Salsa Salad

Salad salsa is a very versatile dish. It can be had as a refreshing salad, or you can serve with nachos or chips. This could be a light meal in itself. Fruits and vegetables medley make a great combo in this salsa. All ways kids would surely relish this. I had peaches, mangoes, avocado, capsicum, cheddar cheese. All I needed is to buy some corn to make a perfect salad.

I never expected by tossing all this burst of colours and flavours , I would end up mixing one of the most delicious salads.

I kept the dressing very simple. I made a classic French dressing. I so wanted to squeeze in a lemon as I have a feeling that it is the fresh flavour of the lemon that makes the salad more refreshing. I went ahead with only the dressing I made, and to my surprise I liked this taste as well.

Jalapenos gave the right spiciness the salad needed the cheese and the avocado balanced the other flavours. On the whole this was more like a meal to me!! I had a big bowl of this salsa salad for my lunch.

 Ingredients: 

Mango, I used neelam  - 1 no.

Peaches – 5 no’s

Avocado – 1 no

Capsicum – 1 no

Onion – 1 no

Cherry tomatoes – around 10no

Corn – 1 cup

Jalapenos – 2 tbsp

Olives – 1 tbsp

Cheddar cheese – half cup chopped

Coriander leaves

For the dressing

Apple cider vinegar – 1 tbsp

Mustard sauce – ¼ tsp

Olive oil – 4 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Pepper – to taste

Method:

Wash peel and chop mango and avocado. Chop the peaches with or without the skin. I like to peel it. Deseed and chop capsicum. Chop onions. Steam corn if you are using fresh corn. If you are using ready to eat filter the water and use. Half and quarter cherry tomatoes. Chop jalapenos and cheese.

Toss together corn, tomatoes, capsicum, cheese, onion, jalapenos, olives and peaches. Gently fold in the mango and avocado.

For the dressing combine apple cider vinegar and mustard sauce. Whisk in the olive oil until you get a creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now add the dressing and gently toss to coat evenly. Add chopped coriander to give the salad salsa a beautiful colour and a refreshing flavour.

As I type this post, I see my younger son cleaning his bowl. He is a picky eater but can live on fruits. To him this is a feast. Happy children, happy mom. Do try this for your little ones.

To make the food more interactive for kids, you can serve with Nachos or chips.

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Cream of Kale and Mushroom Soup

Kale is a super green packed with high nutrients and is listed among the most healthiest food. There are 2 types of kale, a curly and a smooth one. I had tasted this greens in Malaysia as a usual stir fry. Back home, I did not realize that it was this greens which I saw in a supermarket. I had purchased once and by the time I decided what to cook, the greens got spoilt and I had to bin it.  I picked up again and decided to make a soup. Its only when I sauted it, I realized that it was this green that I had tasted. The aroma was nostalgic bringing back the memories of some good times. I had loved the taste so much.

Mushrooms are low in fat, calories, cholesterol, and sodium. High in antioxidants, vitamins, proteins etc. I include mushroom a lot in my menu. My teen son and my little boy both relish this vegetable a lot and it is tasty as well. What if these two super heroes get along to create another super hero? It tasted delicious and my children said that, it tasted like lays American style cream and onion flavour. So definitely this is children friendly. After brainstorming a little, I decided to  make cream of mushroom and kale soup and it was well received in the family.

Ingredients

Mushroom – 200 gms

Kale (I used curly) – 2 big leaves.

Shallots or 1 onion – a handful

Garlic - 5 nos 

Maggi vegetable cube – 2 packets (Optional) you can use vegetable broth also.

Olive oil – 2 tsp

Butter – 1 tbsp

Water – 2 cups

All purpose flour – 2 tbsp

Milk – 4 cups

Salt – as required

Pepper powder – as required

Method

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add in garlic and fry for a minute. Add the shallots or onion and fry until it turns pale. 

Now add the washed, chopped kale leaves and saute it for a while.

Wash and chop the mushrooms and add it to the mixture and continue to fry for few min.  Add in the soup cubes if you are adding and add 2 cups of water. If you are using broth add it now without adding normal water.

Cook until mushroom and kale is cooked and put the heat off and cool. You can use an immersion blender or the regular one. Be careful if you are using a regular blender. Don’t forget to use a towel to close the lid. The best option is cool the mixture and blend it to a smooth paste.

In the same pan or a different one add butter and let it melt. Add the all-purpose flour and fry for a min until the flour is roasted. Pour the milk slowly to make a thin sauce and without forming lumps. If lumps are formed don’t fret, filter and use it.

Now add the blended mixture to the milk mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the mixture is thick add milk, water or broth to make it thin. Serve hot and wait for the compliments.

 Note - You can use dried herbs like basil and oregano to give a little variation.

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Drumstick stem soup

It’s been quite sometime that I have blogged. I had a blog earlier where I had documented quite a number of recipes. There was some issue with my blog and it was lost. I tried my best to revive it. I had to let it go to avoid stress. I did not have an idea of starting all over again. Since an year, though I thought of starting, the procrastination disease in me did not allow me to do so. A friend of mine was behind me to start one and start documenting my recipes. That was a positive push and I did make up my mind and started it immediately.

What better would it be than participating in Blogging Marathon? A wonderful motivation for a person like me. I sent a mail to valli , and she sweetly accommodated me in.  I am starting my journey all over again with blogging marathon.

Participants are free to choose topics. The early bird gets the worm. If we fail to get a slot we can choose which is available. I have chosen soups and salad. I am starting with a soup. We like having soups for dinner everyday. We usually don’t like having a heavy dinner. We do feast often, but usually its soup. I chose to make drumstick stem soup as I had never tried earlier and wanted to try with the stem.

Drumstick tree is known as a miracle tree. Every part of the tree can be used in cooking. Fresh tender leaves, flowers, tender pods, and seed-kernels of the tree is edible. Every part is delicious. Drumstick is one of the favorite among everyone in my family.

I have always relished the leaves so much. I eat the stir fried leaves  mixed with hot rice and ghee. I cook flowers with egg and is very nutritious and delicious. The pods is cooked in several ways. We can use it in curries or prepare as a stir fry. Soups are made out of pods as well which is very healthy. It’s not a news to know that drumstick is highly nutritious and provides so much of nutrients to the body.

I decided to try the drumstick stem soup. I had not tried this earlier. But to my surprise it turned out so well that my children also relished the hot soup .On a rainy evening we all relished this super healthy soup. Please do give it a try. Its really good for tongue and health.

Ingredients

Drumstick stem – 2 handful

Shallots – 6 no’s

Garlic – 4 no’s

Cumin – 1tsp

Pepper corn – 1 tsp

Butter- 2tsp

Water – 5 cups

Salt – as required

Lemon – quarter to half

Coriander leaves – to garnish

Method

Strip the leaves of the stem. Use the leaves to prepare stir fry. Use the stem for the soup. You can also add some leaves. I did not add here.

Wash the stem and cut it into medium sized pieces. I used my kitchen scissors as I find it easy to cut herbs and few other things with scissors. You can use the matured stem as well. Not the big branch. The ones you find it with the leaves can be used.

Crush the stem. I used my favourite motor and pestle. Add 5 cups of water and the stem in the pressure cooker and cook it  upto 4 whistles. Put it off and let the steam go down. Filter and keep it aside.

Crush the shallots and garlic. I like crushed shallots and garlic in my Indian soup. You can chop if you wish. But crushing induces more flavour. Crush pepper and cumin as well.

In a pan heat 2tsp of butter. Add cumin and pepper to the butter.  Fry for a min and add the garlic. Fry and add shallots. Once it has turned pale add the drumstick stem boiled  water. Add salt to taste. Squeeze in lemon. Let it boil once , sprinkle coriander leaves and serve hot. 

Note : You can filter onion and garlic if you don't like it . If you have chopped the shallots and garlic you can have as it is.

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