We baked a few cookies and cakes this holiday season – chocolate crinkle cookies, snowball cookies, tutti frutti cake, and vanilla cake. I love oatmeal cookies, and how can I miss baking them? These are soft, chewy, and moist cookies; I love them with coffee and tea. I adapted the recipe from the book – “How to be Vegan by Elizabeth Castoria.” I have made these cookies several times with different substitutes and variations, and it has come out well every time....

My kids love cookies, be it almond-cacao nib or buttery crescent cookies. Of course like any other kid, they absolutely love chocolate chip cookies. In my baking, I usually sub at least half of the all purpose flour with white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour. But when I saw this recipe for whole wheat Chocolate chip cookies in King Arthur flour catalog, I knew I found a winner....

My oven broke on Friday. After meticulously designing my first rendition of the batter for this zucchini roll I peeked through the glass to confirm the oven temperature (jelly roll pan full of hopeful batter in hand) and realized something was definitely wrong. Within a few hours (and after a substantial amount of googling on my husband’s part as well as a visit from my dad) it was determined–my oven was dead....

“Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes!” Wouldn’t you love to be able make that announcement when you and your family get home at 5:00 and everyone is starved and maybe even a little cranky? Thirty minutes. Same amount of time as the nightly news. Or a sitcom. Can you order a pizza and have it arrive in less than 30 minutes? Doesn’t happen in my neck of the woods....

Summer is finally here to stay and we are getting ready for all the summer picnics/bbq and outdoor parties, which means lots of quick meals and salads. So here I’m with an easy-peasy 5 Minutes Protein Packed Summer Salad recipe that’s so easy to put together and tastes absolutely delicious. Now, if you work from home like me, salads make a perfect and healthy meal but then I really don’t want to be eating the salad day after day....

One of the biggest festivals of India is right around the corner. Yes, I m talking about Diwali, the festival of lights. This time Diwali and Halloween are back to back, which of course, means tons of treats. Today I m going to present a famous and straightforward Deepavali sweet called 7-cup cake or burfi. Interesting name, huh? What is 7-cup cake This recipe calls for only five ingredients. We need one measure of chickpea flour or kadalai maavu or besan, one measure of ghee, one measure of milk, one measure of coconut, and three measures of sugar....

Guess how many ingredients are in these air fryer French fries? Two! One large potato and a half tablespoon of olive oil. All right, if you want to add salt and pepper, that’s two more but do they really count? Nah. How long it takes: 15 minutes (plus soaking time if desired) Equipment you’ll need: sharp knife, air fryer Servings: 3 (but it’s easy to make more) Guess how many ingredients are in a popular brand of store-bought frozen French fries?...

Alfajores I hope you saved some of that dulce de leche from earlier this week! If not, head to your kitchen and make a batch (make it a double, actually, you’ll need it) and then get back here. I’ll wait… If you’ve never had alfajores before, there are a few things to know about them: What You Need Let’s talk about just a few of these ingredients… Butter. I always use unsalted butter (here’s why)....

Our Blogging marathon group loves challenges and this time we have decided to do a month long mega marathon exploring the dishes from 30 Indian States & Union Territories. Which means starting today, all of us are going to post authentic dishes from each of the 30 Indian states in alphabetical order. This would have been an impossible challenge some 5~6 years back, but with so many food bloggers from various parts of the country sharing their recipes online, finding authentic recipes was not too difficult except for the North eastern states....

My Favorite Apple Crisp Picture it now…warm, sugared and spiced juicy apples baked to tender perfection beneath a generous blanket of buttery crisp…are you ready for fall yet? Make a batch of this apple crisp, and you’ll be there in no time! My recipe is: Apple crisp is one of my favorite fall recipes, and with fall officially arriving this month, I thought it was about time I re-share this recipe with you!...

How long it takes: You can bake the cupcakes in just over a half hour; you’ll need an extra hour to cool the cupcakes before you frost them. Equipment you’ll need: cupcake pan and liners, mixing bowl Servings: makes 24 cupcakes We keep it simple with easy-to-make banana cupcakes and top them with a swirl of chocolate cream cheese frosting. Each element is made from scratch which makes them extra delicious....

Black Bottom Cupcakes A few weekends ago I spent the afternoon at my grandmother’s house rooting through a giant shoebox of old recipes, as well as half a dozen of her favorite old cookbooks. It. Was. HEAVEN. Yellowed page after yellowed page of well-loved, butter-stained recipes, some hand-written and some typed. Favorite recipes I grew up enjoying and still love when she has a Sunday dinner from time to time....

It is an easy to make dish with few ingredients but needs a little patience with making the jaggery syrup to the right consistency. Give my foolproof recipe a try and you will be able to make the best chalimidi. About the recipe I have inherited a sweet tooth and a love to cook from my mom. I am trying to learn as many Andhra sweet dishes as I can from her....

Of all the Tamil Nadu cuisines, my favorite is the Chettinadu cuisine. I don’t know if it’s the spices or the simple yet delicious recipes that make me say so. But yes, it’s my favorite. There are so many recipes that I can keep talking about them. While Chettinadu cuisine is known for its meat-based dishes, I am going to share a vegetarian recipe today – the vegetarian version of the Chettinad biryani....

How long it takes: 1 hour, 35 minutes Equipment you’ll need: sheet pan, soup pan Servings: 4 I just love chiles rellenos! They’re simply peppers stuffed with cheese. Okay, I admit I like anything stuffed with cheese, I mean, who doesn’t? One of my favorite appetizers is cheese-stuffed mini sweet peppers. They’re so addicting, I could eat the whole batch. Chile relleno soup with chicken perfectly combines roasted poblano peppers, creamy cheese, and tender chunks of chicken into a soup that is equally as addicting....

Perfectly Chocolatey Chocolate Scones If eating chocolate for breakfast is your thing then you’re going to love these chocolate scones. This was actually my first scone recipe on the blog, and today I’m sharing an updated version that makes tastier, more chocolatey, and easier to prepare scones. These not-new-but-improved chocolate scones are wonderfully tender with buttery, flaky interiors (similar to my biscuit recipe, though the layers aren’t quite as intense), and a rich chocolate glaze....

Yes, you heard it right – curry leaves. Err I didn’t have mint at home, so I went with cilantro and coriander. And guess what, it tasted great. :-) So here is my simple green chutney recipe. You may wonder why I am posting sweet chutney and green chutney without any other main recipe. The main recipe is coming next. It is a great sodappal story, and it happened on Vinayaka Chaturthi....

I’m always on the search for something to feed my kids besides goldfish crackers and veggie straws. In all honesty, my husband and I love to snack, too. I try to have healthy snacks available so we still eat well. How long it takes: 3 hours Equipment you’ll need: baking sheet, mandoline or sharp knife Servings: 2 That’s one of the reasons I love these cinnamon ginger apple chips. They are healthy, delicious, and easy to prepare....

How long it takes: 1 hour, 15 minutes (includes cooling time) Equipment you’ll need: loaf pan, parchment paper, oven, electric mixer, mixing bowl Servings: 9 slices But there’s no denying that adding a bit of fresh fruit (strawberries! raspberries! peaches!) and a dollop of whipped cream to pound cake really makes a smashingly good dessert. Ice cream or yogurt with hot fudge or caramel sauce is fantastic! Lemon curd is wonderful with pound cake....

Easy, Perfect Coconut Macaroons Not to be confused with their fancy French cousin, the macaron, today’s coconut macaroons are a relatively simple and straightforward cookie. They use only a few ingredients, come together quickly, and, as a bonus, are relatively low in calories (but really, who’s counting?). Made with sweetened condensed milk and no flour, coconut macaroons are actually closer to being a candy than coconut cookies. To up their candy-like flavor, you can even dip them in chocolate–this is my favorite way to eat them!...