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Buffalo Cauliflower

February 17, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Oven Baked or Air Fryed Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are a fun and easy appetizer or snack made with just a few simple ingredients. Fully loaded with all the awesome flavor of chicken wings, these low carb and vegetarian Buffalo Cauliflower Bites have a soft and tender inside and crispy outside.

Buffalo Cauliflower

All the delicious, tangy flavor of buffalo wings without the mess and calories. I’ve never been a huge fan of chicken wings, so this substitution was an easy one. But even all you wing fans out there will love these spicy little buffalo-sauce-covered cauliflower nuggets.

Tossed in your favorite homemade or store-bought buffalo sauce and dipped in creamy Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing, this healthy buffalo cauliflower is a crowd favorite and is always gone in minutes!…

Leeks and Spinach Phyllo Triangles with Feta Sauce

December 26, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

Spanakopita Triangles filled with spinach and three cheeses take your cocktail party from semi-homemade to gourmet. Spinach and feta cheese belong together! These Leeks and Spinach Phyllo Triangles with Feta Sauce taste delicious in this healthy, hearty, and wholesome breakfast wrap!

Friends, you have been very, very good to me. For the past few years, you’ve been stopping by to see me on a regular basis, cooked from the blog and you’ve said some pretty nice things about the contents of my kitchen and my dinner plate.

I can hardly believe it’s the end of December. It’s the time of year we begin planning and looking back on this year, large and small achievements. We start planning our small gatherings. Before we know it, we’ll be gathering in our circles, engaging in every kind of conversation under the sun. We’ll awkwardly small talk with co-worker’s families. We’ll ring in the new year with joyful anticipation.

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Game Day Jalapeno Cheese Chips Crisps

January 24, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of popchips. This is the perfect game day snack – a great-tasting, crunchy, better-for-you option and tasty. Top it cheese and some jalapenos for the extra oomph.

Football season is here! Do you entertain? Go out weekly for games? It is such a tempting time to sit around with friends, drinking and eating all sorts of delicious, yet unhealthy foods. This clean eating game day recipe will be a hit with everyone. while we can always use a solid recipe for wings and probably a few, the snack spread on its own is highly anticipated. Right now, we’re particularly obsessed with the chips and dip portion of the event.

As far as game day dips and chips go, some stand by the more classic tortilla + guac combo, while some go carrot + hummus. With so many options out there—for both chips and dips— I wanted to show a healthy alternative. Popchips….

Instant Paniyaaram with Millets & Vegetables -Tomato Chutney

October 6, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

Gluten-free and vegan, a healthy and tasty snack, this instant paniyaaram only takes about half an hour. Loaded with vegetables, made with millets, and with protein from the peanuts, it makes for an easy and healthy after-school snack or is great for school lunchboxes.

I’d mock my mom when I saw her cook with millets, oats, and whole grains. She’d slyly put a handful of millets in our pongal, or add some oat flour in the roti batter. We never realized healthier ingredients went into our food, but it did. But, every moment dad and I saw her sneak it in, we’d roll our eyes. Yeah… well, here I am living in the very world I lovingly mocked.

Who am I? I can’t believe the day has come that I’ve become my mother. I’m making millets paratha, quinoa pongal, chocolate oatmeal… And, I’m loving it. The family loves it too. Well, maybe not the whole family. The little baby bear will come around, just like I did. Or at least I hope he will 🙄 . He’s got a tongue just like his mumma used to….

Broccoli Cauliflower Goat Cheese Quinoa Patties with Avocada Cream

August 6, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

These crispy, healthy, gluten-free broccoli cauliflower goat cheese quinoa patties are simple and nutritious. If you want, skip the cheese and use vegan cheese to make it fully vegan. These patties are very versatile. You can make them with different vegetables and your choice of cheese. Your meat lover will love it too.

Happy New Week you guys!!

I find it a little challenging to eat healthily while having all the good flavors, with portion control. When summer hits, it’s especially a little hard to maintain a decent lifestyle in terms of food. With the boys home, there’s a little bit of indulgent food, a lot of comfort food, and in between, I try to squeeze in some healthy food too….

Spicy Yogurt Chicken with Cucumber Mint Chutney

June 28, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

This Simple Grilled Spicy Yogurt Chicken Recipe has a few ingredients in the marinade that makes it juicy, flavorful and absolutely delicious. It’s the best grilled chicken I’ve made. You’ll make this recipe again and again!

And just like that summer is here. Summers in Cali can be really harsh, but the evenings are like a dream.

People who are not from here love to talk about Mark Twain’s quote that goes “the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.” As September and October roll around, while they get trapped in their homes due to polar vortexes and hurricanes we’re sitting in cotton shorts and T-shirts, hiking and going to the city in a thin sweater. And that right there, that pretty much sums up why Indian summers* in SF are better than all other summers….

Best Indian Style Chicken Nachos – how to construct the perfect Nachos

January 30, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

The BEST Indian style chicken nachos ever!!!! The thin crisp corn chips with the spicy chicken mince, its so so good. And it’s all in one single pan. MINIMAL CLEAN UP! YES!!!! Hit in all parties!!

I sit here, a fully shot and styled post staring at me and I am blank. I’ve made these Indian style nachos for years now, but how am I not finding the words to describe a dish that disappears in minutes of getting to the table.

It’s one of my best back-pocket meals, the chicken mince. One I can make on short notice, assuming that I can get my hands on the freshest mince from my butcher. It’s one of the things I get asked plenty of times:”can you share your Indian style nachos”. It’s one of those recipes that missed getting into my book MASALA AND MEATBALLS, it sure gave a tough fight with hush puppies:)….

Stir fry Tofu with Pepper Wraps -15 minute recipe

January 4, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

This easy stir fry tofu peppers is a healthy balanced meal. Eat it on some noodles, or wrap it in lettuce! A good gluten-free and healthy vegetarian meal.

Tofu Love

I remember the first time I tried tofu. It was in a soup, and it felt slimy… too soft and quite bland. I unfortunately couldn’t be trendy and like it. Then again, I’m a little picky with trying different foods, and it has to be really good for me to like it. However, I never waste; I will always eat it up. It took me the longest to fall in love with tofu. Only a few years ago, I figured out the secret to perfect tofu before stir-frying….

Twice Baked Potato with Pepper Jack-Cauliflower-Peas Stuffing (Indian style)

November 14, 2017 By Asha Shivakumar

A perfect snack, side or a light lunch. These twice baked potatoes are stuffed with a spicy cauliflower peas stir fry that’s mixed in with pepper jack and wild rice. It makes for an amazing Thanksgiving side, as well as a light, delicious lunch.

It’s okay to be an Idealist, I guess!!

Maybe you’ve been called a dreamer your whole life—by others and by yourself. Are you the person spending half your time envisioning what you’d love and want to do or be?

I see some of you nod in agreement. I also see my parents shake their head side to side and saying, “That’s not reality, step down my dear…”

Trying to bridge the two worlds, the practical and the reality, is a dreamer’s challenge….

Lentils Masala Mint Fritters/Masala Vada

April 25, 2017 By Asha Shivakumar

Masala Vada, or Masala mint fritters, are a famous snack in South India. It looks and tastes a little like falafel. It’s crunchy, and loaded with ginger, garlic, and onion. They are versatile and can be minced and stuffed into tacos, and also mixed in curries. Served with chutney at coffee time, it’s so good.

The sounds of running water and rushed preparations start in the wee hours of the morning. I lie in my bed for that wake up call. I don’t hear it, so my face digs itself more into my hard pillow. I hear a complain from dad, to my mum… “Why don’t you wake her up? It is a festival day.” Of course, mum ignoring his complaints.

My room was right next to the kitchen, the sounds of the pressure cooker, the occasional drop of a steel glass, all was quite clear. The 3rd whistle is just too much for anyone to handle, and now I’m begining to think that the whistle so early was just a tactic of mum’s without having to wake me up. I very clumsily walk to mum to see what’s going on, and she gives a smile and quietly but sternly asks me to shower and get ready for the pooja. I looked at mom with annoyed eyes, like “Who in their right mind rushes to do pooja?”…