Cashew Dark Chocolate Fudge

This week's theme for blogging marathon is going to be Christmas candies. Christmas is nearing and its going to be much fun here, we love this period of festivity. This year, we will be celebrating Christmas and New year at our friend's place as we are planning for a get together with other friends since a while. Obviously each and everyone are supposed bring some of their home made dishes to make this get together more delicious. Am planning to make some bakes and some starters to carry. Am eagerly waiting for this day, as its going to be some super fun moments to meet few of our friends who were living in South France. Coming to today's post, am kicking starting this week's theme with a simple yet a nutty, rich, chocolatey and dangerously delicious fudge.

Zucchini Tikkis/Zucchini Cakes

Vegetables, whenever we feel like feeding our kids with veggies, most of the kids refuses to take them easily without any fuss. Fussy eaters are seriously very difficult to handle and everyday each mom struggles in their own way to feed their kiddos. Even i crossed all these situations,fortunately i always followed few tricks and tips to include veggies everyday in my kids diets. Now they are grown up, intaking veggies in their diet is quite a routine now. Most of my cooking involves vegetables though we are meatoholic. We get fresh vegetables every week from our farmer's markets without any fail. Some vegetables are seriously versatile and you can make some fabulous fusion dishes with them. My most favourite zero calorie vegetable is always Zucchini. Zucchini is quite an interesting vegetable to dish out any sort of dishes/bakes/cakes with them.

Leek Masal Vada/Leek Channadal Fritters/Leek Paruppu Vadai

Leek is one of the most fabulous vegetable which i never forget to grab whenever they shows their head in our farmer's market. Usually they can be found easily during fall and winter season. French people uses this vegetable for making some creamy or chunky soups out of them. But being an Indian, i do make some delicious Indian dishes out this vegetables. Leek belongs Onions, scallions, chives,garlic, shallots familly, their edible part is their leaves though people calls them as stalk or stem. I came to know about this vegetable once i came to France, seriously i love this vegetable, as they have a subtle flavor personally for me. Earlier my kids are not fans of this vegetables but now they are grown up hence they know very well the nutritional benefits of this vegetable and they just love their bowl of leek soup.

Dhingri Batata Vada/Mushroom Potato Fritter in Appe Pan

Mushrooms, though am a great fan of this edible fungus, my lil one is a complete hater. However i dont forget to feed him with this antioxidant rich mushrooms which is quite low in fat and calorie. I know adding those mushroom chunks with his favourite vegetable, he just cant discard them, hence i opted for our favourite batata vada. Batata vada is quite a popular street food which is quite known for their deep fried outer layer with a delicious potato masala inside. I have made my own twist by adding finely chopped mushrooms to the usual potato masala to dish out some ultimate Mushroom potato fritters. And i opted for Appe pan aka Paniyaram pan just to avoid deep frying.

Vegan Sun-dried Tomatoes & Cashew Dip

Did i told you that i have still some Italian sun-dried tomatoes i carried all the way from Sicile when went for our summer vacation a year back. Back home i have prepared an aromatic oil by heating olive oil along with sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary sprigs. After finishing the sun-dried tomatoes flavoured oil for flavouring pasta dishes and pizzas, those sun dried tomatoes were sitting sadly in the bottle to get finished. When i picked Dip for snacks as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i prepared everything to prepare some dip with those sun dried tomatoes along with a handful of cashews. For my surprise, this dip came out extremely delicious as much as like cashew butter flavored with tomatoes.

Mint Sweet Corn Balls/Pudhina Sweet Corn Kola Urundai

Kola urundai, this deep fried balls are usually prepared with minced meat, but am trying to replicate those meat loaded balls with different vegetables. I have already tried couple of versions of this popular meat loaded kola urundais. Since these deep fried balls are my kid's favourite, i dont forget to make them once a while eventhough am keeping myself away from deepfrying. I have created few of my own kola urundais with varieties of vegetables and ingredients as these balls are just prefect to feed kids easily with vegetables. Though these balls are usually deep fried even you can prepare them as no deep fried balls just by cooking them through paniyaram pan.
Here comes few of own versions of Kola urundais:
1)Soya Chunks Kola Urundai
2)No deep fry Chickpeas kola urundai
3)Broccoli Kola urundai
4)Soya Kheema Cashew Nut Kola Urundai
5)Mushroom Spinach Kola urundai
6)Egg Kola Urundai

Makhana Aloo Tikki/Puffed Lotus Seeds Potato Cutlet

Aloo tikki is a well known Indian street food made especially with potatoes, however many variations and varieties of Aloo tikkis do exists now. A tikki can be shallow fried, pan fried or deep fried depending upon your tastebuds. However my way of frying these tikkis is definitely pan frying as they need less oil than the shallow frying and deep frying. A packet of puffed lotus seeds were sitting in my pantry since a while and i seriously want to finish them before the expiry date. Eventhough those makhana stays prefect intact, i dont want to keep them for a long. Hence i opted for dishing out some delicious tikkis with them.Sending this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight event, guest hosted by Ritu themed on Movie Time Munchies.

Rajma Cheese Cigar Rolls/Cheese Kidney Beans Cigar Rolls

While watching a movie or a Tv show, we always look for something crispy, savory and filling to munch. Obviously my mind will always think about adding some interesting ingredients easily in those munchies.I always love to add beans in most of my dishes, yes beans are rich in proteins, i have some picky eaters who doesnt even touch beans aka legumes in their meal. Hence i love to add beans in most of my dishes and mask them with other ingredients to feed them easily. One among those trials is this cheese loaded kidney beans cigar rolls. The stuffing of this cigar rolls is definitely an interesting one. None noticed the addition of Kidney beans as they mashed nicely and mixed with mashed potatoes and spices. Everyone at home enjoyed thoroughly these crispy fried beauties.
Sending this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight event, guest hosted by Ritu themed on Movie Time Munchies.

Mini Baked Veg Pizza Empanadas

Empanada is a pastry which is either baked or fried depending upon many countries in America and Spain. I love baked versions of Empanadas, and this dish is definitely an excellent munchies to have either for snacks or for a meal when served along with either salads or with a bowl of soup. I have already tried couple of Empanadas, though i have few versions to try. Hence my today's post is an another interesting and kid's friendly empanadas which is baked few days back for our evening snacks. Pizza Empanadas, my kids went crazy when i served them once these empanadas came out of the oven. These tiny cuties vanished very quickly than i imagined.
Sending this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight event, guest hosted by Ritu themed on Movie Time Munchies.

Melon Balls in Orange-Lavender Syrup

Looking for an easy breezy, summer style dessert for your meal or for a get together, i have something to share with you. My today's post is an excellent summer friendly dessert, which is definitely a quick dessert to prepare. Scooping melon balls may take some time but trust me its one of the quite interesting, fruity dessert to relish after a meal. This dessert can be prepared a day earlier, obviously you doesnt need to worry about to prepare these sort of desserts. I opted for an aromatic syrup to serve this melon balls. Once its summer here, you can see lavender plants shows their head in every corner of the streets or in gardens. We have planted some lavender plants in our school garden during spring season . After three months,lavender sprigs are just prefect to harvest to prepare some pot pourri (which is a mixture of dried naturally fragrant plants) or else to use in cooking or baking.

Pineapple Basundi/Single Serve Exotic Basundi

Basundi, this word itself makes me drool, i just love milk based sweets very much. Yes my sweet tooth craves always for some milk sweets. Though we have few Indian sweet shops in Paris, i love to prepare myself those easily available sweets at home. However i love to experiment in my kitchen rather than grabbing some from shops. Coming to my today's single serve desserts, yes my theme for this week's blogging marathon is single serve desserts, i opted for a fruit loaded basundi. Basundi is prepared by reducing milk to half of the quantity.Its quite a fantabulous sweet, one can enjoy this dessert along with some deep fried pooris, actually basundi makes an excellent pair with pooris. However people enjoy basundi chilled as much as like rabdi, an another milk dessert prepared almost like basundi.

Black Chickpeas & Cheese Salad

My family members are great fan of cheese especially in salads. If i want to feed them easily with salads, i dont forget to some cheese cubes, so that they can enjoy both their bowl of salad along with cheese. When i picked Kid's delight Summer salads as theme for this week's blogging marathon i was very much sure about making a salad with cheese. Since i had some cooked black chickpeas in my fridge i couldnt stop myself to adding them while making this easy breezy summer salad for our dinner. Yes its summer here,obviously i dont think more than preparing some easy and healthy salads for our dinner just to avoid cooking after some hectic busy schedules.One among those summer salads is this cheese loaded chickpeas salad with couple of vegetables in it.

Watermelon & Greek Yogurt Salad

You might have noticed that i have been posting Summer friendly salads for this week's blogging marathon which was totally enjoyed and approved by my kids. Yes this week's blogging marathon's theme goes for Kid's friendly - Summer salads. When summer season starts, we look eagerly for Summer fruits especially for mangoes and watermelons. We just love these two fruits very much and we never fail to buy them once they shows their heads in our farmer's market. Watermelon is everyone's favourite summer fruit. Once i picked Summer salads as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i planned myself to dish out a simple salad with watermelon to stick with the theme for this week.

Honey Garlic Sauce/Sweet & Sour Honey Garlic Sauce

If you are looking for a sweet and sour sauce, you should take a look at my today's post. My love for Chinese cuisine pulled me to dish out this easy breezy garlic and ginger loaded sauce. This honey garlic sauce is one the easiest sauce can be prepared with less ingredient in an ease. Usually this sauce is used to dish out some stir fries, however i served this sauce as side for some pan fried tofu slices. Its quite like a dipping sauce for any sort of raw vegetables, grilled meats or pan fried vegetables or else with tofu or paneer. Just dip or drizzle this sauce on the top of your favourite food and enjoy this sweet and sour sauce.

Kobbari Rava Kesari/Rava Coconut Kesari/Coconut Kesari Bhath

Kesari, this Indian semolina pudding have their own place in most of the celebration, festival or else for special occasions. Obviously if i pick an interesting theme like Festival of the month for this week's theme for blogging marathon how can i skip making kesari. I want to showcase Ugadi festival as the festival of this month. Ugadi is New year day of Hindus of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states of India.And this year Ugadi was celebrated on 18th March, though its late to post i couldnt stop myself to post Ugadi special dishes. For the first day of this week's blogging marathon, i couldnt stop myself to post this fantastic Coconut loaded rava kesari for this special occasion.

Sugar Coated Puffed Lotus Seeds/Sweet Makhana

I have tried couple of dishes with puffed lotus seeds aka Makhana, this puffed seeds are seriously interesting to cook. You can make some quick snacks out of them just by pan roasting them with some spices. My today's post is completely a different version of puffed lotus seeds. Sweet version of puffed lotus seeds are great to carry wherever you go, yes they are seriously prefect to pack for travel. If i plan a trip, i dont carry oily foods with us, i do pack quick snacks like oven roasted almonds, cashews or else quick and oil free rice flakes mixture/chivdas or else baked goodies.

Kiwi & Vanilla Icecream Shake

Though climate is too chilled and snowing here, nothing stopped us to enjoy some icecream shake as dessert for our sunday's lunch. This time i prepared a simple, quick icecream shake with my favourite fruit 'Kiwi'. Kiwi, this incredible fruits have their own place in my fruits basket. Few years back, i had some allergic reaction whenever i had this fruit. After following a strict medication now i can able to have this fruit either by combining with other fruits in shakes, smoothies or else by cooking as fruit compote or baking them in cakes or muffins.

Garam Masala Popcorn

A cup of popcorn kernels were sitting in my pantry since a long, obviously when i picked 'just three ingredients' as theme for this week's blogging marathon, the first dish came to my mind is some spicy Indian flavored popcorns with those kernels. And instead of spicing them with chilly powder or just with salt, i opted for garam masala. Easy to make, you need a pressure cooker or else a heavy bottomed pan to prepare easily this dangerously addictive popcorns.

Grilled Cheesy Pizza Sandwich

If you are looking for an easy breezy sandwich to pack in your kid's lunch box or else for an evening snacks, you should check my today's cheesy pizza sandwich. Just with three ingredients, that too with easily available, pantry friendly ingredients you can dish out this cheesy sandwich. To dish out this droolworthy sandwiches, you just need some bread slices, store bought pizza sauce or homemade pizza sauce and grated cheese. How easy na, put evening together and grill the sandwich. If you dont have grilling iron or oven, just toast them in a tawa.

Lychee Pannacotta

Pannacotta is one of the light,creamy dessert to relish after a meal. Its an Italian dessert which calls for cream, gelatin. Sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded makes this luscious dessert 'Pannacotta'. Though gelatin is a must in this dessert, you can replace gelatin with agar-agar/chinagrass. Chinagrass is a vegetarian version of gelatin which is often used in many Asian cuisine. My today's dessert is a gluten free,stylish Italian dessert which is simply flavored with freshly squeezed lychee juice and lychee chunks in it.