Italian Pasta Salad

Last week this time we were experiencing high temps, but today to our surprise the temperature has taken down lane & it's all pleasant and cool. Keeping the temps aside last few days have been very busy. I was feeling so lazy to resume things where I have stopped. Decided to make myself useful I took cooking as my option. With the cool temps & being rejuvenated I decided to bake some goodies for my coming post. 

For todays post I went front & back with different options & later settled on this salad. This salad is easy to make & keeps you full. Try making it & I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Ingredients

1 Cup cooked pasta 

1/2 Cup corn 

1/2 Cup grated carrot 

2 Tbs. chives 

2 Tbs. scallions

1 Tsp. oil

For Honey Lime Vinaigrette

1/4 cup lime juice 

2 Tbs. honey 

1 Tbs. olive oil 

1 Tsp. black pepper powder 

Salt for taste

For cooked pasta follow the packet instructions. Generally I take a vessel full of water & the vessel size depends on the quantity of pasta. So bring water to boil with pinch of salt. To that add the pasta & cook it. After 10mins check if the pasta is cooked. Switch off heat & strain the pasta. 

Heat a pan with oil. Once it's hot add the corn & saute it till corn fry's well as above. Now switch off heat & keep aside.

Vinaigrette

In another bowl add lime juice, honey, olive oil, pepper powder & salt. Whisk together & keep aside.

Making Salad 

Take a bowl to that add cooked pasta, corn, carrots, chives & scallions. Now add the vinaigrette to bowl & mix them well.

Serve as a side with lasagna or as you wish.
***My Hubby finished the whole bowl & demands for more.. :)
His comments are it's spicy,sweet & yum.

Note: 
- The vinaigrette I used was yummy. If you like to play around you can use any other vinaigrette.  
- Add more veggies for more healthier salad. 

Eggless Honey Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies

Cookies, cakes, deep fried dishes are never my choice of dishes. I know it's very hard to resist them so I try to avoid making them. Today I’m sharing one of those recipes, which uses less sugar & butter in making. If you have observed I normally replace butter with vegetable butter, which reduces at-least some of the calories in a dish.

Yeilds :12 cookies
Ingredients
1/2 Cup old fashioned oats
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup blueberry raisin
Pinch of salt
1/2 Tsp. baking soda
1/2 Cup butter @ room temperature
1/4 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. water / milk ( As needed)

- Preheat oven @350 degrees. Layer your pan with baking sheet
- In a bowl mix all the wet ingredients & whisk them. Now in another bowl sift flour & to the same bowl add oats, raisins, salt & baking soda.
- Now little by little add the dry ingredients to to wet ingredients. Add little milk / water as needed to make a ball of dough.
- Now divide the dough in to equal ball & arrange them on the pan. Pat them to get a round shape.

- Bake them @ 350degrees for 20mins or more if needed. They should look brown & crisp.
- Remove from oven & allow them to cool. Store them in a air tight container for future enjoyment.
Serve them with coffee or milk.

Note:
- Don't add too much water / milk. It might make your dough runny.
- Add another 1/4 cup brown sugar if you need a little sweet one's.
- You can replace blueberries with raisins & dried cranberries too.

Gajar Ka Halwa | Carrot Halwa (Lite Version)

Happy Ganesh Chaturdi to All. Hope you all had a fun filled festival this year. Here is a glimpse of our little ganesha. 

On the occasion festival here I'm sharing a sweet delicacy "Gajar Ka Halwa". The specialty of this recipe is it consumes very less time in making & a yummy sweet will be ready soon.

Source : Tarla dalal
Yields : 2 Servings
Ingredients
2 Cup grated carrot
4 Tbs. coconut mik
1/4 Cup water
3 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs khoa/khova (Optional)
2 Tbs. olive butter
1 Tsp. elachi/cardamon powder
1 Tbs. chopped almond
5 Cashew nuts (optional)

-In a pressure cooker add 1 Tbs. butter & to that add carrot. 

- Sauté it on low heat for 5mins. This will help in removing the raw smell of carrot. 

- Now add milk & water to carrots. Pressure cook for one whistle & switch off heat. 

- Allow the pressure to release before opening the cooker. 

- Heat a pan with butter. To that add almonds & cashew nuts to it. 

- Fry them till they change to light brown color. Now remove them on to a plate. 

- Now transfer the carrot mixture to pan along with sugar. Cook on medium heat. 

- Allow halwa to come together. It takes 5 to 7Mins to that. Add cardamon powder to halwa & switch off heat. 

- Now mix the fried nut to halwa. Allow it to cool before serving.

Serve warm along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Note: 
1. Adjust the sweet according to your requirement. 
2. Adding khova/Khoa is optional. I didn't use it in my recipe.