Simple Greek Salad

Tags

Blogging Marathon, Greek dishes, Salads

Traditional Greek salads are simple with few ingredients, super fresh and delicious. This salad is the one that’s made with ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions and creamy feta cheese. No special dressing is needed for this salad, some extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar does the magic.

Sending this recipe over to our BM#109, week 3 day 3 under Countries by Alphabet where I’m doing Greek Dishes. Check my other Greek Dishes here

Greek Zucchini Salad

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Preparation Time:10 minutes

Serves : 2-3

Ingredients:

Ripe juicy Tomatoes : 4 medium diced

Cucumber : 1 large or 4 small diced

Bell peppers: 1sliced

Red onion : 1 medium diced

Black olives : 1/4 cup

Green olives : 1/4 cup

Extra virgin olive oil : 3 tablespoons

Red wine vinegar : 1 tablespoon

Dry oregano : 1/2 tablespoon

Feta cheese : 100 grams do not crumble

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Add all ingredients except Feta cheese into a large bowl and toss well to combine.

Once the salad is transferred to a salad bowl, add the Feta cheese blocks on the top and season with fresh ground pepper.

Serve immediately.

 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#109

Creamy Italian Dressing

Tags

salad dressing, Salads

This creamy Italian salad dressing is creamy and packed with lots of herbs. The combination of ingredients makes the dressing a flavourful one and a great addition to any salad.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Makes : 1 cup of dressing

Ingredients:

White wine vinegar : 1/8 cup

Lemon Juice: 1 tablespoon

Olive oil : 1/3 cup

Mayonnaise : 1/2 cup

Garlic : 2 cloves minced

Dried Oregano : 1/2 teaspoon

Dried basil : 1/2 teaspoon

Dried Parsley : 1/2 teaspoon

Dried thyme: 1/2 teaspoon

Honey : 2 teaspoons

Parmesan cheese : 1/8 cup grated

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Method:

Take all ingredients listed in a medium sized bowl and whisk well to make a creamy dressing.

Serve with your favourite salad. Refrigerate the left over dressing for 4-5 days.

 

 

 

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Tags

Baked Foods, Blogging Marathon, Greek dishes, side dishes

Spanakopita is a famous Greek Pie. It’s flaky on the top with a delicious spinach, feta cheese filling. Pastry sheet gives a nice crispness to the dish. This can be served as a side dish with meat or a main dish with some salad.

I called a friend when I chose to do Greek dishes as she always made her family Greek dishes for potlucks. She shared me this delicious recipe.

Simply replace egg with flax meal to make this a vegetarian dish. (1 tablespoon flax meal and 3tablespoons water for each egg)

Sending this recipe to our BM #109, week 3 day 2 under Countries by Alphabet where I’m doing Greek dishes.

Preparation Time: 2o minutes

Cook Time : 1 hour

Makes : 6 pieces

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

Puff Pastry sheet : 1 package thawed

Extra virgin Olive oil : 1/2 cup

For Filling:

Baby Spinach : 2 cups

Parsley : 1 cup finely chopped

Onion : 1 large finely chopped

Garlic : 2 cloves minced

Extra virgin olive oil : 1 tablespoon

Eggs : 3

Feta Cheese: 1 1/4 cups crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add all the ingredients listed under for filling and mix well to combine.

Unroll the pastry sheet, roll it a little. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and place the pastry sheet in the pan, apply olive oil generously, evenly spread the filling over the sheet. fold rest of the sheet and cover the filling.

Gently press the sheet to close the edges. Bake for 1 hour or until the crust is golden. Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

Serve immediately. The left overs can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.

 

 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#109

Simple Mango Milkshake

Tags

drinks, milkshakes

This simple Mango Milkshake is a three ingredient milkshake. No extra sugar is added in the milkshake, sweetness from the mango pulp and ice cream is enough. If you want a loaded mango milkshake, please check this Mango Milkshake one which I posted previously on my blog.

I process the alphonso and swarnarekha varieties of mangoes and store the pulp to last me through the year. Both these varieties are really sweet and they are organic coming from my farm.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Serves : 2-3

Ingredients:

Milk : 3 cups chilled

Mango pulp : 2 cups

Vanilla Ice cream : 1 1/2 cups

Method:

Add ingredients to a blender jar and blend till smooth. Serve immediately.

Greek Zucchini Salad

Tags

Blogging Marathon, Greek dishes, Salads

This Zucchini Salad is full of Greek flavours. It’s a raw and healthy salad that makes an awesome side dish with any meat.

Sending this recipe for our BM # 109, week 3 day 1 under Countries by Alphabet. I’m going to do 3 Greek dishes this week.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Serves : 3-4

Ingredients:

Zucchini : 1 large diced (3 cups)

Chickpeas : 1 1/2 cups (soaked or canned)

Cilantro : 1/2 cup chopped

Olives :  1/3 cup

Red onion : 1 medium sliced

Feta cheese : 1 cup crumbled

Lemon juice: 2 tablespoons

Extra virgin olive oil : 1/4 cup

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Mix all listed ingredients in a medium sized bowl and toss well to coat. Let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.

Serve chilled as a side dish with your choice of main dish.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#109

Pomegranate Cranberry juice

Tags

drinks, juices

Pomegranate Cranberry Juice is a simple juice made with just three ingredients. Fresh Pomegranate, Cranberry juice and banana. It’s a filling drink and has a lovely color.

We need a frozen banana to make this juice. If you are using a regular banana, add 2-3 ice cubes. But, the frozen banana gives a creamy texture.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Serves : 1

Ingredients:

Pomegranate : 1 cup seeds and flesh

Cranberry juice : 1 cup

Banana : 1 frozen

Method:

Add all ingredients to a blender jar and blend till smooth. Serve immediately.

Chocolate cup cakes

Tags

Baked Foods, cup cakes, desserts

These chocolate cup cakes are simple to make yet delicious. I’ve made these cup cakes so many times, don’t know why I didn’t get a chance to post it on the blog. It’s one of my kids and their friends favourite cup cake.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Bake time : 25 minutes

Makes : 12 cup cakes

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter : 4 tablespoons

Vegetable oil : 1/4 cup

Water : 1/2 cup

Instant coffee : 1 teaspoon

All purpose flour : 1 cup

Sugar : 1 cup

Unsweetened cocoa powder : 1/3 cup

Baking soda : 3/4 teaspoon

Salt : A pinch

Egg : 1 large

Buttermilk : 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place paper lines in a 12 cup muffin tray.

In a medium sauce pan, melt together butter, vegetable oil and water.

In a large bowl, add all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt. Add the butter mixture, coffee powder and beat with a hand mixer until it’s well combined.

Add eggs, buttermilk and beat well to combine.

Pour the batter into the muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Let the cup cakes cool for 10 minutes before serving. Cool completely to store in an air tight container.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Tea with Rose Petals

Tags

drinks, tea

This Green Tea is a simple chilled drink where you can taste a wonderful flavour of green tea and the rose. It can be served as a welcome drink or a drink just to refresh when chilling out with friends/family.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Chilling Time : 1-2 hours

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Dried Green tea leaves : 2 tablespoons

Dried Rose Petals : 1 tablespoon

Water : 1 litre

Honey : 2 teaspoons

Method:

Boil 1 litre of water, add the green tea leaves, rose petals and let them seep in for 5 minutes. Strain, let the tea cool and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Before serving add honey, mix well and serve with some ice cubes.

 

 

 

 

 

Paneer Tikka

Tags

paneer, side dishes, Starters

Paneer Tikka is a famous veg appetizer. Paneer and veggies are marinated, put on skewers and grilled in a tandoor (a traditional clay oven). Here we are going to make the tikka stove top. It can be made in the convection oven too.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time : 15 minutes

Serves : 3-4

Ingredients :

Paneer : 2 cups cubed

Onion : 1 large cut in 1 inch cubes

Peppers (Green, red and yellow): 2 cups cut into 1 inch cubes

For Marinade:

Peanut oil : 2 tablespoons

Ginger garlic paste : 2 teaspoons

Yogurt : 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder : 2 teaspoons

Coriander powder : 1 tablespoon

Amchur/dry mango powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Garam Masala : 1/2 teaspoon

Kasuri methi : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Method:

Add all ingredients listed under for marinade and mix well.

Add paneer, onion, peppers and toss well to coat. Let it sit for 15-30 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan, spread the paneer and veggies single layer and cook for 3 minutes each side until completely cooked.

You can put the marinated pieces on skewers and cook on all sides too.

Squeeze some lemon juice and serve immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Oats Smoothie

Tags

drinks, smoothies

Strawberry Oats Smoothie is dessert in a glass. With full of flavours, this creamy smoothie will become a kids favourite.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Instant Oats : 1/2 cup

Frozen Strawberries : 1 1/2 cups

Cold Soy/ almond milk : 1 1/2 cups

Vanilla extract : 1/4 teaspoon

Ground Cinnamon : 1/4 teaspoon

Honey : 1 tablespoon

Method:

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth and serve immediately.