My Cooking Wonders

 Yummy yummy chickpea salad with Avocado dressing. Perfect Summer salad with mouth watering rich creamy avocado dressing..what more can I say. Give it a try and enjoy!  Ingredients 1 cup dry garbanzo beans 1 whole cinnamon stick couple of pinches of amchur powder(Optional) 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes 3/4 cup chopped onions 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped cilantro Avocado Dressing as much as you prefer.  Recipe here Method Wash and soak garbanzo beans overnight in water. Add soaked garbanzo beans, cinnamon stick, amchur powder, salt and 2 to 3 cups of water to a pressure cooker. Pressure cook till 5 to 6 whistles.  Once the pressure is off, open the lid and drain all the water. Let the chickpeas cool. 1 cup of dry beans should roughly yield upto 3 cups of cooked beans. Once the chickpeas are cooled down add in tomatoes, onions, cilantro and avocado dressing. Check the taste for salt and spice. If not enough salt or spicy add in salt and 1 or 2 minc...

I love Avocados. Avocado is one of the vegetable or fruit(who cares what it is..all I care about is the taste) that I fell in love with after coming to States. The rich and creamy textures always makes my mouth water. Here is one simple dressing recipe that will go well with salads and for people like me can eat it as is :).... Ingredients 2 Avocados 1/2 to 3/4 cup cilantro(I used leaves and stems) couple leaves of mint 5 cloves garlic 3 to 4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice(adjust per taste) 1 tsp salt(adjust per taste) 1/2 tsp black pepper powder 1/2 cup thick yogurt 2 to 4 tbsp Water 2 green chillies(adjust depending on the spice level) Method Peel and cut the avocados into pieces. Take all the ingredients into a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Take it into a bowl. If you like it thick and creamy leave it as is. If you prefer little thinner add little water. Give it a taste and adjust the seasonings. Note: I love mint which is why I added it. ...

If you like chocolate and if you like peanut butter this is the perfect recipe to satisfy your sweet tooth..With very few ingredients and without breaking a sweat you make this little pieces of heavenly  dessert.. Ingredients For Peanut butter layer 1 cup butter 1 cup smooth peanut butter (not crunchy type) 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 2 cups powdered Sugar For Chocolate Layer 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter For Topping  8 oz mini reeses chopped into peanut sized pieces Method Peanut butter layer Melt butter and peanut butter together on medium heat. Stir until smooth and turn off the heat. Add in the vanilla extract, graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar to the peanut butter mixture and stir until everything is well combined. Line a  9 X 9 or 9 X13 pan with parchment paper, pour the mixture and layer it out evenly. Chocolate Layer In a microwave safe bowl take the  c...

When it comes to cooking, baking and that too making cakes is one thing that intimidates me a lot. I am a lot skeptical when I first thought of making a cheesecake. But I made it anyways. This is my first ever cheesecake and guess what it turned out awfully good :). I can tell that it tasted very well as my husband too this cake to work and he said it is all gone in the first hour itself!!! I am so happy and just wanted to share this sweet recipe with you all.. The only one thing I will warn you is to be patient while making the cake. Enjoy :) Ingredients For Crust 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup unsalted melted butter 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon For Filling 32 ounces cream cheese(preferably Philadelphia original cream cheese) 1 1/4 cup sugar 3 tbsp all purpose flour 5 large eggs 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream 1 tsp pure vanilla extract For Topping 1 cup sour cream 3 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract For Garnish 2 ...

I have a Thanksgiving luncheon at my office this week and I wanted to make some dessert for the event. I was looking for something quick, easy and tasty and this recipe on joyofbaking.com caught my eye. This recipe was so simple and easy to make and tasted out of this world as well. Give it a try and see for yourself :) Ingredients 1/2 cup  unsalted butter, melted 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or crushed Digestive Biscuits) 1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked or shredded coconut 1 cup  bittersweet or semisweet or white chocolate chips 1 cup butterscotch chocolate chips 1 cup  chopped walnuts or almonds or mix of both 1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk Method  Preheat oven to 350F and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Take a 13x9 inch baking dish and Lightly butter or spray with a non stick cooking spray. Melt the butter and pour it evenly over the bottom of your pan. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs evenly over the butter. Sprin...

I want to share a recipe I made for my hubby dear's thanksgiving potluck at work. This is one dish you can make for big work potluck parties which is very easy and does not consume much of your time. I can tell that this dish turned out real well from the fact that there are no left overs. They ate it ALL!! All the chopping and dicing can be made ahead the night before and all you got to do on the day of is to put everything together.... Ingredients 1/3 cup Butter 1 medium Onion finely diced 3 stalks Celery finely diced 1/4 cup all purpose Flour 2 cups Milk 1 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Pepper 1/4 tsp Nutmeg 1 tsp Thyme 4 cups cooked Chicken, diced (around 2 lbs boneless chicken) 3 cups cooked Rice 1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts drained 1 cup Mushrooms sliced 1/2 cup slivered Almonds Topping 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 15 to 20 crackers) 4 tbsp butter, melted 1/4 cup slivered almonds + hand full Prep Work on previous day Preheat the oven ...

Yet another Panini recipe from my new Panini grill :).. Enjoy!! Ingredients 3 to 4 oz Ciabatta bread  2 tbsp of Pesto - r ecipe here 1 small chicken breast oven roasted or grilled 3 thin slices of Provolone Olive oil for brushing Method For Chicken I got couple of breast pieces. I butterflied them, sprinkled with lemon juice, salt and some taco seasoning on both the sides. Topped them with chopped fresh cilantro leaves, placed them over a baking sheet and placed in the 375F preheated oven for 35 minutes. For Chicken Panini Turn on the Panini grill/Panini Press. Slice open the bread. Apply the pesto on the spongy side of both the slices. Lay one slice on the preparation board. Place the chicken on the bread slice. Top it off with the provolone cheese. Top it off with other slice of bread. Brush the top with olive oil. Place the sandwich brushed side down on the grill. Now brush the other side with olive oil and close the panini press until the cheese is mel...

YAY!!!!!!!!!I got my new panini grill. I am so excited to try and make all these sandwiches and panini's now. You can make these without a panini press or grill but the time you are going to spend on making these will make a big difference.  Anyways I am presenting all the different ways you can make it so that anyone can try making these yummy sandwiches at home. First and fore most I kicked it off with my favorite grill cheese sandwich which will taste out of this world, I promise :). Hope you guys will like it too... The recipe goes like this. Ingredients 2 slices of sourdough bread (wheat or multi grain breads works great too) 1 tbsp Butter 3 or 4 thick slices of mozzarella 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese 1/4 cup pepper jack cheese 5 or 6 slices of dill or Jalapeno pickles Handful of spinach or spicy arugula Method On a Panini press Heat up the panini press. Meanwhile, Butter both sides of both the bread slices. Lay one bread slice on the board. Sprinkle 3/4th ...

Quick, simple, light and healthy dinner on a Friday night.  I could not ask for more. I made simple baked salmon for dinner tonight and thought of sharing this recipe with you guys. Not that many of you guys do not know this recipe.. I thought this might be helpful for newbies :) ..   Enjoy Folks..Happy Friday!! Ingredients 2 Salmon fillets with skin on(4 oz each) 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 medium onion thinly sliced 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 6 to 8 sprigs of coriander leaves 1 tsp olive oil Cooking spray or butter Salt for taste Method Preheat the oven to 200F. Take a piece of aluminum foil which if 5 to 6 times bigger and wider than the fish fillet. Spray the skin side of the fish with cooking spray and place in the middle of the foil skin side down. Apply half of the ginger garlic paste. Sprinkle with salt and half of the pepper. Sprinkle 1/4th of the lemon juice. Top with 1/2 of the onions and 1/2 of the cilantro cilantr...

We have been to our friend's house this weekend. Their seven years old is cutie pie and she is my darling. I promised my friend's daughter that I will help her making chocolate chip cookies. So I have been her sous chef this weekend :).. It all started off well. I packed some of the essentials and we shopped together for the rest. We are so excited to make the cookies that we did not let the butter soften fully and you know what happened…..My 6 year old hand mixer got stuck in the dough and broke finally :). So lesson to be learned here is make sure the butter is soften all the way. Well back to the story..We went shopping again and bought a new hand mixer and started off again. This time we are careful, patient and finally finished making the cookies. Below is the recipe for the version we made.. I really really loved and enjoyed cooking with her yesterday. It is all worth making these cookies form scratch at the end as watching her hold the mixer to mix cream the but...

Today I posting a very simple and healthy Salad. This is one recipe for the people who are watching their calories. Really simple to make with loads of flavor. Here is my version of Iceberg lettuce chopped salad with Lemon and spicy mustard vinaigrette. Hope you guys will enjoy this!! Ingredients For Salad 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, core removed and chopped 4 radishes, chopped 1 shallot 1/3 cucumber, peeled and chopped 1 cup shredded carrots 1/4 yellow bell pepper or 1 small yellow sweet pepper 6 to 8 cherry tomatoes halved For Lemon - Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/2 tsp Spicy Mustard (can use regular dijon mustard) 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil Method For Salad Combine lettuce and chopped veggies in salad bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and keep aside till you are ready for serving. For Vinaigrette In a bowl take the lemon juice and add in the mustard, salt and pepper and whisk...