Sweet surprises!

Two sweet surprises for me! For the past few months I have been craving for halwas. I love halwas, not the red, hard ones, but the ones that melt in your mouth and are chewy. It was a pleasant surprise when one of my colleagues in Hyderabad, India sent two boxes of sweets to our US office- one for me and one for my other colleague. I was thrilled when I saw the words ' Bandar Halwa" marked outside one of the boxes and before my other colleague had a chance to choose, I took that box. I googled Bandar Halwa and it is a traditional sweet from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. The halwa box made my day.

The next surprise- dried mango pieces from Philippines! My colleague took a vacation to Philippines and she brought back some gifts. She gave me this amazing dried mango pieces and they tasted awesome- sweet and tangy.

Thanks to Ginny and Srinivas- my thoughtful friends for the sweet surprises!

Vegetable Pasta Soup

When you are in mood for a one dish dinner- the vegetable pasta soup has it all! It has the veggies, the pasta and tastes so good. Enjoy this hearty soup with warm garlic bread.

Ingredients
Whole wheat spaghetti or long pasta- just enough to add to the soup
Carrots- finely chopped
Celery- finely chopped
Any other vegetable
Grated parmesan - half a teaspoon
Ground pepper
Basil
Tomato juice
Salt


Method:

• In a saucepan, add water and add the chopped vegetables and the pasta.
• Slow cook the vegetables and the pasta for 10-15 minutes
• Add tomato juice, ground pepper, grated parmesan, basil and salt
• Cook for 5 more minutes and the soup if ready to serve

Spinach rotis

A rainy day in New Jersey. I made some warm spinach chapatis and daal. Here is the recipe for healthy spinach rotis. Enjoy with a healthy lentil daal.

Ingredients

Spinach- 1 bunch
Ginger
Whole wheat flour
Cumin powder- 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves
Ajwain seeds
Salt

Method:
In a pan, wilt the spinach and add ginger, cumin powder, coriander powder.
Mix wheat flour with warm water and the spinach mix
Add ajwain seeds and salt
Leave the dough for 15 minutes
Make chapatis and serve with daal.