These days I’m using a lot of cracked wheat and grits in my cooking, by substituting it for rice.  Sometime back I made pongal using cracked wheat and moong daal, but it did not come out well.  From then on I was wondering how to get it right and finally I found the recipe for it in Sailu’s blog.  Added benefit, she has also included spinach in her broken wheat pongal recipe.  The recipe is very simple to follow and it came out very well.  Only change I made in the recipe was using frozen spinach instead of fresh spinach leaves. Thank you very much Sailu for such an healthy and tasty recipe.  Your recipe rocks!

I was surprised and thrilled when my friend Dee, sent me a mail telling that her friend Yamuna is a regular visitor to my blog and she has tried the Asparagus and Pepper Stromboli and has sent a picture of it, telling that it has become her family’s favorite.  The slices have come out perfectly.  Thank you very much dear Yamuna.  You really made my day! Yamuna feel free to Contact Me.

Hetal of Isha’s Kitchen and Roma of Romaspace have passed me the Blogging With A Purpose Award and the Yummy Blog Award respectively.  Thank you very much friends.

This is a very simple side dish for chapathis/naan without lot of spices, yet very flavorful and healthy.

Ingredients:
Oil – 2 tablespoons
Garlic Cloves – 2, minced
Onion, medium size – 1, finely chopped
Salt – as per taste
Curry powder/garam masala – as per taste
Yogurt – 1 cup (I used low fat yogurt)
Milk – 1 cup (I used 2%)
Frozen chopped spinach (10 0z) – 1, thawed
Canned chickpeas (15 oz) – 1, drained and rinsed

Procedure:
1.  Heat oil in a skillet.
2.  Add the onion, salt and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
3.  Now add the curry powder and cook for another 1 minute.
4.  Add yogurt, milk, thawed spinach and the drained chickpeas and let it simmer until all the flavors blend together.

My Notes:
1.  The dish was nice and creamy.  I actually added a mixture of full cream and milk, that definitely gave a richness to the gravy. 

2.  Be careful while adding salt because the canned chickpeas already has salt in it.

3.  Update:  I did not make the Naan.  It’s the frozen variety we get in US, Deep Brand.   Just heat it in the oven for 2 minutes, it’s ready to eat and you get a very nice fluffy naan.  I also broil it for another 1-2 minutes to get a crunchy texture.  The one in the picture is Garlic Naan and we absolutely love it.  It’s so handy while entertaining friends also.  But be sure to heat it just before eating and serve it immediately or else it tends to dry.

Dear Ranjeetha of Ranji’s Kitchen Corner has passed me the Nice Matters award.  My another friend Divya of Dil Se has passed me the Rocking Girl Blogger Award.  Thank you very much Ranji and Divya.

I would like to pass both the awards to my very good friend Dee of Ammalu’s Kitchen.

I found this recipe in the “Good Housekeeping” magazine.  This recipe was featured under Heart Smart Dinners and Healthy in a Hurry category.  With 16gms protein, 13gms fiber, 0mg cholesterol and just 1gm saturated fat per serving, it’s definitely heart healthy.  Added bonus, very tasty and easy to prepare too.

I reduced the quantity of ingredients.  Even then it was a lot of soup for the 2 of us.  I have another serving left for tomorrow.  Check the original recipe for actual quantities and detailed nutritional information.

Ingredients:
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
Carrots, medium, chopped – 3
Onion, small, chopped – 1
Ground Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Canned diced tomatoes (14.5 oz) – 1 can (I didn’t have this, so used crushed tomatoes)
Vegetable broth (14.5 oz) – 1 can
Dried red lentils (masoor daal) – 3/4th of a cup
Baby Spinach (5 oz bag) – 1 (I used frozen spinach)
Salt – as per taste
Ground black pepper – as per taste
Grated ginger (this was not mentioned in the original recipe, but I chose to use it because red lentils especially has the reputation to cause gas)

Procedure:
1.  In a saucepan heat oil and add carrots, onion and cook until lightly browned and tender.  Stir in cumin; cook 1 minute.

2.  Add tomatoes, broth, lentils, 2 cups of water salt, ground black pepper cover and cook until lentils are tender.  Stir in spinach.

My Notes:
1.  I soaked the lentils before starting to chop the vegetables.  I did this because I thought that this will reduce the cooking time and it did.  Later only I came to know that soaking the lentils and throwing away the water and then using the lentils aids in easy digestion.  Just be sure to throw away the soaking water.  Enjoy!