The ones which are not good or torn and frayed will be used as cleaning cloths, in the kitchen. To wipe down counter-tops, appliances.

Compost (a dear friend has recently installed a small composter in her yard and I plan on contributing to it.

Wow, I am impressed Manasi at all the things you do. Hope all of us will be just as efficient in taking this small step ahead!!!

Save the Earth-RRR and Some DIY from scrap paper and boxes.-Part 1

Hello Dearies!!! Its sad days here in Ashland. We have been deeply affected and hit by a  Super storm Sandy. The  DNA of New York City is its  public transport system, Its Subway system, which is not in operation for over 5 days now. IT is a great loss of life and property and wish that it simply ends in some ways. Our area is also hit but not as greatly affected, am not sure if its coz of the less number of trees or being away from the sea that has saved us. Although power outages and  cold homes, Gods grace is upon us, and I am counting his small mercies amidst this chaos as we pull ourselves out of this disaster.

I have been meaning on doing a post of the things that I as an active citizen has been doing to reuse, recycle and re-purpose to save our earth and try eliminate plastic things filling our landfills, that take years and years to decompose and affect global warming. If we are able to do a few things like use plastic bottles, re use old canisters to store lentils, rice and other dry ingredients in our pantries, we can save  huge amounts of $$ and also save our planet. Instead of opening new disposable bottles of water each time, we can use filtered water from home in reusable bottle which are safe and BPA free. I am sharing a few of the ideas that we are using at our home. There will be constant additions as I make my home go greener. Some of the things we are serious about are;

Old muffin Trays used as herb planters

Empty Cereal boxes as paper holders/magazine holders

Bookmarks from old greeting holiday cards

Bookmarks from old greeting holiday cards

Diwali Diyas made with candle votives and Pista shells

These are a few, I will be uploading pictures of the pantry, using microfiber towels eliminating swiffer pads, and making cotton vegetable bags from old cotton towels/sheets in Part 2 of the series. 

I invite all my readers to the my first ever event "How do you stay Green in your Home?".

Do a blog post of what measures you undertake and ways you reuse the plastic things like bottles, etc in your home. IT maybe anything small or big, just jot it down, we might start a new green cycle here itself, we never know. Once you publish that blog post, send the link and one picture to the email listed;Non bloggers who want to participate, send me a picture and a brief paragraph of what you have been doing at your home and I will include that in the list.

Please send me your posts in helping us all in trying and learning to make the planet greener doing our bit one step at  a time. I hope to see a  positive response in this initiative. Please send your entries to indulgeashscorner@gmail.com

I will do  a separate post based on the entries received around new years as new beginnings and new resolutions to stay greener.