Two days after Thanksgiving

This is one of my favorite holidays. Not just because of food, but also people and conversations. We had 20 guests at our home, mostly extended family who had not seen each other in a long time.

Had a spread of both Indian and American. Have not been able to get to the gym and am afraid of approaching my weight scale. I wonder if there are ideas out there on how to lose weight without lowering intake. There has to be something. I’ll keep looking.

Vegetarianize your Thanksgiving leftovers

An easy way to add a little kick to the Thanksgiving left overs would be to add some spice that will enhance them with flavor. Where would you find those spices and flavors? In vidyaswamyskitchen.com. Try this one that might do the trick.

Thanksgiving week

Don’t you think effort is the same whether it is dinner for 25 or dinner for 2? I have been planning now for a week or more, as to where my family ( extended ) should sleep, what I should serve them for 3 meals over 3 to 4 days including snacks, what to feed the late night hungry people, make those 16 trips in all to the airport plus train stations, etc. etc. I am loving it though. As they say anticipation is the greater part of pleasure. I will blog on how it all turned out in the end.

Vegetarian Diet. It’s catching on big time.

Outside of my regular job, through my involvement in clubs and community work I have formed a large group of friends and acquaintances from every walk of life and ethnicity. We rarely discuss food habits but since the launch of my Web site on vegetarian diet and healthy eating, I am discovering that a majority of them are vegetarians.

Health tips and several new recipes

The recipe list and heathy diets pages have something new almost everyday. Check them out! Add your comments to my blogs as well.

Why diet when you can easily do without

I just read in the New York Times that there is a cookie diet to help you shed away the pounds very easily. My thought here is why go through any diet at all. Just keep calories within what is allowed for a person (2000 calories? May be a little less for a petite frame.) This way one can eat anything, just less of them. Some minimal exercise along with a normal diet should help I think. For liquids just stick with water. These tips might just do the trick. Another suggesion - move to being a vegetarian and stick to the calorie count. Try some recipes that are here.

Black pepper/peppercorn

There are so many foods that we all add black pepper to. Eggs, soup, casseroles, side dishes, you name it. Besides adding flavor and a little zing, it has incredible health benefits. A sprinkle may not really make much of a difference but actual crushed black pepper can do a whole lot of good to your health. I have mentioned the use of black pepper in Rasam, one of the recipes below. You may check out the health benefits here as well.

NYC. Never a dull moment and the food…

Just this past week I spent 3 days in New York. Every time I go there I discover something new in food, fashion and fun. We had lunch at ‘Lombardi’s’ the famous Italian restaurant known for their pizza. Honestly, I have not tasted pizza that good anywhere else in this country. The place was overflowing with people at 3:00 P.M. in the afternoon. I also had lunch at the Indian restaurant called ‘The Bombay Palace’. It was off the charts. Two places I recommend you to visit when in NYC next.

Curry? What does it mean?

Curry is a generic term that was coined by the British for any Indian dish that had spices in them. However, there is no spice or combination of spices called curry. Each dish has its own unique name, and the term curry is used only in south India for a dry vegetable side dish.

Just healthy home cooking

I would like to reiterate that what I am sharing via vidyaswamyskitchen.com are healthy home cooked recipes. Not what you may find in restaurants, so there are no additives of any kind. Just as pure as they come. Hence the taste will be more wholesome and easy on your palette.

Lentils

Vegetarians of course rely a lot on lentils. In Indian cooking there are several types of lentils. I will explain all about lentils in the ‘Lentil’ specific page, but in the meantime the lentils such as urad dhal used in idli is something you will find in an indian grocery store. If you cannot get to a store but need this item, please contact me

The perfect soup to bring your appetite back

You are going to love this. We call it rasam, you may call it soup. It is light; and a warm cup is also perfect especially if you have a cold or an itchy throat. So, here is a soothing soup for a good appetite or an itchy throat.

Recipe: Take about 2 cups of water. Add 2 tsps. of salt, add one large diced tomato. Add a Tbsp of tamarind paste. You will find this in a regular grocery store in the ethnic foods section. Now add a Tbsp. of crushed black pepper with a half tsp. of cumin seeds. You may also add a clove or two of crushed garlic. Bring everything to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Lower the heat and add a cup of water. Turn off heat once it starts to simmer again. You may garnish it with a 1 tsp. of butter and spurted mustard seeds in it. Sprinkle a Tbsp. of curry leaves. Let the magic happen!

Mint, a multipurpose herb

I use mint in my Indian variation of pulav or biryani. Since it is pretty potent in aroma and taste, just a few leaves would do to enhance the flavor without overwhelming the tase of the dish. I also make mint chutney that go well with the Indian appetizers such as samosa, cutlets or vada.

As a young girl I remember picking a few mint leaves whenever they were at home and chewing them as is. They are good for stomach issues. Of course, nowadays they feature in different ways – toothpaste, gum, mint oil used in aromatherapy and, mouth rinse to name a few. Indian restaurants use them in meat dishes such as mint chicken.

Vidyaswamyskitchen.com

The Web site is live. Please check out vidyaswamyskitchen.com. I have received some comments which you will find on the site very soon. Look for new recipes, utensils, herbs & spices, and cooking techniques.

Plans for vidyaswamyskitchen.com

I will be introducing some spices, herbs, utensils and asian vegetables on my Web site. You will not only find new recipes but also new kitchen related items. At this point, please contact me directly at vswamy@vidyaswamyskitchen.com if you need any of the items you come across on my site. In future online shopping will be introduced.

People often talk about garlic but not onions

Onions are as good as garlic for culinary and health purposes. I can start with the aroma. It makes any food appealing. It tastes great too. However, onion breath is hard to overcome. Not sure if there is anyway to get around that.

Health benefits – It is high in flavonoids, a rich anti-oxidant, is also known to put a check on high triglycerides. These were all things I learned from my mother. I don’t know where she got it from! Probably my grandmother. They always introduced these goodies into our everyday vegetarian cooking. Nobody can come close to their tasty cooking.

The vegetarian cooking Web site will be launched end of this week. Please standby.