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Hello 2011!

So we are 11 days in the 11th year of the new millennium and I figure its better late than never to make some resolutions and work on them through the year. This past year flew by so quick that I had no time to think where life was heading. I think for the first time in my life, I went with the flow without any conscious planning. It turned out to be good but I did gain 25lbs (yes, yikes!), did nothing to move forward with my career, settled in a rental that I do not love, and sat on my butt watching TV and playing games on my iPhone for the majority of the year. It sounds all bad but I did do some good thinks like learn to live with B , build our relationship, scream at him while he tried to maneuver our raft on a river in the mountains, travel a good amount, got compliments on our home decor, and hosted some hit pani-puri parties.

I want 2011 to be more productive. I guess life is a bunch of experiences and you can plan all you want but it will throw curve balls, but I figured these resolutions will make 2011 a little more productive than 2010! 2010 was good in its own way, I just want 2011 to be better. Here’ my list:

- Lose all the crazy weight I have gained and go back to being a size 4!

- MOVE! As much as I like the floorplan in our apartment, I do not want to live here past our lease. B agrees.

- Cook atleast 4 times a week at home. I love cooking but I hate doing the dishes and in this battle, I hate doing the dishes always wins! Everytime B doesn’t want to do the dishes, we go out and eat. So this year, I will cook even if B doesn’t do the dishes. And as much as I hate looking at those dirty dishes, I will cook more!

- Reuse more, recycle more, and reduce waste! I have all these cloth bags at home that I forget to take with me to the grocery stores and end up with loads of plastic bags. I will make a more concerted effort to reuse bags, finish leftovers in the fridge instead of just tossing them, and recycle more cans, plastic bottles, paper, instead of tossing them in the trash. We also use a lot of paper towels – a bane in the American society. Will make an effort to buy less paper towels and more microfiber towels for cleaning the kitchen, counters, etc.

- Spend atleast 5 minutes a day decluttering our home. Doable right?

- Travel more! Enough said.

- Have atleast 6 months worth of pay in savings in addition to an emergency fund and down payment for a house! Just need to be more frugal. We do have 2 full months of our pay saved up in addition to our other stuff but I would really like to get to 6 months.

- Take that exam and apply for the doctorate! My worst fear aside from losing my loved ones is taking this exam! I have put it off for 4 years and spent thousands preparing. I better do it in 2011!

- Try to talk B into getting rid of the ugly, huge, MAN-sofa recliners. Get something a little more dainty but I fear this is a battle already lost. Worth putting it on the list!

- Find my passion. I always hear people talking about what their true passion is. I really don’t know what my true passion is. I enjoy cooking, traveling, oohing at pretty interior decor, looking at teeth etc. But there’s really not one thing that makes me go gaga. I want to find that thing! I want that feeling of exhilaration and satisfaction that only comes from doing something you absolutely love to do. And you get that feeling over and over again from doing what you are truly passionate about. Yes, I want to find my true passion. Making love does not count .

- Find a good theme/look for my blog that I can fall in love with.

- Blog atleast once a week – there! That’s one goal that’s truly measurable and comes with a plan. Once a week!

So come 2012. I will check back and see how much I accomplished!

Adios!-

Stuffed Capsicum or Stuffed Green Peppers

Stuffed Capsicum or Stuffed Green Peppers is something I did not know about or did not make until B moved here and started missing things his mother made for him. One of them is stuffed capsicum. I have tried this several times until last week when B said it tasted pretty much like his mom’s. That is a feat in itself because my capsicum is either not cooked all the way or cooked too much or the filling doesn’t taste the same. So this time, when I was visiting my in-laws I asked my mother-in-law to teach me this amazing stuffed capsicum that she made for him. She did with great love and I have to thank her because B for the first time said, “This tastes exactly like my mom’s”. Ta-daaaaaa.

Well then, here is the recipe that serves 2:
Capsicum or green peppers – 3 (2 would usually be enough for 2 people but hey what the heck, 3 if you want to eat extra)
For the filling:
2-3 large potatoes – peeled, boiled, and mashed
I have never been good with measurements but here’s approximate measurements. Quantities can be changed to suit your taste.
3 tsp ginger – garlic paste
3 green chillies – finely chopped
2 1/2 tsp – garam masala
2 1/2 tsp – red chilli powder
2 tsp – coriander-cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp – chat masala
2 tsp – amchoor – key ingredient!
1 small onion – finely diced
Salt to taste – I used about 1 tsp

Saute the onions in a little bit of oil until lightly browned. Add ginger garlic paste, saute for a minute. Mix the mashed potatoes and all the other spices. Turn the burner off and mix everything super-well!

Core the capsicum. B’s mom makes a slit on the under the top and very gracefully pulls out the inner core leaving the head intact. I have not been able to accomplish that yet so I just take the tops off and fish out as much thick pulp inside as I can. I do not take all the seeds out. Leaves a flavor inside.

Stuffed Capsicum

Once cored, slowly add the potato stuffing and carefully stuff until the capsicum is full. Most of the time, you will have additional left over potato stuffing but if you don’t, leave some on the side.

Take a shallow frying pan or kadai and add 1 tbsp of oil. Lightly salt the sides of the capsicum and add them to the pan. Cook each capsicum on all sides until you get each side lightly browned. Then add the remaining potato filling, a little bit of water. Turn heat to medium, cover the pan and let the capsicums cook thoroughly. The juices from the capsicum and potato filling will cook together in a mixture that is full of heavenly goodness! I actually messed up a capsicum while coring it, so I just cut it into pieces and added it to this final mixture. The potatoes will brown and crisp up. Take the cover off and let the extra water boil away.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Serve with roti or eat it all by itself.

Note to self: Take better photos.

Desi Pasta

I did the craziest thing today. Its Sunday and Sundays are usually either extremely relaxing or extremely boring for us. We party or meet with family on Friday and Saturday. Today was both a relaxing and boring Sunday. Relaxing in the morning and boring in the evening. I did not feel like making anything for dinner but did not want to go out either. Also, our fridge and pantry had the basics but no good veggies for a subzi. I always have dals and pastas in the pantry because they make for quick dinners on days like today. So I thought, if nothing, I can always toss pasta in olive oil and life’s good. Anyhow, in rummaging through the nearly empty refrigerator, I came across leftover aloo paratha stuffing from yesterday and an avocado that would go bad if I did not use it. I wondered if I could make a pasta sauce out of leftover aloo paratha stuffing and an avocado. Weird right? Well, the pasta turned out to be pretty good with an Indian twist! Here’s what I did.

Desi Pasta Recipe:

Leftover aloo paratha stuffing
About 2 cups pasta, any kind. I used fusili for this recipe (basically in a 3 or 4:1 proportion with the amount of stuffing leftover)
Olive oil, never can have too much good olive oil
Several cloves of garlic, I used about 5 good sized ones
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste, barely a pinch
Dried red pepper flakes – as spicy as you want to make it
Dash of dried basil
Dash of dried italian seasoning
1 avocado, thinly diced, almost mashed
Butter – 2 tbsp but optional

desi-pasta

1) Boil some water and salt to cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce.
2) I infused garlic in the olive oil. Basically, smash the cloves of garlic and let them brown in the olive oil. Remove them and set aside.
3) Add the butter if you prefer it, avocado, the mashed aloo paratha filling, salt, good splash of freshly ground black pepper, the basil, the italian seasoning, and the red pepper flakes.
4) Cook for a few minutes until the mixture is a nice gooey saucy mixture.
5) Drain the pasta once its cooked. Add cool water to stop cooking and toss it with some olive oil and the browned garlic that you set aside. You can then trash the garlic.
6) Add the pasta to the “sauce” and toss.
7) Let it mix and cook for a couple of minutes and voila! Desi pasta is ready.

It was delish! Perfect for lazy days like today.

Didn’t think it would happen again

The most amazing thing happened today. Ever since B moved closer, we stopped talking for hours on the phone like we used to. Why? Well, because he was right here and I could see him whenever I wanted!

But, the most amazing thing happened today. B and I talked ON THE PHONE for an hour! I did not think it would happen again. Heck, we even stopped talking in person for more than an hour at a time. That’s what marriage does, hehe. In any case, ONE HOUR! That’s gotta be some sort of record in our marriage history. I still enjoy talking to you on the phone, B!

Pasta in Mushroom Cream Sauce

Yesterday was my first day of keeping up with making/cooking something at home atleast once 6 out of 7 days. Guess what? Yesterday was 1 out of 7 days allowed. Haha. The thing is, B and I went grocery shopping and he smelled something “awesome”. It was food from the Pei Wei restaurant nearby and he wanted to eat there. And thus, we had dinner out yesterday. The worst part is that the food at the restaurant was not even worth talking about. Maybe it was the dishes we ordered, except the Spring Rolls. How can you go wrong with them anyway?

Tonight, I definitely had to make sure that I made something at home. I had had this amazing Mushroom Tortellini in Mushroom Cream Sauce at a local restaurant some time ago and I wanted to recreate that mushroomy, creamy, saucy taste of that amazing dinner entree. I did not have any mushroom tortellini on hand but did have some whole wheat linguini, some fusilli, and some macaroni at home. I still don’t know what pastas go with what kind of sauces or if there is even a rule but my instincts told me to go with the linguini.

Cooking the pasta:
Add salt to water and boil water. Add pasta once water is boiling, cook until done. Refer to the package instructions for amount of water and salt required (these are different depending on the kind of pasta).

- I remember someone discussing whole wheat pasta at work once. They had said that it gets quite “gooey” and is not as tasty as the regular pasta. I added some olive oil to the boiling pasta to keep it from getting gooey.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain it under cold water to stop cooking the pasta. Just add a little bit of oil, less than a tablespoon, and toss gently.

While you leave your water to boil, start making the sauce.

For the Mushroom Cream Sauce:

1 pkg sliced mushrooms ( I used baby bella, but I guess you can use any kind of mushroom)
2 tbsp garlic (I love LOADS of garlic!)
2 tbsp all purpose flour or maida
1 3/4th cup milk
5 tbsp butter (this can be as buttery as you would like, 4 tbsp was fine but I added another one because ehhhh nothing is as good as butter, right?)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt 1 tbsp or less, to taste
Freshly crushed black pepper about 1-2 tbsp depending on how much pepper you like
Parmesan cheese to garnish
Parsley to garnish

- Melt butter at medium heat and add mushrooms. Try to keep the mushrooms as separate from each other. Do not crowd them (Thanks Julie and Julia!)
- Flip them to brown both sides well
- Add the olive oil and cook some more. Once the mushrooms are done, start adding the flour.
- Add the flour in increments of 1/2 tbsps if you can. Add a little stir and let the flour blend in with the butter. Add a little and stir until done with all flour
- Right after adding the flour, add 3/4th cup milk, stir and let the milk mix in with the butter, mushrooms and flour. At this time the sauce will start turning creamy.
- Mix in the salt and crush fresh black pepper. Note – Do not add a lot of salt, the butter will reduce too, causing the sauce to be salty anyway
- Add another 1/2 cup of milk and let reduce a little and then eventually add another half cup and let the sauce thicken and reduce
- Add the shredded mozzarella and let it melt into a heavenly creamy mixture

Mushroom Cream Sauce, Pasta

- The sauce is done! Garnish with some parsley. Totally fine if you skip it. I just like it because it makes the dish look pretty

Mushroom Cream Sauce with Pasta

Because this is linguini, I don’t like to mix it with sauce before serving. Add linguini on a plate, top it with the mushroom cream sauce, and garnish with freshly shredded parmesan and freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy on the patio like we did!

Pasta in Mushroom Cream Sauce