Broccoli And Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

          It's been a long time since I posted a pasta recipe on the blog, might be it's been a long time that I have cooked pasta or did the same usual stuff. This time, I had broccoli and sun dried tomatoes with me and I wanted to try out something different, and after searching the web, finally I decided to do this Broccoli And Sun Dried Tomato Pasta. It's basically a simple recipe and it has the usual basic ingredients that we add in a pasta dish, but the way it's added made a difference, the pasta had such a delicious flavor and it tasted really good..

Mac & Cheese With Vegetables

          Mac & Cheese, this used to be my daughter's favorite snack when we were back in the US, but I used to make it from the Mac & Cheese sachets that we get back there. After coming to India, whenever I brought cheese, it was mozzarella but when I bought this good quality Cheddar Cheese, I wanted to make it. I like the combination of red pepper/capsicum with cheddar cheese, so I just added some sauteed capsicum and green peas towards the end and it tasted absolutely delicious..

Pasta With Sun Dried Tomato Pesto And Spinach

          Pasta appears in our dinner menu at least once in two weeks. When I made Sun Dried Tomato Pesto some time back, I had used some of it in a sandwich and some in this Pasta. To make it a little more nutritious, I have added some spinach and olives too. Once you  have your pesto ready, this Pasta With Sun Dried Tomato Pesto And Spinach is just so simple to put together..

Polenta With Sauteed Veggies

          Polenta is nothing but boiled fine corn meal, popular in Italian and French cuisines, it can be served as such or baked, or fried along with sauteed veggies or just marinara sauce and cheese. It' s very easy to cook polenta, just follow the instructions on the box, but I read somewhere, that it's also made from scratch, starting from fresh corn. It has a very mild taste, so it can be used for making cakes and cookies also. We had it along with some sauteed veggies, making it a complete and filling meal..

Pasta With Alfredo Sauce

          Every time I made pasta at home, I somehow avoided making Alfredo Sauce, even if I did a white sauce, I usually made a healthy version. This time, I was making pasta for lunch, just for my daughter, so I went ahead and made a creamier version, something that was a little closer to the creamy Alfredo sauce. But even so, I can tell you that I have made a healthier version, replaced half of the butter with olive oil and I have not used heavy cream or full cream, but still the sauce turned out very very delicious and my daughter loved it..

Spinach Ricotta Ravioli

          Today's post is going to be a long one, it's Spinach Ricotta Ravioli. My last post was homemade Ricotta Cheese, and I had mentioned there, that I had made Spinach Ricotta Ravioli and some cookies using the cheese. Making Raviolis takes a little extra time, we can divide the whole process into two parts, making the ravioli, then the creamy tomato sauce and then finally serving them together. It might sound a bit lengthy, but with a little bit of planning, it can be done easily, plan it for a weekend lunch or dinner. The raviolis turned out great, the sauce was delicious, only thing, might be the next time I'll increase the filling a little bit..

Basil Pesto And Zucchini Risotto

          We love Italian food at home, so I make pasta dishes once a week or so, other than pasta, risotto is also a favorite. I have made Mushroom and Baby Corn Risotto a couple of times, I wanted to try out a different one this time, so I made this Basil Pesto And Zucchini Risotto. It's an easy one pot dish, of course you have to have store bought or homemade basil pesto in hand. Serve this creamy and delicious risotto along with a some lentil soup and salad for a complete and delicious meal..

Pasta With Sun Dried Tomatoes And Paneer ( Indian Cottage Cheese )

          My husband was having his dinner outside, with his colleagues, and it was just me and my daughter for dinner. I had decided on making pasta, but there was no cheese or pasta sauce at home, but still I had made up my mind on it. Going through the fridge, I found some paneer and sun dried tomatoes, so I decided to make something with it along with the pasta.  So I started off with boiling some water for the pasta and doing a simple sauce to serve with it, and decided to use some grated paneer in the place of cheese. Frankly speaking, I was not too sure about the final dish, but I still went ahead with it, and it turned out really good, except for the color. The sun dried tomatoes that I used were a dark reddish color, more like that of dried red chillies soaked in oil, so, when ground with some milk, the color was not that beautiful, but this depends on the color of the tomatoes. Also, I had used whole grain pasta, so the pasta color also was not very pretty but, otherwise, it is so simple to make and the paneer replaced the cheese very well too, try this if you like the taste of sun dried tomatoes..

Fettuccine Bolognese

          Pasta Bolognese, I have never tasted this dish, because most of the restaurants serve only a non-vegetarian version of the bolognese sauce which is made with meat. And then one day, I watched this vegetarian version in a show, the sauce was made with soy granules and some Indian spices. Usually the sauce is served over spaghetti, but I had only some fettuccine with me and had all the other ingredients. I made it the same evening, but I used only Italian seasonings. It's really a simple dish, but at the same time very delicious and nutritious,and my family loved it too..

Vegetable Hakka Noodles

          This is my first noodles dish here, though I have made it a couple of times, I wanted to get it perfectly before I blogged about it. A very easy dish, if you get your noodles cooked perfectly, just follow the instructions on the noodles packet, you should be fine. With the vegetables and tofu added, this makes a complete meal..

Minty Creamy Vegan Pasta

          My daughter loves Italian food, I send her pasta for lunch at least once a week, but since I make it in the morning in a hurry, it's mostly pasta mixed with some pasta sauce and cheese. Only when I make pasta during the weekends, that I try out something different. Though I like cheese, I try to avoid it owing to the high fat, at the same time I try to bring the creaminess using other ingredients, this Minty Creamy Pasta is one such effort and it tasted really delicious. Since mint gives such a lovely flavor to pasta I  have added it, but guess what I have used for the sauce..

Three Cheese Elbow Pasta

          My daughter's favorite restaurant is the Olive Gardens (back in US), and the dish that she orders almost every time we went there is the Five Cheese Ziti Pasta. Now we are in India and she misses the Italian food. This week she is getting her braces done, and one of the foods that she cannot have much after that is cheese, which she loves. So, for the past few days it has been all pasta and pizza. I made her this Three Cheese Elbow Pasta, named so, because I had used multi grain elbow pasta and the three variety of cheese that I had. It is a very easy dish, even kids can put it together, tasted very good, my daughter's verdict was, ' tastes close to the Five Cheese Pasta', well, what more can I ask for..

Pasta Briyani

         Though I do pasta at least once a week for my daughter, it's mostly with pesto or the pasta sauce, this is the first time I tried something Indian with it. I used fusili pasta, made a briyani with it, lightly flavored with the garam masala, it tasted very good. It was a nice variation to the regular pasta, with all the vegetables in it, a filling one pot meal..

Vegan Creamy Pasta

          I love pasta with the alfredo sauce, but most of the time, avoid it because of the amount of calories and fat in the sauce. When thinking about an alternative, I came up with the idea of using mustard seeds and cashews in the place of butter and all purpose flour. I know many of you would make a face at the thought of using mustard seeds, even I had my doubts, but went ahead with the idea and believe me, it tasted really good, creamy and rich, finger lickin' good or should I say fork lickin'..

Penne Pasta With Pesto And Lime

          Whenever I make pasta, either it is with some tomato sauce or pesto and tomatoes or the white sauce, nobody likes it dry. Even when I make it dry, it's like pasta with pesto, some vegetable, tomatoes and cheese. Last time, when I was in New York, I tasted the most delicious lasagna, with pesto and lemon or lime flavor. It was not much cheesy and I loved the refreshing citrus flavor. I wanted to try it at home, the lasagna has to wait, but I made it with penne pasta, my own home made basil pesto and broccoli, it came out very well..

Pasta with Kumato Tomatoes

          Ever since I read about these tomatoes in Priya's Now Serving, I had wanted to try them. Couple of weeks back when I saw them, I picked a whole pack of them.These tomatoes are a reddish brown in color and have a unique taste, not too sour and not too sweet. Well, I was thinking of ways to use it, of course not in the regular Indian way but where you can taste the tomatoes in the dish. I couldn't come up with anything, except for eating it raw, so I finally decided to use it in a pasta dish. It turned out to be really.. good, I had also added some roasted eggplants and asparagus to it. If you find these tomatoes at your grocer's, do give it a try, you will love it..