Well for most of you anyway. I know my brothers in Cleveland have been experiencing 80 degree sunny weather. Hopefully you are too. We won’t talk about the coldness that I have been experiencing here, it just makes me sad. So first up, let’s just give a big shout out to all the brave men and women out there serving our country!! Your bravery amazes me. Thank you for helping to keep our families safe....

I feel like I say this every time I make a new layer cake, but I really think this is my favorite yet. I take that back, I really love all the layer cakes I’ve created. Especially the spring cakes, because they tend to be the prettiest. But this one…this cute little layer cake…it was a true labor of love. Even when I thought I’d given up on it, I somehow talked myself into trying one last time....

My family loves steak, whether it’s a tender steak flavored with teriyaki marinade, skirt steak marinade, rib eye with garlic butter, steak fajitas or a succulent London broil steak prepared with this easy marinade. London broil is a versatile and flavorful cut of meat that’s great for feeding a crowd. My favorite way to prepare this cut is with this super flavorful London broil marinade. You’ll never want to prepare steak any other way again!...

With winter comes fresh produce and that’s one of the main reasons why I love winter season quite a lot. It is impossible to miss fresh green peas or sarson/mustard leaves on the streets. I have already shelled and froze a big bag of fresh green peas/matar, that should last for a few months. The next in line mandatory thing is Makki Ki Roti and Sarson Ka Saag. This Punjabi specialty can be made only during winters....

I first tried this curry couple years back at a friends house and loved it at first bite. I asked her a rough recipe and then forgot about it until recently when I spotted it again on menu of one of the restaurants here in Las Vegas. That is when I decided to recreate from what I remembered of the recipe, the way it looked and smelled. Cooking is truly an amalgamation of senses and nostalgic in my case, if you cannot tell 🙂 Both my kids share my love of fish & seafood dishes....

By now most of you must have guessed, I am doing a mini-series of pickles this week on my blog. Yesterday, I shared Andhra style tomato avakaya recipe and today’s recipe is Mamidi Allam Pachadi. Mamidi Allam Pachadi (Telugu) Maa Inji Chutney (Tamil) is a super flavorful, simple yet really delicious instant pickle recipe from my mother’s kitchen. As I have shared in my other pickle recipes, walk into any household in Andhra during peak summers – you will see the kitchen busy with pickle preparations....

Summer is here and that means two things – scorching heats and kids summer vacations! It is impossible to spend any time longer than absolutely necessary to stand in the kitchen these days but at the same time, kids would love snacks every now and then. Forget kids, I would like quick snacks during weekends and I am always on the lookout for simple yet delicious snack recipes – that’s how I made Masala Papad at home 🙂...

As a true blue North Indian, I’m borderline obsessed with dhaba-style dishes. These dishes, which originate from roadside eateries known as “dhabas” often found along Indian highways, are designed to be comforting and filling. They are bold, rich (like this dhaba-style chicken curry), rustic (which sets them apart from restaurant-style matar paneer), and truly satisfying (just like my dhaba-style paneer bhurji). What’s Matar Paneer Simply, matar is fresh green peas in Hindi and paneer is fresh indian cottage cheese made by curdling whole milk with an acidic agent (like lemon, vinegar)....

Coming from a typical South Indian family, we love our Sambar. My weekend cooking is never done without a good batch of sambar in the making. However simple it might be, a good sambar fills the entire house with a beautiful aroma and that is enough to take you back to the wonderful family lunches growing up. My sambar guru is my mother-in-law who is an expert in turning anything and everything into sambar 🙂 It is her iconic Sambar Powder that I use, which gives me the perfect tasting sambar....

When I’m looking for an easy and flavorful side dish that I know everyone will enjoy, I turn to favorites such as corn fritters, baked beans and these savory mustard greens. Pair your greens with classic recipes like Hoppin’ John for a dinner that will earn rave reviews! Mustard Green Ingredients When you make mustard greens you will need bacon, onion, garlic, mustard greens, chicken broth, sugar, hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, salt and black pepper....

In today’s Deepavali sweets and snacks series, I have a traditional sweet recipe – Mysore Pak. In today’s world of Ghee Mysorepa and Melting Mysore Pak, what I remember is the sweet that is nostalgic to many of us from the 90s, something that made its appearance at every function, wedding and regularly for Deepavali growing up. It was neither melt-in-mouth nor soft – it was thick as a rock and stayed good for days or weeks....

I just love an “old fashioned” style dessert. They’re the ones our grandmas would make. Something about an old-school recipe feels a little more special. And while this cake isn’t probably the most old fashioned one out there, it has some elements to it that make it “old fashioned”. Regardless, I love it, and it’s the perfect fall apple cake to celebrate the season! Here are the details, start with the cake Start with the apple butter cake....

The husband and I love Palak Paneer – a dish I have perfected over my years in Bangalore and ever since I had it in a restaurant during one of the official team lunches. For people like us brought up in the cocoons of Tamilnadu, using Palak/Spinach – known as Pasalakeera (Tamil) or Palakoora (Telugu) in a gravy as side dish for chapati is unheard of. We make the regular Palakoora Pappu at home and it is one of my most favorite ways to eat the greens....

I made these on a Sunday with Sunday night dinner in mind. And while I wasn’t planning to share the recipe, I knew from the minute I pulled these cute little cheesy popovers out of the oven, that I indeed NEEDED to share this recipe. Let me explain a little. Popovers have always been a food that both my mom and I have loved. I first made them way back when I had just started cooking....

Well look at this! It’s a drink that’s not a cocktail. Rarely do I share smoothies, shakes, or drinks that don’t require you to be 21 and up. But out of a need for something new, something different, I made us a peanut butter “shake”. There’s no ice cream, but instead, all healthy, wholesome, nutrient-rich food. And yet this certainly tastes like dessert! Yummm. We just love that! The inspiration really was kind of simple....

Now over to today’s recipe! 🙂 Pineapple, another tropical fruit that is easily available during the summers. I love pineapple but I can’t have it in excess – my throat starts to itch and my voice turns hoarse soon 🙂 To satiate my pineapple craving and to keep eating it all through the year in small quantities, a few years back I tried Pineapple Jam. Now that I look at the pictures, I know they aren’t at all that good but this blog is nothing but a proof of my food journey....

I love desserts. Given my sweet tooth, I make sweets or desserts quite often at home. There is nothing like biting into something sweet, knowing that it’s made at home. Especially if it’s super simple to make, I am all for it. Pears are not something that I like as it is. Give me apples any time of the day – but pears! Whenever we have pears at home, we keep pushing them out until they go mushy and we have to throw them off....

When the holidays arrive, I like to serve a variety of drink recipes including a Christmas margarita, Grinch cocktail, mojito mocktail, cranberry mimosa, Christmas sangria and this simple but beautiful poinsettia cocktail. Sometimes you need a festive drink in a hurry, which is where these 3 ingredient poinsettia champagne cocktails come in. I love that it’s ready in 5 minutes, has the most vibrant color, and it’s the perfect lighter cocktail offering for a holiday party or on Christmas Eve....

Well, would you look at that? It’s Friday, it’s almost October, and I have chocolate peanut butter cake to share. And it’s kind of festive too. Because when it’s fall, I can’t help but make everything with a pumpkin twist. Today there are no pumpkin flavors, only cute little mini peanut butter and chocolate pumpkins. And plenty of chocolate peanut butter cake too. Here’s the story. It’s quick and it’s simple....

I couldn’t think of a better recipe to welcome November. This is such a warming bowl of cheese ravioli. I feel like we’re really going to need all the coziest, comforting recipes this week. Let’s be honest, everyone knows this week is going to be hard. I don’t like to talk about politics with you guys at all, but we’re all in the same boat here. If it’s going to be a stressful week we might as well have some darn good comfort food to soften it for us....