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Jan Hagel Cookies are delicious shortbread cookies spiced with cinnamon, topped with almonds and pearl sugar. Jan Hagel cookies are traditional Dutch Shortbread Cookies. I was very excited to find this cookie recipe to make for the alphabet J. The name of the cookie was very attractive to look into, and I was drawn by the easy procedure and ingredients that the recipe has. Jan Hagel (pronounced Yahn Hagel) is a Dutch cookie, that has been passed down from generation to generation....

Lepinja Bread, Croatian Flatbread, is a crusty bread with a lovely crumb that is perfect to be served with any dish. Somun is a great bread to soak up any flavor that we serve it with. Doing the A to Z International flatbread has been such a big exposure to baking bread. Just the basic flour, yeast, and water can have such a different flavor depending on the method we use to proof it and bake it....

I am a simple and fun-loving person looking for new things to do everyday. Cooking is my passion and my passion became the journey of my life, which I have carefully documented and preserved through this blog. I have a beautiful family which includes a very supportive husband and two “ready to try new food” boys. I come from a family with very strong culinary skills. My grandmothers are great cooks and my mother is the resource for anything cooking in my kitchen....

Simple and refreshing Pasta salad with roasted corn and edamame is a great option for lunch or as a side for Holiday Meal. After a long time, I am participating in Blogging Marathon and Pasta Salads is the theme that I am doing for this week’s BM. I love making pasta salad for a party as it is easy to put together a large batch. If not making for a crowd, I usually see Pasta salad as a wonderful way to use up tiny bits and pieces of leftover vegetables from the refrigerator....

Puranam kozhukattai is a must-have recipe for Pillayar Chaturthi and Varalakshmi Nombu. This sweet kozhukattai is the recipe you need to celebrate the festival. Kozhukattai / modak making is a skill, and I have explained in detail with step-by-step pictures and a quick video to help make the softest and most delicious kozhukattai. Pillayar Chaturthi is one of the most popular Hindu festivals celebrated in India. Indian festivals revolve around food....

Thattai is a crispy and flavorful, traditional South Indian snack that is made for several festivals. Thattai is a popular snack in South India made for several festivals. It is made especially for Krishna Jayanthi / Gokulashtami / Janmashtami festival and Diwali. Like any other traditional snack, Thattai is a little time-consuming to make, but it is not a hard process at all. These days, it is very easy to get sweets and snacks from stores, but there is nothing like making them at home....

Vegetarian Hot and Sour soup definitely warms you up on a cold day. Piping hot soup with all the vegetables is perfect for lunch as it is neither too heavy nor too light, leaving you feeling full. Growing up, Tomato soup was the only soup I knew, and that was the only one I would eat. It took a long time for me to start drinking soup with vegetables in it....

The Corn Pineapple salsa is a very nice summer light dish with seasonal vegetables. It can be put together in a few minutes for a pre-dinner option or pre-lunch option with simple ingredients. Summer always means lots of fresh seasonal vegetables either from my backyard or from the local farmer’s market. My oldest son loves fresh vegetables and summer is his favorite time of the year when he can just go to the backyard and eat a handful of fresh ripe cherry tomatoes....

Dry Garlic Chutney Powder is the perfect spice powder that you need to keep in hand if you are a garlic lover. A little sprinkle on any dish absolutely jazzes the flavor of the dish. Dry Garlic Chutney Powder is a recipe you need to try if you are a fan of garlic. My boys love garlic and when I saw the recipe on Jayashree’s space, I could not wait to try it....

These homemade toaster strudels made with puff pastry sheets are the best choice for weekend breakfast or brunch . This jam-filled toaster strudel recipe needs just a handful of ingredients, and it tastes way better than the store-bought ones. Make a few or a whole big batch and freeze the rest to use later. The homemade creamy icing will put the store-bought icing to shame, and you will never go back to buying it again....

If there is one chutney that I can have every day with idli and dosa , it has to be this Chettinad Kara Chutney / spicy red chutney. It also pairs really well with Paniyaram . Growing up I never ate too much garlic at my parent’s house. My dad absolutely hates garlic in any of the dishes, so I and my mother eat dishes with garlic when my father is away on trips....

Pachai Payaru sweet sundal, aka Whole Moong Sweet Sundal, is one of my favorites to make during the Navaratri festival. It is made with nutritious whole moong beans and sweetened with jaggery. Whole Moong happens to be one of my favorite lentils after black-eyed peas. I love cooking with different lentils, and this sweet sundal is something that I grew up eating. I wish I made this Pachai Payaru Sweet Sundal more often, but the Navaratri festival happens to be when I make it without fail every year....

South Indian pantry is incomplete without these spiced lentil powders. This Paruppu podi or kandi podi is all we need on top of hot rice with a drizzle of sesame oil to make it the most comforting meal. Having homemade masala powders and spice powders is a blessing. They are much more flavorful than the store-bought ones and we can always control the ingredients that go into them. I have always bought these prepared powders back from India in the past but lately have been making my own a lot....

Raw Banana chips, popularly called Nenthrangai Varuval in Tamil Nadu, India, are one of my ever favorite kinds of chips and I can eat them all day. It is so much fun making it at home, and I am happy that I learned the technique from my mother. No South Indian Wedding meal is complete without these tiny yellow chips in a corner. I always used to wonder why they only serve a tiny bit of Nenthrangai Varuval and not a whole lot, because I could literally munch on these for the whole day....

Stuffed Methi Parathas are excellent for traveling as they last longer than traditional parathas. Fenugreek Leaves Parata can be eaten with just some pickle and curd on the side. Usually when making methi paratha, I add the chopped methi leaves directly into the wheat flour and make the dough. I also make Aloo Methi Paratha , which has cooked methi leaves in the dough. I came across the recipe for Stuffed Methi Paratha, here and it was very interesting to see a methi masala stuffing made to be stuffed inside the dough....

Thakkali Juice Rasam is one of my favorites. This Tomato Juice Rasam is made only with tomatoes and has no tamarind and no rasam powder. Rasam is a staple in the South Indian household and we grew up eating rasam saadham/rice almost daily. The South Indian meal is not complete without rasam. Hence we need quite a few recipes for different kinds of rasam so it does not get monotonous. This rasam is one of my favorites....

This Tirunelveli Sambhar is famous in the Nellai/Tirunelveli region of Tamil Nadu and hence also called Nellai Sambhar. This brings in a unique taste from that region and is a good side for rice as part of the South Indian meal. For the last day of this week’s blogging marathon, I decided to make a specialty from Tirunelveli district, Nellai Sambhar. The minute I hear the name Tirunelveli, the first thing that comes to my mind is halwa....

Before I start writing this post, let me do a happy dance. I have finally made a 100% whole wheat sandwich bread that was so soft and perfect that I could not believe it myself. The texture was everything that I expected from good bread, and it really exceeded my expectations. Thanks to Aparna for choosing this recipe as part of our bread of the month for the group We Knead to Bake....

These chocolate-covered pretzels are the easiest and most fun to make snack or edible gift. This chocolate pretzel recipe is quick and easy to make with just three ingredients, making it a great activity to do with kids. These 3 Ingredient Chocolate Covered Pretzels actually can go under 2-ingredient recipes. This week, I am working on 3 ingredient recipes, and after the 3 Ingredient Old Fashioned Kettle Corn Popcorn and 3 Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies , I am posting this very tempting pretzel recipe....

Anzac Biscuits, also called soldier’s cookies or rolled oats cookie is very popular in Australia and New Zealand. These Australian Coconut and Oat Cookies have a long shelf life as there are no eggs or any other ingredients that will get bad quickly. This week, after a long break I am starting my weekly blogging marathon. The theme for my first week is car snacks . Snacking in the car is an everyday affair for us, so this theme was very apt for my family’s lifestyle....