I can eat Nutella by the spoonfuls & finish an entire jar :-) So, before it would disappear just like that yet again, I made these beautiful truffles out of them.

Guess what I added?? Crushed Chocolate Chip Cookies & Cornflakes ..  And, they turned out super crunchy & was very light. They are super easy to make & hard to mess up :) So they make very nice gifts too

I made these on a whim & I was very happy with the results. So, this recipe is definitely a keeper .. They are so easy that even your 6 year olds can help you make these

Sia's Monsoon Spice has been around for a long long time, much before my blog came into existance. Monsoon Spice was one of the first blogs I was hooked to during my pre blogging days & I love her recipes. They are simple, full of yummy spices and they exude so much warmth.

And, I am thrilled to be doing a guest post on Sia's blog .. She has such a wide array of recipes that it took me a while to choose & I finally settled for some yummy Farfalle Pasta soaked in the goodness of Roasted Mushroom Sauce.

So Hop on to Monsoon Spice & have fun .. And, Thanks Sia for the opportunity

There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of Soup on a cold winter night. Throw in some pasta along with it & it makes a hearty meal. I had some leftover Penne Pasta from the previous day & it was made into this really delicious  soup with roasted bell peppers, tomatoes & basil .. 

For a South Indian, nothing beats the comfort of some home made piping hot Rasam .. All South Indian states have different ways of making the basic Tomato Rasam .. Being from Karnataka, the Rasam that we make at home is from the Mysore region & we call it Saaru but its better as Mysore Rasam all over the world ..

A true blue South Indian makes Rasam Powder at home, but if you live in the South, you will have the luxury of buying good quality Rasam powder from stores as well. There are small little shops in most South Indian cities, that sell very good Rasam Powder that tastes as good as home made ones, you can also use MTR (NOT any other brand ) Rasam powder to get good results.

My Ajji (maternal grandmother) & my Amma make the Rasam powder so much ease .. so with their help, I will do a post on Homemade Rasam Powder soon :-)

NOTE:

Chaat, in Hindi literally means 'To Lick'. Traditionally these roadside snacks were served on a leaf and it was so tongue-tickling that one could not resist licking the last morsels from the leaf before discarding it, thereby giving a descriptive name to the cuisine. And truly, Chaat tastes best when had on the roadside.

I & Shankar both love chaat. Our weekends are never complete without our regular visit to the local Chaat Wallah. The ChaatWallah across our street makes a lovely Chaat with Mung Sprouts. Its lip smackingly delicious & healthy as well .. I bought a packet of mixed sprouts from the supermarket & made a different version of out favorite Sprouts Chaat

I hope you guys had a cracker of a Diwali .. I wanted to do a post on Indian sweets much before Diwali but then I got really busy with shopping & preparations ..

And, 2 days before the festival, I grated my finger yet another time, & this time it was a pretty bad one. I meant that I couldn't do any major cooking on Diwali, but I managed to make a simple Vermicelli Kheer

I should have ideally posted this on Diwali but this time, I was so much into hand painted Diyas this time, that I didn't want to do a post .. I painted quite a few of them & I loved it ..

Have a look at my Diyas here  .. Lovely isnt't it??

Now the Vermicelli Kheer .. The simplest Indian Dessert .. 

You Will Need:

The kheer will thicken further once it cools down, so keep this in mind & adjust the consistency accordingly. Serve Hot or chilled .. Enjoi !!

For ages, I've been using the readymade Badam Milk powder & I've been quite happy with it .. Until, I had home made Badam Milk at a friend's house & I fell in love with its fresh taste ..  It is quite time consuming to grind almonds each time you may want to drink this, but do make this when your guests come home this Diwali .. They will love it ..

Shankar turned an year older last sunday &amp since it was a holiday; I wanted to bake him a cake with him . But our plans changed the last minute, & we ended up spending the entire day outdoors .. I finally found the time to bake a cake this morning ..  .. A few months ago, I brought a small Banana cake loaf from the local bakery & Shankar loved it as it wasn't overy sweet .. Although terribly late, Banana Walnut Loaf Cake was what I baked for the Birthday Boy ..

I got the recipe from here & it definitely is for keeps.

You Will Need:

Serve warm with some Coffee or serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream by the side & serve as a dessert .. Enjoi !!

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for chocolate chips, I replaced it with walnute instead.
• I also reduced the amount of cocoa powder from 1 tbsp to 1 tsp. We loved the very slight hint of  chocolate

Okay, so I finally made a Quinoa dish , almost 3 months after I bought a packet of Quinoa :)  I had this sudden urge to eat some healthy low calorie food, & Quinoa Upma is what I made for today's lunch

Hope, everyone is having a great time celebratind Dussera. We are having a lovely time, visiting temples, relatives & friends & looking all the lovely dolls on display, at theit homes .. I was wanting to go to Mysore to have the look at the world famous Dasara procession but sadly couldn't make it this year ..

We have been indulging in some lovely traditional home made food ever since the onset of Dasara & this yummy Payasam was made for Durgashtami.

This isn't exactly the traditional Kerala style coconut milk payasam. I love the flavor of coconut milk so it got added along with rice, milk & other ingredients ... I haven't used jaggery either, but it can be used instead of sugar if you wish to